Back locked-out oil workers standing up to ExxonMobil

Bosses seek to bust union at Texas refinery
Vol. 85/No. 35 - September 27, 2021
Locked-out unionists from ExxonMobil refinery in Beaumont, Texas, picket in Houston Aug. 18, getting out facts on oil bosses’ demands for concessions that gut seniority, divide workers.

BEAUMONT, Texas — Over 650 oil workers, members of United Steelworkers Local 13-243, have been locked out at the ExxonMobil Refinery and Lubricant Blending and Packaging plant here since bosses marched them out of the facility four months ago. They…


Strikers in five states take on Nabisco, win broad support

Vol. 85/No. 35 - September 27, 2021

As we go to press … The BCTGM announced Sept. 15 it had reached a tentative agreement with Nabisco. Union members will read, discuss and vote on the proposals in the coming days. Picketing at the six strike locations continues…


Using unions, building solidarity vital to defending working-class interests

Vol. 85/No. 35 - September 27, 2021
Fighting for safe staffing levels for themselves and patients, nurses picket St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, Aug. 16. Six-month strike is longest nurses strike in 15 years.

“Organizing to support unionists on strike to defend their wages and working conditions today is crucial for expanding and strengthening the labor movement,” Dennis Richter, Socialist Workers Party candidate for California governor, told the Militant. “Spread the word about struggles…


Miners mark 100 years since union battle at Blair Mountain

Vol. 85/No. 35 - September 27, 2021
Above, West Virginia coal miners after 1921 battle at Blair Mountain. Fierce struggle by miners laid groundwork for growth of United Mine Workers union. Inset, West Virginia teachers in 2018 strike wore red bandanas in tribute to those miners.

Over Labor Day weekend in West Virginia, dozens of commemorations, including rallies, presentations, and re-enactments, marked the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain. This was one of the biggest armed conflicts ever fought between unionists and the bosses’…


Quebec meatpackers approve contract, end four-month strike

Vol. 85/No. 34 - September 20, 2021
Union of Olymel Workers at Vallee-Jonction was strengthened and the 1,000 packinghouse workers won hard-fought gains during four-month strike. Above, rally July 7 in Quebec City.

VALLEE-JONCTION, Quebec — After a hard-fought, four-month-long strike here, the 1,000 members of the Union of Olymel Workers at Vallee-Jonction voted by 78% to accept a new contract Aug. 31. They have seen their union strengthened through the battle and…


British Columbia hospital union wins end to contracting out

Vol. 85/No. 34 - September 20, 2021

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — “We never gave up hope,” said Ratna Tithh, a dietary aide at St. Paul’s Hospital here. Her union, the Hospital Employees’ Union, had just succeeded in reversing the bosses’ contracting out of food provision and cleaning…


Organize to back Nabisco, Warrior Met coal strikes!

Nabisco strikers in 5 states resist boss takeback drive
Vol. 85/No. 34 - September 20, 2021
Chicago unionists, Nabisco strikers rally Sept. 4 to spread word about national labor battle.

CHICAGO — Chanting “What do we want? A contract!” and “No contract! No cookies,” 200 strikers, members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 1, their supporters and fellow unionists rallied outside Nabisco’s flagship bakery here…


Quebec ferry workers strike for pay, jobs, time off

Vol. 85/No. 34 - September 20, 2021

SOREL, Quebec — Hundreds of ferry workers went on strike at five Saint Lawrence River crossings in Quebec on the Labour Day weekend. From here, northeast of Montreal, to Matane near the Atlantic coast, members of the United Steelworkers and …


Warrior Met strike is a ‘union issue for the whole nation’

Vol. 85/No. 33 - September 6, 2021

McCALLA, Ala. — “We decided to take up the cause of the striking miners because this is a union issue for the whole nation,” Mark Bass, president of International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1410 in Mobile, Alabama, told the Militant in…