USA/Canada

Martin Donohue recommends Democracy is Power, from the Labor Notes rank-and-file organising project in the US. In the last issue of Solidarity I recommended the Trouble Maker’s Handbook (also produced by Labor Notes) as an invaluable resource for rank and file union activists. This companion volume addresses the key question in any serious attempt at union renewal, democracy. The central message of this book is that only consistent democracy offers hope for union revival. And it is the struggle for that democracy and accountability that can itself transform the existing movement. Why should...

More redundancies are expected in coming weeks from the big telecommunications equipment manufacturer Nortel. All Nortel workers have been left in a precarious position, unsure whether they will keep their jobs from one day to the next. In early July, redundancies were made in addition to 228 imposed back in March. The company, which filed for “Chapter Eleven” bankruptcy protection from its U.S. creditors in January, says that all company pensions have been lost. The company has sold its assets, in lucrative packages, to the Israeli technology firm Radwar and to Noki Siemens Networks — and yet...

Two Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) locals [branches] went on strike on June 22: ‘outside workers’ (including rubbish collectors, parks employees and sewer and water-main workers) and ‘inside workers’ (daycare workers and clerks amongst others). Between them, this amounts to 30,000 CUPE members, of which about 24,000 are out on strike. The rest are classified as essential workers. The strike is a response to a proposal by the City to reduce the annual pay increase of civic workers, bringing it out of line with other City employees and reneging on former contracts. In addition, the...

The Peace and Freedom Party of California - which is the only socialist party on the ballot, with 60,000 registered members - has called a conference on 1 August to try to form a new socialist and working-class alternative across the USA in 2010. With the economic crisis, and now the state budget crisis in California, I think the bubble around Obama is being burst. It's a good time to present a socialist programme. California state governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is paying the state's bills with IOUs, saying that the state has run out of dollars, and has forced state employees to take three...

It is fortunate for the Iranian regime that it has a loyal network of supporters outside its borders, prepared to defend it against the “terrorists” as the Iranian opposition are now known. Some of the most outspoken defenders are not, as one might expect, brother clerics but… people on the “liberal” and “socialist” left. The Morning Star was ready to quote approvingly the words of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, quick to welcome Ahmadinejad’s re-election. According to Chavez it was a win “for all people in the world and free nations against global arrogance." However, the Morning Star is...

Martin Donohue recommends The Troublemaker’s Handbook by Labor Notes Founded in the USA in 1979, Labor Notes is rank and file union organising project and best known for its monthly newsletter. It also organises conferences attracting over 1000 rank and file union stewards, and published pamphlets and books. The continued survival and success of such a democratic, living and vibrant project in the belly of the world capitalism holds up an unflattering mirror to our experience in the UK. Since the demise of the excellent Trade Union News we have had nothing remotely similar. The Troublemaker’s...

America is a centre-right nation. Or so the pundit class in America tirelessly insists. The Obama administration is ubiquitously warned, from quarters both friendly and hostile, that failure to adhere to this truism augers political calamity. At first glance it might seem very curious that a President, who ran as a moderate and who made no secret of his desire to reach across the political aisle to create a new political center, should require such constant and persistent admonishments. The problem is that not only did the Democrats win in the last election, they won big. They control the both...

The crisis in the US car industry is leading quickly to savage attacks on working class pay, conditions, jobs and pensions. When Chrysler went bankrupt recently its assests were sold to a new entity headed by Fiat. As part of the deal Chrysler workers were offered “control” over the company. But, as the following comments from US journal Labor Notes, show these auto workers are being taken for a ride. The government said Chrysler workers should take deep cuts to fend off bankruptcy. But the company decided on bankruptcy anyway. GM and Ford workers are likely to be asked to match ratcheted down...

Throughout the twentieth century there were periods of class struggle that saw workers occupy factories and workplaces: in the 1920s in Italy; in the 1930s in France, the USA and elsewhere; in France in May 1968. And in Britain in 1973-75 there were over 100 occupations over job cuts. The following account by Walter Linder tells the story of how the tactic — called a “sit-down strike” in the US — was used at General Motors car plants at Flint, Michigan, in 1936-37. This 44 day strike was the key struggle which shaped the mass trade union movement in the USA. The Congress of Industrial...