Privatization

UTIER, Independent Puerto Rican Electrical Trade Union Fighting US Neoliberal Privatization

November 14, 2022 UNAC Editor Austerity, Capitalism, Colonialism, Labor Struggles, Lawfare, Puerto Rico

Statement by Jeanette Graulau, published on Labor Today, November 2022 While some Western countries are planning to re-nationalize their energy industries, the U.S. imposes upon its colony of Puerto Rico a privatization plan to ‘unbundle’ the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), one of the oldest and fully operational electric power corporations of Latin America. Since 2020, LUMA Energy, a[…]

Workers and Community Power Shuts Down Oakland

May 5, 2022 UNAC Editor Labor Struggles

by Judy Greenspan, published on Workers World, May 3, 2022 Oakland, California Despite threats of retaliation from officials in the Oakland Unified School District and the Port of Oakland, teachers and longshore workers went out on strike on April 29. They shut down public schools and the port for the entire day to protest school closures and the pending sale[…]

The “Medicare Advantage” Plan to Kill Real Medicare

December 6, 2021 UNAC Editor Capitalism, Economics, Healthcare, Medicare for All

by Thom Hartman, published on MLToday, November 19, 2021 This is very interesting because I have always had an Advantage program and I have wondered how ‘Medicare for All’ would free us from the insurance companies. It never occurred to me that what Thom calls ‘real Medicare’ could actually pay the bills. This does tell us how high the hurdles[…]

A Union Worker’s Perspective From Puerto Rico

November 14, 2021 UNAC Editor Colonialism, Labor, Labor Struggles, Puerto Rico

by Walberto Rolón, published on Workers World, November 12, 2021 I began lineman training in 1989 – a chance that for many of Puerto Rico’s youth is nigh impossible unless you are favored by some political faction. [Puerto Rico’s main union for electrical workers is UTIER, the Unión de Trabajadores de la Industria Eléctrica y Riego (Electrical Industry and Irrigation[…]

Class struggle breaks out in the streets of France

December 13, 2019 UNAC Editor Labor Struggles, Protest

By G. Dunkel, posted on Workers World, December 9, 2019 Workers in France are determined to defend one of the best retirement systems in the world, a retirement system based on solidarity and respect. That’s why 1.5 million workers hit the streets Dec. 5 in 250 French cities — all the big cities and most of the midsize and smaller[…]

Yellow Vests Show the Way

December 16, 2018 UNAC Editor Featured, Labor, Protest, Resistance

“Yellow vests” mass protests against the rise in fuel prices in the French capital of Paris ~Sputnik by Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report, December 12, 2018 The yellow vests ought to be inspirations for the 99% on this side of the Atlantic ocean. “They will not accept neoliberal plunder without a fight.” French law requires drivers to keep gilets jaunes,[…]