UNC students arrested on day 16 of sit-in supporting workers’ rights

By Linda Gomaa
Chapel Hill, N.C.

Gomaa is a member of Student Action with Workers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill chapter of the youth group FIST. She has been an active participant in sit-ins against sweatshops at UNC. The following is Gomaa’s report of the arrest of students, in which she was singled out by police after making a press statement.

Five University of North Carolina students have been arrested after 16 days of peacefully occupying the office of UNC Chancellor James Moeser.

Students from Student Action with Workers and the Carolina Sweatfree Coalition began the sit-in because the chancellor had been refusing, for three years, to meet with us as well as his own labor licensing committee to discuss UNC’s ineffective labor codes. These codes still allow UNC apparel to be made under sweatshop conditions, including poverty wages and no freedom of association.

UNC Sit-In Against Union Busting and Sweatshops Continues…

By Linda Gomaa, Chapel Hill, NC

Several students and workers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are entering the sixth day of a sit-in in Chancellor James Moeser’s lobby, the longest sit-in at UNC since 1993.   About 25 students and workers entered the administration building on Thursday, April 17th and have been occupying it ever since.  These students and workers are affiliated with Student Action with Workers (SAW), a UNC group affiliated with United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) international, as well as several other campus groups that are part of the Sweatfree Coalition and community-based youth group, Fight Imperialism-Stand Together (FIST).

UNC Students Sit In - Demand No Union Busting - No Sweatshops

Charleston 5 support fired UAW strikers

By Dante Strobino
Cleveland, N.C.

A March 4 community event here for the Freightliner 5—members of United Auto Workers Local 3520 who were fired after leading a strike—highlighted support the five are getting from other militant unionists in the South.

Ken Riley, President of ILA Local 1422, gives encouragement at Freightliner 5 meeting. FIST photo: Dante Strobino

After the workers refused to accept the company’s concessionary contract and initiated a strike on April 3, 2007, Freightliner bosses fired five members of Local 3520’s bargaining committee—Robert Whiteside, Allen Bradley, Franklin Torrence, Glenna Swinford and David Crisco—along with six other workers.

The contract had 22 articles with no tentative agreement and 86 unsettled sub-issues relating to health and safety. Among the concessions was a two-tier wage structure, which pays newer workers far less than their seniors.

The other six got their jobs back after signing “model employee” agreements; one was subsequently terminated.

Kenneth Riley, a dockworker and president of International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1422, gave encouragement to the 50-plus Freightliner workers at the meeting. Local 1422 is home of the Charleston 5—workers who were put under house arrest in 2000 for leading a picket in Charleston, S.C.

On Int’l Human Rights Day, Workers Demand Collective Bargaining, End to Racism

By Dante Strobino

On Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, public-sector workers in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia—in a common struggle to deepen the protections under state law for collective-bargaining rights, and all organized by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America—held simultaneous news conferences announcing the most recent step in the International Worker Justice Campaign.

UE organizer Ashaki Binta at news conference. Photo: UE

They are requesting that the Inter-American Council on Human Rights, a body chartered under the Organization of American States, investigate why workers are denied the fundamental human rights to organize and collectively bargain labor contracts with their employers.

The workers in these three states all suffer from different conditions and laws but they all share the fact that none of these states protects their right to collectively bargain. North Carolina, the state with the worst laws and conditions, where public-employee collective bargaining is actually illegal, was the prime focus of this action.

For several years, UE along with Black Workers for Justice and other community and labor organizations have been building a grassroots movement to demand repeal of General Statute 95-98, the North Carolina law prohibiting collective bargaining for public workers.

WWP conference draws activists from all over

By Jaimeson Champion and Brenda Ryan
New York

The Workers World Party national conference held here on Nov. 17-18 drew hundreds of people from all over the country, many of whom had never been to a party conference before. They were moved by the party’s linkage of the immigrant struggle to the economic crisis and rising racism and its commitment to the unity of the class struggle.

Namibia Donadio with LeiLani Dowell and Tyneisha Bowens of FIST.

“The over-riding theme of the conference is for people to unite,” said Sandra Hines, an African American from Detroit. “This is a people’s fight to unite against capitalism, imperialism and racism. As an activist I have to pass this message along, to bring people into the movement. It’s our job to enlighten other people.” The experiences of others at the conference “fired me up to be an activist,” she said.

Hines engaged in a fierce battle this year, running for Detroit’s public school board in the Fifth District against Joyce Hayes-Giles. Hayes-Giles is vice president of the school board and vice president of Detroit’s gas and light company, DTE Energy. As part of her grassroots campaign, Hines successfully fought to keep one of the neighborhood schools from closing. Of the 15,000 votes cast, Hines got more than 5,000 to some 6,000 votes for Hayes-Giles. She is now fighting for the right of students to take schoolbooks home to study.

Many young activists and students attended the conference, sharing their experiences in the struggle and discussing ways to build class solidarity for a socialist future.

Farm workers to R.J. Reynolds: Si, se puede!

By Ben Carroll
Winston-Salem, N.C.

A powerful demonstration of more than 300 farm workers, labor unionists and community supporters here on Oct. 28 opened up a new struggle against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) led the demonstration, which marked the beginning of a campaign to demand that the tobacco company meet with the union to address the oppressive and deadly conditions facing farm workers in the fields of North Carolina.

Farm workers with FLOC march in Winston-Salem, N.C. FIST photo: Peter Gilbert

The streets of Winston-Salem were filled with red and black FLOC flags as marchers wove through downtown and past a number of buildings owned by Reynolds, chanting “¡Sí se puede!” and “¡El pueblo, unido, jamás serán vencido!” (“Yes we can!” and “The people united will never be defeated!”) In front of the company’s headquarters, marchers placed flowers on a makeshift coffin to memorialize workers who have lost their lives or become sick harvesting tobacco destined for Reynolds, the second-largest tobacco company in the U.S.

Many were on hand to demonstrate solidarity with the farm workers and FLOC in their fight for dignity and respect. A large representation came from unions along the East Coast, including the Teamsters, Letter Carriers, Seafarers, Mine Workers, Steel Workers, Auto Workers, Machinists, Postal Workers and AFSCME, among others. Various religious groups, such as the National Council of Churches, were also present to lend support to the workers and show solidarity, along with a number of community organizations including Student Action with Farmworkers, Students for a Democratic Society and Fight Imperialism-Stand Together (FIST).

FIST and Workers World Party National Conference, NYC, Nov 16-18

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FIST youth visit Cuba, challenge travel ban

By Abraham Mwaura and Dante Strobino

Twelve members of the youth group Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) from San Diego, Raleigh, West Virginia, Denver, Boston, Rutgers University and New York City—together with five members of Workers World Party—traveled to Cuba from July 18-28 to defy the travel ban and to witness the gains of the socialist revolution.

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In Cuba, the FIST delegation observed how a planned economy and centralized government following the path of socialist revolution have provided the necessary material conditions to carry out the process of the withering away of racism, sexism, homophobia and all forms of oppression, and for the building of a new human being.

Momentum for Encampment and September 29 March on Washington Grows!

SEPTEMBER 29 - MARCH ON WASHINGTON - STOP THE WAR!
Momentum Grows for Sept 29 in Washington and Los Angeles!
41 Organizing Centers in 23 States! (see list below)
Over 60 Buses planned!
Over 1000 endorsers! (see below)
Download Flyers Now! (see flyer below)

Read the Call for Unity | Volunteer for Sept 29 | Donate
Find an Organizing Center Near You | Become an Organizing Center
Endorse the Call for a Unified Demonstration on Sept. 29
Call for Encampment and March Sept 22-29 | Download leaflet

Momentum is growing for the National March on September 29 and the Encampment to Stop the War during the week of September 22-29.

In the past few days, hundreds of new endorsers have signed on, and new organizing centers are being formed all over the country.  As of today, TONC now has 41 Organizing Centers in 23 states.  We already have information on at least 60 buses that are mobilizing to come to September 29.

Stop the War at Home and Abroad!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Impeach Bush & Cheney for War Crimes!