(2021-12-01). Interview with Toni Gilpin on recent strikes and the need for fighting unions. fightbacknews.org Toni Gilpin is a prominent labor historian, author and activist. She wrote the book The Long Deep Grudge which covered the militant history of the Farm Equipment Union whose members later merged into the United Auto Workers, including some the locals that recently struck for five weeks at John Deere, where Gilpin provided support on the picket lines. | Fight Back! was able to speak to Gilpin recently about the John Deere strike, the uptick in recent strikes, union leadership and elections, and what is needed in the American labor movement today. The following are excerpts from that conversation. | Fight Back!: Wh…
(2021-12-01). Earthcare Fieldcast: Migrant Labor Struggles in Agriculture and Care. roarmag.org 
As we are sliding from crises of social reproduction into crises of planetary ecology, | Episode 3 —Feminist Organizing across Migrant Agricultural and Care Work:…
(2021-12-01). Workers of the world demand: MAKE AMAZON PAY! workers.org 
By Tony Murphy and John Catalinotto Strikes, protests and militant job actions marked the global day of actions Nov. 26, targeting the megamonopoly and superprofiteer Amazon in 20 countries. Chris Smalls, president of Amazon Labor Union, speaks at NYC rally Nov. 26, organized by Workers Assembly Against Racism. The day . . . |
(2021-12-01). Amazon Workers in Alabama Get New Shot at Union After NLRB Rules Company Broke the Law in 1st Vote. democracynow.org 
Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama may soon get another chance to decide whether to unionize. The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Amazon violated U.S. labor law while waging an aggressive anti-unionization campaign against warehouse workers earlier this year in Bessemer, Alabama. This comes as Amazon workers worldwide from Bangladesh to Germany campaigned on Black Friday for fairer working conditions under the banner, "Make Amazon Pay." "If Amazon is trying to eat the world, it's also bringing many disparate sets of workers and activists and communities together to fight against the…
(2021-12-01). Berlin's 'new economy' workers fight exploitation and union busting. zcomm.org Workers at Gorillas, the Berlin-based grocery delivery service, secured a major court victory as they continue their fight against "new economy" exploitation and rampant union busting…
(2021-12-01). Harvard graduate student union pushes through contract with cut in real wages. wsws.org The four-year deal will result in an effective wage cut for exploited student-workers at the world's wealthiest university.
(2021-12-01). Major Canadian academic group rejects Israel lobby's anti-Semitism definition. electronicintifada.net Scholars must be able to critique states without fear of outside political influence, association says.
(2021-12-01). US corporate profits hit new record. wsws.org US corporations are enjoying the largest profit margins since 1950 as the Biden administration pledges to oppose any public health measures in response to the pandemic that might impinge on profits.
(2021-12-01). FedEx locks out Australian workers fighting for improved wages and conditions. wsws.org The global logistics company last week locked out workers for two full shifts after they began four-hour work stoppages.
(2021-12-01). Thoughts on the Left's Response to Capitalism's Global Death Spiral. dissidentvoice.org For those whose personal and political identities are virtually indistinguishable, these are especially vexing times. Specifically, during this historical stage of capitalism it's challenging to abide by Gramsci's optimism of the will and heart and not acquiesce to pessimism of the mind, to the intellect's awareness of certain recalcitrant realities in our world. And residing …
(2021-12-01). Moses Kur, 37-year-old auto parts worker, dies in industrial accident at Ventra's Grand Rapids plant. wsws.org The accident is not the product of individual error but of an unsafe environment which has persisted for years at the auto parts maker, the product of continuous speedup and long working hours that are common throughout the industry.
(2021-12-01). Wall Street falls as Fed chair points to accelerated taper of asset purchases. wsws.org Testimony by US Fed chair Jerome Powell to the Senate Banking Committee yesterday set off the second significant fall on Wall Street in three days as he indicated that the central bank was moving to tighten its monetary policy.
(2021-12-01). Opposition candidate Robredo endorses anti-Communist task force in Philippine election. wsws.org The anti-Communist task force, endorsed by Robredo, is a heavily funded and murderous apparatus of McCarthyism…
(2021-11-30). Markets bounce back after Omicron shock as governments decide to let it rip. wsws.org Notwithstanding the rebound, Friday's sharp fall again underscored the fragility of the entire financial system and its dependence on the flow of cheap money from the world's central banks.
(2021-11-30). Omicron COVID-19 Variant Poses Downside Risks To US Economy. telesurenglish.net On Monday afternoon, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant pose downside risks to U.S. employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation. | RELATED: | "Greater concerns about the virus could reduce people's willingness to work in person, which would slow progress in the labor market and intensify supply-chain disrup…
(2021-11-30). Risk Off: Stocks and Crypto Assets Sell Off Around World After Moderna CEO Says Existing Vaccines Will Struggle Against Omicron. moguldom.com Monday's crypto markets, buoyed by reports that Omicron patients had extremely mild symptoms, gave way on Tuesday to a risk-off scenario with investors around the world seeking safe havens after the CEO of Moderna warned of a significant drop in vaccine effectiveness against the new covid variant. Investors typically move coins to exchanges when they …
(2021-11-30). Anti-Neoliberal Candidate Xiomara Castro Dominates Honduras' Presidential Election. orinocotribune.com With a significant advantage over the closest contender, Xiomara Castro has emerged as the likely next president of Honduras. With her victory the left will return to power in the Central American nation, 12 years after the US-backed coup against Manuel Zelaya. | Castro, wife of the deposed President Zelaya, has an advantage of more than 20 percentage points, according to the preliminary results published by Honduras' electoral authority, with over 50% of the votes counted. The socialist candidate registered 53.6% of the votes, or 959,381 votes, while in second place is Nasry Asfura, candidate of the incumbent Na…
(2021-11-30). Historic win of Xiomara Castro ends 12 years of far-right rule in Honduras. peoplesdispatch.org Castro's victory, with an historic turnout of over 68%, would end a dozen years of conservative and neoliberal rule. She has called for a government of reconciliation, peace and justice…
(2021-11-30). Top NLRB regional official orders re-run vote at Amazon warehouse in Alabama. peoplesworld.org 
BESSEMER, Ala.—Citing seven counts of Amazon labor law-breaking, mostly involving a giant mailbox for ballots set up before the front door of the firm's Bessemer, Ala., warehouse, a top National Labor Relations Board official has ordered a rerun unionization election vote there. The Nov. 29 decision by the agency's regional director for Georgia, Northern Alabama, …
(2021-11-30). Working Families Party director, Sochie Nnaemaka, says her party gives voters a real choice. peoplesworld.org 
NEW YORK — Sochie Nnaemeka, the daughter of Nigerian immigrant parents, has been State Director of the New York Working Families Party since late 2019. With a resume full of both union and grassroots democratic organizing history, she has always labored for progressive electoral politics at city, state, and federal levels. Prior to her position …
(2021-11-30). Backed by AFRICOM, corporations plunder DR Congo for "climate-friendly" materials and blame China. thegrayzone.com Cobalt, a key metallic element used in lithium batteries and other "green" technology, is sourced from slave labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As the West points the finger at China, the US Africa Command is indirectly policing mining operations that profit US corporations. Ever since Belgium's King Leopold II (1835-1909) established the Congo Free State in 1885, international powers have exploited the region's vast resources. Leading a regime that went on to kill an estimated eight million people …
(2021-11-30). Labor Board Calls for New Amazon Union Election After Finding Company Misconduct. truthout.org 
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has directed that Amazon workers in Alabama get a second chance at forming a union after finding that the company illegally interfered with the union election As the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) pointed out after the first union election failed in April, Amazon employed a number of tactics to bust the un…
(2021-11-30). What is the Kaiser Permanente Labor Management Partnership? wsws.org To understand the battle Kaiser workers face against both the company and the unions, it is necessary to review briefly the evolution of this incestous relationship.
(2021-11-30). Tomgram: Rebecca Gordon, Why Do We Need a 24/7 Economy? warisacrime.org This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here. When it came to work and the pandemic, you could say that I led the way. By the time it struck, I had left my job as an editor in publishing and had been working at home for …
(2021-11-30). North Korea: Beyond US Propaganda. orinocotribune.com 
By Charles McKelvey — Nov 26, 2021 | The DPRK's struggle for independence and unification | The International Manifesto Group sponsored on November 21 a Webinar on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, seeking to look beyond the Western stereotypes of the East Asian nation as totalitarian, economically bankrupt, and a threat to world peace. | The International Manifesto Group, panelist Derek Ford observed, is indicative of a trend in the academic left, which he characterized as the emergence of "anti-Marxist Marxists." He noted that when neoliberalism emerged, Marxists and other leftists looked at neoli…
(2021-11-30). Number of Covid boosters given in US exceeds single shots in 8 African nations combined. nationofchange.org "Our leaders' failure to help bring the vaccines to everyone, everywhere will keep us on a cruel and never-ending cycle of illness, death, and economic suffering."
(2021-11-30). Venezuela's mega-elections: Despite U.S. sanctions, COVID and economic crisis, Chavismo wins majority of states. workers.org 
By William Camacaro and Frederick Mills Caracas, Venezuela This slightly edited article first appeared on the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) website on Nov. 22 at tinyurl.com/2p8n6n87. The article was updated on Nov. 23. Translations into English are by the authors. Venezuelans celebrate Chavismo 2021 electoral victories. On Sunday, Nov. . . . |
(2021-11-30). Biden's message to Wall Street: Mass death will not interfere with corporate profits. wsws.org In his statement Monday, the US president delivered a message to the financial markets that nothing will stand in the way of boosting the profits and wealth of the super-rich.
(2021-11-30). Tennessee governor enacts reactionary legislation aimed at forcing the population to "live with the virus" wsws.org Republican Governor Bill Lee signed a bill earlier this month which bans mask mandates and provides unemployment benefits to those refusing employer-mandated vaccination against COVID-19.
(2021-11-30). The IMF and Special Drawing Rights: Saving Lives, Backlash and Attempted Coup, and Structural Reform. cepr.net This was a speech delivered at the Arise Festival of Labour's Left Ideas on Saturday, November 17.
(2021-11-30). Vale Stuart Macintyre, historian of Australian communism. greenleft.org.au Stuart Macintyre was a major contributor to the history of Australian communism and played an important role in documenting the history of the left and labour movement, writes Jim McIlroy.
(2021-11-30). Libya: Where Fortune Favors the Corrupt Who Control Wealth and Arms. libya360.wordpress.com Protesters Gather in Sebha in Support of Saif Qaddafi, Demanding Free and Fair Elections and an Impartial Judiciary The electoral scene in Libya leaves no room for optimism for a better future in the foreseeable future. The main actors in the course of events are armed force on the ground, political money, and abuse of…
(2021-11-30). Fighting The Inflation Profiteers. popularresistance.org In a time of high inflation, you hear a lot about companies "passing costs" on to customers. In order for companies to maintain their God-given right to earn a profit, they must raise prices to offset the cost of producing goods and getting them into peoples' hands. And thanks mostly to the hidden risk, exposed by the pandemic, of neoliberal gospels like just-in-time logistics, deregulation, and offshoring, prices really are going up. | But there's something else mixed in with this latest bout of inflation. Companies aren't just passing costs onto us. With corporations using inflation as a cover for raising their…
(2021-11-30). What Is GameFi? 3 Things To Know About The Financialization Of Games And Crypto. moguldom.com One of the hottest new trends to emerge from the crypto industry, GameFi combines decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with blockchain-based online games. A fusion of the words "game" and "finance," GameFi is the financialization of video gaming on blockchain networks designed to merge the fun of games with the financialization of in-game …
(2021-11-30). Trump Org Made $1.7 Billion While Trump Was President, Much of It From Taxpayers. truthout.org 
A new book examining the Trump administration's financial conflicts of interest showcases the alarming amount of money Trump's companies made while he was in the White House — including hundreds of millions of dollars that his businesses received from taxpayers. | Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston details the full extent of Trump's ill-gotten gains from 2017 to 2021 in his new book, The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family.
(2021-11-30). GMB union promotes below inflation pay deal ending Sheffield UK refuse workers dispute. wsws.org The sellout in Sheffield is in line with the GMB's role in curbing rising opposition across the UK among refuse workers.
(2021-11-30). Protecting Seniors? Bill 37 and the Ontario Crisis in Long-Term Care. socialistproject.ca 
The 'new' Ontario Long-Term Care legislation, Bill 37 Providing More Care, Protecting Seniors, and Building More Beds Act, 2021, has been referred to the Standing Committee on the Legislative Assembly for public hearings. Here is the Ontario Health Coalition's analysis of the new LTC (long-term care) bill. It first outlines priorities of the Coalition, with its many union, community, and healthcare worker partners, and then provides an overview of key parts of the proposed legislation and its failings in addressing the crisis in LTC and the perils of for-profit provisioning (where the thousands of deaths over…
(2021-11-30). Quebec government left seniors' homes unprotected at start of COVID-19 pandemic. wsws.org "It's not just science that decides," said Quebec's director of public health, Horacio Arruda, in defense of the government's policy of putting profits before human lives.
(2021-11-30). COVID-19 infects Sri Lankan schools: Stop sacrificing the lives of students and teachers! wsws.org The Rajapakse government rushed to reopen schools not out of concern for the education of children but to defend capitalist profits.
(2021-11-30). 'Marxism, Ecology and the Climate Crisis' — John Bellamy Foster. mronline.org 
In the week before the COP26 international summit, John Bellamy Foster analyzed the climate emergency and how we can achieve climate justice.
(2021-11-30). Australia: NSW teachers to hold one-day strike on December 7. wsws.org The stoppage reflects widespread anger over soaring workloads, stagnant wages and the dangerous reopening of the schools, all of which have been enforced by the unions.
(2021-11-30). When Have We Seen This Before? dissidentvoice.org 
Fifty years ago, global capitalism came to a crossroads. The enormous costs of the US's long, costly Asian war produced great debt and pressure on the gold-backed US dollar. The imperialist alliance with Israel brought a disruptive, unprecedented boycott on the part of the oil-producing nations resisting Israel's occupation of Arab territories. Intense competition between …
(2021-11-30). 'Black Swan' Author And Mathematician Nassim Taleb: If You Still Think Bitcoin Is Hedge Against World Events, Stay Out Of Finance. moguldom.com Legendary Lebanese-American mathematician Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of "The Black Swan," advised those who still view Bitcoin as a hedge against world events to give up on investing and venture into other hobbies like stamp collecting, bird watching or something less risky. Bitcoin dived to $53,524 on the Bitstamp exchange on Nov. 26, the lowest since …
(2021-11-30). Feds Sentence Houston Man To 9 Years In Prison For $1.6M PPP Loan Fraud, Purchased Lamborghini, Binged On Strip Clubs. moguldom.com A Houston man has been sentenced to 9 years and 2 months in prison for fraudulently obtaining over $1.6 million in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), much of which he spent on lavish purchases — including a Lamborghini and trips to the strip club. Lee Price III, 30, pled guilty to wire fraud …
(2021-11-30). América Latina y el Caribe: Una lectura optimista entre olas y vendavales. globalizacion.ca La pandemia mundial profundizó las condiciones de precariedad de las mayorías, generadas por la financiarización capitalista y mostró cruelmente las carencias y desigualdades producidas por el orden neoliberal, atenuadas apenas en algunos lugares por sistemas sociales de contención de carácter…
(2021-11-30). The Indian Farmers' Movement Has Shattered Narendra Modi's Strongman Image. zcomm.org After a yearlong battle, Indian farmers have forced Narendra Modi to repeal his neoliberal farm laws. The movement that took on Modi and won is a powerful blow against India's ruling Hindu nationalists…
(2021-11-30). Protests Demanding Affordable Housing Surge In The Netherlands. popularresistance.org On Sunday, November 28, housing rights groups and other progressive sections in the Dutch city of Groningen marched under the banner #Woonstrijd to protest the acute housing crisis in the city. Various groups including Shelter Our Students (SOS), International Socialists Groningen, New Communist Party of the Netherlands (NCPN), Communist Youth Movement (CJB), RED Groningen, Young Socialists Groningen, Democratic Academy Groningen, Groningen Feminist Network, and others, participated in the march while adhering to COVID-19 safety protocols. The protesters demanded a radical housing policy from the authorities whic…
(2021-11-30). Chavismo Consolidates its Power in the Face of a Divided Opposition. orinocotribune.com By Marco Teruggi — Nov 23, 2021 | Chavismo won in last week's regional elections. This is demonstrated by the national political map which, in terms of governorships, now shows 20 states in the hands of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and three in the hands of different opposition forces, an irreversible landscape with the exception of the state of Barinas, which, in the afternoon hours of Monday was still under final count. 20 state capitals also remained in the hands of Chavismo and, out of the total of 335 mayoralties at stake, the PSUV won in 205 of them, a figure still in the process of b…