When the first cases of acute pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus were diagnosed last December in Wuhan, China, government authorities there downplayed the development. Now the capitalist rulers worldwide are scrambling about what to do with an epidemic that…
PHILADELPHIA — On the way home after work Jan. 17, I drove past a demonstration of parents, teachers and students from McClure Elementary School a few blocks from my row house. They were protesting elevated levels of asbestos at the…
CHICAGO — Rail bosses in North America have slashed thousands of jobs — from engineers and conductors to track maintenance and equipment repair workers — in recent months, with more cuts in the works. At the same time they brag…
NEW YORK — In their drive to get an edge on their competitors and boost their profits, Amazon has begun using some refitted electric bikes to replace delivery trucks on city streets here. Billed as a way to ease congestion…
MONTREAL — Two weeks after 3,200 Canadian National Railway workers carried out their Nov. 19-26 strike targeting unsafe conditions pushed by the bosses, a Canadian Pacific crude oil train derailed and caught fire Dec. 9 near the town of Guernsey…
GEYSERVILLE, Calif. — In late October hundreds of thousands of California residents had their electric power shut off by Pacific, Gas and Electric, and Southern California Edison — the state’s two largest utility monopolies. Both companies initially claimed the shutdowns…
OAKLAND, Calif. — “It’s outrageous what PG&E is doing,” Crystal Perdiguerra, a resident of East Oakland whose husband uses a home dialysis machine, told the Militant. Perdiguerra, like many others, is angry at the disdain shown by Pacific Gas &…
LAC-MÉGANTIC, Quebec — “This is proof once more, that we are not safe in Lac-Mégantic,” Robert Bellefleur, spokeperson for Lac-Mégantic Citizens Coalition and Organizations for Rail Safety, told CBC News after two train derailments took place here Aug. 24. They…
Retail giants Amazon and Walmart, the two biggest employers, are racing to speed up order delivery times as they seek to crush rivals and squeeze out of workers more profits for the bosses. In the latest step in their cutthroat…
SAN LEANDRO, Calif. — “You can’t make people work in total darkness,” one Walmart worker told the Militant after managers at the store here demanded employees continue working after a power outage shut down the lights from midday to almost…
