Detroit IWW General Membership Branch

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This month, we celebrate the disabled LGBTQ+ icons who shape the past, present and future of LGBTQ+ advocacy.

55 years ago, disabled Black transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson made history for her part in the Stonewall uprising, which kickstarted the LGBTQ+ rights movement in the U.S. Johnson lived with both physical and psychiatric disabilities. Together with fellow trans activist Sylvia Rivera, she co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), one of the first trans organizations in New York. STAR focused its advocacy efforts on disabled trans people, and led efforts calling for an end to non-consensual psychiatric incarcerations and conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ people.

In 2019, New York City announced that Marsha P. Johnson, along with Rivera, would be the subject of a monument commissioned by the Public Arts Campaign “She Built NYC.” The monument will be the first in NYC to honor transgender women. In 2020, New York State named a waterfront park in Brooklyn for Johnson.

Bread and Roses (2000) is based on the Justice for Janitors campaign; such a good movie.

On this day, 15 June 1990, the Battle of Century City took place, as police in Los Angeles attacked striking janitors and their supporters during a peaceful Service Employees International Union demonstration.
Janitors in the Century City office complex, most of whom were employed by cleaning contractor ISS, had gone out on strike on May 29 demanding improvements to pay and conditions. On the June 15 protest, LAPD officers brutally attacked the workers and their supporters, leaving several people seriously injured, including one pregnant woman who miscarried as a result.
Rather than deter the workers, the violence caused mass outrage. And ISS subsequently agreed to recognise the workers' union, provide for family health coverage and pay a living wage. The event also began to be commemorated with the creation of an annual June 15 Justice for Janitors Day.
More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8695/battle-of-century-city
If you value our work, please consider supporting us on patreon: https://patreon.com/workingclasshistory

Why We Need a Democratic and Militant Union BRUSSELS, BE—Defending worker-led, democratic, and militant unionism in Belgium is certainly no easy task in a labor union landscape dominated by two bureaucratic behemoths, the socialist FGTB and …

Support striking nurses in Rochester! OPEIU Local 40 is striking for four days at Ascension Providence (Crittenton, for locals), 7 AM to 7 PM Monday-Thursday.

We must treat our healthcare workers better, and supporting this strike is a way to make that happen.

From Starbucks Workers United:
“Starbucks can not continue to tokenize q***r workers while violating our right to organize. It can not continue to use us as branding material while threatening our healthcare.“

Check out the strike map!

https://sbworkersunited.squarespace.com/strike-with-pride

Strike with Pride — Starbucks Workers United *** Strike Map Note ***Blue pins represent all union stores nationwide.Green pins represent stores on strike today. We will be updating the map every morning to announce the stores on strike for that particular day! As of June 23rd, 2023, Starbucks workers across the country are participating in Str...

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

As of this afternoon, the Members of Heat and Frost Insulators Local #25, have ratified our new contract.

This was an amazing battle and everyone had a part to play, in the fight. It will never be easy, anything worth having, never is.

We cannot thank everyone enough for all of the support and sacrifices throughout the entire process.

TOGETHER, WE PREVAILED!!!

The members of Heat and Frost Insulators Local # 25 are on strike against the Master Insulators Association of South East Michigan. They are fighting for safety, pension, healthcare and fair wages. If you would like any further information, please contact their Union Office: 248-352-1850

A FW stopped at the picket location on Hilton rd between 8 and 9 mile, and asked how we could support, they want everyone to get the word out!

Railroad Unions call for Support of Rail Worker
Tuesday 12/13.

Gather 9 a.m. local time between Washington and S. Center Street in 200 block of 5th Avenue in downtown Royal Oak, MI, for have briefing and to distribute signs. Rally will commence at 10 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m.
At 5th Avenue between Washington and S. Center St. near the Canadian National rail line.

Contact: SMART-TD Michigan SLD Donald Roach ([email protected]) or Nick Greficz ([email protected])

Railroad unions talking about seeking solutions "outside the two party system" and "taking (railroads) into public ownership" is exactly the energy we need.

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/jeff-stein-black-wobblies

Black Wobblies Jeff Stein Black Wobblies Hubert Harrison and Ben Fletcher 2022, Spring : Scanned from Anarcho-Syndicalist Review #85, Spring, 2022, page 21ff a...

This article brought to you by a facilitator from the 2022 Organizing Summit!
"So what do we do with this information? We know as organizers that in order to force economic concessions from employers, we need to be able to exercise economic leverage. And that often entails a high degree of organization. And the reality of the situation is that many of our campaigns in restaurants are in the early stages, where they haven’t reached the point of being able to pull off big strikes or other costly concerted actions. Abolishing tipping has been a goal of the IWW for decades and should continue to be, but if we don’t have leverage for it now then we should start talking about what it will take to get there. "

The Tipping Point The IWW’s 2022 Organizing Summit took place in Chicago, IL over the first weekend in October. The Organizing Department Board (ODB) asked me to facilitate a workshop about working for tips and afte…

Wobblies Continue Lawsuits Against Texas Prison Authorities, Despite Retaliation Julio “Comrade Z” Zuniga, of the Industrial Workers of the World Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, is currently suing prison officials in two lawsuits, Zuniga v. O’Daniel, et al. and Zunig…

"After the initial success the committee had of demanding that they receive paychecks at the same time, the workers built momentum and they marched on the boss, successfully demanding that their boss stop stealing their tips."

How They Get the Goods: A Look Across Union Models, Part III In Part III of this series, Industrial Worker spoke with Louisa Clay, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World. Clay stresses that in the IWW, they are not “represented” by a union because t…

Fresh article out of Detroit!

The Deep Dish: Reflections on Pizza Hut Organizing in Florida The text below is transcribed from a hand-written document by Susan Fabrich that I came across while digging through some IWW boxes at the Walter Reuther Archives in Detroit. I wanted to make sure …

From the Archives, Volume II: Wobbly Cleaners Fight Back Against Sodexo In this latest volume of “From the Archives,” I bring you an article from the December 2011 issue of Industrial Worker. It is a piece on the IWW cleaners’ campaign at the City of London Corpo…

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Every good union campaign starts with talking about issues at work with your fellow workers.

Comrade John R. Mosby, Wobbly 'General' Jack Mosby, the Kentucky-born descendant of a notorious Confederate guerilla who was elected to lead the international Magónista column of I.W.W. fighters before the Second Battle of Tijuana during the short-lived Baja Commune. Here he is on his way to surrender after the June 22, 1911 defeat. Dozens of Insurrectos were killed and Mosby was said to be inconsolable at the loss of so many friends and comrades. Arrested as a deserter from the U.S. military, and though badly wounded in earlier combat, comrade Mosby was able to escape several times, being shot again in one attempt, before ending up in the federal prison on Puget Sound's McNeil Island.

Wildcat is an IWW monthly newsletter in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and England. Check out their latest issue here!

https://iww.org.uk/wildcat/

Wildcat 27 - July 2022.pdf IWW Nextcloud - IWW internal document sharing

One Big Podcast is the official podcast of the Ypsilanti IWW !

What If Rail Workers Struck. A Talk with RWU. by One Big Podcast Just in the nick of time, this months episode is about the recent news that rail workers have overwhelmingly voted to strike and if not for the President, they would be. Why aren't rail worker unions governed under the NLRB? What do these workers want? What would it look like if they did strike? All...

Starbucks workers hold strikes in at least 17 states amid union drive Workers allege over 75 people have been fired in retaliation for organizing this year

from Industrial Workers of the World
[Image from a classic NES game with a wizard handing a warrior the IWW Globe logo, saying "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!"]

"An Ann Arbor Starbucks is the first in Washtenaw County and the second in Michigan to go on strike over working conditions.
The Glencoe Crossing Starbucks, 4585 Washtenaw Ave., closed its doors at 4 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, over what organizers are saying are unfairly changed working hours and raises that reward stores that chose not to unionize.
Ten strikers, a mix of full- and part-time employees, gathered outside the store with signs for a one-day strike, with plans to have another set of employees hold the line until 9 p.m."

Ann Arbor Starbucks is second in Michigan to strike over hours, pay The Starbucks location closed its doors starting at 4 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 11.

https://www.socialistalternative.org/get-involved/

Check out the Annotated Preamble in English and Spanish
https://www.iww.org/resources/annotated-preamble.pdf
https://www.iww.org/resources/annotated-preamble-es.pdf

Industrial Worker (Seattle). Vol. 13 No. 24. June 13, 1931.

This version of Industrial Worker, the regular newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World, began after its 1913-1916 hiatus and would serve as the voice of the western I.W.W. published out of Seattle until it merged in 1932 with Solidarity, the paper of the eastern I.W.W. published in New Castle, Pennsylvania and Cleveland, Ohio. Editors were chosen by conference every two years. Thereafter, The Industrial Worker was, and is, the organ of the national I.W.W.; among the longest running left publications in international labor history.

PDF of full issue:https://archive.org/download/industrial_worker_1931.06.13_756/industrial_worker_1931.06.13_756.pdf

Leaked audio later disproved the manager's claim and showed she left with no incident.

Immigrant Detainees Strike Over $1 a Day Pay, Working Conditions At two federal detention centers in California, more than 50 immigrant workers are on strike over unsafe working conditions and low wages. “We are being exploited for our labor and are being paid $1 per day to clean the dormitories,” said strikers at a central California detention center in a Ju...