cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/19724

The movement against ICE has continued to surge in Minneapolis and across the United States in the wake of the killing of Renee Good.

On January 13, a coalition of faith leaders, union presidents, business owners, and community figures in Minneapolis called on “every worker in Minnesota to refuse to show up to work” and “every single Minnesotan to not spend a dime” on Friday, January 23, to demand an end to the “violence and horror” that ICE has unleashed on the community and the agency’s complete removal from the state.

“We are going to leverage our economic power, our labor, our prayer for one another,” said JaNaé Bates, co-executive director of Isaiah MN, an interfaith and multiracial community organizing network.

“We are not going to shop, we are not going to work, we are not going to school on Friday, January 23.” 

Dozens of labor unions, faith groups, businesses, and community organizations across the state are backing the call, with many more joining by the hour. Bates added, “Some people they call that a strike. For many of us, we say this is our right to refusal until something changes.”

Instead of participating in the economy, the organizers are calling on people to use the day to be conscious of the community. Faith groups will be fasting and praying. And at 2pm in downtown Minneapolis, organizers hope millions will gather for a mass march.

“Now is the time,” said the minister. “If you ever wondered for yourself: ‘When is the time that we do something different? When is the time that we stand up and say that this has to change? That this needs to end?’ The time is now.”

Violence in Minnesota backed by Nazi rhetoric in Washington

Speakers at the press conference expressed outrage at the ICE killing of Renee Good, whose “whistle blowing was returned by bullets”. They also described the escalating violence by ICE agents against the community in recent days. According to videos on circulating on social media from Minneapolis, ICE is raiding homes, separating families, dragging employees from their workplaces, pepper spraying people, assaulting high school students and staff, shooting activists with flashbangs, and more.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has continued to defend the ICE operations with far-right rhetoric. US Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino recently called Minnesotans who oppose ICE “weak-minded”, echoing Nazi-era language about removed and social cleansing. During a press conference on January 12, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem had the line “One of ours, all of yours” on her podium. A shocking moment given that the slogan is directly linked to Nazi collective-punishment doctrine. The line comes from an atrocity known as the Lidice Massacre. After one Nazi soldier was killed in a Czech village, the Nazis massacred 170 men and boys of that village, deported 200 women, and killed 82 children in gas chambers.

On the morning of January 13, in a post on his Truth Social platform, US President Trump again claimed that there are thousands of violent criminals in Minnesota that ICE is removing.

Responding to Trump, Bates declared that Minnesotans do want to remove the criminals: “Those thousands of people committing crimes in the state are the ICE officers! Who have been ramming their cars into our people, who have been stealing our people, kidnapping folks, who have been beating folks up and dropping them off in random locations.”

“The beauty about Minnesotans is that we have stood up for each other. We have come together,” she said. The minister was flanked by business owners, faith leaders, and community figures who echoed the demand for ICE to leave Minnesota and any other state in which it is operating.

Faith-labor unity: “Prayer is not a passive activity. It is one that is of action.”

James Earl Johnson, pastor at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Saint Paul, said that January 23 will be a day to reflect on the truth and the call from God to love our neighbors.

“We will pray for the power we have as people of faith to stop this madness, and for ICE to leave Minnesota and any other state where their actions are abusing the children of God.”

Pastor Brian, of Zion Baptist Church, described the ICE presence in Minneapolis as “spiritual warfare”.

“Darkness can’t drive out darkness, right? Only light can break darkness. And we choose to be light today. We choose to speak peace and not hate. We choose unity and not division. And so we will collectively come together on the 23rd.”

JaNaé Bates underlined the duty of faith leaders and congregations in this moment to use fasting and prayer to mobilize the community against the militarized federal forces in the twin cities.

“Prayer is not a passive activity. It is one that is of action. It is one about transformation. It is one where we get to transform ourselves and this world.”

She also highlighted that faith communities are not in this fight alone, listing dozens of unions, businesses, and inter-faith organizations that have already joined the “Day of Truth and Freedom”.

Day of Truth and Freedom

Amid the “lies” by the Trump administration framing Renee Good as a “domestic terrorist”, leaders say truth is essential at this moment.

“The truth is … that life is sacred,” said Bates. “In no way, shape or form should we dismiss someone being killed. In no way, shape or form should we give excuses to people being harmed every day, right? That is the truth.”

The faith leader added: “We need to take a real pause, a real time to step away and say, you know what? Here is actually what is happening.”

Bates made the point that to live in fear, surrounded by violence, is not freedom.

“Freedom is not just the freedom from constraints. It is the freedom to have safety. It is the freedom to have joy. It’s the freedom to be able to thrive. That is why we are choosing this day of freedom and truth.”

Community leaders reiterated the call for every single Minnesotan who loves “this notion of truth and freedom”, to refuse to work, shop, or go to school on January 23.

Organizers asked people to spend the next ten days before the day of action talking to businesses, small and large, and ask them what their plan is for Friday, January 23, and how they are standing up to demand that ICE leave Minnesota. 

Read more: Movement against ICE grows in the US in the wake of killing of Renee Good

This thing called hope

“I am a woman of faith. And there’s this thing we talk about called hope,” Bates said, in response to a reporter asking her if she thinks the strike day will work to drive ICE out.

“I believe this is going to rock this state in the most beautiful and glorious of ways. It is going to open our eyes to what is possible,” the minister said.

“For too long we have been told nothing is possible. Bow down. Obey. And do whatever it is that somebody at the top says to do. But we know that that is a lie from the pit of hell. And let me tell y’all this, there is so much that is able to be accomplished when we come together and say no more to what is awful and yes to what is possible.”

The post “Now is the time”: Minnesota calls for general strike on January 23 to drive ICE out appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

From Peoples Dispatch via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/19190

Thousands of nurses are hitting the picket lines in what will be the largest nurses strike in the history of New York City.

The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) on Monday announced that nearly 15,000 nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, Montefiore, and NewYork-Presbyterian are going on strike after "greedy hospital management at these wealthy private hospitals have given frontline nurses no other choice."

The NYSNA posted a long list of sticking points on contract negotiations, including "safe staffing for our patients, protections from workplace violence, and healthcare for frontline nurses."

NYSNA president Nancy Hagans said that any patients in need of care at these hospitals should enter them, emphasizing that "going into the hospital to get the care you need is not crossing our strike line." She also encouraged patients to join the picket line with the nurses after receiving care.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke out in solidarity with the striking nurses, while also emphasizing the importance of "ensuring New Yorkers have the care they need... especially during flu season."

"No New Yorker should have to fear losing access to healthcare," Mamdani wrote in a social media post. "And no nurse should be asked to accept less pay, fewer benefits, or less dignity for doing lifesaving work. Our nurses have kept this city alive through its hardest moments. Their value is not negotiable."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also expressed support for the striking nurses, while denouncing "NewYork-Presbyterian, Montefiore, and Mount Sinai hospitals for being willing to spend millions on replacement nurses rather than bargain for a fair contract."

The NYSNA also got a boost from 1199SEIU, which is the largest union of healthcare workers in New York.

"At this time of unprecedented cuts to Medicaid and other healthcare programs by Republican leaders in Washington, DC healthcare workers should not bear the brunt of funding shortfalls," said 1199SEIU president Yvonne Armstrong. "More than ever, we need stability in our healthcare system, which means investing in the type of good healthcare jobs which are fundamental to the wellbeing of caregivers and the communities they serve."

Armstrong also called on the hospitals to "bargain in good faith with NYSNA, refrain from committing unfair labor practices, and sign fair contracts that honor nurses’ contributions."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

linky

from https://nitter.net/UnionBustingBot/status/2010063803040575577

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/19000

On January 3, the U.S. bombed Caracas and kidnapped Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Days later, on January 7, ICE murdered legal observer Renee Nicole Good in cold blood in Minneapolis, following the deployment of 2,000 ICE agents to the city.

Class struggle in the U.S. has reared its head in the past few days, with over 1,000 actions called in response to Trump’s attacks. Labor has a pivotal role to play in uniting these interconnected struggles, to strike boldly at the heart of imperialism and all of Trump’s militarism with the strategic labor power of the working class.

In response to the political situation, five United Auto Workers (UAW) locals — following the lead of UAW Local 4811, who issued a statement last week — released a statement on January 9, calling on the UAW leadership to oppose U.S. intervention in Venezuela:

The invasion of Venezuela is intended to enrich oil companies and financial interests eager to exploit the Venezuelan people. For the working class, it will bring only suffering: death, destruction, and plunder of natural resources in Venezuela; and billions diverted to war instead of healthcare, housing, and schools in the United States.

The statement then calls on the UAW leadership, and all other labor unions, to demand an end to intervention, withdrawal of U.S. actors, and the release of Maduro.

This statement by the union locals points to an important contradiction in the UAW. The leadership of the union, headed by president Shawn Fain, is nominally one of the most progressive in the country. In 2023, it made history with its stand-up strike against the Big Three Auto companies and called for a ceasefire in Gaza. In 2024, UAW Local 4811 in the University of California system went on strike to protest the repression of pro-Palestine protesters, a historic act of labor solidarity with anti-imperialist struggle. This past year, Fain has been calling for a general strike in May 2028, and rhetoric about a general strike — how it might be coordinated, when it was done before — has become increasingly mainstream in recent months.

But the working class can’t afford to wait until 2028.

The time for an anti-imperialist labor movement is now. Attacks on the global working class, from Minneapolis to Caracas, are mounting. In the center of imperialism, the U.S. working class has a special role to play in the fierce anti-imperialist defense of our working class siblings in nations across the Americas that very well could be the next targets of Trump’s “Donroe Doctrine.”

For too long, union leaders have told us that we should only care about U.S.-born workers and bread-and-butter issues. Union leaders, from Shawn Fain to Sean O’Brien, have capitulated to Trump’s tariffs and become increasingly chauvinistic. Eric Blanc’s article “Want to Stop ICE? Go After Its Corporate Collaborators” explicitly separates the fight against ICE from the labor movement, uplifting a strategy of contained “pressure campaigns.”

But this political moment demands that we reject labor chauvinism and the siloing of movements. For a working class that saw ICE murder someone in the same week that our government invaded Venezuela, it is clear that allowing imperialism to go unchecked only strengthens the apparatus of state violence within the United States. Instead, the working class needs to get organized to use the power of the strike now to make political, class-based demands: Hands off Venezuela and Latin America! ICE out of our cities!

You might also be interested in: The Time for An Anti-Imperialist Labor Movement Is Now

From the heart of imperialism, we must reject complacency and complicity, looking to the inspiring examples of the general strike in Italy for Palestine and the experiences that have shaped the working class of the United States, from the George Floyd uprisings to the Palestine movement, to the shift in general consciousness as a result of the pandemic. We must forge an anti-imperialist labor movement that has the power to go beyond isolated union statements such as those of the UAW locals and the PSC, though these are steps in the right direction, towards labor action and a general strike. These initiatives require the self-organization of the rank-and-file, and should make demands of, but not rely on, the bureaucratic leaderships of our unions.

Critically, the rank-and-file of the UAW and all other unions must assertively reject the chauvinism of their leaderships. Instead, we have the task of becoming profoundly, unremittingly, and thoroughly internationalist. We need to support the anti-imperialist working classes across the Americas and the world, coordinate our forces, and grow our class power into one that has the possibility of organizing a continental general strike for the protection of the Venezuelan people and for the expulsion of U.S. imperialism in Latin America. Only international working class unity can bring the imperialist, capitalist ruling class that oppresses us to its knees.

The post We Can’t Wait for 2028: Shawn Fain Must Call for Labor Action Against Trump and U.S. Imperialism appeared first on Left Voice.

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cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/17703

A protester in frigid conditions, with temperatures near 10°F (or –12°C), in Minneapolis on Dec. 20, 2025, during a MN Love Our Immigrant Neighbors rally. Photo: Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images

“NO ROOM AT THE INN!” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security posted on its official X account on Monday. “HiltonHotels has launched a coordinated campaign in Minneapolis to REFUSE service to DHS law enforcement. When officers attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels maliciously CANCELLED their reservations.”

Leaving aside for a second the obscene comparison of gestapo-style immigration troops to Mary and Joseph searching for lodging in the Nativity story, the post made an extraordinary and unlikely claim: One of the largest hotel chains in the world was taking an organized stand against the Trump administration’s deportation machine. It was, like so many administration claims, a lie.

Behind DHS’s self-pitying post appears to be a story of resistance by workers at a specific Hilton.

There has been no such coordinated campaign by the multibillion-dollar company. Behind DHS’s self-pitying post, however, appears to be a story of resistance by workers and local operators at a specific Hilton franchise — the sort of pushback that should be supported and repeated wherever Donald Trump’s shock troops roam.

DHS posted a screenshot of an email allegedly from the Hampton Inn Lakeville front office manager that said, “[W]e are not allowing any ICE or immigration agents to stay at our property. If you are with DHS or immigration, let us know as we will have to cancel your reservation.” The individual sender’s name is redacted. The Lakeville property is independently owned and operated by Everpeak Hospitality, though Hilton owns the Hampton Inn brand.

Within hours, however, both Hilton and Everpeak released statements condemning the reported cancellations and affirming their willingness to serve the immigration agents terrorizing communities nationwide.

“We have been in direct contact with the hotel, and they have apologized for the actions of their team, which was not in keeping with their policies,” said a statement from Hilton.

Everpeak said in a statement on its website that the incident “was inconsistent with our policy of being a welcoming place for all.” The company said they are “in touch with the impacted guests to ensure they are accommodated.”

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, however, rejected the company’s claim that the matter had been addressed, posting on X on Monday night that DHS and ICE “haven’t heard anything from them.”

Hilton then announced on Tuesday that it would be cutting ties with the hotel after far-right influencer Nick Sortor posted a video online, which appears to show a worker at the front desk confirming that the hotel is maintaining the policy to deny rooms to immigration agents.

In the end, both Hilton and Everpeak publicly aligned with the administration’s logic that has for months framed the heavily armed, masked ICE officers as victims.

“We do not discriminate against any individuals or agencies and apologize to those impacted,” Everpeak’s statement said.

[

Related

Right-Wing YouTuber Behind Viral Minnesota Fraud Video Has Long Anti-Immigrant History](https://theintercept.com/2025/12/31/nick-shirley-videos-minnesota-somali-day-cares-fraud-claims/)

Following unsubstantiated claims by far-right provocateurs that members of Minnesota’s Somali community are committing welfare fraud, Trump has sent over 2,000 immigration agents to Minneapolis in the latest leg of his racist crackdowns. It’s a vile, base-baiting attack — not least because most of the Somali community are citizens and legal residents — which businesses should indeed refuse to aid.

It’s not surprising that there’s little coordinated resistance at a major hotel chain. Big businesses will bend over backwards to avoid going head-to-head with the petty and vengeful Trump regime. After DHS’s social media outburst, Hilton’s shares were down 2.5 percent at the close of trading on Monday. For the most part, hospitality giants have gone out of their way to accommodate ICE agents, even permitting the use of hotel rooms as temporary holding cells to detain immigrant families prior to deportation.

These collaborations and acquiescence are all the more reason to throw support behind those who do take a stand — from smaller, more conscientious institutions to the workers themselves.

Powerful corporations won’t stand in solidarity with us, but we can multiply acts of local resistance until they become an accumulative force.

Inconvenience ICE

Even creating short-lived inconvenience for ICE troops is better than advanced compliance. Every barrier to Trump’s immigration forces moving smoothly through a city is a good thing.

[

Related

Kat Abughazaleh on the Right to Protest](https://theintercept.com/2025/11/01/briefing-podcast-kat-abughazaleh-indictment-protest/)

Protesters blocking streets, networks warning immigrant neighbors of ICE agents lurking, judges refusing to let ICE in courts, lawsuits on lawsuits, or workers refusing service to officers — these are all acts that can and must be built upon and normalized.

When the Trump administration violently escalated its anti-immigrant attacks on Los Angeles last summer, protesters launched a “No Sleep for ICE” campaign, staging loud and disruptive rallies outside hotels where federal agents were staying. The protests successfully drove agents from a number of hotels, and led the U.S. Marines to compile a list of “LA Hotels to Avoid” when Trump sent National Guard troops and Marines to the city.

We might recall, too, another short-lived and extraordinary event at a Minneapolis hotel, this time during Trump’s first term. Following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, as powerful uprisings spread across the country, an 136-room Minneapolis Sheraton hotel was taken over by activists, including hotel workers with the initial consent of the property’s owner, and turned into a temporary home for unhoused people and others who needed shelter in the midst of the protests. Some dubbed it the “Share-a-ton.” Volunteers provided food, medicine, and other necessities. Handwritten signs with the word “sanctuary” were posted on the windows.

The “Share-a-ton” did not last long; the 200 occupants were ordered to leave after two weeks, when the property’s management company complained to the owner of multiple violations, including drug use. The philosopher Eva von Redecker described the brief experiment as a sort of “short-lived anomaly” that nonetheless “forms a crack through which a possible different future illuminates the present.”

I like to think of ICE’s canceled hotel rooms as a continuation of this legacy on behalf of Minneapolis hotel workers — a refusal to continue business as usual in the face of state violence. And, as von Redecker said of the Share-a-ton, we need more of these cracks to make a brighter future possible.

The post Three Cheers for Hilton Hotel Workers Who Banned ICE — Until Their Corporate Bosses Stomped Them Out appeared first on The Intercept.

From The Intercept via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/16660

Federal agents slammed California labor leader David Huerta, 58, into the Los Angeles sidewalk. They had already sprayed him with tear gas. Huerta could barely open his eyes as federal law enforcement officers dragged his body away, the crowd screaming in protest. He spent three days in federal custody before being released on charges of obstructing an ICE raid on an apparel store.

That was June. In the months since, labor unions have been galvanized against President Donald Trump’s deportation machine, challenging the president in the streets, the courtroom, and at the ballot box — and helping an American labor movement historically rife with divisions over immigration and race to coalesce.

“In their attempts to silence me, they gave me a louder platform,” Huerta, the California president of the Service Employees International Union and also president of SEIU-United Service Workers West, said in an interview with The Intercept. “[People] saw, if this could happen to a labor leader, a prominent leader, it could happen to anyone.”

[

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Unions Sue to Stop AI Surveillance Powering Trump’s “Catch and Revoke” Deportation Scheme](https://theintercept.com/2025/10/16/unions-sue-ai-surveillance-trump-deportation/)

Since Huerta’s arrest, labor unions — including SEIU, AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Union of Southern Service Workers — have helped lead thousands of demonstrations against Trump’s immigration policies, which they argue have largely targeted the working class, including many in their unions. The energy has spread far beyond the LA storefront where Huerta was arrested — spanning across cities like Seattle, Boston, and New York. Huerta’s arrest and the surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across the country have injected renewed fervor in an organized labor movement that has been in decline since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and now faces an existential threat from Trump’s anti-labor agenda.

The labor movement in the United States used to be “very anti-immigration,” said Jacob Remes, a labor historian and a professor at New York University. But that’s changed, particularly as immigrants have come to represent a higher share of the U.S. working class and its union membership.

“I think that’s a sign … of understanding that the American working class is not entirely immigrants, but has a lot of immigrants,” Remes said. “And a recognition that we’re not going to solve problems by scapegoating immigrants.”

The Trump administration has largely failed to take this into account, and may have “overreached,” Huerta said.

“In their deportation of immigrants, by labeling them criminals, and then coming at them by any means,” said Huerta, who is pleading not guilty to his charges which were reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor, “I think it has really created an ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ environment.”

Hundreds of workers traveled from North Carolina to Louisiana in late June to call for an end to ICE raids; for Congress not to pass the “Big, Beautiful, Bill,” which injected billions of dollars into ICE and detention facilities; and for Trump to release every immigrant unjustly held in detention. The demonstration culminated in two protests outside of detention centers, in “Detention-alley,” a term for the 14 massive immigration detention centers scattered along the Southeast.

“We were standing there in solidarity,” said Nashon Blount, a housekeeper at Duke University and a member of the Union of Southern Service Workers who attended the June protest, “letting them know that we’re here. That we’re going to stand with ya’ll regardless.”

“ICE is always going to melt in the South, because we bring the heat.”

When the Department of Homeland Security launched Operation Charlotte’s Web in November, surging federal agents into Charlotte and surrounding North Carolina, immigration officials terrorized Black and brown working people just trying to make a “stable living” in places like warehouses, stores, construction, and fast food restaurants, Blount said.

“They literally try to antagonize and racial profile them, just because they know it’s an easy target to go to places or stores where they know that these people will be,” he said.

But the legacy of racial terror in the South, and in North Carolina specifically, prepared workers in the state to fight back, Blount added.

“ICE is always going to melt in the South, because we bring the heat,” he said. “We know how to fight against [oppression].”

[

Related

“They Actually Had a List”: ICE Arrests Workers Involved in Landmark Labor Rights Case](https://theintercept.com/2025/05/05/ice-raid-farm-labor-union-new-york-ufw/)

Protest isn’t the only method that unions have used to push back against the Trump administration. Blount pointed out that local unions have also offered “know your rights” training as a key component of organized labor’s support system for immigrant workers. “So that when [a raid] does occur, you know how to go about it,” he said.

The threats facing immigrant union workers aren’t hypothetical. In September, three members of SEIU 32BJ in Boston were detained by ICE after leaving work. According to the union, all three members applied for asylum under a Biden-era policy that granted them work authorization and allowed them to reside in the United States until their asylum hearings were held. Two of the men have already self-deported, while the third remains detained.

“They’re just hard-working people who want to help win for their families the American dream, and struggle and improve their lives, improve their families’ lives, they’re escaping, in most cases, pretty horrible situations,” said Kevin Brown, executive vice president of SEIU 32BJ.

[

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Deportation, Inc.](https://theintercept.com/2025/12/19/deportation-abrego-garcia-ice-immigration/)

Brown said that the union worked to get the three men legal counsel and has been advocating publicly for the release of detained workers. Their work included the high-profile case of Kilmar Ábrego Garcia, a sheet metal apprentice with the SMART Local 100 union, who was illegally sent to a Salvadoran prison before the administration was ordered to release him in December.

Despite growing unity among workers and the large share of immigrant union members, divisions along racial and immigration status lines continue to create fault lines within the labor movement. Conservatives have consistently tried to pit the working class against immigrant rights, arguing that immigration drives down wages, a sentiment that some union members share.

Brown said that connecting members with immigrants within the union helped to bridge some of those divides. “It becomes, ‘Well, I work with her or him every single day. I don’t want them deported,’” said Brown. “When it becomes real in terms of their co-workers, things change.”

“We firmly believe, from an economic perspective, that immigrant labor actually improves wages and benefits.”

Efforts to separate the interests of “working people” and the interests of immigrants are based on faulty logic, argued Brown. “We firmly believe, from an economic perspective, that immigrant labor actually improves wages and benefits,” he said.

Although the research is nuanced, experts have generally found that on balance, immigrants boost job growth and the overall health of the economy.

“Trump’s war against immigrants is making it harder for working families to get by,” said Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa. “And these raids are enabling employers to abuse labor laws by silencing and exploiting the very workers whose rights, wages, and safety are already most at risk. Our communities deserve a government that doesn’t weaponize fear against people who are just trying to make a dignified living for their families.”

Manny Pastreich, president of the New York local SEIU-32BJ, admitted that Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric — pitting the working class against immigration — does make it more difficult to unify his coalition.

“Divisions and attacks have been part of Trump’s agenda from the day he arrived on the scene to today, and so that is part of the playbook, and it’s incredibly destructive,” he said. “I would be lying if I said that it doesn’t have an impact.”

“Employers do this all the time, trying to divide people by race, by immigration status, by everything else.”

However, he said, these are the same forces his union has always grappled with and managed to come through the other end.

“Employers do this all the time, trying to divide people by race, by immigration status, by everything else. … Trump didn’t invent division; he’s just taken it to a new level,” said Pastreich. “But working people understand that, particularly when we’re talking about the boss, we’re stronger together.”

“For many of us,” said Huerta, the immigration crackdown “has deepened our commitment to this sense of worker justice. How do we broaden the labor movement to fight on behalf of those who are most vulnerable?”

The post American Labor Needed Unity. Then Came Trump’s Immigration Crackdown. appeared first on The Intercept.

From The Intercept via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/16682

The coming year could keep the strikes rolling through steel mills, state offices, telephone lines, axle plants, baseball diamonds, and hospitals from coast to coast. Union contracts expiring in 2026 could open up major fights by manufacturing, education, entertainment, and government workers. The contract covering 20,000 Verizon workers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic expires on…

Source

From Truthout via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7162876

Another ski patrol union is striking. After some big strikes last year and near strikes.

The billionaire real estate owner, Chuck Horning, is of course trying to blame the patrol for wanting a raise from $21 to $28 an hr. In an incredibly expensive mountain town.

The proposed raise would, I think, cost less than $100k a year.

Remember chuck personally owns this resort. He has utterly unlimited money and spends that much constantly.

Chuck has repeatedly submitted the same offer that has been rejected again and again when coming to the negotiation table. Refuses anything.

Enjoy having your resort closed the busiest week of the year fuckhead.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/15566

Caracas, Venezuela – Dozens of Venezuelan trade unions representing public and private sectors ranging from national oil company workers to educators to motorcycle taxistas joined together in the Constituent Congress of the Working Class on December 15-17 in Caracas. They gathered as the culmination of over 22,000 assemblies of workers throughout the country involving nearly 67,000 elected delegates from October to December.

A spokeswoman, Maria Griman, from National Commission of Council of Productive Workers, the Hydro-carbons sector, presented to President Nicolas Maduro a list of four proposals. The first proposal is a president-appointed National Commission of Worker Transition (CENOT) that would have the power to direct the renovation of the methods, organization and leadership of all levels, sectors and structures of the federation of trade unions, Central Bolivariana Socialista de Trabajadores (CBST). The CBST, founded in 2008, represented nearly 1.5 million workers. The second proposal provides a timeline for the CENOT’s implementation so that a presentation of the plan for transition is presented within 20 days and the transition needs to happen within 18 months. Importantly, this plan also includes that the criteria for union leadership is that the member is active at the job site and there is a mechanism for recall.

The third proposal called for the re-launching of the Jesus Rivero Bolivarian University for Workers. The fourth proposal called for the creation of a National School for workers with a syllabus containing classes in production management, political economy, the history of Venezuela, science and technology and innovation.

Eduardo Pinate, minister of Popular Power, shared to President Maduro, that “those here are the expression of worker democracy, democracy at the base, direct democracy. These delegates were elected with working class methods by their base assemblies.”

As a former bus driver and union leader, President Maduro happily accepted the proposals from the workers. He declared the work on these proposals will begin the following day. Maduro added “this Constituent Congress of Workers and all the assemblies that took place before today represent the deepening of our revolution. We need to make sure that all unions and workers are integrated into the national plan of resistance. Connecting the militias with unions and workers at every workplace not only prepares us to defend our revolution from U.S. imperialism’s aggression but also allows us to deepen the revolution and advance toward complete independence and liberation.”

Maduro also recognized the 90-plus international delegates attending the Congress as representing over 30 countries and important partners in the struggle to free the world from U.S. imperialism.

#International #Venezuela #CENOT #CBST #Labor #AntiWarMovement

From Fight Back! News via This RSS Feed.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the top US labor watchdog, is tasked with protecting workers’ rights, overseeing the labor movement and ruling on disputes between employers and unions.

Its five-seat board, which hears disputes and oversees union elections, requires at least three members to issue a ruling. But days after regaining power, Trump fired Gwynne Wilcox – an unprecedented decision – from the board, leaving it without this crucial quorum to make decisions.

“The Trump administration thus far seems to have been treating the agency with this kind of combination of hostility and aggressive neglect,” said Lauren McFerran, who served as chair of the NLRB under Joe Biden.

Four current rank-and-file workers spoke to the Guardian. Each requested anonymity, fearing retaliation.

“The NLRB’s employees just want to do our jobs and be treated with respect,” said one official. “But from day one, this administration has crippled the agency, and treated us as enemies.”

The National Labor Relations Act, enacted in 1935 to federally protect workers’ rights to organize and engage in collective bargaining, now exists “on paper only”, the official claimed.

Anagram, a subcontractor for Disney, pays prisoners as low as $0.90 per hour to package balloons in prisons across Minnesota.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/14234

Thomas K. | Red Phoenix correspondent | Ohio– You load sixteen tons and what do you get? Black lung is what you get. In the Spring of 2025, a slew of Trump regime budget cuts to National Institute of Occupational... Read More ›

From The Red Phoenix via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/13408

On the heels of a major win for federal workers in the US House of Representatives, the Transportation Security Administration on Friday revived Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's effort to tear up TSA employees' collective bargaining agreement.

House Democrats and 20 Republicans voted Thursday to restore the rights of 1 million federal workers, which President Donald Trump had moved to terminate by claiming their work is primarily focused on national security, so they shouldn't have union representation. Noem made a similar argument about collective bargaining with the TSA workforce.

A federal judge blocked Noem's first effort in June, in response to a lawsuit from the American Federation of Government Employees, but TSA moved to kill the 2024 agreement again on Friday, citing a September memo from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief. AFGE pledged to fight the latest attack on the 47,000 transportation security officers it represents.

"Secretary Noem's decision to revoke our union contract is a slap in the face to the dedicated workforce that shows up each and every day for the flying public," declared AFGE Council 100 president Hydrick Thomas. "TSA officers take pride in the work we perform on behalf of the American people—many of us joined the agency following the September 11 attacks because we wanted to serve our country and make sure that the skies are safe for air travel."

"Prior to having a union contract, many employees endured hostile work environments, and workers felt like they didn't have a voice on the job, which led to severe attrition rates and longer wait times for the traveling public. Since having a contract, we've seen a more stable workforce, and there has never been another aviation-related attack on our country," he noted. "AFGE TSA Council 100 is going to keep fighting for our union rights so we can continue providing the very best services to the American people."

As the Associated Press reported:

The agency said it plans to rescind the current seven-year contract in January and replace it with a new "security-focused framework." The agreement... was supposed to expire in 2031.

Adam Stahl, acting TSA deputy administrator, said in a statement that airport screeners "need to be focused on their mission of keeping travelers safe."

"Under the leadership of Secretary Noem, we are ridding the agency of wasteful and time-consuming activities that distracted our officers from their crucial work," Stahl said.

AFGE national president Everett Kelley highlighted Friday that "merely 30 days ago, Secretary Noem celebrated TSA officers for their dedication during the longest government shutdown in history. Today, she's announcing a lump of coal right on time for the holidays: that she’s stripping those same dedicated officers of their union rights."

"Secretary Noem's decision to rip up the union contract for 47,000 TSA officers is an illegal act of retaliatory union busting that should cause concern for every person who steps foot in an airport," he added. "AFGE will continue to challenge these illegal attacks on our members' right to belong to a union, and we urge the Senate to pass the Protect America's Workforce Act immediately."

American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) president Liz Shuler similarly slammed the new DHS move as "an outrageous attack on workers' rights that puts all of us at risk" and accused the department of trying to union bust again "in explicit retaliation for members standing up for their rights."

"It's no coincidence that this escalation, pulled from the pages of Project 2025, is coming just one day after a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives voted to overturn Trump's executive order ripping away union rights from federal workers," she also said, calling on senators to pass the bill "to ensure that every federal worker, including TSA officers, are able to have a voice on the job."

The DHS union busting came after not only the House vote but also a lawsuit filed Thursday by Benjamin Rodgers, a TSA officer at Denver International Airport, over the federal government withholding pay during the 43-day shutdown, during which he and his co-workers across the country were expected to keep reporting for duty.

"Some of them actually had to quit and find a separate job so they could hold up their household with kids and stuff," Rodgers told HuffPost. "I want to help out other people as much as I can, to get their fair wages they deserve."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/13398

In a landmark development for the labour movement in Greece, the Democratic Militant Cooperation  (DAS) — the trade union faction affiliated with the All-Workers Militant Front  (PAME) and rooted in the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) — emerged as the leading force at the 39th Congress of ADEDY, the Confederation of Public Sector Workers. This result marks an unprecedented historic shift within Greece’s largest public sector union federation, sending a powerful message of working-class resistance and unity against pro-monopoly policies, austerity, and the dominance of pro‑government union currents.

The congress, which brought together representatives from 36 federations and over 1,040 primary trade unions, reflected a deeply engaged public sector workforce — from educators and healthcare workers to municipal and regional employees — mobilised by rising cost of living pressures, attacks on labour rights, and growing frustration with entrenched bureaucratic unionism.

A Historic win against the status quo

For the first time in ADEDY’s century‑long history, the Congress results saw DAS, backed by PAME, winning the highest number of delegates — a dramatic overturning of the long‑standing dominance of the pro‑government union faction DAKE and a decline in influence for centrist currents such as PASKE. The DAS slate increased both its vote share and number of seats, signalling a decisive shift toward class‑oriented, combative unionism rooted in the interests of all workers, not the agendas of established political elites.

This victory is not merely numerical; it represents a profound political shift within the union movement. Delegates and rank‑and‑file members alike expressed their rejection of unions that have historically accommodated bourgeois governments and corporate interests. This result invigorates the potential for ADEDY to become once again a genuine organising centre for struggle, capable of coordinating militant action across the public sector and forging links with broader movements of workers, peasants, students, and the self‑employed.

The outcome of the 39th ADEDY Congress resonates far beyond the union’s internal elections. It reflects the renewed confidence of working people in fighting for fundamental rights: decent wages, the restoration of lost benefits, secure employment, and protection of social services. It also illustrates a rejection of political forces that have aligned themselves with capitalist governance at the expense of workers’ lives and livelihoods.

  **IN DEFENSE OF COMMUNISM**©   

From In Defense of Communism via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/13108

Palm Springs, FL – Starbucks workers in Palm Springs are entering the fourth day of a powerful strike that has already forced multiple store closures and exposed the company’s reliance on overworked, understaffed non-union labor.

The strike, organized by Starbucks Workers United (SBWU), has seen strong participation from the vast majority of workers at the store, many of whom are balancing full-time school and second jobs but remain committed to standing up to corporate greed.

The action began at 7 a.m. on December 4, when workers walked off the job and established a picket line at the store’s entrance while supporters leafleted the drive-thru. Scab labor was unable to keep up with the morning rush, leading Starbucks management to shut down the store early. Throughout the day, striking workers reaffirmed their unity, even confronting scabbing coworkers and urging them to stand with the union. At least one has since committed to joining SBWU.

Day two brought another early store closure as striking workers held the line until 6 p.m. Supporters launched a strike fund to support the workers, raising hundreds of dollars within the first 24 hours. Flyers and outreach have extended into the broader community, with plans underway to leaflet additional Starbucks locations and build toward a rally on December 13 at 2 p.m.

On day three, worker turnout remained exceptionally strong, with over a dozen striking workers arriving between 7 and 9 a.m. Their determination contrasts sharply with Starbucks management’s inability to operate the store without them. Around 11 a.m., one of the scabs walked off the job, calling conditions “unbearable.” Starbucks again closed early.

“Workers are proving every day that this store runs because of them—not because of corporate or overpaid managers,” a union supporter said. “The solidarity on the picket line show exactly why Starbucks workers across the country are rising up.”

SBWU organizers plan to continue daily pickets, expand outreach to other stores in the region, and build broader community support ahead of next weekend’s rally. The workers have vowed to maintain their action until Starbucks bargains in good faith and addresses the ongoing unfair labor practices.

#PalmSpringsFL #FL #Labor #Starbucks #SBWU #Strike

From Fight Back! News via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/12441

Shelbyville, IN – In a decisive victory for their historic strike for union recognition, table games dealers and dual rate dealers at the Horseshoe Indianapolis casino voted overwhelmingly on Friday, December 5, to join Teamsters Local 135.

In an expedited NLRB election ordered after the end of the government shutdown, striking casino workers delivered a landslide mandate for union representation and forced Caesars Entertainment, the corporation that owns the casino, to recognize their union. The vote took place on day 50 of the strike.

The final tally showed 100 votes for the union and 47 against, a 53-vote margin in favor of Local 135. Caesars management challenged the ballots of 50 of its employees – more than one in four eligible workers – but the challenged ballots were not determinative to the outcome. More than two-thirds of the challenged ballots were cast by striking workers, who voted yes. Caesars also challenged all dual rate ballots, continuing to claim dual rates are “supervisors,” despite multiple NLRB rulings rejecting that position.

A strike-day election

Polling opened at 5 a.m. inside the Horseshoe casino. Across the street, the striking dealers and dual rates held a mass rally before walking together in groups to cast their ballots. The NLRB’s decision to hold the election at the casino was an egregious example of the federal government violating the rights of workers. In ordering the election in this manner, the NLRB effectively forced strikers to cross their own picket line. Despite this gross violation of workers’ rights, turnout was not diminished in the slightest. Every striker voted, and the rally on the picket line across the street continued throughout the day.

When polls closed at 10 p.m., workers again assembled across the street for a victory gathering. An hour later, the results were announced. Striking workers celebrated an overwhelming win for the union.

Horseshoe General Manager Trent McIntosh and Table Games Manager Lee Ann Hinthorne were present during the vote count, along with an attorney from the casino. All three were advised by Littler Mendelson, the anti-union law firm that Caesars paid tens of thousands of dollars per day throughout the campaign. All looked on as the workers delivered a resounding defeat to Caesars’ months-long anti-union effort, which included illegal firings, threats, captive-audience meetings, illegal attempts at strike-breaking, and around-the-clock pressure.

The road to victory and beyond

The December 5 election came exactly 50 days after the strike began on October 17, when day-shift dealers walked off the floor in unison, shutting down table games. The strike came after Horseshoe management refused to honor the union's request to proceed with a neutral-administered election during the government shutdown, which indefinitely postponed all scheduled union elections.

Workers held a continuous, militant, round-the-clock picket line through storms, freezing temperatures, police repression, and a coordinated effort by the city of Shelbyville and Caesars to restrict public space around the casino. Their organization and persistence sharply limited Caesars’ ability to continue union-busting and held the unit together through the shutdown until victory.

Teamsters Local 135 President Dustin Roach called the outcome “a victory written in courage, sacrifice and snow,” saying the workers had “shown the world exactly what it means to fight for dignity.”

In a statement after the vote, Teamsters Local 135 said that the dealers and dual rates “faced down a billion-dollar corporation. They endured pressure, fear tactics, and every trick Caesars could throw at them. They sacrificed paychecks, sleep, family time and comfort — all for each other. And tonight, they won.”

The strike officially concluded on Monday, December 8, when the dealers and dual rates returned to work as recognized Teamsters Local 135 members. They are immediately beginning to organize a strong first-contract campaign.

The Horseshoe recognition strike now stands as one of the most consequential labor victories in recent Indiana history, and a rare example in the modern era of workers using a recognition strike to force a major corporation to the bargaining table.

#ShelbyvilleIN #IN #Labor #Teamsters #Strike #Featured

From Fight Back! News via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/12185

New labor codes, enacted last month amidst strong objections from the majority of unions, are widely seen as an assault on the basic rights of the working classes won through generations of struggle.

Indian opposition parties and their members of parliament staged a joint protest in front of the parliament building on Wednesday, December 3, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the four labor codes formally enacted last month.

Elected members of the parliament from the Indian National Congress (INC), Samajwadi Party, and left parties gathered outside the main entry of the Indian Parliament in Delhi carrying banners and shouting slogans against the new codes.

The four new labor codes were “rammed” through the parliament five years ago and recently “unilaterally notified”, claimed M A Baby, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in a post on X.

Baby refuted the government’s claims that the codes were introduced to facilitate the “ease of doing business”, claiming they were introduced to promote the “ease of exploitation” of workers and are “yet another proof of the new fascist drive” of the extreme right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi.

The four new codes are the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. They were adopted by the parliament in 2020 without much discussion with the stakeholders and in the absence of the opposition. They were kept in abeyance until November 21 when they were suddenly enacted in a surprising move.

The government has claimed the new labor codes were introduced to simplify the existing laws and to provide universal benefits to all the workers in the country. However, the Central Trade Unions (CTUs), a joint platform of all major trade unions in the country have already rejected the codes, calling them a “deceptive fraud committed against the working people of the nation” and staging a nationwide protest on November 26.

Aniyan P V, Delhi state secretary of the Center for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), spoke to Peoples Dispatch about the codes and why they have sparked such broad-based mass opposition.

The post Indian unions claim labor codes seek to “ease exploitation” in the name of business appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

From Peoples Dispatch via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/11388

The All-Workers’ Militant Front organized a solidarity visit to trade unions in the West Bank, witnessing firsthand the violence faced by Palestinian workers under occupation.

The post Greek unions reaffirm solidarity with Palestine after West Bank visit appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

Around the time the so-called ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was announced, the Greek All-Workers’ Militant Front (PAME) organized a solidarity visit to trade unions in Palestine. During their trip, PAME’s delegation met with labor organizations in the West Bank and traveled to refugee camps and communities that face regular attacks by Israeli settlers.

The delegation, which included PAME Secretariat member Giorgos Perros and Markos Bekris from the dockworkers’ organization ENEDEP, witnessed firsthand the daily reality of workers in the West Bank. “Every day, at the checkpoints of the army of the murderous state of Israel, thousands of Palestinians are subjected to humiliating inspections, waiting for hours in the heat or cold just to reach their workplace,” PAME described. “Every day they risk their lives under the barrel of a gun, struggling to earn a day’s wage to feed their families.”

Since the beginning of the genocide, PAME added, unemployment in the West Bank has reached roughly 70%. As Israel continues to deny work permits to Palestinian workers, many have been left with no option but to attempt risky crossings in search of occasional work. Several workers have been killed, and many more injured, trying to bypass the apartheid wall erected by Israeli authorities, including during the delegation’s visit, as documented by the media organization 902.gr.

The trade unionists also collected testimonies from agricultural workers and farmers whose land continues to be confiscated by Israeli authorities or seized by settlers, as well as from people from refugee camps, violently expelled from their homes and forced into schools or other makeshift shelters. This pattern of violence only escalated throughout the genocide and has continued despite the ceasefire announcement.

“The unrelenting, murderous attacks, even after the so-called ‘truce’ of October 10, 2025, with a gun held to the head of the Palestinian people, show that the crime has never stopped,” PAME wrote in a declaration published on November 29, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. “The working class and the people of Greece stand on the right side of history, against the slaughterhouses and wars of the imperialists, asserting the inalienable right of all peoples to live in peace in their own homeland.”

From Peoples Dispatch via This RSS Feed.

I may not be a power poster here on hexbear, but for those who were around - I got laid off this past summer then rehired by my employer in one of the most fucking pointless layoffs ever.

However, knowing the way the wind blows, I'll be getting laid off again this year most likely. However, having a union is nice and I've found that organizing really rocks and if you have a union, you should do what you can to become a cadre and more involved.

I'm at the point now where I'm visiting members to get them on board with the contract campaign we have coming up. While this doesn't effect me directly (the contract will be negotiated after this year so I might still get laid off), I do feel like by getting folks ready to strike, I'm also potentially building power to push back against the layoffs as well. While applying to jobs has felt so empty and hollow (like, it's still exercising a bit of agency and control over my life, but we all know how that goes), organizing feels fulfilling. Even when a member isn't entirely on board, just the chance to discuss, hear their concerns about work, etc. feels great.

In summary, if you have a union, get involved in whatever capacity you can to help organizing. There's spreadsheets and other things for our less socially-outgoing comrades as well - coordinating organizing efforts is just as important (we basically have 4 different ppl variously coordinating ad-hoc, so a centralizing there would definitely improve the org but we'd need a data person and don't have 'em).

Obviously my personal hope is my organizing efforts get enough comrades ready to strike that maybe we can head off layoffs, but even if not I feel like organizing my members will spit in the eye of my employer as those who remain fight (and who knows, maybe claw back some of the layoffs for their own workload).

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/9194

On Wednesday, Kings County Hospital doctors, nurses, PCAs/PCTs, transporters, and others rallied outside of the hospital to demand that the administration halt an unsafe plan to decommission one of the CT scanners that would put patients at risk.

The post Kings County Healthcare Workers Rally for Patient Safety appeared first on Left Voice.

From Left Voice via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/8855

The author of the new book, "No Neutrals There: U.S. Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine," discusses how U.S. labor unions have played a key role in building and maintaining the state of Israel.

This year, on the eve of International Workers’ Day, General Federation of Trade Unions in Gaza, published a call to the U.S. labor movement.

“This war would not have been possible without the unlimited U.S. support for the occupation, whether through military funding, political and diplomatic backing, or arms deals that kill our children, women, and elderly every day,” it read. “The U.S. administration under Trump has continued what the previous administration started, becoming a direct accomplice in genocide, ignoring the voices of millions inside and outside of the United States, and an overwhelming majority of the nation, who reject this brutal aggression.”

“Therefore, we call on you, the American labor unions, to translate your solidarity into effective actions that go beyond statements and speeches and create real pressure to stop this dirty war,” it continued.

Over the years, many rank-and-file U.S. workers have engaged in such effective actions, but labor leadership has consistently backed Israel and even cracked down on organizers who have taken a stance on the issue.

Labor historian Jeff Schuhrke has published an important new book on this disconnect. No Neutrals There: U.S. Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine details how U.S. labor unions have played a key role in building and maintaining the state of Israel.

From Mondoweiss via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/8402

Colorado Springs, CO – On November 13, workers from the Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) rallied with their allies at a unionized Starbucks store in Colorado Springs to begin their “Red Cup Rebellion, ” strike against unfair labor practice. SBWU called this strike after Starbucks refused to finalize a union contract earlier in the year that would address worker demands for higher pay, better staffing, and address hundreds of unfair labor practice charges.

Around 90 people picketed in front of the drive-through window of the Starbucks store holding picket signs and shouting phrases like “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” and “What’s appalling? Bosses stalling!” Among them were allies from both the general community as well as several organizations, such as the Colorado Springs Labor Council, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Democratic Socialists of America, and Teamsters for a Democratic Union.

Before the picket, members from SBWU spoke in front of the crowd, railing against Starbucks’ anti-worker practices and highlighting the importance of worker solidarity.

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