Striking coal miners rally, reach out for solidarity By Susan Lamont May 24, 2021
United Mine Workers of America Striking coal miners and supporters join together at weekly rally May 5 in McCalla, Alabama.
MCCALLA, Ala. A third weekly solidarity rally for 1,100 United Mine Workers of America union members on strike at Warrior Met Coal in nearby Brookwood drew several hundred miners, family members, union retirees and other supporters to Tannehill State Park here May 5. The strike has entered its second month.
UMWA coal miners who work at Warrior Met’s two underground mines, coal preparation plant and central shop struck April 1 when their contract expired. They’re fighting to regain ground lost in 2016 when major concessions in wages, benefits and working conditions were forced on the union. Jim Walter Resources, the former owner, went belly up and its creditors used a federal bankruptcy court to demand union concessi
By Seth Galinsky May 24, 2021
Workers on strike have been running into an anti-labor outfit that calls itself the Socialist Equality Party. The group which maintains the so-called World Socialist Web Site claims to back the fight for better wages and job conditions. In reality everything it does is aimed at weakening the working class and our unions.
The World Socialist Web Site has been quick to write in their online-only publication about many of today’s strike battles and lockouts. But every article calls on workers to quit their unions claiming that all unions are wretched and corrupt a call that is music to the ears of every boss in the country.
By Terry Evans May 24, 2021
12News/KBMTMembers of United Steelworkers Local 13-243 picket outside ExxonMobil in Beaumont, Texas, after being locked out by bosses May 1 in attack on seniority rights, safety and job security.
Hiring is edging up as government coronavirus lockdowns are lifted and growing numbers of vaccinated workers rejoin the workforce. Better conditions are being created for workers to come together on the job to beat back attempts by the bosses to defend their competitive position against rivals at home and abroad and boost profits at the expense of our wages, safety and working conditions.
More workers are organizing side by side in union struggles. Safety for workers in oil refineries and for nearby communities is at the heart of fights by workers at ExxonMobil in Texas and at a Marathon Petroleum refinery in Minnesota who are picketing against boss lockouts.
Pennsylvania educators support call to build the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees
The Pennsylvania Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee supports the call for the formation of an International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC). The pandemic has demonstrated the ever-greater need for workers to organize in every industry and to connect their struggles across the globe.
In supporting this call, we offer our full support to all striking workers around the world and encourage them to join this movement.
Pennsylvania classroom with in-person instruction (Credit: Conestoga Valley School District Facebook page)
In the United States, several major struggles have erupted in the past two months. In Worcester, Massachusetts, 700 nurses are on strike demanding more staff to safely care for patients. In multiple states 1,300 Workers for Allegheny Technologies Inc. and 1,100 Alabama coal miners at Warrior Met are striking against layoffs and cu
Workers at Nexteer Automotive in Saginaw, Michigan demand details of tentative agreement negotiated by UAW
Workers at Nexteer Automotive in Saginaw, Michigan are voicing concerns over a new tentative agreement reached on May 8 between United Auto Workers Local 699 and Nexteer. This deal comes just two months after a vote by workers against a sellout five-year agreement. Workers overwhelmingly expressed hostility to the agreement, voting 85 percent against. However, the UAW refused to set a strike date even though the previous contact expired in March 2020.
Details of the most recent tentative agreement have still not been disclosed to rank-and-file workers. Workers contacted by the