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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
Educators from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Ohio pledge to work to end isolation of Volvo strikers
At Thursday’s meeting of the Pennsylvania Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, educators from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Ohio voted to support the struggle to end the isolation of the striking Volvo workers in Dublin, Virginia, now in its third week. In particular, we resolved to publicize information on the strike among teachers and other educators throughout our region. Below is a letter sent from our committee to the Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee outlining our plans.
To the Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee:
We, the members of the Pennsylvania Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, are writing to pledge our support to break the isolation of your strike at the New River Valley (NRV) plant in Virginia.
Jacobin magazine: Promoting the unions while ignoring the class struggle
Since the start of the year, workers throughout the United States have been engaged in a series of significant class struggles that reflect the growth of anger and opposition throughout the country. Workers are fighting back against the ferocious austerity measures of the ruling elite that have followed the massive handout to the corporate and financial elite in the midst of the pandemic.
Sections of nurses, autoworkers, steelworkers, teachers, coal miners and others have been engaged in class battles spanning weeks and months, in which they confront not only the employers and the government, but the treachery of the unions.
Volvo Workers to UAW: “We won’t accept another contract proposal cooked up behind our backs”
After overwhelmingly defeating a United Auto Workers-backed contract last Sunday, rank-and-file Volvo Truck workers in Virginia are stepping up their campaign to prevent the UAW from ramming through another sellout deal.
On May 16, workers voted by 91 percent to defeat the agreement, which included pay raises below the rate of inflation, a sharp increase in out-of-pocket medical costs and the continuation of the multi-tier wage system, which traps new hires and lower-seniority workers in a years-long cycle of inferior pay and benefits. The deal would have also introduced a 10-hour workday and continued cuts to retiree benefits.