Submitted on Mon, 03/18/2013 - 12:47pm
Mark your calendars and register right now to attend the 2013 Work Peoples College at Mesaba Cooperative Park in Minnesota. Members are encouraged to talk with their branch about participating in the WPC. Be a part of the IWW's most significant educational event in memorable history. Is your branch already on board? If so, elect a WPC liason to keep in regular contact with the WPC planning committee.
Click here to register. Click here for more info.
Submitted on Sun, 03/17/2013 - 2:34pm
From The Organizer, March 16, 2013
MINNEAPOLIS, MN– The atmosphere at Sisters’ Camelot, a mobile food shelf and kitchen bus based in Seward, has grown increasingly tense as a labor dispute between the newly-formed canvassers’ union and the collective management enters its second week. Sisters’ Camelot is a non-profit organization that delivers thousands of pounds of organic produce to low-income neighborhoods every week. It is collectively run by a group of seven individuals, each of whom have paid positions managing specific aspects of the organization. Their wages and the money for programming comes from the canvass crew, who raise nearly all the funds that allows Sisters’ Camelot to operate. However, canvassers have long felt that their work is not respected by the collective.
Submitted on Mon, 03/11/2013 - 12:45pm
Donate to the Sisters' Camelot Strike Fund
Canvass workers at Sisters Camelot, a non-profit mobile food shelf and soup kitchen, went on strike Friday, March 1st, after the organization’s managing collective refused to negotiate with the canvass union. As of now, the highest priority is providing mutual aid to our fellow workers who have made this courageous step and, as a result, are in need of funds to pay for rent, food, and other necessities of life that would otherwise be paid for by the wages they are losing as a result of the strike. Supporting the strike fund will make sure that these fellow workers aren't placed in extreme financial distress and are able to continue the strike for as long as it takes!
Submitted on Fri, 03/08/2013 - 11:13am
*International Women's Day Special*
By Cassandra Solanas - Industrial Worker, March 2013
Gruesome examples of women’s oppression like the Delhi gang rape or the Steubenville football team get lots of headlines and head-shaking. Far more common are sexual assaults of women by men close to the victim. The culture that enables this violence is built on the everyday slights, power plays, and insults that women experience constantly. Activist circles are not immune, and activist groups often promote patriarchal structures, rape culture, and the silencing of victims. What can your branch do to promote a healthier culture, discourage patriarchal behavior, hold perpetrators accountable, and support our fellow workers? Here are a few approaches your branch can take:
Submitted on Thu, 03/07/2013 - 1:43pm
A watershed victory for low wage workers
Grand Rapids - While new Right to Work legislation has forced labor into retreat across Michigan, Grand Rapids workers made a rare advance Wednesday under the banner of the radical Industrial Workers of the World as employees of Star Tickets voted for unionization. The victorious union vote comes on the heels of a relentless anti-union campaign waged by owner Jack Krasula and an outside firm he retained.
Dubbed the IWW Star Tickets Workers Union employees came together over meager demands such as: adequate equipment, an end to understaffing, and a yearly pay evaluation.
"Our demands aim not only to benefit our workplace environment, but to improve our services to our valued clients as well." said Deirdre Cunningham a Client Services Representative.
