Supporting Workers at Home and Abroad this Labor Day

August 28, 2013

Labor Day weekend is a bittersweet marker of the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. It is also a commemoration of labor rights struggles in the United States and a time to reflect on how far we have yet to go. This Labor Day, in addition to enjoying barbecues, picnics, and the beach, let us remember all the workers who don’t get the day off and take time to learn about how workers who are fed up with increasing inequality are standing up to fight back.

Cancelled Labor Day w Hashtag

Here at the ILRF, we stand in solidarity with workers internationally AND in the United States. This Labor Day season we’ve seen port truck drivers in California strike on August 27th and, on August 29th, fast food and low wage workers across the country will strike for $15 an hour and the right to unionize without retaliation. Walmart workers are prepared to take dramatic action nationwide on September 5th if Walmart fails to reinstate illegally fired Walmart strikers and publicly commit to pay a real wage by Labor Day. You can support them by:

1.   Sharing their petition: http://action.changewalmart.org/ARealWage

2.   Signing up to participate in their Thunderclap (like a social media bomb, where you donate your account for one post or tweet) and encouraging your supporters to do the same: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/3668-walmart-pay-a-real-wage

3.   Sharing some of these images via social media to help spread the word about the workers’ struggles

Commemorate historical labor rights struggles in the US by supporting current struggles today! Additional information on these recent and upcoming actions can be found here:

 

Port Truck Drivers Action in California:

Facebook: Justice for LA/LB Port Drivers

Twitter: @PortDriverUnion @Teamsters

Facebook Event page: Rally for Justice at the Ports!

Landing page: http://bit.ly/portsrally

Website: justice4ladrivers.net

 

Fast Food Strike:

Facebook: https://
www.facebook.com/LowPayIsNotOk

Twitter: @LowPayIsNotOk

Website: http://lowpayisnotok.org

 

Walmart Actions Nationwide:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/OURWMT www.facebook.com/MakingChangeWMT

Twitter: @forrespect @makingchange

Website: http://forrespect.org/ makingchangeatwalmart.org

 

Hunter King is a Smith College graduate who is interning with the International Labor Rights Forum this summer and embarking on a Fulbright fellowship in Sri Lanka in the fall.

 

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