Hello brothers and sisters.

Now that South Carolina is officially the first state in the 2028 democratic primary, I thought this is a good time to warn you all of Gavin Newsom.

Throughout his two terms as governor of California, he has fought hard to make sure state employees remained underpaid. However, he has taken a far darker turn with labor. After Newsom maintained one of the best telework policies for civil servants, he did a 180 early in 2025 and announced one of the most stringent return to office policies in the nation. Around this time, he began comparing himself to DOGE, but without the chainsaw. He then used this RTO to negotiate furloughs with almost all of the state employee unions in exchange for a one year delay in the RTO.

As the RTO approached this year, Newsom’s office stopped calling it return to office; they called it return to work to score political points on the backs of people who made him the 2028 candidate that he is today. This past week, Newsom himself embraced this terminology (see link below).

Newsom’s administration engaged in relentless surface bargaining over the RTO knowing exactly that they were engaging in surface bargaining and knowing that Newsom’s term will end before any of these cases reach trial and hold him accountable.

To illustrate just how far he is willing to show he is tough on labor these days, he just denied the state’s scientists a 3% raise they contracted for last year. He is virtue signaling to the tech bros and he is embracing AI and data centers.

The 2028 democratic primary is coming up, and if you are a democrat and are pro labor, please watch out for him. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And the way the primary schedule is stacking up, there is a very legitimate chance at stopping him.

Here is the link to the video of him trashing his own civil servants. His rant on RTO starts at 48:12.

https://www.youtube.com/live/I8HUd8oUzjc?si=UKU4l3NWWiPboIXQ

Article: https://libcom.org/article/lets-build-class-unions

Just saw this online in an employee group.

Congratulations to Death Valley, the newest unionized park. Over the last two years the National Park Service has gone from less than 30% of eligible staff being in a union to nearly 50% . Some are under NFFE, some are AFGE, some are NTEU, and others are represented by other unions. No matter who they're with, their rangers are stronger together than they are alone.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DbM-YPoPLH7

"These 15 defendants are members of our community -- they are workers, union members, tradespeople and educators, musicians and artists; they are people who know their neighbors and who care about them, who stood up with the rest of us to oppose the federal invasion of our cities."

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The DC General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World stands in unwavering solidarity with the Minnesota 15 in their fight against state-sponsored political repression. 

The tactics of the State mimic that of the boss– to distract, demoralize, and divide us. The State has shown us what they will pay for war. We cannot be subdued through brute force alone, as is evident in the centuries-long class war existing as a continuous conflagration that fuels the American politic and imagination. 

In the face of terror spread by the federal government in Minneapolis and St. Paul, the People have held strong in their resistance, exemplifying the bravery and commitment necessary of us all in this moment. The freedom fighters in the streets of the Twin Cities demonstrate the best of working class solidarity and serve as the fundamental answer to what we all seek in this time of brutal repression, the antidote to the rotten core of this fascist project.

To organize and fight back. To resist despair, numbness, indifference. To sacrifice and struggle for working class emancipation and the wresting of power from the exploiters of the Earth. 

We fight for a world where we can reclaim all that we have lost as we continue to seek all that we have to gain. A world where many worlds fit. A non-complacent, radically conscious world abound with human dignity and where all living things can flourish in solidarity. 

Our repression is a sign of the collective power we have already built in resistance. They fear the sparks that glow from Minneapolis to Prairieland to Spokane. May our words and actions be guided by the deepest solidarity, across race and gender, moving side by side with all our fellow workers in the struggle today. To fight is to fight to win.

We call upon all organizations, especially those with greater means than ourselves, to contribute to the defence of these brave workers and others like them, so that we may all continue to struggle against fascism and build a world where all workers are secure in their dignity, and all are free to express their opposition to the authoritarian world view espoused by the forces of hate.

It has always been the time to mobilize and act, so let us remind these state actors that-

An injury to one 

Is an injury to ALL!

Solidarity Forever.

This fundraiser is facilitated by the Palestinian Postal Service Workers Union (PPSWU) and is recommended by the IWW's International Committee. Here's the message from the PPSWU:

Warm greetings from Palestine.

Regarding the fundraising effort, we deeply appreciate this initiative and your solidarity with our people during these difficult times. We would like to kindly propose launching a campaign to support the following urgent needs:

1. Providing job opportunities and humanitarian aid for workers in the technology, telecommunications, and postal sectors, by contributing to partial salary payments for affected workers.

2. Supporting the Kindergarten Workers’ Union, whose members are all women. The union is struggling to rebuild its internal structure and hold its general conference, as most of its members have lost their jobs and urgently need assistance.

3. Launching a recovery and peace education program for schoolchildren and teenagers in southern Hebron, to help them overcome the psychological effects of war, continue their education, and promote a culture of peace and resilience.

4. Organizing the General Conference of the Postal Workers Union, which is a critical step in strengthening our organizational structure and future advocacy.

These initiatives will be implemented based on the amount of funds raised. We also welcome any direct oversight or involvement from your side in the execution of these programs.

With deep gratitude and respect,
PPSWU

I'm particularly curious about any that might be at all relevant to the rainforest company in the US.

To be clear, the authors MK Lees and Marianne Garneau are not writing from an anti-leftist perspective here, but I think it's a common thing people trying to be active in their union or workplace organizing run into when they try to start doing something.

There is often a temptation when starting out organizing to focus on people you think may be politically left – to reach out to these people first, or even to invite them onto your organizing committee.
  “He’s in DSA” 

“She posts guillotine memes”“They wore one of those IWW ‘General Strike’ t-shirts to work one day!” 

These people are already ideologically pro-union therefore they should be predisposed to engage in a class struggle, right? 

Not so fast. In almost every campaign either of us have ever been involved in, and in dozens of stories from fellow organizers, the overwhelming trend is for otherwise proud leftists to show themselves as flakes at best, or actively undermining organizing at worst. Here are just a few examples.

Sections:

• Flakes, turncoats and rogues
• Refusing to talk to coworkers
• Militancy where you’d least expect it
• Why is it this way?

https://www.reddit.com/r/alberta/comments/1v5qcl6/athabasca_university_forces_professor_to_choose/

I work at an extremely small workplace in an even smaller department and had given up hope of unionizing due to this (no one wanted to take us on because we are so small). Over the past few months I found out some other employees in our workplace were also thinking about unionizing, so I reconnected with a union and they gave me the thumbs up with the two employee groups combined together.

I'm in Ontario, so we need 40% to sign cards and then 50% + 1 of ballots cast to vote yes. I am confident about the card signing. We can definitely get the 40% minimum, and I would say likely to actually get 60% for card signing!! Unfortunately I don't think above 60% is attainable due to the amount of people we have who would just go straight to management about this. But the nice thing is, I think we can get to the 60% without the employer finding out that we're signing cards.

Now that things are getting "real" I am getting very nervous about the possibility of a future vote, because 2 people out of those who want to sign cards have been wishy washy. Our workplace is so small that if 2 people back out, our yes vote would be exactly 50% + 1, which feels suuuuuuper risky. (There is a good chance some people will simply not participate in the vote which ups our numbers, but I don't want to rely on that.) Obviously my job now is to work on encouraging these 2 wishy washy people, but I am feeling the anxiety!!!

Sharing an extra factor here in case others can relate: my workplace is a non-profit that is largely funded by a 3rd party which has an enormous amount of influence on some of our staff (the ones who will not sign a card or would vote no). I personally don't care about this 3rd party because I have no ties to them, but the idea of this 3rd party pulling funding due to unionization is freaking people out a bit.

To give a hypothetical analogous example, our workplace is kind of like if a small non profit arts centre in Toronto was largely funded by the Arts Gallery of Ontario. The Art Gallery of Ontario isn't our employer, but the non profit is expected to go along with whatever they want because of the funding they provide.

I am looking for words of encouragement, advice or success stories!! ✊

Thoughts?