Submitted on Mon, 07/08/2013 - 11:55am
CHICAGO - The Workers at Mobile Rail Solutions, a specialized truck company servicing locomotives, have organized a Union seeking full recognition through the Industrial Workers of the World. With an overwhelming majority of petitioning workers, the IWW is immediately asking to be voluntarily recognized by Mobile Rail Solutions. If recognition is not voluntary, the workers at mobile rail are prepared to file for a representation election by the end of today.
The workers at Mobile Rail are acting together to address long standing issues of required safety, industry standards of pay, and basic workplace dignity. In the coming days, we are prepared to defend ourselves both with legal protections as well as workplace direct actions. The unionization of Mobile Rail Solutions will also protect the hard won standards of workers across their industry.
Submitted on Wed, 07/03/2013 - 3:36pm
By Tom Levy, July/August 2013 Industrial Worker
NOTE: This piece was written at a high point of the protests. Since then, two “general strikes” have been called by two of the leftist union confederations in Turkey. Unfortunately, these strikes never spread beyond a small unionized core. Nightly protests are still occurring, but the numbers are significantly down. In their place a movement of popular assemblies has taken root.
In Istanbul, IWW members have been helping to organize workplace assemblies that specifically look at using the momentum and experience of mass protest movement to galvanize politically conscious, democratic, and community-oriented workplace organization.
Submitted on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 10:15pm
The trial to seek a court order for IWW Sisters Camelot Canvass Union member shugE Mississippi to be rehired and be awarded back pay took place last week on June 6 & 7. Both sides called witnesses and cross-examined them in a courtroom in front of an administrative law judge at the Minneapolis NLRB office.
The most surprising testimonies came when NLRB lawyers representing shugE Mississippi cross-examined Sisters' Camelot managing collective member Eric Gooden and ex-managing collective member Clay Hansen.
Near the end of the trial's first day Eric Gooden admitted under oath that shugE Mississippi was never fired from Sisters' Camelot in 2009, contradicting a claim given in the written statement approved by the managing collective and read aloud on the March 4th, 2013 when shugE Mississippi's contract was terminated. Gooden also clarified in testimony that the language of the firing statement did mean to assert that shugE Mississippi was fired in 2009, which clarifies that the managing collective approved lying publicly about the events of 2009.
Submitted on Mon, 06/03/2013 - 5:16am
Headlines:
- Wobblies Defend Fired Bus Driver In London
- IWWs Organize & Win In North Carolina
- The Struggle Continues At Chi-Lake Liquors
Features:
- May Day Celebrated Around the World
- Historical Perspective On Lithuanian Unions
- Industrial Tragedy In Bangladesh
Download a Free PDF of this edition.
Submitted on Tue, 05/28/2013 - 1:47pm
Union Claims Victory And Presses Owner John Wolf To Rehire 5 Employees
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Almost two months after 5 employees at Chicago-Lake Liquors were fired for presenting a petition to management asking for higher wages, the National Labor Relations Board indicated yesterday that it found merit in the charges that the firings were a violation of federal labor law, as well as two other charges against the employer relating to ongoing organizing. The fired workers are now calling for Chicago-Lake’s owner, John Wolf, to respect the law and rehire them. The workers and their supporters will picket outside the store at 7:30PM on Friday, May 24th, asking customers to shop elsewhere for the evening in solidarity with the campaign for higher wages and union rights.
