IWW
Articles by and about the revolutionary syndicalist union the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
Mobilising educators
A conference on education could bring together three out of the four major class struggle federations in the UK under one house this June, to discuss plans for organising across the UK.
This June looks likely to see a resurgence in organising for the education sector, with an anarchist networking meeting involving three federations and individuals from around the country.
Super Size My Pay - Fast food workers in New Zealand organise for better pay and conditions, 2005-6
In New Zealand, hundreds of fast food workers waged an innovative campaign called Super-Size My Pay during 2005-06. This is one worker's overview and analysis of the campaign.
This text is taken from the December 2006 issue of the Industrial Workers of the World Australia's newsletter, Direct Action.
Direct action victory on health and safety at Starbucks, 2006
Making work safer through direct action - Daniel Gross and Joe Tessone recount the actions of workers winning a small but significant victory on health and safety at a Chicago Starbucks outlet in 2006.
Requests have been routinely made and ignored for the purchase of a stepladder. It is vital for our safety that we have a stepladder available to use for such tasks as changing light bulbs, reaching boxes on high shelves, and cleaning ceiling tiles. Currently, we are forced to balance ourselves on unstable café tables to accomplish tasks in hard to reach places.
Class collaboration - old and new, and Open letter to the CNT, 1937
"Class collaboration - old and new", a timely reminder of working class political experience by Joseph Wagner, and A. Shapiro’s Open letter to the CNT which criticised its actions during the Spanish Civil War.
Published in the IWW's One Big Union Monthly, August, 1937
IWW warehouse workers branch sacked
Members of the Industrial Workers of the World, organises at New York warehouses were sacked over the festive period, in retaliation for their successful unionising drive.
On January 2nd 2007 at 5:00AM workers from the Food Industry and Allied Workers Union (Industrial Workers of the World, I.U. 460/640) and supporters will bring in the New Year with a march and picket line.
The 2005 Northwest Airlines strike
A short history, account and analysis of the 2005 strike of mechanics and cleaners at Northwest Airlines against cuts in jobs, wages and benefits, and the lessons it holds for workers in future.
Our perspective... was simple: “What will it take to win this strike?”
Interview with IWW UK members and Freedom, 2006
"Why I'm a wobbly" - Three members of the Industrial Workers of the World, from different political and working backgrounds, explain why they joined the IWW, and how they see their union.
1913: Wheatland Hop Riot
A brief history of the riot that occured at Wheatland in Northern California after a meeting of farm labourers of the radical union the IWW was broken up by police.
Agricultural labour in the hop fields of California was amongst the most strenuous, badly paid and time consuming labour that a worker could undertake in early 20th century America. The situation of the hop pickers who worked at the Durst Ranch, the single largest employer of agricultural workers in the state, near the Northern California town of Wheatland in 1913, was no different.
1927: Colorado miners strike and Columbine Mine massacre
Short history of a strike by miners in Colorado in 1927 and the massacre of strikers at the Columbine mine by the state militia. The strike lead to an almost complete shut down of the mining industry in the state.
For the fifty years prior to 1927, the struggles in the Colorado mines had been a flashpoint for labour relations throughout the mining industry and had been marked by many strikes, aborted uprisings and confrontations between miners and mine owners, and the state militia.
Starbucks gets Wobbly - Embattled baristas turn to IWW
The IWW continue to organise Starbucks baristas in the USA.
By Mischa Gaus - In These Times, October 4, 2006
When Joe Tessone and his fellow Starbucks baristas walked into a pep rally with management at their store in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood in August, the bosses were ready.
