Labor

The United Food and Commercial Workers union, negotiating for thousands of grocery workers in Southern California, won a stunning victory in July, approving a new union contract that reversed the unfair two-tiered system they had been forced to accept back in 2004.

The end of the historic strike against General Motors by the nation’s autoworkers may well signal the beginning of a fight by all workers against a new level of the corporate offensive against our jobs, our wages, our benefits and our very livelihoods.

Every day women go to work and have to face various kinds of gender discrimination — an unfair wage differential, discrimination in health and other benefits, lack of advancement opportunities, and sexual harassment.

SAN FRANCISCO — Talks for a new contract continued this week after workers who provide security in prime downtown office buildings returned to their jobs Sept. 27 following a first-ever three-day strike.
Workers, members of SEIU Local 24/7, and their supporters held a spirited late afternoon rally on Market Street Sept. 27 before marching past many of the buildings they protect.

Rafael Feliciano, presidente de la Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico (FMPR), anunció en un comunicado de prensa que 1.200 delegados respaldando a los profesores de las escuelas públicas puertorriqueñas votaron recientemente a autorizar un paro si no llegan a un convenio laboral con el departamento de Educación. El secretario de Educación está negándose negociar con el sindicato.

As we go to press, the United Auto Workers has called a time out in its strike against General Motors pending membership ratification of a new contract. It’s expected that the contract will be ratified quickly. While we do not yet know the full terms of the contract, it most likely contains concessions. In today’s political climate, and in the face of capitalist globalization, the balance of class forces often makes it a victory if unions can just hold on.

As union leaders emphasized that the struggle will continue, the AFSCME negotiating committee at the University of Minnesota decided last week to call off the union’s strike and submit the administration’s contract offer to the membership without a “yes” recommendation.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Defending immigrant rights, ending the war in Iraq, winning quality health care and organizing the unorganized topped the agenda of the 50th anniversary convention of the Connecticut AFL-CIO here last week.

MEXICO CITY — The Federal District (DF), the area that encompasses Mexico City, continues to be in the forefront of progressive social change in Mexico, as the district’s left-wing government has announced plans to set up an unemployment insurance program. And its passage in the Legislative Assembly here seems likely.

Colombia’s right-wing paramilitaries are terrorists. Washington named them as such in September 2001. But the AUC, as they are known from their Spanish initials, rule the roost in Urabá in northern Colombia. So what should a U.S. corporation have done when much of its annual $4.5 billion income depended upon free rein there?