Two members of Black Rose / Rosa Negra’s California Bay Area Local were interviewed by It’s Going Down News on the massive academic worker strike in the University of California system. The discussion covered a range of topics, from the wildcat strike that proceeded this moment, to building a militant minority, to extending the struggle […]
Read MoreNo COLA? No Contract! The Stakes and a Strategy for Success in the Historic University of California Strike
by Members of both Black Rose Bay Area and UAW 2865 On November 14, over 48,000 teaching assistants, tutors, readers, associate instructors, other Academic Student Employees (ASEs), Graduate Student Researchers (GSRs), and postdoctoral employees across the University of California (UC) launched the largest coordinated strike the United States’s higher education sector has ever seen. On […]
Read More“The Rank and File Strategy”: A Syndicalist View
Veteran activist and writer Tom Wetzel enters the wide ranging debate on the left around the “rank and file strategy” orientation to the labor movement. This piece is based on material in his forthcoming book from AK Press, Overcoming Capitalism. By Tom Wetzel Kim Moody’s writings on “the Rank and File Strategy” have gained a broad hearing […]
Read MoreThe Case for Building New Unions
In this piece veteran activist and writer Tom Wetzel builds the case on the need for creating new unions and returning to the radical traditions of the labor movement. This piece is a shortened version of a chapter from the forthcoming book Overcoming Capitalism which will be published by AK Press. By Tom Wetzel The British […]
Read MoreBuild Our Power – Spread the Strike: A UCSC Strike Leaflet
We have conjured a mass movement, which presents us now with this choice: allow it to be smothered by fear and self-doubt already trickling in through the expected channels, or, to animate it by reproducing our activity in every corner of the state. For it to live, we must spread the strike.
Read MoreStrike While the Iron is Hot: Interview on the Growing Wildcat Strike at UC Santa Cruz
By It’s Going Down Since the wildcat strike at the University of California in Santa Cruz kicked off last Monday, thousands of students have blocked streets and shut down the campus, while riot police from across the State have been mobilized and made over a dozen arrests. Predictably, police violence has broken out on the […]
Read MoreSanta Cruz Grad Students Prepare to Launch Full Strike Next Week
Following up on our previous coverage of the wildcat strike and work stoppage launched by UC Santa Cruz grad student workers, participant Cameron A. writes on the workers next move: launching a full strike this coming Monday, February 10. See below for how you can follow and support. By Cameron A. Graduate Student workers at […]
Read MoreWildcat Strike Launched by UC Santa Cruz Grad Student Workers
Could the #Red4Ed strike wave spill over to higher education and graduate student organizing? Participant Cameron .A. writes on the announced strike hours after the vote was taken. By Cameron A. Graduate student workers at the Santa Cruz campus of the leviathan University of California have voted to launch a wildcat grading strike in the […]
Read More“This is Overdue”: Interview with a Striking GM Worker
As General Motors reaped $8.1 billion in profit and paid its CEO $22 million, nearly 50,000 GM workers have been on strike since Monday. While workers gave major concessions during the previous recession the company is digging in it’s heels over wages and has even cut off healthcare plans for workers. Marianne Garneau of Organizing […]
Read MoreWhen and Why Did Unions Start Signing Contracts?
This piece from the Organizing Work blog explores an important but often little discussed question of the historical origins of labor contracts in the U.S. The current dominant model of formal collective bargaining agreements which include provisions against striking and job actions, also known as “workplace contractualism,” has not always been the dominant model. The […]
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