We stand in solidarity with the strike of the Washington State carpenters in the U.S.

Since mid-September, the union representing more than 11,000 carpenters in Washington State in northwestern United States has been on strike demanding a better contract. The conflict has been going on since July. In four assemblies, the rank and file voted against the contract proposals agreed between management and the union bureaucracy, putting pressure on the union to call a strike.

The rank and file have organized an opposition caucus called the Peter J. McGuire caucus in honor of the founder of the carpenters’ union, and have been organizing the struggle to overcome the limitations which the pro-employer leadership is trying to impose on the struggle. Despite the union leadership’s intention to limit picketing to just a few work sites, workers have picketed dozens of construction sites. The bureaucracy has responded to the militant activity of this rank and file by threatening and persecuting the most prominent activists of the Peter J. McGuire caucus. The bureaucracy operates on the belief that substantial wage improvements should not be fought for because unionized workers would lose “competitiveness” to non-unionized workers. This bureaucracy has even negotiated anti-strike clauses in many contracts that prevent unionized workers from exercising this fundamental right. Obviously, it is a very privileged leadership; the main leader of the union, Evelyn Shapiro, declares an income of more than 250 thousand dollars a year.

Actually, the gain of better working conditions through a triumphant strike would be a great stimulus for many more workers to unionize. Also other sectors of the labor movement would learn from the experience of organizing opposition currents in the unions, rejecting secret contract negotiations and retaking the combative traditions of the American working class, damaged by decades of attacks by governments and the union bureaucracy linked to the Democratic Party.

There is an incipient strike wave in the US. The union representing ten thousand workers at John Deere tractor factories in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas voted this month to initiate a strike demanding contractual improvements. In the food industry, Frito Lay and Nabisco have had major strikes in recent weeks facing attempts by the companies to worsen labor conditions, especially attempts to increase the workday to 12 hours. The same transnationals that exploit U.S. workers also violate labor rights in the rest of the world with the support of the imperialist foreign policy of the U.S. government. That is why we send all our solidarity to the U.S. working class in struggle for their rights, especially to the carpenters in Washington State. Their struggle is also ours!

Argentina: Rubén “Pollo” Sobrero, Secretary General Railway Workers’ Union-West Section

Mónica Schlottahuer, Railway delegate and national deputy of Socialist Left-FITU

Pablo Almeida, General Delegate of the Ministry of Economy. Association of State Workers (ATE) and Legislator of Socialist Left and FITU of the City of Buenos Aires

Angélica Lagunas, former Deputy for Neuquén of Socialist Left and FITU, teachers union leader

Mariana Scayola, secretary general of the teachers’ union of the city of Buenos Aires (Ademys)

Jorge Adaro, assistant secretary of Ademys

Mónica Méndez, Secretary of Organization and Finances of the Union Association of Health Professionals, province of Buenos Aires (Cicop)

Brazil: Pedro Rosa, leader of Sintuff and Fasubra (Federation of University Workers)

Adriano Dias, opposition caucus mail workers’ union and coordination of CSP-CONLUTAS Rio de Janeiro

Diego Vitello, director of the Metroviários de SP Union and CSP-CONLUTAS Coordinator

Spanish State: David Orta Martín. COBAS Delegate in Titan
Cristina Mas Andreu. CGT delegate for Ara newspaper workers.
Josep Lluis del Alcázar i Fabregat. Former CGT public education delegate
Marga Olalla Marfil. Former CGT delegate for Barcelona City Council public workers.
Miquel Blanch. Former education delegate for CCOO in Girona.
Pedro Mercadé Toro. Public education delegate for CGT
Marc Palomer, member of the university assemblies of the UB
Rosario Mendieta, member of Marea Verde Barcelona and the campaign for universal health care.
Toni Granados. COS delegate at Químicas de Salt (Girona).
M Adriana Beidenägl. Pensioner Tide of Catalonia
Cristina Darriba. Member of Crida LGTBI de Catalunya.
Jose Antonio Barbera. Member of the Sindicat de Llogaters of Vilafranca del Penedès
Guillermo Schelling. Responsible for immigration of the Assemblea Nacional de Catalunya (National Assembly of Catalonia).
Joan Sala. PhD student and researcher at the UB
Txema Morillo. Member of movements in defense of migrants and for the closure of CIEs.
M Esther del Alcázar i Fabregat. Former CGT public education delegate

Mexico: Jesús Torres Nuño, former Secretary General of the Euzkadi Union

Panama: Priscilla Vásquez, national leader of the Social Security Workers

Turkey: Sedat Durel, Secretary general of the Revolutionary Workers’ Union of Telecommunications and Call Centers

Atakan Ciftci, delegate of the Education and Science workers’ Union

Venezuela: Orlando Chirino, national leader of the Socialism and Freedom Party and the C-CURA revolutionary union tendency

José Bodas, General Secretary of the Unitary Federation of Oil Workers of Venezuela (FUTPV)