Category Archives: Labor Organizing

680 Immigrant Workers in Mississippi Taken off their Jobs by ICE: An Injury to One is an Injury to All!

A Call to Labor and Community Organizations from the Southern Workers Assembly

On August 7, the US Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted raids on Workers in 7 food-processing plants in six Mississippi cities. 

These workers came to the US to try to earn an honest living, because conditions in their home countries prevented them from living in peace and supporting their families. They faced danger from military and social violence and climate change impacts.  US foreign policies in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa contribute to the conditions faced by the majority of these immigrant workers.

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A Profound Attack on Workers and Their Organizations

Viewed by many as the most serious assault on labor organizations in recent history, the Supreme Court decision in Janus vs AFSCME is a call for the unions and worker organizations to adopt more militant and aggressive tactics in dealing with employers. Following is a statement by the Southern Workers Assembly (SWA) with an analysis and ideas on the way forward.

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U.S. SUPREME COURT  DEALS BODY BLOW TO PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS, HURTS ALL

“In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans such as ‘right to work,’” Martin Luther King, Jr. said in 1964. “It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights.  “Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions for everyone…Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer, and there are no civil rights.”

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35th Annual MLK Support for Labor Banquet

Commemorating the Birthday of Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz)

malcolm-x-1May 19 marks the 91st anniversary of the birth of Malcolm X, the great 20th Century leader of the African American struggle for freedom, justice and equality; for self-determination and liberation. His assassination in 1965, at the hands of those working in the interest of white supremacy, capitalism and imperialism, marked a horrible chapter in our history of struggle and the beginning of the modern Black Power Movement.

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Statement from Clarence Thomas 2016 Self-Determination Award Recipient

“On Sunday May 1, 2016, International Workers Day, ILWU Local 10 for the second consecutive year will be shutting down all Bay Area ports for 8 hours. This year we will commemorate a National Day of Mourning in memory of the Black and Brown lives that have been taken by racist police and vigilante killings across the country”

Clarence ThomasAt the 33rd Annual Martin Luther King Support for Labor Banquet two individuals and two organizations were awarded the Black Workers for Justice’s Self-Determination Award. North Carolina based Muslims for Social Justice and Charleston’s Healthcare Workers United were the group recipients. The individual award went to two trade union activist. ILA Local 1422 activist Leonard Riley received an individual award. The second was awarded to Clarence Thomas a labor activist, member of ILWU Local 10 and longtime freedom fighter. Thomas was unable to attend but submitted this statement to share with the participants. Note his call for action on May Day. Continue reading →