Labor

“Stop Kroger the ogre” was the chant of nearly 2,000 Teamster members and their supporters, led by International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa, at a rally at the Kroger warehouse in Livonia, Mich., Aug. 6.

ST. LOUIS — As part of the nonstop, cross-country “2006 Change Wal-Mart, Change America” tour, over 150 trade unionists, activists and community leaders rallied here Aug. 11. The tour, scheduled to visit 35 cities in 19 states in 35 days, is sponsored by WakeUpWalMart.com and is designed to build awareness and pressure Wal-Mart to become a better corporate citizen

Going to work, getting paid, coming home in one piece and walking your neighborhood with dignity is the goal of a new “watershed” partnership between the AFL-CIO and a network of 140 immigrant worker centers in 80 cities and towns.

FILADELFIA — “¡Felicidades, jóvenes, están por convertirse en miembros de sindicatos!”

CHICAGO — La multitud que llenaba el salón del Concejo Municipal brotó de alegría cuando el concejo aprobó una ley el 26 de julio haciendo de Chicago la ciudad más grande a fijar normas de salario mínimo y beneficios para los gigantes comerciales como Wal-Mart.

The people of Detroit are mourning the death of City Council President Maryann Mahaffey, who for 31 years, until illness forced her retirement from office last December, was a selfless fighter for labor’s rights, peace, equality and justice. She died July 27 at the age of 81.

For your summer reading and surfing pleasure

As I left the theater, I thought, I hated this movie. Yet it was one of the best movies I have seen recently. I hated the movie because it dredged up a lot of feelings about my life experiences. It was one of the best illustrations of the brutality and inhumanity of the capitalist system I have ever seen.

Has the stroke of a corporate media pen attempted to define “working class” away in your city? Once again, it has in mine. A June 23 article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press illustrates the point made by Communist economist Victor Perlo: the capitalists attempt to divide the working class by confusing “class” with “income.”