In Brief
Protests against Racist Cop Violence Spread Nationwide
Thousands across the country are protesting the horrific racist police murder of George Floyd …
Articles
Editorials
Racism Must Be Opposed by All of Us!
In cities around the U.S. people took to the streets to express outrage over George Floyd’s murder by cops in in the middle of the day on Tuesday, May 26. Minneapolis police took Floyd, a Black man, out of his …
In Brief
Climate Change is Turning Forests into Polluters!
A recent study found that when temperatures increase past 89.6°F, tropical forests end up releasing CO2 …
In Brief
Going Back to Work in the Pandemic: We Could Get Sick, but What about Sick Pay?
As businesses reopen, those who still have jobs must think about how much protection there will be …
In Brief
Michigan Dam Breach: Climate Change, Meet Toxic Waste
Last week floods breached two dams near Midland, Michigan, forcing 11,000 people to evacuate …
In Brief
Minneapolis: White Cop Murders Black Man
The arrogance of racist cops was on full display Memorial Day when they murdered George Floyd …
Articles
Vaccine Production: A Fraught Rush to Market
In mid-May there was a big announcement regarding the development of a vaccine for COVID-19. …
Articles
The 2019 Oakland Teachers’ Strike – A Reflection and Analysis
The Oakland teachers strike of 2019 was part of a nationwide movement to defend public education. …
In Brief
Memorial Day: Exploiting Victims of the Ruling Class’s Wars
Memorial Day is supposedly a solemn occasion to remember Americans who died fighting in wars, a serious subject if ever there was one. So why is it typically celebrated with beach parties and consumer product sales …
Reports from the Frontlines
Instability on All Fronts
Anybody in the Bay Area knows that housing is a nightmare, but COVID-19 has made it a horror …
In Brief
Tech Billionaires and Politicians: “Never Let a Good Crisis go to Waste!”
Billionaire techies like Bill Gates of Microsoft and Eric Schmidt of Google have been using the COVID crisis to meet U.S. military and other federal officials …
In Brief
Sixth Amazon Worker Dies from COVID-19
On April 9, George Leigh, a worker at Amazon’s DNY4 distribution center in Bethpage, New York, he died as a result of COVID-19. …
In Brief
While You Were Suffering They Were Profiting – Rich Got 10% Richer Since March!
22 million Americans have lost their jobs and are scrambling to figure out what to do, but the billionaires in the U.S. have increased their wealth by 10%. …
In Brief
Open the Churches? Apparently Trump Doesn’t Care if You Die (As Long as You Vote For Him)
Trump released a statement saying that “governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important essential places of faith to open right now, for this weekend.” What an irresponsible statement! …
In Brief
Newsom: Washing His Hands of Our Needs
California governor Gavin Newsom released a revised budget for the state of California on May 14. Who are the targets of his spending cuts? Workers, high-needs students, the elderly …
In Brief
Unemployment Purgatory for the Workers, Government Handout Heaven for the Bosses
36.5 million workers had filed for unemployment, but most are waiting to see the funds appear. The viral hashtag #PendingPurgatory explains what it’s been like for working people …
Reports from the Frontlines
The Unemployment Paradox
Almost half of workers are making more on unemployment than they do in their regular jobs …
In Brief
Green Capitalism Won’t Save Us
Environmental activists around the world are calling for a “Green Recovery” after the coronavirus pandemic ends, to address the even larger crisis looming over us: climate change. …
In Brief
Cleaners Disinfecting NYC Subway Cars – No Health Benefits!
For the last few years the NYC subway system has cut back the number of unionized cleaning crews, and it shows. …
In Brief
We Stand With the Family of Sean Reed
We stand with the family of Sean Reed, another young black man who has been needlessly and brutally killed by cops in Indianapolis. …
Reports from the Frontlines
We Need Food and Shelter, But We Need the Arts, Too
Then comes COVID-19 and our delicately balanced lives as gig workers come tumbling down …
In Brief
What is Bezos Doing to Take One Trillion Dollars?
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s wealth – 138 billion dollars right now – is more than the GDP of over 130 countries across the globe. And it’s only getting bigger. …
In Brief
Trump Says, “Planning for Future Pandemics,” but What About This One?
While visiting a medical supply distributor in Pennsylvania last week, Trump announced he is planning for future pandemics. …
In Brief
Corporations Demand Immunity from Endangering Workers Exposed to Virus
For several weeks, Trump has been playing on the distress of millions of us who have lost our jobs to rev up support for re-opening businesses …
In Brief
Georgia Reopening Will be a Cautionary Tale
As of April 24, the State of Georgia began the process of reopening at the direction of Republican Governor Brian Kemp. …
In Brief
Left Without Plumbing: Society’s Priorities Exposed
In the U.S. there are 470,000 dwellings with inadequate plumbing. Nearly a million homes lack complete and functioning kitchens. More than 4 million …
In Brief
Rent – We Shouldn’t Pay for their Crisis
In April and May, renters scraped money together to make rent payments, even though millions have lost work due to the COVID-19 crisis. While 36 million people in the U.S. have filed for unemployment in the last two months, rent …
In Brief
Biden’s Hypocrisy on Palestine – No Better than Trump
Joe Biden made a statement recently that flew under the radar in the U.S. press, but made big waves in the Middle East. …
In Brief
Elon Musk Re-opens Tesla Factory in Fremont
Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk went ahead and opened its Fremont, CA plant this Monday, in spite of the Public Health Department order for Alameda County …
In Brief
Using the Cover of One Crisis to Fuel Another
Amidst a global pandemic, with the climate crisis still looming in the background, the Trump administration has dismantled a number of environmental protections. …
In Brief
Vaccine Stalled by Competition and Drive for Profit
While there have been some efforts at collaboration, it has become apparent that the search for a viable vaccine is ultimately driven by wasteful competition among governments and profiteering corporations. …
In Brief
Politicians Blame Workers for Spreading COVID-19
Blame is the name of the game, and with the coronavirus spreading rapidly through meat processing facilities, politicians are playing hard at blaming workers. …
In Brief
Irish Extend Help to Navaho and Hopi – Repaying Kindness During Famine
Over two million dollars has been donated by people around the world to help Navajo and Hopi Native American communities get necessary supplies during the coronavirus pandemic. …
In Brief
Striking Sanitation Workers Replaced by Prison Labor
Dozens of sanitation workers in New Orleans went on strike for COVID safety equipment last Wednesday, May 6. …
In Brief
Trump Blames Pandemic on China, Serving up his Old Campaign Strategy
Four years ago, Trump campaigned on the slogan, “Build the wall!” He was fueling the economic fears of U.S. workers whose real income had gone …
In Brief
Health Care: Laying off Millions during a Pandemic
We are living through one of the greatest health crises in world history. So why are so many U.S. health care workers out of work? …
Articles
Opening the Economy, Closing the Coffins
Politicians are rushing to reopen the economy and they don’t care how many coffins they fill. …
In Brief
COVID-19 Collapsed their Economy, but We’re the Ones Asked to Pay
Although Covid-19 sparked the current economic crisis, it is not the root cause. In late March and early April, experts projected a recession similar to the 2008 “great recession” was coming. …
In Brief
Food Insanity With or Without COVID-19
Agribusinesses are destroying massive amounts of food while people across the United States are standing in lines at food banks …
In Brief
Meatpacking Plants are COVID-19 Hotspots
In late April, President Trump ordered that meatpacking plants reopen after they were shut down because of COVID-19. He is more concerned about the companies’ profits than workers’ lives. …
In Brief
State Budgets Under Attack
As New Jersey – like other states – sees billions in tax dollars disappear during the COVID-19 pandemic, we already hear talk of massive budget shortfalls! What does this mean? You guessed it …
In Brief
Coronavirus Task Force Wind-Down – Just Kidding!
On Wednesday, after saying that he was planning to dismantle the White House coronavirus task force, Trump reversed course and said that he would keep …
In Brief
Justice for Ahmaud Arbery!
The deep racism of this society has shown itself again. Ahmaud Arbery, a young African American man in Georgia, was hunted down by two men …
In Brief
New Study on Global Warming: One Billion-Plus to Face Extreme Heat if We Don’t Fight for Change
A recent study finds that global warming will impact humanity even more intensely, and sooner than previously thought. According to the research, for every 1ºC increase in global temperature, one billion people will be displaced or forced to endure insufferable heat. …
In Brief
Study Shows Trade Policy Subsidizes “Dirty” Industries
According to a new paper by the University of California, Berkeley, high carbon-emitting industries have much lower import taxes than cleaner industries. …
Reports from the Frontlines
A Time of Difficult Decisions
Report From a Childcare Worker: I had to turn them down to keep my family safe, a difficult decision …
In Brief
COVID-19 Deepens the Childcare Crisis
Most working-class families in the United States didn’t have access to professional childcare before COVID-19 hit, and they don’t now. …
In Brief
New York Essential Workers on Night Shift – How Long is the Ride Home?
Starting May 6, New York City’s subway system is shuttered every night between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. for cleaning and disinfecting during the pandemic. …
In Brief
Amazon Vice President Grows a Conscience and Quits
On May 1, Tim Bray, Amazon’s Vice President for Web Services, resigned from his position at the company. …
In Brief
Trump vs. His Own Experts
Dr. Fauci, the head of Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force, has been forced to contradict and make up for these stupid statements. …
