Highlights the need for industry-wide organizing, unionizing FedEx workers

Jacksonville, FL – Despite ‘competing’ as the world's two largest parcel delivery and shipping companies, UPS and FedEx are owned by many of the same banks. According to NASDAQ's ownership summary of both companies, 12 of the top 20 owners of UPS and FedEx are the same banks, investment groups and financial institutions.

Washington, DC – Legislation to restore unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed is being blocked by House Republicans. The Senate passed a bill to reinstate jobless benefits April 7, but passage in the House is required to bring back extended unemployment insurance.

New York, NY – Since the Feb. 26 walkout at the UPS facility in Maspeth, Queens, Teamsters Local 804 and UPS traded blows in a critical struggle over the fate of 250 workers and their families. Workers walked out to defend a union activist and 24-year worker, Jairo Reyes, after UPS walked him off the job. The company authorized Reyes to start early in the weeks leading up to Feb. 26, but when he filed a grievance over UPS abusing seniority provisions in the contract, the manager went back and claimed he was never authorized to start early, and ironically tried to fire Reyes for “dishonesty.”

New York, NY – Since the Feb. 26 walkout at the UPS facility in Maspeth, Queens, Teamsters Local 804 and UPS traded blows in a critical struggle over the fate of 250 workers and their families. Workers walked out to defend a union activist and 24-year worker, Jairo Reyes, after UPS walked him off the job. The company authorized Reyes to start early in the weeks leading up to Feb. 26, but when he filed a grievance over UPS abusing seniority provisions in the contract, the manager went back and claimed he was never authorized to start early, and ironically tried to fire Reyes for “dishonesty.”

_Socialists demand Congress act now to restore long-term jobless benefits _

Washington, DC – A vote is expected on legislation to restore Extended Unemployment Compensation this Monday, April 7. The bill, which calls for Congress to bring back unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless, has faced repeated delays from Senate Republicans, but is expected to pass.

New York, NY – Hundreds of union members and community supporters rallied on the steps of city hall here, April 3, in support of the 250 UPS drivers who were issued terminations for walking out to defend their fellow co-worker.

Washington, DC – The Senate cleared the way for a vote on legislation to restore benefits to the long term jobless, March 27. In a 65 to 34 vote, the Senate cleared the procedural hurdles necessary for a debate and vote on a measure to bring back Extended Unemployment Compensation.

Chicago, IL – 3000 workers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have gone without a contract, and without a contract raise, for over a year. In response, the Joint Bargaining Committee of Clerical, Service and Maintenance, and Technical units at UIC has called for a strike authorization vote.

For the last three to four years, the U.S. government has gone an historic bout of austerity, by raising taxes and cutting spending. This has contributed to a weak economic recovery, with workers still facing an official unemployment rate of 6.7%, which would be even higher if millions of unemployed had not given up looking for work. At the same time corporate profits have boomed to record highs.

The recent defeat of the UAW at the Chattanooga, Tennessee Volkswagen plant marked a serious setback for the working class, the auto-workers of the Tennessee plant, as well as hundreds of thousands of rank-and-file autoworkers within in the UAW. Workers at the plant voted against representation by a narrow margin of 712 to 626. A victory for labor would have marked the unionization of the first foreign auto plant in the U.S. and one of only a handful of unionized plants in the South. As the growth and survival of the U.S. labor movement in general, and the UAW in particular, depends in part on unionizing the largely unorganized South, union militants and rank-and-file activists need to draw key lessons from this defeat and augment our tactics and strategies.