1,300 Steel Workers Go on Strike for a Better Contract

Steel workers in several states are currently on strike against Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) to demand a fair contract. The strike, which is estimated to involve around 1,300 steelworkers, began last week in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, and New York.

Left Voice is hosting a panel with a Bessemer Amazon worker and Robin D.G. Kelly, author of Hammer and Hoe to discuss the results of the unionization vote. Sign up here. RSVP to the Facebook event here.

This strike takes place amidst a resurgence of labor disputes nationally, from the highly publicized struggle to unionize the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama and the coal miners’ strike that broke out just a few miles from Bessemmer, to Teamsters in California, USW workers in Kansas, and UAW workers in Texas who are also on strike. Workers are increasingly standing up and refusing to accept the status quo. The Black Lives Matter movement and the worker struggle around the Covid-19 pandemic have clearly influenced this resurgence of worker struggle.

The neoliberal era was marked by a significant decrease in labor organizing and struggle. Presidents from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump used their tenure to fight the rights and abilities of workers to unionize. The bureaucratic leaderships of unions, worried of risking their positions of privilege in bed with the politicians, largely refused to fight back these attacks, leaving workers stranded. However, in recent years — beginning with the teacher strike wave a few years ago — workers are refusing to take it any more. This steel strike is but one example of that.

You might be interested in: What Are Unions, and Why Do They Matter?

It is vital that workers across the United States and world support the strike against ATI — if the strike succeeds, it will only give more firepower to workers to fight back the bosses. Workers are increasingly realizing that we make the economy run and, if we decide to stop working, the bosses’ profits stop with us. We do the work and they make the profits, and this is how it has worked since the beginning of capitalism. Their system doesn’t work for us, but labor struggles, like the steel strike, help us challenge this system.

If you or someone you know is participating in this strike, we’d love to talk to you! Please reach out to us either at [email protected] or through our social media.

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In France, the repression of Palestine supporters is escalating. A conference by La France Insoumise (LFI) has been banned; a union leader has been arrested and charged for speaking out for Palestine; court cases have increased against those who “condone terrorism”; and the state has stepped up its “anti-terrorism” efforts. In the face of all this, we must stand together.

Left Voice Magazine for April 2024 — Labor Notes Edition!

In this issue, we delve into the state and future of the labor movement today. We take a look at the prospects for Palestinian liberation through the lens of Leon Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution, and discuss the way that Amazon has created new conditions of exploitation and how workers across the world are fighting back.

All Eyes on Columbia: We Must Build a National Campaign to Defend the Right to Protest for Palestine

After suspending and evicting students and ordering the repression of a student occupation, Columbia University has become the ground zero for attacks against the pro-Palestine movement. What happens at Columbia in the coming days has implications for our basic democratic rights, such as the right to protest.

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