The UAW Strike against the University of California and its attacks on student workers protesting genocide by Israel is expanding from UC Santa Cruz, to also include strikes at the UCLA and UC Davis campuses.
Yesterday, police again violently attacked student protesters setting up a new encampment at UCLA. Protesters also barricaded themselves around UCLA’s Kerckhoff Hall.
Today in Labor History May 20, 1946: The U.S. government took over control of the coal mines (again). On April 1, 400,000 UMWA coal miners from 26 states went on strike for safer conditions, health benefits and increased wages. WWII had recently ended and President Truman saw the strike as counterproductive to economic recovery. In response, he seized the mines, making the miners temporarily federal employees. He ended the strike by offering them a deal that included healthcare and retirement security.
The coal strike was part of the strike wave of 1945-1946, the biggest strike wave in U.S. history. During WWII, most of the major unions collaborated with the U.S. war effort by enforcing labor “discipline” and preventing strikes. In exchange, the U.S. government supported closed shop policies under which employers at unionized companies agreed to hire only union members. While the closed shop gave unions more power within a particular company, the no-strike policy made that power virtually meaningless.
When the war ended, inflation soared and veterans flooded the labor market. As a result, frustrated workers began a series of wildcat strikes. Many grew into national, union-supported strikes. In November 1945, 225,000 UAW members went on strike. In January 1946, 174,000 electric workers struck. That same month, 750,000 steel workers joined them. Then, in April, the coal strike began. 250,000 railroad workers struck in May. In total, 4.3 million workers went on strike. It was the closest the U.S. came to a national General Strike in the 20th century. And in December 1946, Oakland, California did have a General Strike, the last in U.S. history.
Then, in 1947, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act, which severely restricted the powers and activities of unions. It also banned General Strikes, stripping away the most powerful tool workers had.
👎🏻😡“Workers at two Mercedes-Benz factories near Tuscaloosa, #Alabama, voted on Friday against joining the United Automobile Workers, a stunning blow to the union’s campaign to gain ground in the South, where it has traditionally been weak.” #UAW
This authorizes the eboard to call a stand up strike similar to UAW's autoworkers strike last year. Our initial demands include amnesty for all students and workers who are facing any disciplinary action for protest, divestment from "weapons manufacturers, military contractors, and companies profiting from Israel's war on Gaza," disclosure of all investments, and the ability for researchers to opt out from funding from sources tied to the military or oppression of Palestinians (including a transitional fund for those people).
This strike is in response to our employer first allowing a vigilante mob to brutalize our students and workers, and then calling the police to further brutalize them the following night. Our union is responding to a pattern of employer violence that's as old as unions themselves, allying with police-aligned vigilantes to chill and crush organizing.
from #NewYorkTimes [gift article below]
University of California Workers May Strike After UCLA Raid
A union representing academic workers said it would file unfair labor charges against #UCLA, and potentially walk out over the handling of protests this week.
UAW Local 4811, which represents academic student workers at the University of California, authorized a strike vote in response to this morning's attack on the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at UCLA.
"At an emergency executive board meeting this morning, our union’s leadership voted to hold a strike authorization vote as early as next week to give the Executive Board authority to call a strike if circumstances justify: should the university decide to curtail the right to participate in protected, concerted activity; discriminate against union members or political viewpoints; and create or allow threats to members’ health and safety, among others, UAW 4811 members will take any and all actions necessary to enforce our rights."
“We need to know who is going to stand up with us! And this choice is clear. Joe Biden bet on the American worker, while Donald Trump blamed the American worker”
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain
Although this clip is a few months old the sentiment is still true
If you truly are moral, if you truly care about the American worker then you must vote Joe Biden
Daimler Truck Workers Reach Deal and Avert Threatened Strike in #NorthCarolina
The United Automobile Workers reached an agreement involving workers who make Freightliner trucks and Thomas Built buses. The deal comes as the union seeks to expand its membership in southern states. #UnionStrong#UAW
The UAW’s historic win in Chattanooga shows the power of the sort of multi-racial coalition of workers that has terrified Southern aristocracy for centuries.
@lolgop #RedState govs try to discourage auto-workers from unionizing with the "threat" that if they do, automakers will just move/open plants in states where there are no #unions.
THAT is an argument for forming a #union IN all 50 states, NOT trying to talk workers into continuing to work for less money out of fear of losing their jobs.
Today in Labor History April 20, 1948: United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther was shot and seriously wounded by would-be assassins while he was eating dinner. It permanently impaired his right arm. He survived and ultimately died in a plane crash in 1970 under suspicious circumstances. Reuther also survived an attempted kidnapping in April, 1938, while his brother Victor was shot and nearly killed by police in 1949. The UAW headquarters was also bombed in 1949. Both Walter and Victor were again nearly killed in a small private plane near Dulles Airport. Despite this history of attempts on his life, virtually no media addressed the possibility that his actual death may have been an assassination.
"Over 4,000 Volkswagen workers in Tennessee just joined the UAW. They’re the first American workers to win a union at a non-union car company in decades. This historic victory will change the auto industry, and the future of American labor."
OMG UAW is running CIRCLES against car manufacturers. UAW files charges in Germany (!) accusing Mercedes Benz of violating a Germany law that took effect in 2023.
Today in Labor History March 7, 1932: Over 3,000 people, led by the United Auto Workers, marched on the main Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan. Workers on the Ford Hunger March were demanding that laid off colleagues be rehired. They also demanded a slow-down of the assembly lines and an end to the evictions of unemployed workers from their homes. Marchers carried banners saying "Give Us Work," "We Want Bread Not Crumbs," and "Tax the Rich and Feed the Poor." During the protests, police opened fire with machine guns, killing 4 and injuring 60. A fifth worker died later from his wounds. The Unemployed Council (part of the Communist Party) also supported the march.
About 9,000 unionized Ford workers in Kentucky will go on strike Feb. 23 over unresolved safety issues, the United Auto Workers said Friday #UAW - Bloomberg
Today in Labor History February 11, 1937: General Motors recognized the United Auto Workers (UAW) following a 44-day sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan, involving 48,000 GM workers. Two months later, company guards beat up UAW leaders at the River Rouge, Michigan plant. On January 11, police armed with guns and tear gas tried to storm the plant. Strikers repeatedly repelled them by throwing hinges, bottles and bolts at them. Fourteen strikers were injured by police gunfire during the strike.
#UAW expected to endorse #Biden as he prepares to fight for #union workers
“The support could help boost the president with blue-collar and union workers, as well as in the key battleground state of #Michigan.” #UnionStrong 💪🏼