the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jun 12, 2023
Here are some strikes that are currently going on or have recently taken place in the U.S. While these strikes remain isolated and separated, they show that some workers are ready to fight today. And any strike always brings the possibility of a wider and more generalized fight that starts in one place and spreads. That is what is needed!
Dock workers at six West Coast ports worked without a contract for a full year before many simply stopped showing up for work, starting June 2. The workers of ILWU Local 13 unload and load container ships. The ship operators complained that the absent workers, who are used to fill out daily crew assignments, are “severely impacting operations!” Railroads bringing freight to the ports are backed up and under a “Red” delay alert.
On May 8, UAW Local 12 struck Clarios (previously Johnson Controls), a battery maker in Holland, Ohio, near Toledo. The 500 workers have been out four weeks in their fight for better pay and for limits on so much forced overtime. The strikers voted down the latest company offer by 76%.
Clarios got a local judge to limit strikers to groups no more than five, and they must stay 100 feet from plant gates. The company brings in vanloads of scabs. Police protect scabs going in, and truckloads of batteries going out.
Clarios is owned by Brookfield Business Partners, a part of the giant Brookfield Corporation, of Canada, with over 725 billion dollars of assets under management. Brookfield Asset Management recently made the biggest single asset sale of the pandemic era, the 1000-room Diplomat Beach Resort, for 835 million dollars.
Clarios has many plants worldwide that, all together, make one-third of the world’s lead-acid batteries, including for GM, Ford, Stellantis, WalMart, AutoZone, DieHard, Optima, and many others.