Signs of Resistance

New Year same old shit usually. But this in from Counterpunch "In this bleak landscape, came a surprise at a factory in Chicago. "You got bailed out. We got sold out." So read the banner at the sit-in strike of the workers of the Republic Windows and Doors factory. Having been robbed off their jobs in a stealthy shutdown, over 200 unionized workers and their families occupied the factory and demanded severance and vacation pay. They got it, too. The action drew national attention. In a sign of changed times, politicians, celebrities, public figures turned up at the factory to declare support. Even Obama said he agreed with their demands. The media which, pre-meltdown, would have savaged the strike, were less hostile. "Prior to the economic crisis," says Carl Bloice who writes in the Black Commentator, "the police might have gone into the factory and evicted the workers as trespassers." Post-meltdown, it was a different story. Bloice says the United States has not seen such a labor action in decades.
Impressively, ordinary citizens went up with food hampers to help out the strikers. Could we be witnessing the start of more militant labor action in the United States after decades ? And could we be seeing greater sympathy here for such actions after decades, as job losses mount?"

Small signs but signs nevertheless. Learn and take heart. . .