The administrator of this blog site, I am a lifelong socialist and a retired carpenter and the former recording secretary and an expelled member of Carpenters Local 713. I was expelled for my leading role in the 1999 SF Bay Area carpenters wildcat strike as well as for his opposition to the union bureaucracy in general. I was one of the founding members of a small group called Labor Militant, which was the forerunner to Socialist Alternative. Along with a small group of others, I was expelled when that group started to adapt to the union bureaucracy. I have also visited the workers' movement internationally, including in Pakistan, Egypt (during the Arab Spring), Britain, Mexico and Chile (during the uprising there in 2020). Unless otherwise specified, I am the author of the articles that appear here. Although I am the main author, Oaklandsocialist welcomes articles on any issue that relates to the working class. Contact us at Oaklandsocialist@gmail.com.
The hundreds of New York City carpenters – mainly younger apprentices – who protested against a wage cutting contract proved it. The teachers in West Virginia who stayed on strike after their […]
Three days after Trump’s racist tweets and the day after he set of fascistic “send her back” chants at his rally in Greenville, the AFL-CIO was silent on the issue. So was […]
Here is an article about declining profits in the corporate world. It fits with how Karl Marx explained the contradictions of capitalism. (Note: These are tendencies, not something that happens absolutely in […]
On July 10, 2019, hundreds of carpenters in New York City rallied outside the carpenters district council office to protest the pay cuts being forced down their throat by the district council […]
The New Your Carpenters Union leadership has sent out the following defense of its disastrous contract: If this contract is so great, why didn’t they allow the rank and file carpenters, vote […]
The procurer of young girls for the rich and famous – Jeffrey Epstein – has been arrested in New York. He had previously been convicted of similar crimes in Florida. In that […]
There is increasing talk on Facebook about a wildcat strike among New York City carpenters. The issue is the horrible contract that the union leadership has negotiated. The defining question is whether […]
Carpenters in New York City are facing a danger and an opportunity. During a nation-wide building boom, the New York Carpenters District Council is proposing a contract with some huge give-aways. Most […]
With the concentration camps on the US border, the growing planet climate/environment emergency, the attacks on a woman’s right to make her own reproductive decisions, and the possibility of war with Iran […]
Video of July 5 protest by some 200+ people – mainly but not entirely Jewish youth – against Trump’s concentration camps at the US/Mexican border. They were protesting the camps as well […]
