ITUC May Day Declaration 2009

Brussels, 30 April 2008 (ITUC OnLine): The world is facing its gravest economic crisis in over 60 years. Tens of millions of jobs are being lost due to the greed, plunder and incompetence which have, through decades of free market deregulation, led the world into deep recession. Global poverty and inequality are increasing fast, and [...]

Workers and Immigrants Will March on May Day

Nativo Lopez-Vigil
National President Mexican American Political Association
Yes, workers and immigrants will march again throughout the U.S. on MAY DAY, May 1st. This is known as the International Workers’ Day, but little celebrated in the U.S., at least until the great diversity of immigrants took to the streets in 2006 to advocate oppostion to the anti-immigrant [...]

May Day Solidarity with Turkish and Iranian Workers

by Eric Lee
LabourStart
But before you celebrate May Day, please take a moment to help ensure that our fellow trade unionists in Turkey and Iran are allowed to celebrate too.
This year we’ve been asked by Turkish unions to send a strong message to their government demanding that they be allowed to peacefully celebrate the international workers’ [...]

May Day Events Across the USA

We thought Talking Union readers might be interested in May Day events.  We haven’t done a web search to dig up a comprehensive list.  Below the fold are events in Chicago, Boston, Kansas City and Sacremento, Twin Cities, and Ithaca.  If you know of others,  leave a comments or send an email to talkingunion@gmail.com

Put Single Payer in the Survey!

By Andy Coates, MD
In an attempt to find out what union members think about the health care crisis and its solution, the AFL-CIO recently asked union members and supporters to complete a health care survey.
The problem with the survey is that it does not present the full range of opinions union members have, and nowhere [...]

Baldemar Velasquez: Farmworkers need labor law protections

by Baldemar Velasquez
A Call to Wage a National Campaign for Farmworker Labor Rights
I agreed to be one of the original sponsors of the call to build this movement – not a call for specific legislation, i.e. NLRA – but rather to confront the historical racism inherent in the first call for labor legislation in the [...]

Randy Shaw Responds to Michael Yates about the Chavez legacy and more

The UFW’s Powerful Legacy
It is unfortunate that Michael Yates’ deep-seated hostility to Cesar Chavez and the UFW led him to so badly misrepresent my book, Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. Yates not only misstates the book’s thesis, but he ignores the vast majority [...]

Vermont Labor Welcomes Sanders Single-Payer Healthcare Bill

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ recent introduction of a single-payer healthcare reform bill in the U. S. Senate has drawn praise from Vermont labor leaders. “At a time when incredible pressure is being brought to bear on our representatives to support reform proposals that do little more than bail out the private insurance companies, Senator [...]

May Day Rally in Philadelphia

“The revival of May Day is essential for a strengthened labour movement everywhere and for the renewal of international labour solidarity”–Eric Lee, LabourStart
May Day was founded in the United States as a result of the great struggle and sacrifice of life that resulted from the general strike of 1886 and the movement for the [...]

UNITE HERE General President Bruce Raynor Suspended from Union

hicago – Today, the General Executive Board of UNITE HERE met in Chicago and voted to suspend the General President, Bruce Raynor. The suspension comes as a result of President Raynor’s attempts to divide the union as well as promote SEIU as a competing labor organization within UNITE HERE’s jurisdiction. The vote margin was 32 in favor of suspension, 0 against, with 3 abstentions.