10 months on the picket line, Vancouver hotel workers rally

Vol. 86/No. 9 - March 7, 2022

BURNABY, British Columbia — “Ten months on the picket line is too long!” UNITE HERE Local 40 member Lisa Secretaria told 40 locked-out workers at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown Hotel here Feb. 14. It’s a favorite destination for weddings in…


San Francisco city workers rally, demand more staffing

Vol. 86/No. 9 - March 7, 2022

SAN FRANCISCO — Chanting “Staff it up or we’ll shut it down!” over 500 city workers held a spirited lunchtime rally Feb. 16 outside City Hall here. The central demand was for city officials to hire more workers.  Eight unions…


GM workers in Mexico vote for new independent union

Vol. 86/No. 8 - February 28, 2022
Leaders of SINTTIA independent autoworkers union at GM plant in Guanajuato, Mexico, Feb. 3, after winning union election. At center is union Secretary General Maria Alejandra Morales.

Workers at the General Motors pickup-truck plant in Guanajuato, Mexico, voted overwhelmingly for a new independent union in early February, sending a message to the U.S. auto-giant bosses they will no longer accept low wages and abusive working conditions. With…


Minnesota teachers, staff rally for smaller classes, higher wages

Vol. 86/No. 8 - February 28, 2022

MINNEAPOLIS — Over 1,000 teachers and supporters marched and rallied here Feb. 12 in subzero temperatures. The action took place leading up to a strike vote by teachers and support staff in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. The unions in…


Scaffolders in U.K. step up pay fight, win support

Vol. 86/No. 7 - February 21, 2022

SCUNTHORPE, England — “Support has been great, from all over the U.K. and Ireland,” Unite union steward Dave Birchall told the Militant outside the British Steel plant that dominates this town Jan. 28. He is one of 60 striking scaffolders…


Chevron refinery workers rally as contract expiration nears

Vol. 86/No. 6 - February 14, 2022
Chevron oil workers, members of USW Local 5, rally outside gate of company’s oil refinery in Richmond, California, Jan. 27 in fight for new contract with wage raise to cover rising prices.

RICHMOND, Calif. — “Power in solidarity” read one of the signs carried by the more than 100 members of United Steelworkers Local 5 outside the main gate of the Chevron oil refinery here Jan. 27. The maintenance workers and process…


New union votes set at Amazon Alabama, New York warehouses

Vol. 86/No. 6 - February 14, 2022

The National Labor Relations Board has set a second union election at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, to begin Feb. 4, ruling the notoriously anti-union company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, intimidated workers and corrupted the earlier vote. The…


Bus driver wins back job at Manchester Go North West

Vol. 86/No. 6 - February 14, 2022

MANCHESTER, England — After making gains during an 11-week strike last year, Unite union bus workers at Go North West here won another victory, forcing bosses to reverse their sacking of driver and union stalwart Tracey Scholes. Scholes, with 34…


Quebec cement workers fight boss’ seven-month lockout

Vol. 86/No. 5 - February 7, 2022

JOLIETTE, Quebec — Locked out since last May, some 110 workers at Ash Grove’s cement plant here unanimously voted down the employers’ latest offer Jan. 6.  “The union has asked for nothing except to maintain established rights,” Renaud Gagne, Unifor’s…


Manchester pallet workers stay strong, extend support

Vol. 86/No. 5 - February 7, 2022

MANCHESTER, England — “The support for our strike has opened my mind,” Garry Walker, a worker at CHEP pallet company, told a solidarity meeting organized by Manchester Trades Union Council Jan. 12. The workers, organized by Unite, went on strike…