USA
Content about workers' struggles and events in the United States of America.
Wildcat: Dodge Truck June 1974
Detailed article by participants and eyewitnesses about the wildcat strike at the Chrysler truck plant in Michigan, 1974, and the roles of the workers, the union and the left.
Introduction
Ridge, Lola: anarchist and poet
A brief biography of Lola Ridge, New Zealand anarchist and poet by Mark Derby.
Her published collections of poetry included defending Tom Mooney, Sacco & Vanzetti, and recalling the death of Frank Little.
Communique from an Absent Future
Pamphlet associated with the occupation movement at universities in the state of California.
An introduction was included in some versions of the pamphlet, and not in others.
7 AGAINST POMPEII
Occupy the Crisis: The Emerging Student-Worker Direct Action Movement in California
A summary of the recent student occupation movement commissioned by the antioch rebel newspaper from a participant in the UCSC actions.
Low-level organising in a hospital
A hospital worker named Malcolm's account of collective organisation and counter-information in the workplace.
One day the three hospital workers I lived with showed me a memo the hospital put out announcing a picnic for the staff. It said you had to bring your own food. The administration thought they were doing all the workers a great favor sending them this invitation to a bring-your-own-food picnic.
Direct action against unpaid wages on a demolition site
Demolition worker Anthony's account of labouring in the New England winter, and taking direct action when his wages were not paid.
The wicked New England winter had set in. There was no more work haying fields or picking apples. There was food from our livestock and from what we could put away from our garden, but no money for anything else. My friends and I drove our beat-up station wagon to the nearby "city," population 5,000. We went to apply for food stamps and possibly general assistance.
Employee thieving at a discount chain store
Kmart worker Karl recounts his employment in the late 70s and early 80s, with his and his co-workers' unofficial way of supplementing their wages.
Employee sabotage in a copy shop
Alan, a shop clerk's account of unofficial wage enhancement in a Minneapolis photocopy outfit.
I've never dealt with so many fucked-up managers as when I started working at a busy, downtown Minneapolis copy shop. We had to do a lot of work, took a lot of shit from customers and got paid beans. Actually, it was one of the best jobs I've had because everybody that I worked with was really fun.
Resisting work in harvest time
Tad, a combine driver, recounts sabotaging machines in order to get a break from work on Texas farms.
I got a job with a custom cutter, the people who follow the wheat harvest from Texas on up to North Dakota every summer. The combines we were using were a new model series on loan from International Harvester. A fleet of eight or ten of us went along in a big row through the fields and checked out the new models to see how they were performing.
A bike messengers minor rebellion
Kenny, a bicycle courier, recalls taking direct action to get management to abandon a new work practice.
Being a bike messenger in Seattle is hellish, but we had it kind of cush. We had to work our butts off, but at least we got paid by the hour.
