Labor Against Barbarism
Unions in SF shut down austerity
These are extremely challenging times for the labor movement and for workers around the world. The Trump-Musk-Thiel agenda threatens basic democratic rights in the US. Workers are sitting in immigration detention on dubious legal grounds: SMART member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, farmworker leader Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez, UAW member Mahmoud Khalil, and IAM member Maximo Londonio, among many others. The stakes couldn’t be higher—yet unfortunately, many labor leaders are scared of their own shadow. More than 14 million U.S. workers are union members, but many are not engaged—with 40 percent of union members voting for Trump, a mass political education program is necessary. Certainly the best way to change this retrograde state of affairs in our movement is to lead by example—that’s why recent victories like the Chicago Teachers Union’s transformative contract victory and the CWA first contract at Microsoft, or the wave of doctors and residents organizing into AFT and SEIU are so important. Time for the rest of the movement to get in line.
News and Views
The Stand Up Strike at Safeway has expanded to Littleton and Castle Rock. The private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management owns 30 percent of Safeway’s parent company Albertsons, and manages a ton of public pension money.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker just signed a measure that significantly expands the enforcement mechanisms for wage theft. WIth the DOGE cutbacks at the Department of Labor, expanded local enforcement is all the more important.
Public sector union members of SEIU 1021 and IFPTE 21 disrupted San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s austerity budget hearing yesterday. Lurie is an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune.
Today’s Action