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Workers’ Voice newspaper: March-April edition
The U.S.-Israel war on Iran is a major escalation in the Middle East that has dangerous implications for working people everywhere. The brutality of the imperialist assault internationally is paired with the attack on civil liberties by the Trump regime inside the U.S. This includes the continued operations of ICE and Border Patrol, the threats to the 2026 mid-term elections, environmental rollbacks that deeply impact the Black community, and unchecked police brutality.
Our editorial in this issue warns us: “There is a great danger of underestimating the determination of the U.S. corporate elite to drive through this effort. We cannot rely on court rulings or upcoming elections to save us. We must organize now, not only for mass demonstrations and community networks against ICE violence, but to find our way to building a new working-class party through which we can organize our political defense on every plane and on every day.”
In this issue we also have articles on the Epstein files and the ruling class, the San Francisco teachers’ strike, and a review of the new album by U2.
The March–April 2026 edition of our newspaper is available in print and online as a pdf. Read the latest issue of our newspaper today with a free pdf download! As always, we appreciate any donations to help with the cost of printing.
Click on the image to read the paper or message us to get a hard copy:
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Democrats back anti-protest law in Wisconsin
Superior, Wis., is ground zero for the fight against fossil-fuel capitalists. Enbridge continuously presses forward with the line that its oil pipeline replacements and expansions will bring jobs, economic prosperity, and the safe transportation of fossil fuels. Husky Energy, even after the disastrous explosion at its refinery in 2018, is rebuilding the facility with a future that will include deadly hydrogen fluoride. Adding insult to more insults, the refinery uses Canadian tar sand oil as well as fracked shale oil, both of which contribute heavily to climate change.
Capitalist politicians of both the Democratic and Republican parties have their own fossil-fuel agenda. That includes creating criminal laws to defend that agenda.
Recent developments in Wisconsin have shown that reactionary politics can stem from the Democratic Party as much as the Republican. The Democratic Party simply does not care about the interests of unions, environmental justice activists, people of color, and Indigenous peoples. Those radicals who are working to re-make the Democratic Party into a progressive force will always have to confront the fact that the party is locked in to serving the interests of the big corporate party donors.
Democratic Governor Tony Evers recently signed into law the “Worker Safety and Energy Security Act” (AB 426). The new measure expands a 2015 law to make trespassing on or damaging any energy or water company property a felony punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. In short, the law is anti-protest, anti-civil-rights, and anti-fightback against environmental pollution.
The bill was presented by united action by both major capitalist parties under the pretense of protecting workers from water protectors and climate justice activists. Evers and his supporters wish to use the bill to divide trade-union oil and construction workers from radical climate justice activists. Nevertheless, the law goes hand in hand with the union-busting law signed in 2011 by Republican Scott Walker.
Protection of workers is what socialists will continue to strive for, but not at the expense of the fundamental right to protest. This legislation is pointed at the heart of the Indigenous people’s right to defend their historic lands against environmental devastation.
AB426 was inspired by the corporate-dominated American Legislative Exchange Council (infamously known as ALEC), with the help of the American Petroleum Institute and capitalists in the oil and gas industry. The bill was introduced by two Democratic state senators from Milwaukee (Chris Larson and Jason Fields), using the rationale of worker safety and landowner protection.
Representative Jason Fields, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said that his parents were activists for civil rights in the 1960s. He stressed that protesters must advocate non-violence, like Martin Luther King Jr. did. However, some who oppose the bill have pointed out that King would have been arrested under the new law.
The law is racist since it protects predominantly rural white landowners in Wisconsin but does not take an account of the Bad River and other Indigenous tribes fighting to protect their landowner rights against trespassing violations from the Enbridge Line 5.
No “progressive” Democrats spoke against the bill before it was signed by Governor Evers. The Wisconsin ACLU has published a statement stating that it criminalizes the fundamental right to protest and freedom of speech. Bad River leaders have stressed that Enbridge has assaulted their land.
Workers, Indigenous people, and climate justice activists must not let capitalists divide their shared interests. Everyone needs clean air, water, and land to survive. We must not let the capitalist parties of whatever stripe speak for marginalized communities who protest the blind pursuit of profits.
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Court rules against French trade union leader Gaël Quirante
Article originally published at our comrades’ Socialist Resurgence website
By ERNIE GOTTA
On Wednesday, Dec. 18, French courts ruled against postal worker and trade-union leader Gaël Quirante with a three-month suspended prison sentence and a five-year probationary period. If he receives another criminal conviction in the next five years, even if it’s a misdemeanor, he goes to jail for three months. He was also fined 269€ to be paid to La Poste, 1000€ for moral injury to be paid to a manager, and 700€ for moral injury paid to another manager. Gaël and his lawyer immediately appealed the decision so is does not face any penalty until the verdict of the new trial.*
Gaël Quirante denounced the ruling, saying, “15 minutes of deliberation after six hours of debate: it is quick decision and it is an extremely severe judgment that we do not recognize.” Gaël was accompanied by dozens of supporters, postal workers, and participants in the ongoing general strike as they marched into the hearing.
Surrounding this trial is a general strike churning out militant actions across the country—shutting down travel, schools, and even electricity. A top French official has resigned and the workers’ unions are refusing a holiday truce. The condemnation of Gaël is a clear message from Le Poste and the French government to workers who dare challenge their bosses. How else can this unjust sentence be understood other than as a threat to the rest of the leaders of the workers’ movement?
The attack on Gael is much like those being carried out against trade unionists across the globe. Working-class leaders worldwide are under attack for their efforts to organize against the bosses. Eric Lee of Labour Start sent the following message recently: “Rio Wijaya, a trade unionist from the Indonesian dockers’ union, was brutally attacked by security guards at Hutchison Port’s terminal in Jakarta. Later, he was arrested and detained under false allegations of defaming and assaulting the security guards. What happened to Rio is part and parcel of an increasingly anti-union climate at the biggest container port in Indonesia. Over the past 18 months, attacks on trade unionists have included the shooting of members’ cars, the mass sacking of 400 casual workers at the port, and the terminal’s appalling safety conditions that have resulted in the death of four workers since July 2016.”
The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), together with the union in Indonesia, has launched a global online campaign in support of Rio and the dockers in Jakarta.
The history of class struggle has been a bloody fight against the bosses who utilize the police, courts, vigilante thugs, and other ruling institutions to prevent workers from organizing. Revolutionary Teamsters, who led the 1934 workers rebellion to organize Minneapolis, were subjected to fines and prison time, and several were even murdered. Facing an intense amount of repression, this rank-and-file-led movement was able to make a massive contribution to organized labor by bringing unskilled workers and more truck drivers into the union and giving them a platform to participate in organizing across the entire northern Midwest.
Similarly, postal workers in France, with Gaël’s leadership, gained new confidence through class struggle and defeated the country’s largest employer, Le Poste. Gaël and his supporters are determined to continue the fight for justice. We have a responsibility to aid our trade-union comrades on the front lines of the class struggle who are facing harsh repression. Today, the task of trade unionists everywhere is to raise the banner, “An injury to one is an injury to all!”
Drop the charges against Gaël! Free Rio! Stop the repression of trade unionists!
*Correction: Initially we posted inaccurate information regarding the sentencing. What is currently posted is correct. -
[Argentina] D18 on Trial: We Will Accuse Them
Last Monday, December 2, the defense team of our comrade Daniel Ruíz, taken ahead by Martín Alderete, from CADEP, and Mario Villareal, from the PSTU, presented a request for the annulment of the trial as far as what is actually on trial is the right to protest.
By PSTU-Argentina
To take this farce ahead, the prosecutor elaborated an accusation piece full of irregularities in which Daniel’s behavior is never detailed.
The accusation violates Daniel’s right of defense, as it talks about a premeditated action of thousands of people that would have organized criminally to generate riots in the frame of a demonstration, although no names, methods or facts are mentioned at any point.
Daniel’s defense, for over forty minutes, mentioned a countless number of juridical points that exposed the political intention of this trial, as well as they denunciated the interference of then-president Macri in the spheres of the judicial power, having the goal of politically persecuting his opponents.
Having no firm arguments to accuse Daniel, we are participating in a trial without any legitimacy. The prosecutor wants to attack the workers’ right to struggle and defend themselves.
The court rejects the nullity request
The request was rejected by the Court on the grounds of a series of absurd arguments. First, they say that it should have been requested before when the request was actually made at the second hearing – so it was presented in proper time and place. Then, the Federal Tribunal TOF 3 (Tribunal Oral Federal) moves forward with the political arguments of the case, showing its real face.
They say that Daniel is accused of crimes like civil disobedience, and they also state that there are no proofs of Government’s interference in the Justice, but as Martín Alderete pointed out in the request for nullity, there are no details of the crime of which Daniel is being accused, and the harassment in Court by political reasons have been systematic during Macri’s entire term. There are many examples, like Milagros Salas, Jones Huala, Luis D’Elia, etc.
Against the trial-farce, we accuse them!
On Monday 16, at the third hearing of the trial, it is Daniel’s turn to declare. From his city, Comodoro Rivadavia, and by video-conference, our comrade will denounce the regime and its institutions. As he pointed out in the opening event of the trial, the Judiciary Power is prepared to defend the rich ones and attack workers, even more when workers fight in defense of their rights. We believe there is no crime to accuse Daniel Ruíz and César Arakaki against. The ones that committed a crime on December 18 were the parliamentarians that materialized the scam to our elders, as well as the repressive forces, which attacked the demonstrators for several hours. In the frame of this denounce to the capitalist State, which persecutes workers, we will request Daniel and César to be declared non-guilty. We do not want any worker in jail, persecuted or tried for struggling. This is our party’s commitment, of using this trial-farce to denounce them back – the ones that generate misery, hunger, and unemployment. They are guilty! Workers have the right to fight for a qualitatively superior society. -
Roque Dalton: ‘El Salvador Will Be’
Roque Dalton (1935-1975) was a dynamic poet who was inspired by the revolutionary movements in Cuba and Latin America. His poetry captures a feel that anything is possible when the masses of working people and peasants are in motion. U.S. imperialist and neoliberal policies have spent decades tearing El Salvador apart, along with the rest of Central America. In the U.S., Salvadoran immigrants are vilified as the media portrays many, if not all, as hostile M13 gang members.
Today, however, as students and workers are mobilizing across the region in opposition to their regimes and imperialism, a new generation of activists are finding their way in the class struggle. They will no doubt find their way to Roque Dalton. Dalton’s work has inspired the imagination of those dedicated to the overthrow of the capitalist system. What would he think about the prospects for revolution in a Latin America that is either in rebellion or a defensive fight against U.S.-backed coups?
El Salvador Will Be
By ROQUE DALTON
El Salvador will be a beautiful
and without exception, a dignified country
when the working class and the people of the countryside
enrich it, bathe, powder and groom it,
when they cure the historical hangover
and add enough to it by a hundred fold
to reconstitute it
and start it moving along.The problem is that today El Salvador
has a thousand incentives and a hundred thousand inequalities,
cancers, castoffs, dandruff, filth,
sores, fractures, weak knees and offensive breath.A few machetes will be given it
also restored self-esteem, turpentine, penicillin,
bathrooms with toilets and toilets with seats,
kisses and gunpowder.Translated from the Spanish by Zoë Anglesey.
From Poesía Elegida, Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 1981.
El Salvador será
El Salvador será un lindo
y (sin exagerar) serio país
cuando la clase obrera y el campesinado
lo fertilicen lo peinen lo talqueen
le curen la goma historica
lo adecenten lo reconstituyan
y lo echen a andar.El problema es que hoy El Salvador
tiene como mil puyas y cien mil desniveles
quinimil callos y algunas postemillas
cánceres cáscaras caspas shuquedades
llagas fracturas tembladeras tufos.Habrá que darle un poco de machete
lija torno aguarrás penicilina
baños de asiento besos pólvora. -
In Spite of the Elections, the Algerian Revolution Continues
The elections for president of Algeria were held on December 12.
They were summoned by the new dictator, General Ahmed Gaid Salah, to demobilize the revolution and give the Bonapartist regime a democratic outlook.
By Hassan al-Barazili
General Gaid Salah took office in April after ousting former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and arresting regime leaders such as Said Bouteflika and General Mohamed Mediene (known as “Toufik”). In addition, general Gaid Salah removed intelligence chief Athmane Tartag and unified the security apparatus under his command.
However, his aim of using the elections to end the Hirak may not work.
The Hirak (a word that means mobilization in Arabic, is the way protesters call the revolution that began on February 16) called to boycott the regime’s controlled elections. The Hirak calls for the removal of General Gaid Salah and other regime leaders as a precondition for free elections. The result is that only 41% of constituency voted, the lowest turnout in many years.
In addition, the elected candidate, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, is a figure fully associated with General Gaid Salah. He had 58% of the vote which implies that his support among the total voters is only 25%.
On election day there were protests in various cities across the country, and the next day there were new major demonstrations, the largest in the capital, Algiers.
In addition to popular rejection, the new president will face a national and international economic recession. Committed to corporate interests, the new president will impose more sacrifices on the working people.
Algeria Amidst World Revolution
Algeria became one of the centers of the world revolution and, together with Sudan, launched a second wave of revolutions in the Arab countries.
The Algerian revolution began on February 16 following the announcement that former President Bouteflika would run for a new term.
The popular mobilization is extraordinary. Major weekly demonstrations in major cities demand the fall of the regime. Strikes also took place and now a successful boycott of the elections.
New steps are necessary to move forward.
Turn Street Power into National Organization
The most important step is to establish the local and national organization of the Hirak in coordinated workers’ and people’s councils across the country.
Moreover, it is very important to bring soldiers and low-ranking officers to the side of the revolution. The army remains the mainstay of the regime. The Armed Forces summit has a privileged position in this regime and is the main force against any democratic or social change. But soldiers and low-ranking officers do not have these privileges. Bringing them to the workers’ and popular councils is a way to weaken the regime and overthrow it[1].
The inauguration of these councils should aim to constitute an alternative and democratic power of the workers to fight for the end of the regime and for a new power of the workers and the poor people[2].
Learning from the Lessons of the 1962 Revolution
The 1954-1962 revolution constituted a huge victory for the Algerian people against French colonialism and was a source of inspiration to all who fight for social rights and democratic freedoms around the world.
However, this victory was limited by the performance of the National Liberation Front (FLN) in power.
The FLN led the revolution and took power after the end of French colonialism. It had a rigid hierarchical structure, typical of guerrilla or military organizations.
Once in power, the FLN reproduced in the nation its authoritarian internal working model by implementing the one-party regime. The working class has been kept apart from power.
The FLN also decided to impose a capitalist economic model which limited the population’s ability to benefit from the nationalization of oil and various companies and properties that were abandoned by the French pied-noir bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeoisie after independence. At first, there were significant advances in public education and healthcare and land reform. But in a second moment, French and American capitals came to have control of much of the country’s wealth, in association with regime leaders and allies.
Finally, the FLN regime chose to integrate Algeria into the group of nonaligned countries, most of them capitalists like India, Egypt and Indonesia. In this way the FLN abandoned the perspective of expanding the revolution by supporting revolutionary movements in other countries, which was hardly ever done.
A New Revolution and a Revolutionary Working-Class Party
For the Hirak to win a victory in Algeria, a new revolution and a revolutionary party[3] different from the FLN is needed.
Only a new revolution can win jobs, decent wages, quality public healthcare and education, and full democratic freedoms.
General Gaid Salah and new President Abdelmadjid Tebboune say there are no resources to meet popular demands. But where do the resources from oil exploration and other economic activities go? Once again it is necessary to nationalize oil and all major national and foreign corporations to pool the economic resources to improve the living conditions of the working population.
The old regime, now led by General Gaid Salah, defends the interests of these corporations and has already demonstrated that it will not come out of power peacefully.
In addition to workers’, people’s and soldiers’ councils, it is necessary to build a revolutionary party to fight for these ideas.
The FLN played a very important role in the expulsion of French colonialism. But we need a different party model: a revolutionary party that has a democratic internal regime[4], which defends the nationalization of oil and the entire economy under workers’ control, and which struggles to remove the old regime and the bourgeoisie from power and to replace them with the a democratic power of the workers’, people’s and soldiers’ councils.
Footnotes:
[1] Several revolutions have secured the support of soldiers and low-ranking officers. One of the classic examples are the Soviets and the Revolutionary Military Committee in the Russian Revolution of 1917. See a description in Trotsky, Leon: History of the Russian Revolution volume 3, chapter 4 – The Revolutionary Military Committee https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/ch41.htm
[2] On the formation of an alternative workers’ power see Trotsky, León; History of the Russian Revolution, Volume 1, Chapter 11 – Dual Power https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/ch11.htm
[3] On the revolutionary party see Moreno, Nahuel, Questions on the Revolutionary Party Organization, https://litci.org/en/questions-on-revolutionary-party-organization-full-article/
[4] An example is the Bolshevik party. See the democratic internal debates at this party in Trotsky, Leon, History of the Russian Revolution, Volume 1, Chapter 15 – The Bolsheviks and Lenin https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/ch15.htm -
Court rules against French trade union leader Gaël Quirante
Supporters marching to Gaël’s hearing on Dec. 18 By ERNIE GOTTA
On Wednesday, Dec. 18, French courts ruled against postal worker and trade-union leader Gaël Quirante with a three-month suspended prison sentence and a five-year probationary period. If he receives another criminal conviction in the next five years, even if it’s a misdemeanor, he goes to jail for three months. He was also fined 269€ to be paid to La Poste, 1000€ for moral injury to be paid to a manager, and 700€ for moral injury paid to another manager. Gaël and his lawyer immediately appealed the decision, so he does not face any penalty until the verdict of the new trial.*
Gaël Quirante denounced the ruling, saying, “15 minutes of deliberation after six hours of debate: it is quick decision and it is an extremely severe judgment that we do not recognize.” Gaël was accompanied by dozens of supporters, postal workers, and participants in the ongoing general strike as they marched into the hearing.
Surrounding this trial is a general strike churning out militant actions across the country—shutting down travel, schools, and even electricity. A top French official has resigned and the workers’ unions are refusing a holiday truce. The condemnation of Gaël is a clear message from Le Poste and the French government to workers who dare challenge their bosses. How else can this unjust sentence be understood other than as a threat to the rest of the leaders of the workers’ movement?
The attack on Gael is much like those being carried out against trade unionists across the globe. Working-class leaders worldwide are under attack for their efforts to organize against the bosses. Eric Lee of Labour Start sent the following message recently: “Rio Wijaya, a trade unionist from the Indonesian dockers’ union, was brutally attacked by security guards at Hutchison Port’s terminal in Jakarta. Later, he was arrested and detained under false allegations of defaming and assaulting the security guards. What happened to Rio is part and parcel of an increasingly anti-union climate at the biggest container port in Indonesia. Over the past 18 months, attacks on trade unionists have included the shooting of members’ cars, the mass sacking of 400 casual workers at the port, and the terminal’s appalling safety conditions that have resulted in the death of four workers since July 2016.”
The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), together with the union in Indonesia, has launched a global online campaign in support of Rio and the dockers in Jakarta.
The history of class struggle has been a bloody fight against the bosses who utilize the police, courts, vigilante thugs, and other ruling institutions to prevent workers from organizing. The revolutionary Teamsters who led the 1934 workers rebellion to organize Minneapolis were subjected to fines and prison time, and several were even murdered. Facing an intense amount of repression, this rank-and-file-led movement was able to make a massive contribution to organized labor by bringing unskilled workers and more truck drivers into the union and giving them a platform to participate in organizing across the entire northern Midwest.
Similarly, postal workers in France, with Gaël’s leadership, gained new confidence through class struggle and defeated the country’s largest employer, Le Poste. Gaël and his supporters are determined to continue the fight for justice. We have a responsibility to aid our trade-union comrades on the front lines of the class struggle who are facing harsh repression. Today, the task of trade unionists everywhere is to raise the banner, “An injury to one is an injury to all!”
Drop the charges against Gaël! Free Rio! Stop the repression of trade unionists!
*Correction: Initially we posted inaccurate information regarding the sentencing. What is currently posted is correct.
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Disastrous election result in Britain
Jeremy Corbyn has said that he will step down as leader of the Labour Party. By VERONICA FAGAN
The British election on 12 December was, as politicians and commentators on all sides agreed, the most important for many decades. It pitted Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn—an extremely radical social democrat at the head of a party that had grown massively under his leadership during the last four years—and a manifesto based on public services and social justice against Tory Boris Johnson, dripping privilege, racism, sexism and contempt for people who are socially excluded. There was a huge level of mobilization with hundreds of Labour canvassers turning out, especially in marginal seats.
But Johnson not only won but did so decisively—taking seats in the de-industrialized north of England which had always been Labour. At the beginning of the election, the Tories were way ahead in the opinion polls, but the gap narrowed significantly in the last weeks of the campaign. The scale of the defeat was thus a real blow because the campaign felt similar to 2017, when Labour took away the Tory majority of 17, forcing it to govern as a minority government (and as a result it was unable to implement Brexit). While Corbyn did not win in 2017, the campaign was a triumph for him and he came out of it stronger than he went it.
Johnson’s slogan throughout the campaign was “get Brexit done”—an empty slogan, which is of course impossible to carry through but whose simplicity made it attractive. Britain opted for a “strong” leader—at least in appearance—in the mould not only of Trump but of Bolsonaro, Modi etc.
The programme of the new Tory government is not much more than this. The left is sure that it intends to further undermine what remains of public services—in particular the NHS, to further attack what remain of very limited trade-union rights, and to ally Britain even more closely to the U.S. under Trump; but in fact the Tories consistently deny most of this.
Indeed, since the election itself, Johnson has promised more spending on infrastructure in the North—as well as enshrining increased NHS spending in law. His EU exit deal will be put to Parliament again before Christmas—and will clearly sail through on the basis of newly elected members, so Britain will leave the EU by 31 January 2020.
One major difference with the 2017 campaign was the pernicious role of the media. Normally once an election is called the parties are given equal exposure and treated to the same level of scrutiny. Not this time. Not only did the vilification of Corbyn continue, but footage was doctored in Johnson’s favour. It should be noted that false accusations of antisemitism—which Corbyn did not deal with well—were a significant part of this attack, as they have been throughout his leadership. This level of bias was particularly striking when it came from the supposedly impartial BBC.
The outcome of the election has implications for the stability of the United Kingdom over the years ahead.
In Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP) got a very good result (48 seats of 59) while the Labour Party had a disastrous result—1 seat—because they essentially back the Union. A majority in Scotland voted to stay in the EU; the election result expresses a mandate for a new referendum on independence. But it is not clear what SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon will do. Would the SNP do a Catalonia and organize a referendum without authorization from Westminster? They have always said they will not, but their options are being narrowed. [1]
The North of Ireland also voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum. For the first time, this election returned more pro-united Ireland and pro-remain MPs than Unionist pro-Brexiteers. A pact between the nationalist SDLP and republican Sinn Féin in Belfast brought one seat each, in Derry the SDLP won back one seat from Sinn Féin, so the SDLP has two seats, and Sinn Féin has seven. The pro-remain Alliance party won one. The DUP, which propped up the previous minority Tory government with 10 MPs, is down to 8.
In the opinion of the NI Alliance Party leader: “If Boris Johnson chooses to use his mandate to pursue a no-deal or a hard Brexit, then it is inevitable that Scotland will push for a second referendum on independence, and it is almost inevitable that there will be a push for an Irish unity referendum.”
The perspective for the left must be to redirect the energy poured into the Labour campaign into campaigns to defend public services, to support workers in struggle—such as the railworkers on strike against driver-only trains, in solidarity with migrants, and into building a massive mobilization around COP 26 to be held in Glasgow in November 2020.
Footnotes
[1] For background on the elections in Scotland see Socialist Resistance 9 December 2019 “General election 2019: Exeunt Scottish Socialist Party, stage left” and 5 December “General Election: Scotland at Crossroads”.
Veronica Fagan is a staff writer for Socialist Resistance, Britain.
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Why does the French postal service want to send Gaël Quirante to jail?
By ERNIE GOTTA
On Dec. 18, in the middle of a general strike, Gaël Quirante, a French postal worker and trade-union militant of Sud Poste 92 will face not one but two trials. The stakes are high for Gaël and the postal workers he led in a 15 month-long strike that defeated one of France’s largest employers, Le Poste.
Each trial carries with it the stiff penalty of five years in prison and a $75,000 fine. The bosses of Le Poste want judges to punish Gaël to the full extent of the law, 10 years in prison, and $150,000 in fines. They have filed dozens of complaints against Gaël, including the phony accusations of violence and stealing. However, the only violence in this situation comes from Le Poste. The company has been aggressively trying to reorganize their methods of operating to make more profits. They want to pass on more work to letter carriers while suppressing wages and benefits. Similarly, the only thief in this situation is Le Poste, which has consistently made profits off the backs of workers.
Gaël and his cohort of postal workers challenged the company’s ability to exploit without consequences. Today Le Poste is licking its wounds and trying to use a legal system that overwhelmingly favors the bosses, for retribution. The company wants to take back what it lost in the aftermath of the historic strike.
Success in the postal strike was made possible by winning the support of large sections of the working class. Workers also won support from such notable people as British filmmaker Ken Loach and was sustained through the creation of a massive strike fund. Workers across Europe and in the U.S. sold calendars and organized picket lines in solidarity. Postal workers also connected their struggles to the LGBTQIA+ movement, the student movement, and the broader economic and social struggles that we see today unfolding in the general strike against the pension reforms of the Macron government.
Gaël is also a militant of the New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA), which also has had student members at the University of Nanterre targeted by police. The state recognizes the danger posed to the capitalist status quo through a vibrant class struggle, and the Macron government wants to silence all those voices standing on the side of the oppressed.
The recent resignation of the pension reform chief Jean-Paul Delevoye was a direct result of the ongoing general strike. This resignation is a small but important lesson in the power of workers mobilized in the streets. The general strike can be a serious advantage for the Gaël’s defense. But as the holidays draw close, there will be a lot of pressure on the unions and rank and file to settle. In particular, most of the pressure will be on the rail workers who are leading the general strike and have shut down the ability to travel across much of France. The question remains: Will the atmosphere and militancy that is currently paralyzing Paris win Gaël’s freedom from criminal charges or will the state look to make an example of him?
While postal workers proved that it is possible to take on Macron and the bosses and win, the fight for Gael’s freedom is far from over. Trade unionists and activists will need to build the same solidarity and enthusiasm as they did during the postal strike. This will start on Dec. 18 with a rally and concert.
Workers in the U.S. can play an important role in building solidarity for Gaël. Let’s begin by posting solidarity videos and pictures of our union coworkers, student groups, or community activist groups. Tell the French government, “Hands off Gaël! Drop all the charges! Victory for Gaël and the general strike!”
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Berkeley High Teachers Wildcat Strike for Salary Increases & Special Education
In this interview done by Labor Radio on 11-11-19 , Josh A., & Aryn F., longtime Berkeley teachers and part of the union reform work there, talk to Labor Radio on how activists at Berkeley High and BFT (Berkeley Federation of Teachers) are now setting the stage for a statewide fight in 2020 for the Schools and Communities First progressive tax measure. Beginning in 2018, BFT based its’ contract campaign around the slogans, “We Love Our Jobs But Can’t Afford Them” and “Keep Teachers in Berkeley”, with primary demands of a significant salary increase and more supports for Special Education.
Please tell our listeners about your teaching background and experience. What inspired you to become a teacher?
Josh: Almost 20 years of teaching in Special Education in the Bay Area, I started as a substitute in San Diego and fell in love with the population of students with disabilities, they have an underdog element that I have always empathized with.
Can you tell us about your involvement with your union and union caucuses, including UCORE?
Josh: In the Berkeley Federation of Teachers there is no real caucus currently. We do have an active rank and file group at Berkeley High School in our CAT, or contract action team, and some other sites are organizing from the bottom up as well. We are working on connecting the activists/organizers to form an independent network of Berkeley educators and connect it with the statewide movement.
In California, we don’t have a statewide caucus but some locals like UTLA and OEA have had caucuses that we’ve tried to connect through UCORE (United Caucus of Rank and File Educators) and then using California Educators United, to support each other and share resources across locals statewide. It’s been a challenge to unite the huge and diverse state but we are making progress and we are keeping the hope alive.
It will be necessary to join forces across locals and the state affiliates, the California Federation of Teachers and the California Teachers Association, to take coordinated statewide action in the fight for social and racial justice, increased funding through progressive taxation, for public education and against privatization. Nationally, we are connected to other states’ Educator United Facebook groups and are discussing forming a nationwide network to take collective action in 2020 and beyond.
Recently you ran a petition campaign about special education working conditions and student learning conditions. Tell us about your campaign?
In Special Ed, we have an ever-increasing amount of legally-binding paperwork and time-intensive assessments that too often take case managers away from the classroom where they provide service that most directly supports students and teachers. The California Ed Code of a 28-student maximum caseload is too high for any case manager and it especially does not meet the needs of our inclusive education model with nearly all students being educated in a general education setting. To make it work the way it was designed we need to fully staff it. Both our Mild/Moderate and Moderate/Severe Case Managers need to spend more time than they currently have available with students and their teachers. When caseloads are too high, case managers cannot effectively serve students, and our classroom teachers and students are left under-supported. This has a major negative impact on all of our students. Academic assessments, especially initial IEPs, are a part of a case manager’s job that requires significant time to complete. Due to legal timelines, too many assessments take case managers away from serving students directly.
Due to the intense emotional, physical, and intellectual workload, a record number of 9 special education teacher positions were vacant at the start of the 2019-20 school year. There was a 27% turnover rate last year alone. Our students benefit from a stable workforce, and they are not getting this due to the excessive workload of this job.
We need more student supports to make sure we are meeting our students’ needs. With increased case managers, students with IEPs will receive the services they need to succeed, and they will receive services from the people most qualified to fulfill the IEP. This impacts every student because our full inclusion model integrates all students into the same classrooms. With a smaller caseload, Special Ed case managers will have more time to collaborate with General Ed teachers and IAs. This change will help us retain our highly-qualified and trained Special Ed case managers, and to fill all Special Ed positions. Our contract will ensure more time for case managers to provide direct services to students and less time where they must do paperwork.
What inspired you?
We were inspired by Los Angeles and Oakland who fought for “common good” demands, increased student supports, to benefit students, in fact, those with the most needs, as well as educators. Our SPED demands fit into our larger contract campaign in Berkeley around sustainability, with the slogans; “Keep Teachers in Berkeley” and “Fully Fund Full Inclusion”.
How was it organized?
The 3 site reps for Special Education (SPED) held a meeting and invited all the SPED case managers in the district. The turnout and energy were high, and we all shared similar issues, so from that meeting, we formed a working group. We met regularly to research and write contract language for the bargaining team which included two case managers as full members plus more as guests. Our working group propelled the Special Ed campaign, developed tactics and organized ourselves to fight for our demands. We were relentless and unified, and we moved the union to our side and the district to meet most of our demands.
Some of the collective actions that we organized include: making public comments at board meetings and school board mobilizations, visiting board members in office hours, taking REDforED photos with “Caseload Caps” placards and emailing them to the board and superintendent, and the grand final was a petition in which we collected over 1,000 signatures and made them into a giant poster which we presented to the school board during public comments. The SPED portion was an inspiring and energetic component of our contract campaign that developed new leaders and activists to strengthen our union and movement long-term.
What specific changes were you organizing around?
We started organizing around caseload caps of 18 for mild-moderate and 8 for moderate-severe, and assessment limits of 1 per month. In our tentative agreement, which we are voting on now, we got caseload caps of 21 and 11 with averages of 20 and 10, and assessment limits of 2 per month and 12 total for mild-mod. This is one of the best sets of protections for SPED in all of California, maybe the best, and it’s just a start for us. When we go back to the bargaining table next, we will aim for lower caps because we know that we will need the district to hire even more case managers to lower our workload and serve students most effectively without us burning out. We hope to set a model and standard for other districts.
Can you tell us about organizing your wildcat sickout at Berkeley High and the rally outside the school?
The wildcat resulted from a very particular moment in the negotiations process that put us in a rather challenging position. We were about a week from the last scheduled negotiations session. Given that a parcel tax was on the table that could result in significant wage increases with less risk of major cuts to programming or staffing, we knew that both the school board and the union wanted to agree on a tentative agreement that included the parcel tax contingency. Due to the election timeline for a March 2020 parcel tax ballot measure, there was intense pressure to resolve the contract in a timely manner. It would be possible that the districts’ team would low ball us in the 11th hour and not offer a contract that would have a high enough wage increase to address our sustainability/cost of living crisis in Berkeley. Without the leverage of a very vocal and unified membership that was willing to disrupt the process, we feared that our bargaining team would be put in a tough spot in which they might opt to sign a less than optimal contract.
The wildcat at Berkeley High involved over 200 educators and was the result of several years of systematic organizing at the site. We have a huge and historically disorganized and disunified site. So we started last year with easy solidarity photos: a few teachers wearing red on their lunch breaks taking a photo of themselves with signs supporting the strikes in LA and Oakland. We then organized more carefully to take a photo with over 80 staff members in support of Oakland, and we developed a simple process that we refined over the next year: making half-page invites to the photos or other action, with candy attached. We developed a system of “floor captains” who were just teachers willing to pass out these invites to colleagues on their building floor. Pretty soon, we started holding lunch time “contract action team” meetings with an open invitation to any colleague, classified or certificated to participate in. When it became clear that May 22nd was going to be a California Day of Action with a rally and march in Sacramento, we set our sights on making that a show of our solidarity and strength. We used that same floor captain system, but amped it up with wall posters and door signs that teachers posted the week of the action, saying, “I’m going to Sacramento on May 22nd because…” More importantly, we started to use a spreadsheet to track who had received info on the event and whether or not they were a “yes” or “no” about attending. We circled back to all of our maybes with some new faces checking in, and by May 22nd, nearly closed down Berkeley High to rally at the state capitol.
One of the least glamorous tasks we had at a site with over 300 colleagues was to figure out how to communicate outside of our professional emails. As things heated up, it was simply untenable to be talking about strategy on our conference emails. So we developed an online form with a QR code to collect folks’ personal contact info. It took months and months to build this, and to this day, we are still receiving new participants’ emails to be added into the email discussion groups we created. Yet I cannot stress what an important role this very tedious organizing task was: it allowed colleagues across a broad campus to start having deeper conversations about their felt needs and concerns. It allowed us to communicate with a certain level of privacy and autonomy from the official union structure.
When teachers got word that the district and union were moving into their final round of negotiations with little sense of what would be put on the table by the district in terms of compensation, people felt an urgency to send a loud message to the district to be wary of lowballing us, but also to convey to our own negotiations team that we had their back and so they did not need to back down. One person called for a meeting that the team felt we needed to have about a specific proposal: should Berkeley High do a sickout on the last day of negotiations with the goal of putting pressure on the district to meet our unions’ demands for a sustainable wage, at least 5% per year over two years. We planned an agenda together and in a 40-minute, carefully facilitated process that involved 80 educators, about 70 folks voted yes. From here we sent a one question survey to every non-work email we had. We agreed that we needed at least 80 committed yes to call it. By 10pm that evening, we were able to call it.
What was most beautiful about participating in this wildcat was the myriad ways folks plugged into the process: sign making, silkscreening, chant leading, letter writing, press communicating, photocopying flyers. It was all the small efforts: the person who brought the donuts to the rally, the marching band, the librarian who took on our messy communications spreadsheet, etc. Even the person who passed out cough drops to chant leaders as they lost their voices. We learned to share leadership and voice, working across
What risks did members face as participants? Did the district issue any sort of warning or threat?
Taking illegal action is always a risk, and the people most in danger are those without tenure. The district didn’t make any threatening statement, but the institutional memory of educators who had seen campaigns over decades suggested that non-tenured teachers should sit out. As members, we wanted to promote unity and solidarity among those who were sicking out and those who weren’t, and to protect the most vulnerable members (new hires), so our consistent message was not to pressure anyone, instead: Do what you gotta do.
What role do you think that action played in your contract bargain and subsequent TA?
The last news we had out of negotiations suggested that the compensation discussion wasn’t really moving forward. Our union was able to use our action as leverage very directly in the final negotiation session – pointing to the music, chanting, and marching of hundreds of members chanting outside the door. Inside our bargaining team was saying, “We won’t stop our members from doing this again if they don’t get a TA they’re happy with.”
Were there other actions during the bargain?
Other sites who teach younger students coordinated simultaneous walk-ins, #redfored photos, work-to-rule, and other solidarity actions. We also used the press and social media to circulate information about our campaign. This continues as we ramp up to get a parcel tax passed, and a state-wide progressive tax measure called Schools and Communities First.
What did you win in your contract?
We won special education sustainability, in the form of assessment and caseload limits. We will be a prize district for master special educators, and able to retain our special educators better than ever before.
We won a 12% raise in compensation over the next two years. That is a permanent, across-the-board lift. Our administrators and classified staff each have a “me-too” clause that guarantees them the same percentage (though classified can negotiate for more through their own union).
We also won a more democraticand fighting local union than we’ve had in a long time. We showed our district that they can’t just negotiate with our president alone and expect us to be happy. We are a lot more grass-roots and confident, unified and powerful now.
What did you learn from this experience?
I think one aspect of community organizing that needs to be remembered is that you as an activist or organizer shouldn’t always be setting the pace, agenda or even determine the tactics or desired outcomes. The most potent way to build capacity for collective action is to create spaces and times for folks to hear each other and really talk about what they want. They don’t need to be told what to do. The group process often results in much smarter ideas and strategies than what one person on their own can accomplish. I don’t believe in a paternalistic charismatic leadership that calls folks to action- I think that’s deeply patriarchal. Our group of CAT leaders strives to make decisions even about small emails we send, collectively. We try to give new voices a turn facilitating, giving speeches and connecting with press.
Although we ended up with a strong contract contingent on the parcel tax passing, no single contract is going to uproot social inequality. One of our biggest concerns is the state of separation between classified and certificated- classified staff have their own negotiations via their own union, but on a timeline that makes it hard for them to partner with us so they have more leverage. Classified are justifiably concerned with their own job security- but now that we have our contract, we have to express that we will not tolerate or accept those losses.
We have a lot more work to do to democratize our process and our union in the future. We need to upload our communications systems to a wider, district level. One sacrifice that occurred is that we had to make a call about our sickout without the input of other sites in Berkeley Unified. We acknowledge that this is problematic and undesirable. At the time, we simply had no system we could use to engage other sites in the discussion. Going forward, we want that system built.
What’s next?
Organizing statewide and nationwide to create a new paradigm for education. The average teaching career is still under five years, as new teachers constantly find working conditions and compensation untenable for the long haul. That hurts students the most, because a rotating door of inexperienced teachers can’t provide the education our kids deserve. There’s no good reason why our country should have such a sustainability problem among educators. We need to dedicate more resources to training and transitioning new teachers into the classroom so they are well prepared. We need to radically increase compensation to match the skill level and workload demands of the profession. There’s a pink collar paycut to being a teacher, and we’re sick of it. Pay teachers better, give us time to prep and collaborate. See what’s possible in public education. We’ve never tried it, and we’ll never see success or gains in equity unless we fully invest in the professionals who are dedicating their lives to raising a better educated generation.
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