Series Introduction: Beginning with overturning Roe v. Wade, the ultra right-wing Supreme Court continues attacking hard-won and elementary democratic rights in the United States, from affirmative action to the Indian Child Welfare Act. The following article is the...
Basics on how to organize a union What do the following workers all have in common? • Greyhound Bus Lines in New York, N.Y. • Aramark in Boston, Mass. • Atmos Energy in Flowood, Miss. • Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia, Penn. • Washington Hospital Center in...
The writer is a union organizer. Workers across most of Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America have experience in using general strikes in order to press for political demands. For example, in 1995, French workers forced the government to retreat at least temporarily...
As the U.S. mid-term elections approach, right-wing Tea Party demagogues have stepped up their attacks on the Obama administration for being “socialist.” Their rhetoric builds on the decades of cold war anti-communist propaganda by capitalist politicians and the...
C. Gonçalves is a member of the Boston branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and shop steward and negotiating committee member of his union. He presented the following talk as part of the panel "Building a new workers movement" at the PSL National...
Imagine you were in a place where you had no rights at all. If you did anything wrong, you would face harsh punishment, including denying you the ability to feed your family. Most of us do not have to imagine. It is the reality of our workplaces. If you arrive at work...
This article is adapted from a talk given at the April 1 Socialism Conference hosted by the Party for Socialism and Liberation in Washington, D.C. Many of you may have noticed how many times “workers” have been mentioned in this conference. We use phrases like...
Few progressive people today who are interested in social change look to the leadership of the AFL-CIO for direction. Declining membership and subservience to the political program of the Democratic Party have left the labor federation crippled as it tries to survive...
A guiding principle for progressives in the working class movement has been, “If you’re not in a union, fight to get one; if you’re in a union, fight to make it fight.” Those who take up the challenge of “fighting to make the unions fight” are faced sooner or later...