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The Militant (logo)
Vol. 80/No. 17 May 2, 2016
—ON THE PICKET LINE—
Maggie Trowe, Editor
Militant/Deborah Liatos
Fight for $15 and union protests took place April 14 across U.S. and in
several other countries. Above, some 1,500 workers and young people
marched in downtown Los Angeles.
Help make this column a voice of workers’ resistance!
This column gives a voice to those engaged in battle and building
solidarity today — including striking Verizon workers, Steelworkers
opposing concessions, construction workers demanding safe conditions and
workers fighting for $15 and a union. I invite those involved in
workers’ battles to contact me at 306 W. 37th St., 13th Floor, New York,
NY 10018; or (212) 244-4899; or themilitant@xxxxxxx themilitant@xxxxxxx.
We’ll work together to ensure your story is told.
— Maggie Trowe
Union recycling workers in Calif. support Washington farmworkers
OAKLAND, Calif. — Some 35 recycling workers, members of the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6, heard leaders of
the Familias Unidas por la Justicia (Families United for Justice)
farmworkers union from Washington state at a meeting at the local’s hall
here March 29.
Local 6 Secretary-Treasurer Fred Pecker welcomed them. Ramon Torres,
president of Familias Unidas por la Justicia, explained the union’s
boycott of products sold by berry distributing giant Driscoll’s and
appealed to the local to organize monthly pickets at Costco and Whole
Foods stores that sell them.
“We in Local 6 fought for a good contract from 2012 to 2014, and finally
we got it,” said Josefa Solano, who works at the BLT Enterprises
recycling plant in Fremont, at the event. “It was because we got the
support of many organizations and a lot of other unions. The fight of
these farmworkers needs the support of all unions.”
About $250 was collected to assist the farmworkers’ fight.
— Carole Lesnick
Junior doctors in England strike against understaffing, pay cuts
MANCHESTER, England — Junior doctors picketed Wythenshawe Hospital here
April 6 at the beginning of a 48-hour strike in hospitals across
England. This was the fourth stoppage to protest a new contract the
government will impose in August that will reduce overtime pay and
eliminate it altogether on Saturdays before 5 p.m. The government wants
a seven-days-a-week National Health Service without increasing staff.
Hundreds of junior doctors and their supporters from across northwest
England later held a protest march in the center of Manchester.
“Nurses have a heavy workload too,” junior doctor Miriam Bennett told
the Militant. “We will get the same pay whether we are working at 3 a.m.
or 3 p.m. We already work 24/7. But if we are going to have more staff
working weekends, where will they come from?” Bennett said most shifts
are understaffed already.
“The teachers are upset about their workload,” added Rebecca Hyde, a
radiology registrar. “Every public service sector is being hit. It seems
like we are all just coming together against this!”
Another strike is planned April 26-27.
— Tony Hunt and Catharina Tirsén
Related articles:
Verizon strikers: Time to say no to concessions!
Stand in solidarity with 40,000 strikers
Teamsters hold DC rally to demand halt to pension cuts
Protests across country demand $15/hour and union
Labor actions rise in China as bosses slash jobs, wages
Fight for pensions for entire working class
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