Hospital workers strike continues at University of Illinois

Vol. 84/No. 39 - October 5, 2020
Striking members of Illinois Nurses Association and SEIU Local 73 join forces at rally in Chicago, Sept. 18. Central issue for both unions is bosses’ insistence on understaffing and overwork.

CHICAGO — Some 4,000 members of Service Employees International Union Local 73 are in the second week of their strike at the University of Illinois Hospital here and several of its other facilities around the state. Members of the Illinois…



Protest hits campus worker layoffs at San Francisco State

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020

SAN FRANCISCO — Over 200 workers, students and supporters rallied at San Francisco State University here Sept. 12 to protest layoffs of 131 campus workers. Among those slated for layoff are maintenance workers who are members of the Teamsters, as…


Univ. of Illinois workers strike over staffing, safety, higher pay

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020
Members of Illinois Nurses Association, above, and other hospital workers at University of Illinois Hospital systems are out on strike, demanding increased staffing and safer conditions.

CHICAGO — Members of the Illinois Nurses Association walked off the job at the University of Illinois Hospital and its clinics here Sept. 12, five days after their contract expired. The strike vote was 995-12. Their central demands are for…


1877 strike foretold growth of ‘serious workers party’ in US

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020
Troops attack strikers in Baltimore in 1877 general strike. Karl Marx called it “the first uprising against the oligarchy of capital since the Civil War.” From here, he pointed to the forces of the American socialist revolution — free labor, free farmers exploited by capital and freed slaves.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for September is The Great Labor Uprising of 1877 by Philip S. Foner. After four years of economic depression, a walkout by West Virginia railroad workers developed into a nationwide strike involving 100,000…


Solidarity with Dominion grocery strike in Canada!

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020

OTTAWA, Ontario — As they enter their third week on strike, 1,400 Dominion grocery store workers in Newfoundland received solidarity on Labor Day from fellow Unifor union members and other supporters of their fight for full-time jobs and higher wages.…


DSI strikers keep up picket lines, win support in contract fight

Vol. 84/No. 36 - September 14, 2020
Walmart workers bring solidarity to DSI Tunneling strikers in Louisville, Kentucky, August 28

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Thirteen striking members of Teamsters Local 89 have been picketing outside DSI Tunneling every weekday, rain or shine, for the past month. The workers won a bitter fight last November to win union representation, and then began…


Back Canadian grocery workers on strike against disparaging wage cut

Vol. 84/No. 36 - September 14, 2020
Aug. 23 picket at Dominion store in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland. Some 1,400 workers rejected contract and went on strike after bosses took back $2 pay raise begun during pandemic.

“I don’t know, but it’s been said, Galen’s pockets are lined with gold. I don’t know, but it’s been said, it’s time for workers to get ahead,” strikers at a St. John’s, Newfoundland, Dominion grocery store chanted, kicking off a…


Louisville: DSI Tunneling workers strike for first union contract

Vol. 84/No. 35 - September 7, 2020
Teamsters Local 89 members on strike against DSI Tunneling in Louisville, Kentucky, picket Aug. 21 for their first contract. Workers won bitter fight for union representation last November.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Driving down East Chestnut Street Aug. 21, we could hear a steady stream of honking cars, expressing solidarity with members of Teamsters Local 89 on strike at DSI Tunneling for a contract. The unionists walked out Aug.…


Newfoundland grocery workers strike for full-time jobs, wages

Vol. 84/No. 35 - September 7, 2020

MONTREAL — Some 1,400 unionized grocery workers at 11 Dominion stores across the Canadian province of Newfoundland went on strike Aug. 22. The members of Unifor Local 597 set up pickets at stores from St. John’s to Stephenville. They’ve been…