Private security firm staffed by former military officers contracted to spy on UK students
Horus is paid roughly £900 a month by universities specifically to compile “encampment updates”, which use the information to identify students.
Alex Brown•
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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Anger spreads after strike by 42,000 UC California workers canceled in the middle of the night
The union bureaucracy is sabotaging workers in order to prevent a struggle which would inevitably develop into a broader fight that would threaten its ties to management and the Democratic Party.
Max Jones, Kimie Saito, Joshua Rodriguez•
42,000 UC healthcare and service workers set to strike, as AFSCME and management near agreement: Build rank-and-file committees now!
On May 14, 42,000 University of California workers are set to strike in a major confrontation with the state's Democratic Party establishment.
Marc Wells•
Ash Field Teaching assistants in Leicester, UK continue strike in defense of union rep, Tom Barker
The World Socialist Web Site spoke with staff on the picket on the first day of strike action.
Judith Lomax•
Sandy English•
Marc Wells•
Nick Barrickman•
Sue Phillips•
Guilherme Ferreira•
Attend Sunday’s meeting to vote for an immediate Nexteer strike!
After workers voted down a second UAW-backed contract by 73 percent, local union officials called a membership meeting for Sunday. The following is a statement by the Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee.
Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Worker with 35 years at Canadian Coca-Cola distributor terminated following job injury
Days after making a splash in the local Calgary media by unveiling a new $75 million state-of-the-art warehouse facility, Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Limited unceremoniously axed an injured worker with 35 years at the company—essentially crying poor.
Steve Hill•
Nexteer worker on sellout tentative agreement: “Everybody wants a strike because right now we’re in control”
A “no” vote on the new TA and strike by the 1,300 Nexteer workers could spark a mass movement of auto parts workers and galvanize production workers at the Big Three factories.
Barry Grey•
Springfield, Massachusetts postal workers describe asbestos, Legionnaires’ disease and complicit union officials at major distribution center
Workers at the facility last month founded a rank-and-file committee affiliated with the national USPS Workers Rank-and-File Committee, citing the failure of the American Postal Workers Union to enforce contractual rights or respond to safety hazards.
David Harrison•
National Steel Car Rank-and-File Committee•
Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (UK)•
Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Springfield NDC Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Committee for Public Education•
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.