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Bolivian Workers and Peasants Flood the Streets, Demand an End to U.S. backed Dictatorship

Bolivian national strike and nationwide road blockades were called for by the Bolivian trade union center, the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) in August.

by Adam Pedesclaux

For the past few weeks, tens of thousands have been marching, striking, and blocking traffic along many of the major highways across Bolivia. They are demanding the resignation of the coup government of Jeanine Áñez. Áñez’ fascist government has carried out cuts to social programs and privatizations, which have wrecked the national healthcare system, killing thousands. It has brutally repressed and massacred workers, peasants, and indigenous people who have stood up to defend themselves. Using the pandemic as an excuse, her government has postponed elections to maintain its grip on power.

On November 2019, with U.S. backing, Áñez’s right wing government of the rich removed the democratically elected president Evo Morales and other high ranking officials of the MAS (Movement for Socialism) party of Bolivia. The ultra-rich in Bolivia are deeply racist and want to crush the historic liberation of the Indigenous masses in Bolivia, which Morales’ party stood for. Morales’ party had also worked to guarantee universal healthcare, improve literacy, and return land to the indigenous people that had been stolen by the rich. Áñez government is attempting to reverse every last one of these progressive reforms but the trade unions, indigenous and peasant organizations in the streets are determined to fight back.

Fascist Coup in Bolivia the Work of Billionaires

Bolivia has one of the world’s largest reserves of lithium, a mineral needed for the production for batteries.

The U.S. company Tesla requires vast amounts of lithium to maintain production of its electric cars.

When it was recently reported that Tesla’s billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, might have played a role in supporting the right-wing coup in Bolivia, Musk replied: “ We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.” These are the words of the same billionaire who called the covid lockdown “fascist,” as thousands of predominantly Black, Latinx, and Indigenous frontline workers were succumbing to the virus and who vocally opposed any government relief for workers. In moments like these, the real motives of the U.S. ruling class are revealed. We know that U.S. billionaires are conscious of their role in oppression and misery around the world, but rarely are they so frank.

The future of the world’ peoples should be in their own hands, not in the hands of billionaire creeps like Elon Musk.

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Airport Workers Stage Sit-ins Across the U.S.

During the busy Thanksgiving holiday, airport workers carried out militant demonstrations in 17 cities. These included major airports in Dallas and New York, where 60 were arrested by the NYPD. The workers are tired of low wages and the high costs of healthcare, and innumerable abuses from their employer, Sky Chef.

In Miami, 12 catering workers and UNITE HERE union representatives blocked the arrivals road in front of Terminal D at the Miami International Airport. They chanted, “One job should be enough!”

In Dallas, demonstrator Preston Strickland told reporters, “We feel like because we’re the backbone of the catering operation, we should have affordable healthcare and better living wages.”

This is only the latest in a series of actions carried out by the Sky Chef workers in 2019.

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49,000 U.S. GM Workers Strike South Korean and Mexican GM Workers Join Strike

By Gregory William

Forty-nine thousand General Motors workers began striking on September 16. This is the largest private sector strike in the U.S. since GM workers walked out in 2007. The capitalists are increasingly denying workers benefits and regular jobs as they make super profits from using and discarding workers at will. A major issue of the strike in all three countries is the right of temporary workers to equal pay and job security. This strike helps all workers. As usual, the capitalist government sides with GM as it harasses and arrests strikers on various picket lines.

Members of the United Automobile Workers union, or UAW, the strikers are pushing back against GM’s attacks on the workforce carried out in the aftermath of the 2007-2009 recession. During the recession, the government bailed out GM with $50 billion in taxpayer money, just as they did with the giant banks. Instead of improving conditions for the workers, GM “restructured”, bringing in more low-paid temp workers and subcontractors. Over time, the number of regular, full-time union employees has declined. Employees are increasingly overworked.

GM has effectively increased the level of exploitation in its plants, bringing in $35 billion in profits over the last three years. In 2018, they paid no federal income taxes. Now, they have the nerve to ask employees to pay more for health insurance. The workers are not standing for it.

GM’s anti-worker restructuring shows that, under capitalism today, no workers are truly secure. What we used to call “good jobs,” (jobs with benefits, decent pay, etc.) can be put on the chopping block at any moment. It is increasingly important for workers to stand together, whether we are full-time, part-time, temp, or subcontractors.

One of the most advanced demands of the union is for GM to reopen a car factory in Lordstown, Ohio. GM had shut down this facility, along with plants in other states, as part of a cost-cutting measure that resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs. Workers demanding that a factory be re-opened indicates that the working class is becoming more assertive and confident of its power. The UAW was built when workers occupied the factories they were striking against. The time has come to say, “our labor, our plants!” and take them over.
The bosses need us. We don’t need them!

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South African Miners Strike Against Sexual Harassment


In June, South African miners carried out an underground sit-down strike in response to the sexual harassment of a women worker and the subsequent protection of her abuser by human resources and the management of the Lanxess chrome mine outside Rustenburg, South Africa. Led by women, more than 200 miners participated in the 9-day sit-down strike. The following is from a statement by Ruth Ntlokotse of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa.

NUMSA HONOURS LANXESS WORKERS ON WOMEN’S DAY

On this Womens’ Day the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) is honouring our members at Lanxess mines, both men and women, who came together to fight against sexual harassment and tyranny in the workplace. From the 19th of June to the 27th of June 2019, two hundred of our members suffered underground, breathing in potentially toxic fumes, sleeping in the biting cold, sacrificing time away from the comfort of their families and their homes, they risked their lives in order to stage a sit-in to protest against a cruel and vicious management. Because of their selfless struggle, they were victorious against their oppressors. The alleged sex pest who was terrorizing a worker has been placed on suspension and is facing criminal charges. The Human Resources manager and the Security Managers who were terrorizing the victim have left the company. These were just some of the achievements they secured by uniting and fighting together against oppression.

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Hundreds Join Miners’ Sit-Down Strike on Train Tracks

Word spread fast that Harlan County miners had stood up to the Blackjewel company to demand pay owed to them for digging coal. They have effectively stopped a train attempting to bring coal they dug out to be sold for the profit of the criminal owners of Blackjewel. The company, which declared bankruptcy in June, is attempting to cheat the laid-off miners out of $12 million.

The company is trying to get an injunction to order the removal of the miners, but it’s the owners of Blackjewel who should be ordered to pay the miners. Clearly the owners understand that the capitalist courts work for them. But as one miner said, “we are standing up for what is right.”

The miners train track sit-down has garnered support throughout Harlan County as well as supporters from across the country who have traveled to join them in their tent city. People are bringing food and necessities and support for their families.

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20,000 AT&T Southeast Workers Strike


On August 23, 20,000 workers at AT&T Southeast, members of the Communications Workers of America, told the company we’re fed up. 3,500 of the workers who took part in this strike are in Louisiana. These workers do everything from customer service to major infrastructure. It’s from these workers’ labor that AT&T draws its enormous profits. Until the workers carried out the strike, the company had been refusing to negotiate according to the requirements of the law. After four days of work stoppage, AT&T was forced back to the bargaining table.

AT&T is broken up into different regions and the company and union had settled contracts in other regions. In yet another display of discrimination and hatred toward southern workers, AT&T Southeast had arrogantly refused to negotiate with its workers in good faith. The union could have demonstrated its solidarity and commitment to southern workers by postponing settlements in the other regions until AT&T Southeast sat down to negotiate. Fortunately, southern workers showed leadership with this strike.

On August 30, CWA announced the settlement of a new 5 year contract which includes wage increases of 13.25 percent and improvements to pensions and health insurance plans. Workers at AT&T Southeast show that the power of a union comes from its members and their determination to strike when the bosses try to cheat them.

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Hundreds of Wayfair Workers Walk Out, Protest Company’s Support of Concentration Camps

Hundreds of workers at Wayfair Inc. organized a walk-out to protest the decision of their bosses to fulfill contracts with BCFS, a company that operates migrant detention camps near the U.S. border.

The workers made public that the company had recently approved a $200,000 order to supply furniture to a camp that would hold captive up to 3,000 migrant children.

In a letter to the bosses, they demanded the company “cease all current and future business with BCFS and other contractors participating in the operation of migrant detention camps at our Southern border (or anywhere else).”

Less than a day after the CEO Niraj Shah rejected the workers request in writing, they announced a walk-out for the following day.

The 547 worker signatories to the letter wrote, “the United States government and its contractors are responsible for the detention and mistreatment of hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking asylum in our country— we want that to end. We also want to be sure Wayfair has no part in enabling, supporting, or profiting from this practice.”

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In North Carolina, Over 20,000 Education Workers Strike

May 1 is International Workers’ Day. This past May Day, over 20,000 education workers in South Carolina took a “personal day” and converged on the state legislature in Raleigh. Strikers included not only teachers, but bus drivers, custodians, counselors, and nurses. Student supporters from across the state also turned out. In total, they shut down 35 school districts for the day, showing that when workers get organized, they can shut down whole systems and even industries. Workers really do hold the cards, if only we lean how to play them!

The work stoppage was organized by the North Carolina Association of Educators. Like teachers striking in other states since 2018, the union and its supporters are demanding better pay and conditions for school workers, as well as a better education for students. For example, they want the schools to be adequately staffed with psychologists, librarians, nurses and counselors. They are also demanding $15-an-hour minimum for all school personnel.

In South Carolina, over 10,000 educator workers and supporters amassed outside the Department of Education in Columbia, the state capital. The action was organized by a Facebook group called SC for Ed. Like their counterparts in North Carolina, demonstrators called for improvements for both workers and students. This was one of the biggest gatherings ever to take place at the state capital, matched only by the crowds that gathered in 2015 to see the Confederate flag finally removed from the statehouse.

Kathy Maness, with the Palmetto State Teachers Association, said, “For many years, I have said that teachers in South Carolina have been sleeping giants. They would go in their classroom, they would do their job and would not speak up for their profession. I think that sleeping giant is waking up.”

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1,800 Farmworkers Strike in California

Jan 11: Fruit pickers in Bakersfield, CA took to the streets when the bosses at “The Wonderful Company” cut their pay. “Wonderful Company.”
Back in January, nearly 1,800 citrus pickers went on strike outside Bakersfield, California. Now some of the workers involved in the protests are pushing to form a union.

The workers are primarily undocumented immigrants working under harsh conditions. Although some are employed directly by the Wonderful Company (which markets “Halos” mandarins), most are subcontracted. They are hired by third party staffing corporations, then do piece work for the so-called Wonderful Co. Piece work is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed piece rate for each unit produced or action performed. This type of employment was common in the early industrial revolution, but it’s making a comeback. (Uber and Lyft are good ex-amples.) In the fruit pickers case, the workers hired out to pick mandarins and clementines get paid per bin of fruit picked.

On January 11, the Wonderful Co. announced that it was reducing its rates up to 10 percent, going from paying $53 per bin to $48. According to United Farm Workers Secretary-Treasurer, Armando Elenes, “Workers showed up and they were told the price was $5 less than the day before.” He add-ed that during an eight-hour shift, most workers are only able to harvest 1 1/2 to 2 bins of fruit. This is back-breaking work for low pay, while the company bosses raked in $4.2 billion in profits in 2018.

About 1,800 workers walked out of the fields the very day that the pay cuts were announced. They carried out protests around the edges of the farms for four days, with the United Farm Workers coming in to provide support. The company gave in, restoring the original bin rate.

In the months afterward, some workers are carrying on agitation to form a union with United Farm Workers, which would bring the possibility of health care benefits, pensions, sick time, and more. The UFW and the newly-emerging grassroots organizers among the pickers are considering staging a vote to unionize. In the meantime, the UFW has connected the workers with a law firm. The firm is currently helping them to fight for more concessions, like forcing the Wonderful Co. to provide workers with tools so they do not have to buy and clean their own.

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31,000 Grocery Workers Win Strike in New England Save Health Coverage and Get Raises

Image Credit: UFCW Local 328
By Gregory William

Thirty-one thousand Stop & Shop workers went on strike in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island and beat back company cuts to health care, pensions, and wages. The work stoppage carried out by unionized employees of the grocery store chain shut 240 stores. The scale of the strike rivals that of the West Virginia teachers’ strike last year and is the largest private sector strike in the entire U.S. in three years. Stop & Shop workers are organized with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

Cashiers, stockers, bakers, deli clerks, butchers and others walked off the job on April 11, after the company presented a “final offer” in contract negotiations which included higher health care premiums and deductible, and replacing proposed pay raises with bonuses. The company intended to cut pensions and roll back overtime pay.

Employees considered this a slap in the face when the grocery chain’s parent company, Ahold Delhaize, is worth $44 billion; they have also saved millions over the past couple years because of Trump’s corporate tax breaks.
One associate, who was picketing outside a Stop & Shop in Middletown, Connecticut said, “They’re a billion-dollar company because of us. We’re out here striking and protesting to show what’s fair and what’s right.”

Many Stop & Shop shoppers have shown solidarity by boycotting the stores that have remained open during the strike. Some posted to Twitter and other social media sites. Twitter user, Hester Prynne, wrote, “#Solidarity well done. I’ve never crossed a picket line, I’m not about to start now!” On the same platform, a shopper by the name of Julias, said, “Good for you. All of you. Our country is moving backwards in many ways. I work in an entirely different industry, but like most, ours is putting profit before employees. We are stressed, overworked and fed up.”