Labor for Black Lives

11/19/2016

The NYU graduate worker union, GSOC-UAW, calls on its parent union to support the movement for Black lives more actively as part of a heterogenous front against Trump. Full statement below.

Two roads lie before us in this political moment. The first is a deepening of the poverty and misery pervasive in this country for decades, reinforced by a virulent bigotry toward people of color, immigrants, Muslims, Jews, women, and qu**rs. The second road is built on the principle that an injury....

11/14/2016

Word is that Trump's neighbors on Fifth Ave are displeased with all the noise out there. They better get used to it. As the offensive on our class escalates, we will be out there, all day all week. Not a single inch to the Right.

Photo taken 11/12, outside Trump Tower.

11/12/2016

Defund NYPD, refund NYC.

At a time when the city can seem unbearably expensive and the price of a subway ride is set to increase again, attention has turned to a cost that many struggle to afford: a MetroCard.

11/08/2016

National Nurses United (NNU)’s Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), a national network of volunteer nurses, will deploy a second team of RN volunteers to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation—to help with existing medical and first aid support for land and water protectors—NNU announced today.

11/08/2016

Working In These Times is dedicated to providing independent and incisive coverage of the labor movement and the struggles of workers to obtain safe, healthy and just workplaces.

11/05/2016

Working In These Times is dedicated to providing independent and incisive coverage of the labor movement and the struggles of workers to obtain safe, healthy and just workplaces.

11/01/2016

The Free Alabama Movement is reporting that incarcerated organizer Kinetik Justice is being denied water by prison officials at the Kilby Correctional Facility. Justice was transferred to Kilby from Holman Correctional Facility, where he helped launch a nationwide work strike. He’s been on hunger st...

11/01/2016

Solidarity with our TWU siblings in Philly!

"Union workers were unwilling to accept the possibility of health care hikes that could have boosted their contribution from $552 a year to up to $6,000 if they wanted to keep equivalent medical coverage, union representatives said. They also were unhappy about a pension cap at $50,000 for workers while managers' pensions had no cap at all. Matters not related to dollars and cents were also in dispute. TWU members said SEPTA's break policies for vehicle operators barely left them enough time to use the bathroom between routes, and complained the nine hours of down time a worker must receive between shifts was not enough, forcing operators to drive vehicles while fatigued."

Despite last-minute negotiations and a visit from Democratic heavy-hitter Congressman Bob Brady, 4,738 SEPTA workers walked off the job, halting subways, trolleys and buses in Philadelphia.

10/28/2016

L4BL in GSOC-UAW 2110's Rank & File newsletter this month.

"Labor for Black Lives (L4BL) is a network of union activists and other rank-and-file workers in solidarity with the movement for Black lives. Several AWDU members issued the original call to action in July, and the call was answered by dozens of workers citywide, including education, health, communications, media, transport and transit workers.

Some 863 people have been murdered by police this year. The vast majority of them have been poor and working-class people of color, including Philando Castile, a 32-year-old cafeteria worker, and Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old culture worker. L4BL believes that an injury to one is an injury to all, and that these are crimes against the entire working class.

L4BL's first public action was in commemoration of the second anniversary of the murder of Eric Garner in Staten Island. Our first public meetings were held at Abolition Square (a.k.a. City Hall Park), where L4BL supported a weeks-long occupation to demand an end to broken windows policing, reparations for victims and survivors, and reinvestment of the NYPD's $5.5 billion budget in NYC's working-class, Black and Brown communities.

In September, L4BL played an active role in mobilizing labor support for the national prison strike. Members took part in a "noise demo" outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, together with those on the inside. Some members are also involved in advocacy for the Right to Know Act, as well as campaigns in support of immigrants and the indigenous resistance at Standing Rock.

At the same time, L4BL is preparing for the long haul, gearing up for a citywide campaign to defund the NYPD and refund NYC, calling on City Hall to invest instead in the safety of our communities through jobs with a living wage, education, healthcare, and alternatives to the police, such as mental health first responders."

10/26/2016

The African American caucus and the Latino caucus of SEIU Local 721 in Los Angeles voted to support the UAW 2865 Resolution calling on the AFL-CIO to disaffiliate from the international police unions.

10/20/2016

Two thousand Seattle-area teachers wore shirts declaring "Black Lives Matter" to school today. The action was in response to bomb threats that almost derailed a black student empowerment event at John Muir elementary school last month. Some educators also taught about institutional racism, according...

10/20/2016

"The rift in labor that Standing Rock has exposed must be resolved in favor of environmental justice. We will either win good jobs and a livable planet, or we will lose both.

The resistance at Standing Rock is a vital part of that struggle. Each time protesters halt construction at pipeline sites, they challenge prevailing myths about the relationship between ecology, work, and self-determination. They remind us that the heavy equipment that has torn apart sacred Sioux burial sites has also killed thousands of American workers.

The exploitation of workers and the aggressive extraction of resources on indigenous land are two sides of the same coin — and, contrary to Richard Trumka and other labor officials, they must be resisted together."

The Standing Rock Split The rebellion at Standing Rock has forced labor officials to choose which side they’re on: fossil-fuel companies’ or the planet’s. by Trish Kahle AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka at an OECD forum last summer. OECD / Flickr Our new issue, “Rank and File,” is out now. To celebr...