By Diane Krauthamer

Despite the torrential late spring rain, thousands of workers spent their May Day marching and rallying through the streets of Manhattan, displaying solidarity with workers at home and abroad. New Yorkers celebrated this international workers’ holiday with actions, events, marches and rallies, coordinated by a number of labor unions, community associations, political parties and non-profit organizations. In the spirit of celebration, the New York City IWW marched on Starbucks to demand that the coffee giant treat its workers with respect.

Beginning with a 2:00 pm a rally in the heart of Chinatown, the IWW joined hundreds of individuals from community and labor organizations to demand “Equal Rights for All Workers.” IWW members Stephanie Basile and Vance Hinton delivered powerful speeches on top of the soapbox.

“May 1st is the real Labor Day. They want us to forget that, but we’ll never forget. It was through collective action that those before us made the gains we currently enjoy today,” Basile said.

By Greg Rodriguez, grodrigueziww@yahoo.com

Rio Grande Valley, South Texas --It is known that nearly one-hundred of the immigrants being detained at the Department of Homeland Security(DHS)/Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s(ICE) Port Isabel Detention Center (PIDC) have been on a hunger strike since April 22, 2009. PIDC is a prison used to detain immigrants arrested by the United States government. It is located in an extremely isolated area of the remote South Texas town called Los Fresnos.

The detainees have resorted to this form of non-violent direct action after months of demanding adequate medical attention and an end to abuses by guards; to no avail.