The Volvo strike and the silence of the pseudo-left lambs
With the strike by roughly 2,900 Volvo Trucks workers in southwestern Virginia reaching a decisive turning point this week, the silence on the walkout by organizations and political figures that present themselves as “left-wing” or “socialist” is taking on an even greater significance.
The Volvo strike is undoubtedly one of the most important labor struggles in the US in decades. Early on, workers formed the Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee, which has taken the leading role in organizing opposition to the attempts by the company and the United Auto Workers to enforce concessions in health care, pay and working conditions. On Friday, workers at Volvo’s New River Valley plant voted down a third UAW-backed concessionary agreement by a nearly two-to-one margin, after voting down two similar contracts earlier this year by 90 percent.
Hundreds of Frito-Lay workers on strike in Topeka, citing forced overtime and 84-hour workweeks
msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Hundreds of Frito-Lay Workers Go on Strike, Citing 84-Hour Work Weeks
newsweek.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newsweek.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
What the growing class struggle in the US reveals about the pseudo-left
Both in the United States and in other countries, workers are engaging in an upsurge of strikes and militant struggles, seeking to reverse decades of worsening living standards and working conditions. As has often been the case, the development of the class struggle is shedding light on fundamental aspects of contemporary social and political life, putting to the test political programs and tendencies.
Striking Volvo Truck workers (Source: UAW Local 2069/Facebook)
Shortly after midnight on Monday, nearly 600 Frito-Lay workers in Topeka, Kansas, walked out in the first strike at the facility since at least the early 1970s, when the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers union (BCTGM) initially established a presence at the plant. Last week, workers at the snack food giant overwhelmingly rejected a fourth contract proposal this year, defying the BCTGM’s efforts to pass a deal that failed to