News - All Departments and Unions

This is the news page for all IWW Departments and Unions. This page displays *all* news items from every Department and Union. To see news only from a particular Department, click on the Department title below.

For an overview of the IWW's Union structure, please visit the Unions homepage.

For branch, campaign, or general labor news, click on the appropriate sub-menu bars at the left under the main "news" bar.

Union International - The IWW and the Other Campaign (Part I)

Posted Tue, 08/08/2006 - 2:43am by x344543

Disclaimer - The following is an editorial by members of the Bay Area; it is not currently the official position of the IWW.

By Zapatita - Bay Area General Membership Branch, IWW

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation, (EZLN), has been fighting for democracy, liberty and justice in the Southern Indigenous lands in Mexico well before 1994. Today, the Zapatistas are struggling for more than the indigenous people in Chiapas, but for all those across the world who have been exploited and robbed by the rich and the bad governments that serve them.  Like the I.W.W., the EZLN is a humanitarian internationalist organization, who fight for the "humble and simple" people, the common, everyday working folks who belong to "civil society", the majority who do not belong to political parties.

RESOLUTION AGAINST THE ATTACK ON THE PEOPLE OF LEBANON AND PALESTINE

Posted Tue, 08/08/2006 - 2:10am by x344543

Adopted August 1, 2006 by the Twin Cities General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

I. Whereas the IWW has always stood for international solidarity and against all exploitation, oppression and attempts to divide our class by war,

II. Whereas the State of Israel’s U.S.-backed aggression against the people of Lebanon and Palestine has caused the murder of hundreds of working-class civilians (including many children), the displacement of hundreds of thousands, and the destruction of communities and infrastructure,

III. Whereas this war - like the rest of the so-called “War on Terrorism” will not bring security to working people in any country, but only more violence and repression,

Build a Stewards Council from the Bottom Up

Posted Fri, 07/21/2006 - 2:45am by x344543

By Paul Krehbiel - Labor Notes, July 2006

Want a stronger union at work? Consider building a stewards council.

I was a rank-and-file worker at a company with a good steward structure years ago, so I knew something about how it worked. After I began working as a union representative for Service Employees (SEIU) Local 660, I was assigned to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. I saw immediately that the union there was weak.

With only five stewards for 1,700 workers, demoralization was high. Many members complained that the union did nothing, and they wanted out. The only solution was to build the union at the facility. . .

. . .Soon, word was out that the union was alive and growing.Workers in other areas asked to become stewards. We asked them to help on a project and then brought them aboard.

Within a year and a half, we had 35 stewards and the union was winning some victories. Things were far from perfect, but management knew that the union was there. 

Stephen Colbert Satirizes Anti-Union Assault

Posted Fri, 07/21/2006 - 2:05am by x344543

The Bush-appointed National Labor Relations Board is poised to issue decisions that could strip millions of workers of their right to have a union at work—all without holding public hearings. 

On July 18, Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report"—a show satirizing Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor"—host Stephen Colbert took on the National Labor Relations Board and the potentially disastrous impact its rulings could have on workers.

Visit this site to watch the video, and then organize a fight back in your union and/or community! 

AFL-CIO Offers Feeble 'Civil Disobedience' To Blunt NLRB's Attack on Worker Rights

Posted Fri, 07/21/2006 - 1:57am by x344543

Disclaimer - The following article is reposted here because it is an issue with some relevance to the IWW. The views of the author do not necessarily agree with those of the IWW and vice versa.

LaborTalk for July 19, 2006 - By Harry Kelber

The National Labor Relations Board could decide, as early as the end of August, to take away the rights of millions of U.S. workers in unions or who may want to join unions, and strip them of their collective bargaining rights and other protections by redefining whole categories of workers as "supervisors."

In three cases, known collectively as "Kentucky River," the Bush-appointed Board will rule whether nurses, construction workers, journalists, TV employees and workers in other occupations should be reclassified as supervisors and denied the right to join or maintain their rights as union members.