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Internationalist Special Issue February
                        2013  
Special Supplement,
February 2013
 

Table of Contents
Selected articles linked

Click on image to left for pdf version of complete issue.

Stop Union-Buster Bloomberg: Shut the City Down!
Mobilize Labor's Power to
Win NYC School Bus Strike!

Finally! New York City labor leaders have called for a “Union Unity March and Rally” for Sunday, February 10 to support the striking school bus drivers and matrons of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181. With the backing of major city unions, they could bring out tens of thousands of protesters, enough to really occupy Wall Street and shut down the center of international finance capital. But it’s no accident it’s being called on a weekend instead of a regular workday. The demonstration is clearly intended as a show of sympathy for the strikers rather than deploying labor’s power to actually win the strike. Moreover, the sponsors include the Democratic Party in various guises. The strategy of the union leaderships is to wait out Bloomberg’s final term in hopes that a Democratic successor elected in November would be more “labor-friendly.” To win, the school bus strike should be escalated. We have the power – “union power.” Now’s the time to use that power to shut the city down.Mobilize Labor's Power to Win NYC School Bus Strike! (7 February 2013)


School Bus Drivers, Teachers, All City Workers Are Under Attack – For Mass, Militant Workers Action to Shut Down Wall Street!
Bust Bloomberg Union-Busting!
On February 1, the National Labor Relations Board rejected a complaint by New York City school bus companies to declare the strike by over 8,000 drivers and matrons illegal. But this didn’t faze Mayor Michael Bloomberg who is refusing to negotiate and clearly hopes to bust the union. That’s what this strike is all about. This strike is not just about the school bus workers, or even just about education, it’s part of a fight, nationally and globally, against the offensive against labor by the forces of capital. The claim that the strike is “illegal” is just a naked assertion of the “rights” of capital against labor. It has to do with the power of one class against another. This is a war, a class war. These attacks are coming straight from the top, it’s not only the Republicans like Bloomberg, it’s also coming from Democrats, from Cuomo, from the Obama White House. What’s necessary is to mobilize the working class, which needs to have a class-struggle leadership. Politically it’s necessary to break with the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, we need a workers party that fights for a workers government. Because right now we have the dictatorship of capital.  Bust Bloomberg Union-Busting!(2 February 2013)

Stop Union-Buster Bloomberg! NLRB: Hands Off!
School Bus Drivers' Strike: Mobilize NYC Labor to Win!

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is on a union-busting binge. The tycoon who proclaimed himself the “education mayor” is determined to eliminate any vestige of job security for any and all workers in the city’s school system. First in line on the mayor’s hit list are the 8,100 drivers and matrons of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, who were forced out on strike last week. Next up are the teachers who are being threatened with massive cuts and layoffs in an attempt to blackmail them into accepting management “evaluations” that will put thousands of veteran educators’ jobs at risk. Union-buster Bloomberg must be stopped, and we have the power to do it. But the school bus drivers today and teachers tomorrow can’t do it on their own. To win it is necessary to bring out city workers’ unions, backed by parents, students and supporters in a massive mobilization against union-busting to shut the city down.  School Bus Drivers' Strike: Mobilize NYC Labor to Win! (21 January 2013)
Class Struggle Education Workers: Bring Out NYC Labor to Support School Bus Drivers Strike (20 January 2013)

Internationalist video: Scenes from the NYC School Bus Drivers Strike, January 2013 (24 January 2013) 
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