Daily Archives: February 9, 2022

2022-02-09: News Headlines

WSWS (2022-02-09). Ford temporarily lays off thousands at North American plants, citing chip shortage. wsws.org Ford laid off thousands of workers temporarily after it reduced or stopped production at eight North American plants starting Monday.

Staff (2022-02-09). After 295 days of kidnapping by Israeli apartheid, Juani Rishmawi is free. samidoun.net Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network welcomes and rejoices at the release of Juani Rishmawi in the face of the unfounded and pernicious judicial persecution imposed by the apartheid regime and Israeli occupation. Juani, a Spanish aid worker naturalized as a Palestinian, contributes to the Palestinian cause from the humanitarian perspective and through political activism in …

José Manuel Blanco Diaz (2022-02-09). President Maduro Condemns Indolence of Some Officials Toward Workers. orinocotribune.com With a tenacious call to end the indolence of some state institutions and private entities, President Nicolás Maduro asked for the support of Venezuela's working class through the functions carried out by the Productive Councils of Workers (CPT). | The statements were issued this Monday, February 7, during a meeting with workers of state-owned PDVSA subsidiary Pequiven. At the same time, President Maduro noted that Venezuela currently has sufficient funds to finance small and medium industries, including through the bank's credit portfolio. | "The assets are there, what is not there is a connection with the grass…

WSWS (2022-02-09). Oakland, California, school closures and budget cuts are an attack on the entire working class! wsws.org Attempts to present school closures in racial terms obscures their underlying cause and divides a unified struggle of the working class against capitalist budget cuts.

WSWS (2022-02-09). Australia: New South Wales nurses vote for statewide strike. wsws.org The union is doing everything to isolate and divide up action which expresses immense anger among not only nurses and other health staff, but broad sections of the working class.

_____ (2022-02-09). DPRK Missile Tests at the End of January 2022: the Moratorium Is Over. journal-neo.org January 2022 has been rather busy in terms of missile launches by the DPRK, and following the meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea held on January 20, the month became even more eventful after they had hinted at the possible discontinuation of the unilateral moratorium. On January …

_____ (2022-02-09). Workers Power Day — February 26, 2022. popularresistance.org Starbucks workers are leading an electrifying drive to organize the major coffee chain, with one or often several stores announcing they're joining this growing movement each day. Amazon workers from coast to coast are organizing to build power at one of the world's largest and most powerful corporations. Workers in Staten Island recently filed to hold union elections at 2 warehouses. The majority Black Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama are engaged in their second union campaign, after the results of the first were tossed out based on Amazon's egregious union busting campaign — which they continue in earn…

Mark Gruenberg (2022-02-09). Amazon workers fight for unions in Staten Island, Alabama, and elsewhere. peoplesworld.org

Mark Gruenberg (2022-02-09). In unusual bipartisan harmony, House OKs postal reform. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—In an unusual bipartisan harmony, the U.S. House approved a massive postal reform bill whose main impact would be to end the heavy weight of a $5 billion yearly prepayment of future retirees' health care costs. The measure is also an implicit rebuke to the GOP-run Congress which imposed that "onerous burden," as postal unions …

Pavan Kulkarni (2022-02-09). Workers attacked and beaten as strike at South African dairy giant Clover enters 12th week. peoplesdispatch.org Two workers abducted by goons "were held hostage and beaten in full view of the management inside the factory premises. Managers neither called the police nor the ambulance," said union leader Mametlwe Sebei.

Special to People's World (2022-02-09). Online Event: Solidarity with Striking UMWA Mine Workers at Warrior Met Coal. peoplesworld.org TUESDAY, FEB. 22, 2022 — 8 P.M. EASTERN REGISTER HERE Click here to make a donation that goes directly to UMWA mine workers strike fund. Read People's World coverage of the strike at Warrior Met: > Warrior Met forces 1,100 Mine Workers in Alabama into long strike > Solidarity going strong for striking Alabama …

Labor Video Project (2022-02-09). ILWU Local 6 California Waste Solutions Workers Demand Justice At Oakland Education Rally. indybay.org ILWU Local 6 California Waste Solutions workers spoke out for justice on the job at the Oakland City hall rally against education cuts.

WSWS (2022-02-09). Oil refinery workers demand strike action, denounce USW information blackout: "We don't want to work 80 hours a week" wsws.org After more than a week since the expiration of their three-year contract, 30,000 oil refinery and petrochemical workers are being kept on the job by the United Steelworkers union.

WSWS (2022-02-09). Stop the infection of Berlin transport workers! wsws.org Berlin's mayor has announced that "infected people without symptoms should continue to work in exceptional cases."

Staff (2022-02-09). Workers at Largest GM Plant in Mexico Win Historic Vote for New Independent Union After 2019 Reforms. democracynow.org In Mexico, thousands of workers at the country's largest General Motors plant have won a historic vote to form an independent union, breaking from a tradition of corrupt unions tied to elites who cut deals with corporations to keep wages and benefits low. We go to Guanajuato, Mexico, to speak with historian Javier Bravo about the victory and the passage of critical labor reforms in 2019, which ensure workers can create new unions independent of the will of their employers, says Bravo.

_____ (2022-02-09). Anatomy Of A Cancellation. popularresistance.org I'll just assume everyone knows who the Democratic Socialists of America are. If not, you can look them up easily enough, but they probably represent the biggest organized political group to the left of the Democratic Party today (or on the left of the Democratic Party, depending). As any sensible democratic socialist organization would do, they are actively supporting the Portland city workers in their contract negotiations with the city, and their plan for an imminent strike. | Then we need to introduce another prominent character in the sordid tale, me. Those of you reading this on my blog probably don't need…

Amy Goodman (2022-02-09). Workers at Largest GM Plant in Mexico Win Historic Independent Union Vote. truthout.org In Mexico, thousands of workers at the country's largest General Motors plant have won a historic vote to form an independent union, breaking from a tradition of corrupt unions tied to elites who cut deals with corporations to keep wages and benefits low. We go to Guanajuato, Mexico, to speak with historian Javier Bravo about the victory and the passage of critical labor reforms in 2019, which ensure workers can create new unions independent of the will of their employers, says Bravo. | TRANSCR…

WSWS (2022-02-09). Interview with late American Trotskyist autoworker Jim Lawrence. wsws.org

Sharon Zhang (2022-02-09). Levin Files Legislation to Approve Congress Workers' Union With 130 Cosponsors. truthout.org On Wednesday, Rep. Andy Levin (D-Michigan) filed a resolution that would give the green light to congressional workers seeking to form a union. | The

WSWS (2022-02-09). Opposition growing among BNSF workers one week after management imposes draconian new "Hi-Viz" policy. wsws.org Yesterday, judge Mark Pittman extended the temporary restraining order banning strike action through February 22, a move that was widely expected.

Sharon Zhang (2022-02-09). Starbucks Fires Seven Union Organizers in Memphis, Sparking Outrage. truthout.org On Tuesday, Starbucks fired seven workers at a store in Memphis, Tennessee, that recently filed for unionization. The terminated workers make up almost the entirety of the store's organizing committee, according to the union. | The company

_____ (2022-02-09). How Lobstermen Formed A Union Co-Op To Claw Back Fair Prices. popularresistance.org When you think of workers hamstrung by the "independent contractor" label, you probably don't think of Maine lobstermen. | But it turns out that lobstermen—a title claimed by women as well as men who catch and sell lobster for a living—have something in common with warehouse temps and Uber drivers. As independent contractors they're denied the collective bargaining rights and various other workplace protections and benefits afforded (to some) by U.S. labor law. | And the strategy they used to confront low wages is one that similarly exploited workers might want to try too: they teamed up with a union…

WSWS (2022-02-09). B&Q, Wincanton workers should reject below inflation pay offer! Mobilise a unified fightback against B&Q and its subcontractors! wsws.org While Unite called the strike, it has enforced the isolation of the dispute by warehouse workers even as conditions exist for a broader fightback within the workplace and across the logistics and distribution network of B&Q.

Fight Back (2022-02-09). United protest in New Orleans against US, NATO war on Russia. fightbacknews.org New Orleans, LA — Anti-war protesters gathered on February 5 in New Orleans at Lafayette Square Park to demand an end to NATO aggression against Russia. Activists carried signs and chanted slogans calling for peace and the disbandment of NATO. | The protest was organized by a coalition including the Communist Party USA, the Democratic Socialists of America, Freedom Road Socialist Organization and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. | Speakers decried the latest U.S. attempt to escalate the situation in Ukraine, which they said threatens us with a nuclear conflict with Russia. The protest also highlight…

Editor2 (2022-02-09). Modi Government Taking Revenge from Farmers for Victorious Struggle Through Budget, says SKM. orinocotribune.com By Ravi Kaushal — Feb 2, 2022 | The morcha also emphasised that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not mention about doubling of farmers' income even once as it failed to achieve the results in several years. | Coming down heavily on the Union Budget 2022—23, Sanyukta Kisan Morcha on Tuesday said that the Modi Government was punishing the country's farmers for leading the historic struggle against three central farm laws by slashing the allocation of agriculture and allied activities. The morcha emphasised that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not mention about doubling of farme…

Georgie Dixon (2022-02-09). Unions, staff fight Sydney Uni Arts Faculty cuts. greenleft.org.au The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney is being replaced by a new, centralised discipline structure, reports Georgie Dixon.

WSWS (2022-02-09). Biden's task force on unionization: A corporatist agenda for austerity and war. wsws.org The task force proposals are all aimed at the strengthening of a labor police force, comprised of upper-middle class executives, to enforce the dictates of the ruling class.

In Defense of Liberation! (2022-02-09). Morning Commute: 2-9-2022. anchor.fm Hope everyone is well! Today we're doing a little news coverage based on sources I've been reading like People's Dispatch, Hoodcommunist.org, By Any Means Necessary, Liberation News, Kawasachun News, TeleSur English, Guerrilla History Podcast, etc. We go over Russia/China Relations, the Olympics, the African Union meeting, Oakland and Chicago schools ongoing issues, movements against Police Brutality and the murder by Minneapolis Police Department (yup, that one!) of Amir Locke who was 22 years old! No justice, no peace!! Go organize!

Anonymous Contributor (2022-02-09). Punch Up Collective: Organizing Against the Occupation of Ottawa. itsgoingdown.org Statement from the Punch Up Collective on the current situation in Ottawa and ways that people are organizing in the face of ongoing far-Right convoy protests. Points of crisis can usefully reveal contradictions and opportunities for organizing. Crisis can also shut us down and make it hard to connect, think, and act. The mobilization of…

ecns.cn (2022-02-09). Green Games, sustainability embedded in preparations of Beijing 2022: BOCOG official. ecns.cn The concept of a green Games and sustainability have been embedded in the entire process and every aspect of the preparations of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, said Li Sen, the director-general of the general planning department of Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (BOCOG), on a Beijing 2022 daily briefing held Wednesday.

slingshot collective (2022-02-09). Sunday 2/13: A discussion with Dr. Detroit and Friends. indybay.org Long Haul infoshop 3124 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley — 510-540-0751 – 2 blocks from Ashby BART – Shattuck and Woolsey across from La Pena…

Mei Mei Chan (2022-02-09). Oakland students fight for COVID safety in schools. liberationnews.org On Friday, Jan. 21, striking students in the Oakland Unified School District held a public town hall to address the urgent COVID safety needs of school communities. Less than a week later, the Oakland Education Association and the OUSD came to a tentative agreement in support of all of the students' demands.

Labor Video Project (2022-02-09). Strike At CA College Of The Arts SF Campus: We Want A Contract & Living Wages NOW! indybay.org Staff and adjuncts went on a unfair labor practice at the California College of the Arts. A rally was held on February 8, 2022 on the first day of the strike.

sputniknews (2022-02-09). Russia Strongly Condemns Israeli Airstrikes in Syria. sputniknews.com DAMASCUS (Sputnik) – Russia strongly condemns Israeli airstrikes in Syria and considers them illegal according to international law, Russian Ambassador to Damascus Alexander Efimov told Sputnik.

WSWS (2022-02-09). McGill University students strike against in-person classes. wsws.org Hundreds of students at McGill University in Montreal are currently on strike in opposition to the administration's demand that all students return to in-person classes.

William Rivers Pitt (2022-02-09). Having Learned Nothing From 900,000 Deaths, Governors Lift Mask Mandates. truthout.org We've been here before, you and I, right here at the fulcrum between controlling COVID-19 and letting it run wild. Here we are again, swaddled in the dented surety that doing the same thing over and over will bring about a different conclusion, just because we really really want it to… wait, strike that: Just because capitalism really, really wants it to. The rest of that "we" is most of us, baggage stacked down in the dripping darkness of steerage, waiting for the next viral iceberg to smack thi…

Jim McIlroy (2022-02-09). Labor condemned for supporting Kurri Kurri gas. greenleft.org.au Criticism is being levelled at the Labor Party for switching to support a new gas-fired power station at Kurri Kurri in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, Jim McIlroy reports.

WSWS (2022-02-09). Growing concern about New Zealand government allowing Omicron to spread. wsws.org There is growing concern and opposition to the Labour Party-led government's decision to reopen schools and businesses and allow masses of people to become infected with Omicron.

South Bay Indigenous Solidarity; ADBA (2022-02-09). Monday 2/7: Connecting Beth Nahrain to Turtle Island: A Conversation on Indigeneity, Colonialism, and. indybay.org Zoom Event; Registration Link on webpage…

Martin Rizzo-Martinez & Daniel Stonebloom (2022-02-09). Challenging Colonialism s01e03: Weapons of Mass Destruction (p.II). indybay.org Part II: A History of Resistance | Part two of a four-part episode outlines dams as a colonial project, and centers Indigenous science in the historical and ongoing indigenous resistance to eco-genocide.

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2022-02-09). How the Left Betrayed the Truckers. libya360.wordpress.com MALCOM KYEYUNE The convoy is despised by those who should support it They call it "The Honkening". Ottawa, Canada's capital city, is currently being besieged by a novel kind of protest. Honkening is a fairly appropriate name for what's going on. Thousands of truckers have driven to the capital, and barraged the city with the noise of…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2022-02-09). How Nicaragua Fights Poverty & Empowers Women Through the Ministry of Family Economy. libya360.wordpress.com Camila EscalanteMinister Justa Pérez of the Ministry of Family, Community, Cooperative and Associative Economy (MEFCCA) in Managua. January 2022. In Managua, Nicaragua, we interviewed Minister Justa Pérez of the Ministry of Family, Community, Cooperative and Associative Economy, known as MEFCCA. Could you start us off with a summary of what MEFCCA does to stimulate, develop…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2022-02-09). Why We Should Oppose COVID-19 Mandates. libya360.wordpress.com Leila Mechoui&Alexander McKay Moral appeals for mandates only mask the brutal coercive power of the capitalist class. "In ancient times, when persuasion played the role of public force, eloquence was necessary. Of what use would it be today, when public force has replaced persuasion. One needs neither art nor metaphor to say such is my…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2022-02-09). The Great Covid Class War. libya360.wordpress.com Alex Gutentag A panhandler in Genoa, Italy during lockdown. (photo: John Perivolaris / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) The pandemic has created the perfect pretext for enacting economically destructive policies. On January 19, 2020, Washington state reported the first US case of coronavirus. By the end of March, 245 million Americans were under stay-at-home restrictions to "flatten the curve."…

sputniknews (2022-02-08). Not By Diet Alone: Overweight People May Become Thinner by Sleeping Extra Hour. sputniknews.com The researchers touted their study as game-changing because it was carried out in a real-world setting rather than a laboratory. The overweight participants, who habitually slept in their own beds fewer than 6.5 hours a night, managed to add an extra 1.2 hours of sleep after they underwent counselling to improve their sleeping habits.

Abhijan Choudhury (2022-02-08). African Union suspends debate on observer status for Israel. peoplesdispatch.org On Sunday, February 6, the African Union (AU) announced the suspension of the debate over Israel's observer status, following objections raised by member countries over Israeli occupation and oppression of Palestinians. The decision was reached at the AU summit, held in Addis Ababa, where the heads of state of the 55-member body met for two days. On Saturday, Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, who is also attending the summit, urged the AU to withdraw Israel's observer status. According to Shtayyeh, Israel should "never be rewarded for its violation and for the apartheid regime it does impose on the P…

WSWS (2022-02-08). The far-right occupation of Ottawa: January 6 conspiracy hits Canada. wsws.org Absent the political intervention of the working class, all possible outcomes to the current standoff in Ottawa will only produce a further lurch to the right, imperiling the most fundamental democratic and social rights of the working class.

WSWS (2022-02-08). The far-right occupation of Ottawa: January 6 goes global. wsws.org Absent the political intervention of the working class, all possible outcomes to the current standoff in Ottawa will only produce a further lurch to the right, imperiling the most fundamental democratic and social rights of the working class.

WSWS (2022-02-08). Turkish health workers strike as COVID-19 pandemic, living costs surge. wsws.org As COVID-19 cases explode and real annual inflation exceeds 110 percent in Turkey, many layers of the working class are increasingly taking strike action.

Mark Gruenberg (2022-02-08). Construction union leaders hail Biden's pro-union executive order. peoplesworld.org

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