Columbia University postdocs narrowly ratify contract with cuts in real wages
The UAW dropped key housing, immigration and job-security demands in its final contract for Columbia’s postdocs.
Elliott Murtagh•
Educators Rank-and-File Committee
The Educators Rank-and-File Committee is an international network of educators, students, parents, and workers fighting for workers power in the schools, to stop the capitalist destruction of public education and eliminate COVID-19.
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Harvard academic workers join graduate strike amid mounting social conflict after US midterms
Hundreds of non-tenure-track faculty and researchers at Harvard University walked off the job Tuesday, joining more than 4,000 graduate students already on strike at the wealthiest university in the world.
Mike Ingram, Tom Hall•
Thousands of young people protest in Denmark against cuts to student assistance and welfare
The protest was triggered by a government proposal to remove student grants from 81,000 young people currently studying or in training and living with their parents. The measure is part of a broader austerity programme to fund a massive increase in military spending and corporate tax cuts.
Jordan Shilton•
University of Sheffield International College staff set to strike over falling wages and threatened job losses
The long-running fight at the college demands that workers form a rank-and-file committee independent of the University and College Union.
our reporters•
A WSU Rank-and-File Committee member•
Alejandro López•
Tania Kent•
Kimie Saito, Joshua Rodriguez•
Pani Wijesiriwardena•
Bradford White workers: Reject the company-UAW “final offer!” Take the conduct of the strike into our own hands!
After failing to ram through a pro-company contract on October 23, the United Auto Workers bureaucracy is forcing workers to revote on the company’s “last, best and final” this weekend.
Bradford White Rank-and-File Committee•
USPS workers say: No private armed guards in our postal facilities!
Nearly 1,000 armed private security guards are being rushed into USPS plants in the final weeks before the midterm elections—into the very facilities that will process millions of mail-in ballots, and months before the deepest cuts in USPS history.
USPS Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Aviation workers vote to establish rank-and-file committee, launch independent workers’ inquiry into death of Montreal Airport ramp worker Oscar Robayo
Robayo, a 39-year-old employee of the French-based multinational Samsic, was crushed to death by the nose gear of an Airbus A350 at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport on August 24.
Our reporter•
Pennsylvania USPS workers form rank-and-file committee: “We call for a struggle that unifies all postal workers”
The postal service—a product of the American Revolution—has been systematically bled over decades by both Democratic and Republican parties. We have been forced to operate like a profit-making company despite the clear intention by the Founding Fathers to have the mail system as a universal right to all in the name of having an informed society able to fight back against tyranny.
Southern Pennsylvania Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
St. Paul Processing and Distribution Center Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
USPS Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
The Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Health Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Pierre Lajeunesse•
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the term “rank-and-file” mean and where does it come from?
“Rank-and-file” is originally a military term. It refers to the lower “ranks” of soldiers, who literally stand in lines or “files”. These soldiers have a different set of interests in preserving their lives than the officers or “brass” who prosecute the wars on behalf of the ruling elite.
Rank-and-file committees are of, by and for the rank-and-file workers, who have a different set of interests in preserving their lives than management, the bosses, the politicians, and the trade union apparatus, who send workers to die while defending the profits of the ruling elite.
Is it legal to build rank-and-file committees of educators and other workers to stop the spread of COVID-19?
Yes. The formation of rank-and-file committees is 100% completely legal under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
The right to freedom of speech means you can say whatever you like about what you agree or disagree with. Freedom of association, also covered under the first amendment, means you have the right to associate with others who share your views, for political ends. You also have the right to petition the government for redress, to make demands on the government and tell them what you want them to do.
Does HIPAA law prevent schools or workplaces from disclosing information about the spread of COVID-19?
No. HIPAA has an exception for disclosures to prevent and control the spread of disease, but the state is deliberately not invoking this exception in order to conceal information from workers, so that they can pretend that what they are doing is safe when it’s not.
Rank-and-file educators have the right to know who’s gotten sick, where, when, and what happened. Rank-and-file committees have to demand this information, and have to share it with other workers as a matter of collective self defense.