The image at the right was taken in 2004

Once again a step ahead of intermodal truckers across the US, Stockton truckers, led by the majority Sikh drivers, launched a strike over the issue of fuel prices on Monday, May 5, 2008.

While many truckers participated in various protest shutdowns on either April 1st or May 1st this year, the 300-400 Stockton truckers working out of the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railyards have shut down their industry until their demands have been met.

Rather than demand the fuel surcharges paid by shippers but often pocketed by companies rather than passed along to drivers, the Stockton truckers are asking for a dramatic increase in the rates paid in order to keep up with increases costs such as fuel.

On April 26, 2004 Stockton intermodal truckers, inspired by rumors circulating of an LA port trucker shutdown, were the first to join what became a strike of west cost port truckers on April 30, and by June had spread to most southern and eastern ports as well.

By Reed Fujii - San Joaquin Record Staff Writer, May 06, 2008

Disclaimer: The action described here was not organized by the IWW.

By Francine Brevetti - staff writer, inside bayarea.com, May 6, 2008

OAKLAND — About 80 striking truckers from Middle Harbor Road at the Port of Oakland were ticketed and dispersed Tuesday after some of them committed vandalism, police said.

Some drivers had damaged a truck's window while the driver was operating the rig, Sgt. Peter Lau said.

Nevertheless, the protesting truck drivers who own and operate their own rigs vowed to continue demonstrating at the port for the rest of the week. They say motor carrier firms have been underpaying them for diesel fuel.

Bay Area IWW members are involved in the following struggle:

Originally posted to indybay.org

Our first day on strike was extremely successful, despite the owner’s attempts at intimidation by video taping us. Only two out of nine day-time teachers went to work. The school succeeded in hiring one replacement worker, but after we talked with him, he decided not to return! This shows the tremendous potential for support that exists throughout the ESL community.

Dozens of students stayed out also, many of them joining us on our picket line and several of them spoke at our rally. We should note that while they were speaking, the school's six-figure Executive Director was snickering and laughing – showing his contempt not only for his employees, but also for his “customers” – the students who pay the freight at SFIE.

Other workers – union and non-union alike came out to our first picket, and we have the commitment of others to continue.

PLEASE SUPPORT US
Spread the word!
Join our picket line!
Donate to our strike fund!

SFIEteachers [at] yahoo.com

Bay Area IWW members are involved in the following struggle:

On Monday, March 17, at 8:30 a.m. a strike will begin at San Francisco Institute of English (3301 Balboa, corner of 34th Avenue in SF's Outer Richmond District) and will continue until the following demands are met:

• Return of fully-paid health care that was removed in 2004 with the promise of its return when financial conditions improve, which they have -- in addition, this past week SFIE sold another school property that had been on the market for $1,395,000.
• An across-the-board 30% increase in wages, with automatic future cost-of-living-adjustments because there have been none for over 12 years.

Please join our picket line in front of the school building, as well as contribute to our strike fund (e-mail back for details).

By M.K. and other members of the Bay Area Utility Service Workers iu670 industrial organizing committee.

The contract negotiations between the Bay Area IU 670 Recycling Workers Union and the two Berkeley Recycling Companies has been a challenging struggle, but workers have stepped up to fight for tremendous improvements. The Bay Area IWW represents drivers at The Ecology Center who do residential curbside pickup, and workers at The Community Conversation Center yard who sort and process recycling materials. Both workers have been waging shopfloor struggles to resolve grievances and improve their working conditions. With both contracts coming up for negotiations, workers stepped up the fight.

The drivers met several times both at work and outside of work to draft an ambitious list of roughly 15 demands including an across the board wage hike, increase in pension payments by the company, and a change to the current accident penalties. The existing agreement resulted in termination of any driver who was involved in three accidents incurring more than $1400 worth of damage. With the narrow winding streets of Berkeley and the increasing costs of small accidents like broken rear-view mirrors, we have seen several workers purposefully dropping down to a loader after two incidents. This has resulted in wage decreases of up to $10 per hour!

By Gabe Wilson and Matt K., Bay Area IWW

This commentary is a response to Christine Staples' "Truth to Power: what Truth? What Power?" of November 16th, 2007, in which the author attempts to portray the striking workers at Metro Lighting and their union as thugs attempting to "take over Metro Lighting, or to drive them out of business trying." These accusations are too ridiculous to deserve a response, and they only serve to divert attention from the real issues at the store. Her editorial makes no attempt to deal seriously with the concerns of Metro Lighting's employees, so we would like to make these real issues known.

Workers have the right, protected by law, to take concerted activity to improve their conditions at work and to bargain with their employer over these conditions. The workers at Metro Lighting were brave enough to assert this right, and have faced unwillingness to negotiate and illegal retaliation from the owners. What led up to this?