WISAG workers continue hunger strike at Frankfurt Airport

While the bourgeois media continues a press blackout of the hunger strike by a group of sacked ground staff at the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Airport, the WSWS spoke to two strikers.

British Gas workers' strike against “fire and rehire” in danger

The GMB is more than willing to call off strikes if British Gas only withdraws its threat, with the GMB national secretary emphasizing in a February 25 statement that “Refusing to take fire and rehire off the table is the main obstacle to a settlement at ACAS”.

UK study challenges use of mental health impact to justify ending COVID-19 lockdown

Those who had previously experienced mental health problems were hardest hit, but researchers noted the impact on the poor, the young, and those with small children at home. Lockdown conditions were exacerbating existing problems.

Solidarity from London bus drivers to WISAG airport workers in Germany

Whether in Brexit Britain or the European Union, workers face the same bonfire of our terms and conditions to further enrich a criminal financial oligarchy which tramples our basic rights.

São Paulo teachers continue strike against deadly school reopenings despite union sabotage

With Brazil and the state of São Paulo reaching the worst moment of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pseudo-lefts have advocated ending the teachers strike.

Germany: Support the WISAG workers’ struggle at Rhein-Main Airport against dismissals and wage theft!

The hunger strike by the WISAG ground staff at Rhein-Main Airport shows that the working class confronts political tasks. To defend their rights and independent interests, workers need their own party.

COVID-19 outbreak kills three workers at Red Deer, Alberta Olymel meatprocessing plant

One of Canada’s largest meatpacking and food processing companies, Olymel, refused for weeks to close down its Red Deer plant as hundreds of workers fell sick.

Release jailed Sri Lankan estate workers! Defend all workers from company-police conspiracies!

The SEP and the IYSSE calls on plantation workers and the entire Sri Lankan working class to demand the immediate release of the eight arrested Alton estate workers.

New Zealand government policies worsen housing crisis

House prices and rents continue to soar, fuelled by quantitative easing and the other policies of the Labour Party-Greens coalition government.

This week in history: March 1-7

25 years ago: Spanish right wins narrow victory On March 3, 1996, the right-wing Popular Party won a narrow victory in Spain’s national elections. It was only the second time in history that power passed from one party to another since the Spanish Civil War and the coming to power of the fascist dictator Francisco Franco.

Memoirs of ex-army commander expose drive toward dictatorship in Brazil

The memoirs of ex-army commander Villas Bôas have thrown Brazilian politics into turmoil and exposed the drive towards dictatorship in the sixth most populated country in the world.

After nearly two weeks much of Jackson, Mississippi still without running water

Over ten days since severe winter weather hit Mississippi’s capital city, many residents are facing dire water shortages and must rely on bottled water.

With a halt in the decline of COVID-19 cases in the US, CDC director warns “the virus is not done with us”

For more than a week, the seven-day moving average in new cases of COVID-19 has stalled. Health officials are sounding the alarm that states are moving too rapidly in lifting restrictions.

Trump rails against “socialism” and doubles down on stolen election lie at Conservative Political Action Conference

The four-day event demonstrated the ex-president’s continuing domination of the Republican Party and its increasingly fascistic orientation.

10 years since the mass protests in Wisconsin

Important lessons can be drawn from the experience of the mass struggles that erupted in 2011 against austerity in Wisconsin.

Los Angeles educators must learn the lessons of the sellout by the Chicago Teachers Union!

The central task which educators confront is to unite and mobilize support across the US and internationally in opposition to the drive by the world’s governments to sacrifice workers’ lives for profit.

New York City Schools chancellor resigns as middle schools resume in-person learning

The new chancellor, Meisha Porter, stated during her first news conference Friday that the city is “ready to go” on reopening high schools.

Go North West bus drivers in Manchester, UK begin indefinite strike against “fire and rehire”

On February 9, the company sent threatening hand-delivered letters to the drivers telling them that if they did not sign the contract, their employment would terminate on May 8

Australian union rams through sell-out at Coles Smeaton Grange

The dispute, one of the longest of the past two decades, has again proven that the trade unions are police forces of company management.

Amnesty International strips Alexei Navalny of “prisoner of conscience” status due to hate speech

This step exposes the fraudulent character of the frenzied campaign in the bourgeois media, spearheaded by the New York Times in the US and the Der Spiegel in Germany, that is aimed at portraying Navalny as a “democratic” opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Resistance builds to school reopenings in Seattle-Tacoma metro region

In addition to the surrounding districts, Seattle Public Schools has called for roughly 700 educators to start returning to classrooms by March 8 as part of a rapid “phased-in” approach to reopen public schools as quickly as possible.

Violent crackdown on Myanmar protests leaves 18 dead

The military junta has launched a ruthless offensive against the nationwide movement of protests and strikes that erupted after the February 1 coup.

Chicago and Cook County allocate the bulk of CARES Act funding to police and jail spending

The decision to allocate the bulk of funding toward the repressive apparatus of the state, pushed from the highest levels of the Democratic Party, is a clear sign of the priorities of the ruling class, which has devoted a comparatively miniscule amount towards any kind of relief for workers.

Australian university workers and students face new wave of job cuts and “commercialisation”

Academics are being forced to fight each other for their jobs via a Hunger Games -style “spill and fill” process.

Solidarity Greetings to sacked WISAG hunger strikers at Frankfurt Rhein-Main Airport

The following solidarity message was sent by the Network of Action Committees for Safe Workplaces to the Frankfurt WISAG workers who have been on hunger strike at Rhein-Main Airport since February 24.

Democrats torpedo $15 minimum wage hike

Biden’s decision to scuttle the minimum wage increase provides further confirmation that his administration is to be one of war and reaction, not social reform.

Thousands of students return for in-person schooling in Chicago

An estimated 37,000 K-5 students will return to buildings this week as negotiations with the Lightfoot administration and the Chicago Teachers Union begin for the return of high school students in the spring.

One-third of US museums might close in 12 months, American Alliance of Museums warns

The bankrupting of thousands of arts organizations and the expulsion of tens of thousands of artists from their chosen field go hand in hand with the fabulous enrichment of a handful of plutocrats.

As schools reopen, UK educators among top groups at risk of catching COVID-19

Schools and colleges reopen next week, beginning March 8, forcing millions of pupils and workers, including teachers, support staff, dinner ladies and caretakers into a highly dangerous environment.

Montgomery, Alabama uses CDC guidelines to unsafely reopen schools

The district’s announcement, and the CDC guidelines they cite, blatantly ignore one of the most important factors in determining the safety of a building: ventilation and air quality.

With US missile strike on Syria, Biden escalates US aggression in the Middle East

The act of aggression against Syria and the global escalation of US militarism constitute the foundation of bipartisan unity between Biden and the Republican Party.

French government rejects lockdown as UK variant becomes dominant strain

The British variant now accounts for nearly half of new COVID-19 infections across France.

Bail denied for retired New York City cop charged with assault in January 6 attempted coup

Thomas Webster, a former US Marine and 20-year veteran of the New York City Police Department, now retired, has been charged with violently assaulting a D.C. police officer during the storming of the Capitol.

Bridgerton: Not alternate history, but anti-history

The eight-part Netflix historical romance Bridgerton has been enormously popular. The creators hardly conceal their admiration for and envy of the aristocracy.

Restrictions placed on student gatherings after massive COVID-19 outbreak at the University of Virginia

Cases have skyrocketed in the two weeks following the reopening of the sprawling University of Virginia campus for in-person learning on February 1.

Delays to Big Three auto companies’ vaccination program highlight profit motive driving pandemic response

The question raised is why has the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines been left up to private corporations who are driven primarily by profit considerations?

Biden in Houston: Indifference and contempt for victims of Texas catastrophe

Visiting Texas eleven days after the onset of a man-made disaster that killed dozens and caused tens of billions of dollars in damage, Biden barely took notice of the mass suffering while offering a political amnesty to the Republican state government.

Major school districts press to reopen throughout Washington D.C. metro area

The return to schools follows separate announcements by the governors of Virginia and Maryland calling on all schools to reopen in March.

UK government declares testing and wearing masks “not compulsory” in reopened schools

Teachers, in poll after poll and on social media, have voiced their opposition to returning to work under unsafe conditions, but are up against trade unions who are colluding in the government’s plans.

A wonderful year for the elite: Top 25 hedge fund managers earned record $32 billion in 2020 as millions plunged into misery

During a year in which tens of millions of people lost their jobs and hundreds of thousands died from the coronavirus pandemic in the US, super-wealthy investors collectively increased their earnings by 50 percent over 2019.

Hearings on Texas disaster expose irrationality of private energy production

The infrastructure problems, which led to the near total collapse of the state’s power grid earlier this month, developed well before deregulation and have been known for decades.

Tokyo gives coast guard authorization to fire on foreign vessels

The Japanese government’s decision will only heighten the danger of a clash with China over disputed territories in the East China Sea.

Cashing in on racialist politics: Black Lives Matter foundation raised $90 million in 2020

Black Lives Matter organizations have been promoted and financially backed by sections of the ruling class as part of the effort to promote racial division and undermine class unity.

Rapper's arrest triggers mass protests over social conditions in Spain

Young protesters are denouncing the PSOE-Podemos incarceration of Pablo Hasél, which is part of the bourgeoisie’s broader offensive against working and living conditions.

Michigan boy, 10, loses both hands, both legs to COVID-related MIS-C syndrome

Ten-year-old quadruple amputee Dae’Shun Jamison from Shelby, Michigan is just one of more than 2,000 children in the US to develop Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children after catching COVID-19.

WISAG airport workers on hunger strike in Frankfurt, Germany: “We will not give up”

Two dozen workers are fighting at Frankfurt airport against sackings, wage theft and coronavirus insecurity.

San Francisco Bay Area school districts push to reopen schools

On February 7, the United Educators of San Francisco union reached an agreement to allow “limited instruction.”

Michigan governor pushes for school reopenings as Ann Arbor school board reverses decision to remain virtual

In a press conference Wednesday, Democratic Governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer announced that 85 percent of Michigan school districts are currently open for in-person learning and that she is “pleased that 97 percent of the school districts will be reopened by March 1st.”

Injured Coles Australia worker speaks out: “They’ve tried to destroy me physically, mentally and financially”

The worker noted the parallels between his abandonment by the unions and their current attempts to force through a sell-out deal at Coles’ Smeaton Grange warehouse.

Biden drops minimum wage hike from COVID-19 relief bill

Biden seized on a ruling by the Senate parliamentarian as the pretext to abandon an increase in the federal minimum wage.