The North American union working group continues monthly meetings every third Friday.

The Class Struggle Action Network (CSAN), a class unionist workers coordination in the United States, which our union fraction participates in, continues to organize immigrant defense efforts in the various unions with the newest efforts including work within Oregon Federation of Nurse and Health Practitioners (OFNHP), the Brick layers union and The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry (UA). The effort by class militants within the established unions is aimed at organizing workers to take independent action and presenting this line to the workers at meetings wherever they are open and able, promoting tangible actions in conjunction with other unions, in-person demonstrations, and strike action when possible.

The grassroots union in Turkey, Birtek-Sen, contacted the network requesting solidarity efforts with ŞIK MAKAS/Cross jeans workers who have been waging a struggle against unpaid wages, and dismissals (see the following article on this topic).

A CSAN member and Party sympathizer continues to organize in opposition to opportunist leadership within the Starbucks Workers United union (SBWU). Through CSAN. party members are continuing to support them in establishing a class unionist structure within the SBWU, outside and in opposition to the official union leadership organizing workers on a class unionist line. Workers in this local continue to meet outside of formal union meetings to enable them to take independent action. Despite their unofficial status, these meetings are building a base of workers at several store locations along class lines who are firmly in control of those locals. The effort has cultivated over the last year a number of worker leaders who are vocally critical of SBWU wrecker leadership. At the previous meeting, SBWU leadership sent a union official to attempt to disrupt and shut down the meeting in a similar way last year during a CSAN online event promoting opposition to the acceptance of a no-strike clause from the SBWU. Despite this, the group plans to meet again this month.

Party comrades intervened at the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) convention in Chicago in November, attended by 1,500-2,000 teamsters. The intervention aimed to distribute party and CSAN materials, strengthen ties with the Teamsters Mobilize (TM) (a rank and file caucus advancing class unionist demands within the Teamsters), and engage workers with critical perspectives on class unionism and against the International’s Union President Sean O’Brien, who has aligned with the ruling bourgeois Party and their anti-immigrant stance, in addition to his continual sabotage of teamster strikes, including the last minute tentative agreement during the 2023 UPS negotiations that would have mobilized 300,000 workers. Comrades participated in TM preparation meetings where we put forward our class unionist program and positions.

A protest action organized outside the convention drew 35-40 participants at its peak but proved largely ineffective at disrupting O’Brien, who entered through the front in an unmarked car with bodyguards. Comrades made themselves useful with logistics while distributing materials. When O’Brien gave his speech, several dissident TDU members walked out, with comrades there to greet them. Leafleting continued despite TDU calling police to stop both TM and comrades from distributing materials. In total, approximately 590 leaflets were distributed across the convention, plus 250 leaflets passed to a Chicago teamster who committed to distributing them at a UPS hub employing thousands of workers in that area.

The intervention produced several meaningful connections. Additional contacts were made with airport workers who expressed agitation about their conditions as the prolonged government shut downs further exacerbated poor working conditions and lack of pay. Teamsters Mobilize aligns closely with CSAN principles, and comrades are continuing to work with the contacts made in the caucus to advance joint work. Widespread sentiment within the convention, reflected alignment with O’Brien, in which TDU once again endorsed for president again, he will get re-elected and continue leveraging the union presidency possibly for future political positions such as the US labor secretary.

Party members continue work to establish a class-based union opposition in the United Food and Commercial (UFCW) union caucus, despite attempts by some Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) members to divert action toward electoralism. The nascent national caucus has grown to 31 workers in the communication channel, with the majority being worker-leaders within various locals nationally already struggling for class-based demands.

The caucus is incorporating labor history study into meetings and reviewing bylaws and history of locals and the international, trying to piece together information for better understanding of the union and mapping out their direction. Members of the caucus are critical of their locals seeking connections with the Democratic party.

Comrades continue to intervene within the Southern Workers Assembly. At a recent "Workers School" event which a comrade was able to attend, there was a noticeable difference in tone from speeches given at the summer summit. There was less talk about "Trumpism" and more emphasis on independence from the two capitalist parties, somewhat ironic given their recent decision to collaborate with the "No Kings Day" movement. Reports from a couple of the assemblies, which had a large presence at the "No Kings Day" demonstrations, seemed to be more focused on drawing workers who might have been at the demonstration into the assemblies, rather than attending for the sake of the demonstration itself. While there’s still much to struggle against in the SWA, it appears to be moving in a more positive direction.

At an SWA delegate meeting, comrades raised criticisms about the decision to join the “No Kings Day” protests that couldn’t be refuted by promoters of the action. At the following Richmond Workers Assembly (RWA) meeting, these criticisms were brought up and the RWA coordinating committee unanimously decided not to endorse or join the “No Kings Day” protest despite the SWA’s call to do so. Instead, RWA released a statement to members explaining why they saw these class collaborationist protests led by the Democratic Party as dead ends.

A Party comrade attended a panel and award ceremony hosted by the Debs Foundation in Terre Haute, Indiana which awarded Bernie Sanders the grand honor. The comrade attended a panel titled "Class War and How we Fight Back" with Sara Nelson (International President of Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO), Dr. Lisa Phillips (Professor of History at Indiana State University and Secretary of the Eugene V. Debs Foundation), and Mark Dimonstein (President of American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO). The panel was disappointing but predictable: criticisms of the administration for defunding and deregulating different industries and various "pro-labor" platitudes about higher wages, healthcare as a human right, and labor as defense against fascism. Sara Nelson mentioned capitalism/capitalists only to reinforce that some are bad or greedy, with nothing said about the relationship between labor and capital in a serious sense. On the question of how to fight back, nothing substantive was offered beyond general statements of acting in solidarity. Nothing someone could take back to their workplace or personal life.

A Party member intervened with a specially made leaflet at a University picket demonstration in Albuquerque. He made some contacts and is working with possible contacts inside the AFT Teacher’s Union, the Albuquerque Public Schools Union, to coordinate struggles.

A comrade attended a Tech Workers Coalition meeting in Portland, meeting unorganized and union workers. Permission was given to leave CSAN pamphlets there which were well received. Generally everyone was tired of layoffs and tech being used for war and "evil" generally. The comrade met with a worker currently on strike and joined their Signal chat and will try to attend some weekend meetings to continue making inroads with that group of workers.

Massive cuts from the federal government have led to municipal districts across the country to cut budgets, reduce staffing and are forcing low to no wage increases. The organization of state and district budgets creates static funding pools that can only be altered through state and federal level legislative interventions in the capitalist state. The boss-linked leadership National Education Association (NEA) which represents teachers across the country, have done absolutely nothing to organize the union to respond in any meaningful way against the cuts and attacks. Thus union locals find themselves scrambling to get scraps and to avoid massive reductions in quality of life while leadership presents working out government district level budget short falls, as a common interest with workers who must shoulder the burden in the interest of preserving job cuts via accepting real wage cuts.