“We call on the labor movement to break from the Democratic Party, and build a class- struggle workers party.” So reads the conclusion of a resolution passed by IUPAT (Painters Union) Local […]
IUPAT Local 10: “build a class struggle workers party”
North Dakota Protest and Organized Labor
Many on the left have been inspired by the protest of Native Americans and their supporters against the Dakota Access Pipeline. They have been horrified at the recent use of police dogs […]
Political Shifts and the Unions: Labor Day, 2016
“Labor Day” is traditionally the official opening of US election campaigns. In this presidential election year, it is useful to compare the state of affairs of the two main parties of big business […]
Wildcat! The 1999 SF Bay Area Carpenters Wildcat Strike: A Video Documentary
In the late ’90s, construction was booming in northern California. That’s why carpenters were pissed off when their union leadership settled a cut-rate contract that the members didn’t even have the right […]
1999 Carpenters Wildcat Strike & Follow-up Conference
In 1999, some 2,000 union carpenters went on a wildcat strike against their own union leadership, who had signed a poor contract that the members didn’t even have the right to vote […]
A Sorry State of Affairs
I was at my local supermarket just now. I got in line with a checker I know – a middle age black woman – and when she got to me we greeted […]
“Organized Labor and the Black Worker in America, 1619-1981” by Philip Foner: Book Review
The rise of Donald Trump, the internet videos of white racists – some of them workers – insulting and threatening Black Lives Matter activists, the swing of white male blue collar workers […]
Ford Workers Rejecting Contract: What Next?
By a margin of 48% “yes” to 52% “no”, it seems that Ford workers are about to reject a contract proposed by their union leadership. The final vote will be announced on […]
Unions: The results are in
The results are in. In 1999, the Construction Labor Review wrote “Unionized employment will keep climbing during the next decade but will be just barely equal to the rate of growth in […]
Debating the liberals
I had an online debate with a liberal union “reformer” about supporting Bernie Sanders. Here’s how it went: He started off by attacking me for my revolutionary politics. (Since most workers aren’t […]