Rank-and-file activists in Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 in King County, WA are leading a struggle for a better contract.

With working-class families reeling under the impact of the housing bubble bursting, rising prices, and layoffs, workers and the labor movement need a clear program that defends our interests. Here is a workers' program to fight the bosses' attacks.

On average, in the U.S. women make 76% of men’s wages. Three-fourths of poverty in the U.S. is concentrated in women and their children. This number is not shrinking, but growing, particularly among unmarried women, single parents, widows, and displaced homemakers.

Anucha Browne Sanders’ case against the New York Knicks shows that sexual harassment is an extremely pervasive phenomenon. It is easy to assume that such behavior only occurs in situations where women are in virtually powerless subordinate positions. However, all women workers face this threat.

The California Nurses Association (CNA) represents 80,000 registered and advance practice nurses at more than 170 public and private facilities in California. It has been at the forefront of struggles to organize nurses and ensure decent wages and working conditions, as well as the fight for universal, single-payer healthcare.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has announced a one-day strike against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling for a “No Peace No Work Holiday” to take place May 1. They are calling on the AFL-CIO, the Change to Win Coalition, and other unions to do the same. This is a major development for both the labor movement and antiwar movement in the U.S.

After breaking with the management-dominated American Nurses Association in 1996, the CNA turned its full attention, strength and budget toward the concerns of the direct care nurse, organizing the unorganized, bargaining strong contracts and getting politically active.

While Wal-Mart has been getting tons of bad publicity for its abuse of its workforce, Target, the fifth largest retailer in the U.S., has been enjoying a free publicity ride. Target presents itself as a decent corporate citizen and boasts of its generosity to charities, in contrast to the big bad Wal-Mart wolf. But this is all a smoke screen, as I can tell you from experience.

The leadership of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in New York City, representing over 100,000 education workers, has made a serious concession to the bosses’ neo-liberal agenda for public education. They have agreed to a “trial” bonus program in 200 city schools that opens the door to individual merit pay.

Florida - a place of sunny beaches, wholesome resorts, and slave labor. Just this December, three Florida fruit pickers were found after escaping an employer who brutally beat them and forced them to work as slaves for over a year.

With their industry caught in a deep crisis of overcapacity, the Big Three auto companies demanded brutal concessions on all fronts, and the United Auto Workers’ leadership delivered. In a series of carefully-orchestrated contract votes at General Motors, Chrysler, and (as we go to press) Ford, the UAW bureaucracy is pushing through a sell-out of historic proportions.

This July, six fleet workers at Zipcar, including Socialist Alternative member Chris Manschreck, voted unanimously to join Teamsters Local 25. Zipcar is a car-sharing service operating in Boston and seven other cities. The six-person bargaining unit is responsible for evaluating and maintaining Zipcar’s 700+ cars in Boston. Justice’s Patrick Ayers interviewed his newest Teamster brothers.

As Corporate American continues to attack workers’ wages, working conditions, and benefits, the need for a fighting labor movement is more vital than ever.

At the University of Minnesota this fall, the best classes on economics and public policy won't be taught in classrooms by accredited professors; they will be taught on picket lines by 3500 low-paid workers on campus, who are set to strike on Sept. 5th.

Workers at the Gualberto Villarroel oil refinery in Bolivia are appealing for international support after union activists were fired for protesting the two-tier labor system at the refinery. Although the refinery is now controlled by the left-wing government of Evo Morales, the government has yet to take action to reinstate the workers. Please send protest e-mails in support of these workers!