Protests Rock Meeting of University of California Regents Los Angeles, CA – As of Nov. 18, dozens of tents are cropping up on UCLA’s quad as over 100 students begin a tent city, part of an all-night protest against the budget cuts, layoffs and tuition hikes in the University… (more)
UC Berkeley Fights Tuition Hikes Berkeley, CA – While the University of California’s Board of Regents were at UCLA voting to increase the cost of education by a whopping 32%, students, labor and faculty from across the state were fighting… (more)
UCLA Students Stage Building Takeover Los Angeles, CA – Shortly after midnight on Nov. 19, dozens of students barricaded themselves inside UCLA’s Campbell Hall in protest of a planned 32% fee hike that will be enacted later today. (more)
Armando Robles, president of UE Local 1110 and one of the leaders of the Republic Windows and Doors occupation, addresses the crowd outside the bankers' convention Oct. 27. (Fight Back! News/Jonathan Labe)
Chicago, IL - The American Bankers Association met here the week of Oct. 26, in luxury hotels, spending millions for their comfort. Outside, 2500 working people marched and chanted, “You got bailed out, we got sold out!”
Rosemary Williams, who fought eviction from her home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was in the march and said, “We need a moratorium on foreclosures.” She spoke at a breakfast for Jobs With Justice to kick off the day of protest. Her message to anyone facing foreclosure is to fight. “If the bank comes for your home, don’t go quietly in the night. Get people together and fight back.”
Colombia: Eyewitness report from solidarity delegation
By Angela Denio
In August, a delegation of U.S. students, trade unionists and anti-war activists traveled to Colombia to meet with leaders in the struggle there. The Colombian Action Network and the Campaign for Labor Rights, two grassroots organizations here in the United States fighting against U.S. intervention in Colombia, hosted the trip.
“I knew what I heard in the U.S. media about the benefits of U.S. tax money and aid to Colombia was true only for the rich. I wanted to see for myself what the reality is for Colombians,” said Jeremy Miller, a member of the Colombian Action Network when explaining his decision to go on the delegation. Members of the Colombian Action Network and the Campaign for Labor Rights arranged meetings with peasant, indigenous and student groups, as well as with political leaders, unions, political prisoners and families of Colombians killed or imprisoned by the government.
‘We Say Fight Back!’ national conference to be held in Chicago
By Chapin Gray
In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, leaders and organizers across the country are gearing up for the “They Say Cut Back, We Say Fight Back!” national conference planned for Oct. 3 in Chicago, Illinois. From California to New York, people who for the past years have been fighting back against cuts to programs that serve our communities, against home foreclosures and evictions and against plant closures will come together to share experiences and make plans to work together in the coming years.
Wang Zhaoguo (R), president of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), meets with Anna Burger, president of Change to Win, and head of the visiting U.S. union leaders delegation, in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 26, 2009. Change to Win is a coalition of U.S. unions representing 6 million workers. (Xinhua/Liu Jiansheng)
China’s top trade union leader, Wang Zhaoguo, and a group of visiting U.S. union leaders Wednesday agreed to explore new ways to cooperate.
Wang told Anna Burger, president of Change to Win, a coalition of U.S. unions representing 6 million workers, that Chinese trade unions hoped to strengthen cooperation with Change to Win based on independence, equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s affairs.
“Trade unions around the world should cement exchanges and cooperation amid the global economic downturn, to better safeguard the interests of workers and promote global economic development,” said Wang, president of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and a senior Chinese legislator.
Burger hoped to further enhance contacts and cooperation with the 100-million strong ACFTU through the week-long visit to China.
The U.S. union leaders arrived in Beijing Monday. Earlier Wednesday, they signed a memorandum with their ACFTU counterparts to facilitate exchanges and cooperation.
The two sides set up a regular exchange mechanism in May 2007 during Burger’s ice-breaking China tour, ending a decades-long boycott of China by U.S. labor groups.
Click on the image for a PDF flyer for the conference
The following is the call to the “We Say Fight Back” conference, a very important national working class conference that will take place October 3rd in Chicago:
We are now in the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Millions of homes are in foreclosure. Unemployment is growing. Massive cuts are taking place to the programs that benefit poor and working people, while the government tries to balance budgets on our backs. Inequality is growing, oppressed people–African-Americans, Chicanos, and Latinos are the last hired and the first to lose their jobs.
The rich and powerful are waging a war on working people and many of us have decided to respond by fighting back. In cities around the country there are sharp struggles to stop evictions and to demand a moratorium on home foreclosures. At places like Chicago’s Republic Windows and Doors there have been intense battles in response to plant closures. From California to New York, people have taken to the streets to protest cuts to programs that serve our communities.
On October 3, 2009, trade unionists, immigrant rights activists and members of low-income, community, housing, student and other progressive organizations will come together in Chicago for a conference that will help build our collective movements. We will take this opportunity to learn from one another’s experience. We will lend support to key struggles. Importantly, we will make common plans. Together we can make a difference and build a more powerful fight back.
Go to the Conference website for a list of endorsers and other important info: http://wesayfightback.com/
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution supporting the Quad City Die Casting workers. The resolution was passed by the July 11-12 National Convention of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
The 2009 SDS National Convention Stands in Solidarity with Quad City Die Casting Workers
The students and youth of SDS stand in solidarity with the union workers of UE Local 1174 in their fight to keep Quad City Die Casting open. We condemn the Wells Fargo bank for refusing to finance the factory in Moline, Illinois. This outrage comes after Wells Fargo received $25 billion dollars of taxpayer’s money in a bailout earlier this year. Wells Fargo is sitting on the money. So now a locally owned factory employing over a hundred workers is being forced to shut their doors. However, the union workers are fighting to save their jobs!
SDS is joining with the demand of the UE workers that Wells Fargo finance the company so they keep their jobs. Like the Republic Window and Door workers in Chicago this past December, it is unacceptable that a huge bank receives billions in bailout funds yet hangs the workers out to dry. Wells Fargo received $25 billion dollars from the recent bailout.
We are calling on all students and youth to hold protests at their local Wells Fargo banks and to express solidarity with the workers in Moline. Support the Quad City workers and their jobs! Pressure Wells Fargo to extend a line of credit to the Quad City Die Casting factory.
Further, we are asking students to go to the factory in Moline, Illinois and stand with the workers while they are fighting for their jobs.
Make the rich pay! Keep Quad City Die Casting open!
Murfreesboro, TN – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held its fourth annual national convention here, July 11 -12, bringing together around 100 students and youth activists from across the country.
Quad City Die Casting: Struggle catches fire as workers from around the country rally in support
By Fight Back! editors
The workers of Quad City Die Casting are on the frontlines in the battle against plant closures.
Quad City Die Casting is a tool and die factory in Moline Illinois, on the Illinois/Iowa border. Quad City had been a successful locally-owned factory, until the current economic crisis, making custom aluminum parts for farm equipment dealers and manufacturing. Even though business is down during the current crisis, this factory has been a source of steady work for Moline workers for generations. The factory has a loyal customer base that would continue to buy parts from the factory. With sufficient credit lines the factory could stay in business and the 100 workers could stay on the job during this crisis. Instead, Wells Fargo Bank, which got 25 billion dollars in bailout money, has cut off credit to the factory and without a new development, Quad City Die Casting will close this summer.
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