“The Last Showgirl” depicts exploitative environments in Vegas, but real Vegas dancers and hospitality workers are fighting back with a union on their side.

The post “The Last Showgirl” and Labor on the Las Vegas Strip appeared first on EWOC.

The following has been updated to reflect the platform passed as amended at the Maine DSA’s Winter Semi-Annual Convention on January 25th, 2025.

Whereas, the return of Donald Trump to the presidency ushers in far right control of the federal government and a period of increased attacks on marginalized communities, the labor movement, public education, and the working class as a whole.

Whereas, Trumpism is a growing movement in the social sphere as well as the political and must be confronted by the left.

Whereas, socialists must play a frontline role in defending the working class from attacks by the far right, both to defend our communities and to grow our movement as the only credible alternative to fascism.

Whereas, the political environment in Maine, as of 2025, presents opportunities to resist the Trump administration and make gains at the state and municipal levels but we must also contend with threats from Democrats moving to the right.

Therefore be it resolved, Maine DSA should adopt the following platform for 2025:

Our Mission

As the preeminent socialist organization in our state, Maine DSA is uniquely positioned to lead left-wing resistance against the far right here in Maine and as a chapter of the largest socialist organization in the country, to play a significant role in national resistance to the Trump administration. In 2025, Maine DSA’s priority will be to fight the far right in defense of our communities and the working class as a whole. We adopt this platform to align our goals as an organization entering a period of far right governance.

Areas of Focus

Maine DSA shall accomplish our mission by prioritizing the following seven areas of struggle (listed in no particular order)

• Defense of immigrants and asylum seekers
• Defense of bodily autonomy, including but not limited to trans and reproductive rights
• Supporting Maine’s indigenous communities in their struggle for self-determination
• Defending our environment and the climate
• Protecting electoral democracy
• Protecting the labor movement and promoting socialist unionism
• Protecting public education

Strategy

Life in Maine will only truly be the way “it should be” when workers and oppressed people claim enough union, tribal, community, and neighborhood power to overturn rule by the 1% and the institutions they rely on so that the vast majority can decide on our state’s economic and political priorities. Until then, we must fight to defend ourselves against racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, anti-union, homophobic, and transphobic attacks while we organize to expand our rights and improve our living conditions. In the coming decade, the climate crisis will drive hundreds of thousands of people to Maine. Ensuring that workers set the terms for this influx will shape our work for years to come because New Mainers will play a big role in reconstituting the working class itself and shaping our relationship to the environment. Maine can either become a center of working-class power with a leading voice in social and ecological justice, or it can become a high-priced bedroom community for Boston and New York’s upper middle class. 

Maine DSA pledges itself to strengthening the socialist voice within this struggle because we believe socialist ideas and organization are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for revolutionary social change. To that end, Maine DSA recognizes that we are a small force in an enormous battle alongside many allies and friends with whom we share much in common. Maine DSA has come a long way in the last decade, but we have a long way to go. 

Given our overall defensive position in the face of ascendent Trumpism, our two related strategic goals for the next two to four years are 1/ to create a united front of Maine organizations, unions, and peoples and individuals dedicated to resisting attacks on working-class and oppressed people initiated by Trump and his movement, and 2/ to build up DSA and the socialist movement to a level at which we can credibly challenge the hegemony of the Democratic Party.

In order to accomplish our first strategic goal, we must strengthen connections with friends and allies and build new connections with the many organizations and communities with whom we do not yet have close relations. We should begin building and testing these relationships through the process of coordinating defense of our brothers and sisters and siblings over the next six months. 

Our next step to cement these ties and build a popular front will be to explicitly raise the question of an organizing conference to plan actions and campaigns with as much unity and participation as possible to discuss the potential to:

• Act publicly and organize protests
• Engage in community defense
• Advocate for progressive legislation
• Organize electoral campaigns

To achieve our second goal of raising DSA’s political capacity to challenge the Democratic Party’s political establishment, we propose a state-wide socialist education and strategy conference. Our goal is to bring together over 250 socialists and friends for a 2-day conference. We will rely on local comrades and friends to lead educational workshops and strategy sessions, but also invite DSA comrades and other leading socialists and union organizers from around the country. Our goals are to raise Maine DSA’s profile nationally, to consolidate a new layer of DSA members, and to raise the theoretical/historical/organizing capacity and confidence of our existing members. 

The post Maine DSA 2025 Platform appeared first on Pine & Roses.

Donald Trump’s fascist regime has returned to power, unleashing a cascade of anti-immigrant policies. Trump campaigned on a platform of violently racist rhetoric, and he has promised to inflict extreme harm on both newcomers and long-time U.S. residents alike through bans, deportations, and incarceration. 

While we prepare ourselves for the coming onslaught of attacks on all marginalized groups, we should not forget Trump’s most vulnerable targets, many of whom live among us in Chicago: migrant children. 

Here in Chicago, the nonprofit Heartland Human Care Services or HHCS (formerly part of Heartland Alliance), holds hundreds of children captive in buildings across the city. These facilities, which the nonprofit calls “shelters,” are better described as detention centers for kids apprehended at the border. In the past, the organization even detained some children who were separated from their families under Trump’s first administration. HHCS took roughly $45 million from the Department of Health and Human Services for its immigration “services” in 2024, a whopping 74% of its overall federal funding.

According to former employees and residents, these facilities act as holding centers where immigrant children are kept separated from their loved ones while their guardians are investigated by HHCS employees. Children are not allowed to leave the centers without permission, and their parents cannot access them without going through a “vetting” process that is designed to gather information on the parents’ legal status, which is often shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to former employees. 

In the words of prison abolitionist Rose Braz,
“Kinder, gentler cages are still cages.” 

Former Heartland employees have said children in the detention centers are treated like prisoners with strict schedules and limited freedom, are prevented from seeing loved ones for months or even years, and may be turned over to ICE authorities when they turn 18 and age out of the nonprofit’s custody.  Employees also reported that parents had to pay to see their children when reunification was possible. A ProPublica investigation in 2019 found that children in the system had sexual contact with one another due to lax supervision and inadequate staffing, and a Department of Family and Support Services investigation found that a staff member had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old child in one of Heartland’s detention centers in Des Plaines, which has since closed. ProPublica also found that some children in the centers experienced suicidal ideation and others ran away out of desperation.

HHCS leadership claims that its so-called “shelters” are a better alternative to other detention systems for children, and that it protects kids who would otherwise be vulnerable to human trafficking. This rhetoric simply normalizes the U.S. government’s brutal system of immigrant policing, which tears apart families and communities and criminalizes people for fleeing conditions that the U.S. helped to create through its imperialist policies. 

In the words of prison abolitionist Rose Braz, “Kinder, gentler cages are still cages.” 

Children should not be kept in cages. Parents should not have to submit to surveillance and investigation to be given access to their own children. The entire U.S. immigration system is violent and should be abolished.

Former HHCS employees who have worked in the centers have spoken out against the nonprofit’s treatment of immigrant children, parents, and its own workers. Immigrant rights groups, including Únete La Villita and the Free Heartland Kids group started by CDSA members, have spoken out and protested against these horrors. These efforts paid off — in 2019, in response to a ProPublica’s reporting on the centers and organizers’ appeals to public opinion, Heartland Alliance closed four of its detention centers. Still, more work must be done to free the children in HHCS’s remaining facilities.

The CDSA’s new, improved immigrants’ rights committee faces huge challenges in the years to come. 

Throughout his campaign, Trump and his allies have promised to ramp up violent systems that criminalize, imprison, and expel immigrants — especially Black and brown working-class people. Trump has said he will use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport “suspected gang members” without due process, and use federal troops and local police to arrest and deport immigrants. He has declared he will end protections such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and reinstate his ban on migrants from Muslim-majority nations. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship, which would prevent the U.S.-born children of undocumented migrants from becoming citizens from birth. His plans promise to dramatically increase immigration policing and incarceration across the country. 

We cannot allow the onslaught of attacks on immigrants to overwhelm us and make us feel helpless. We can all make a difference right here at home. 

While the border may feel far away to some of us here in Chicago, the effects of immigration policy will be felt by many of our neighbors. Trump’s chosen immigration advisor even claimed Trump’s quest to deport and incarcerate immigrants will “start right here in Chicago,” and recent news reports confirm that the incoming administration plans to conduct massive ICE raids in Chicago shortly after inauguration day. We must keep our focus sharp, work together with other migrants’ rights groups, and remember that the most vulnerable among us need our attention and deserve our unwavering support. 

If you want to get involved with the fight to end child migrant detention in Chicago and defend migrants across the U.S., connect with the CDSA’s new Immigrant Rights Working Group. The next meeting will be held February 6 at CDSA headquarters at 3411 W Diversey Ave #7 Chicago, IL 60647. You do not need to be a dues-paying DSA member to join — all are welcome! 

You can also join in the PO Box Collective’s ongoing letter-writing campaign from now until February 13 by writing Valentine’s Day cards to show support to kids in the HHCS detention center in Rogers Park. Click here for more details on this action. 

If you are a current or former HHCS employee who would like to share your story or join the campaign to close the child detention centers, please email freeheartlandkids@gmail.com to connect with our group. There are several current and former HHCS employees in the group, and leadership will work with you to protect your identity if you are afraid of retaliation. 

The post Free Heartland Kids appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

Find sample language for your union contract to defend immigrant workers at your workplace.

The post Want to Defend Immigrant Workers in Your Contract? Here Are Some Suggestions. appeared first on EWOC.

By Chris Brady

Federal workers are used to being vilified. It’s a convenient punching down opportunity for politicians and pundits; our government doesn’t work, and the mascot of this inefficiency is the faceless bureaucrat, paid by the taxpayers’ dime. Politicizing federal workers has been a strategy since the Carter administration. Federal workers live and work across the country, including 25,488 in Massachusetts, making the United States government the Commonwealth’s 4th biggest employer.

There is, naturally, some truth to narratives of inefficiency – our government has been stripped for parts and sold to private companies over decades, which is not conducive to administering social welfare, maintaining public infrastructure, or reining in those very private interests through common-sense regulation.

Federal employees are critically important in maintaining a functional country: responsible for funding school disability programs, ensuring clean water standards, enforcing antitrust and labor regulation, and much more. Public servants, unlike the private sector, are at least somewhat accountable to the public because their jobs and duties come from Congress – which is more conducive to the democratic society that socialists are striving for. 

The new Trump administration has made it clear that they intend to take up the mantle of attacking the public sector. It is important to identify motivations behind this discourse, and how federal employees are reacting, and to connect federal worker issues and the broader class struggle to inform organizers as we prepare for a likely crackdown on labor in the incoming administration. 

Sharks Circle the Bureaucrats 

Elon Musk has been rewarded for his 250 million dollar investment in President Trump’s re-election with a pseudo-appointment to head the new Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE), named in reference to the meme dog. Vivek Ramaswamy was also tasked with co-chair of the department, although his current role is unclear after announcing a campaign for governor of Ohio. DOGE is not an official government agency and only exists in an advisory capacity.

That has not stopped Musk from identifying a litany of agencies, regulations, and staffing changes he hopes to pursue, such as considering cutting entire agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Education, and even the Federal Reserve. Additional reports indicate that “DEI programs” are also in DOGE’s crosshairs. Notably, Musk has not publicly addressed what is widely understood to be the area of greatest government excess and bloat, the military and subsequent vampiric defense contractors which guide U.S. foreign policy. It is unclear if Musk’s role as CEO of government defense contractor SpaceX has influenced this omission.

Trump re-appointed Russel Vought to head the influential Office of Management and Budget, which is responsible for budget development and execution of government agencies, among other things. Vought was one of the architects of the Heritage Foundation’s notorious “Project 2025”, which includes many stipulations about reforming federal work. One of the most controversial components of the plan includes categorizing swaths of federal workers, likely tens of thousands or more, as ‘Schedule F’ employees. This change would reclassify many federal career postings as political appointments, and potentially allow room for political fealty tests to the current administration as a condition of employment.

Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), chair of the Senate DOGE caucus, has introduced multiple bills targeting federal workers. The ‘Drain the Swamp Act’ would relocate 30% of certain federal staff outside of the D.C. area, forcing thousands of workers to move without compensation, and another would fiercely restrict federal telework policy. Senator Ernst cited an inaccurate study to support the measure. The Senate Ways and Means Committee is considering a proposal to increase the federal pension deduction for some workers from .8% to 4.4% per paycheck. 

Federal workforces’ right to collective bargaining is also on the chopping block. According to reporting from the Washington Post, incoming ranking Trump staffer Stephen Miller’s office was reported to be presenting a barrage of anti-federal workforce executive orders to congressional leadership. One such order involves enabling the President to prevent federal workers from collective bargaining, citing national security concerns, and removing a central worker protection which upends decades of precedent. 56% of the federal workforce is protected by collective bargaining contracts, and federal workers have some of the highest rates of union participation in the country. 

Although this There is no debate – this is a declaration of war on the public sector, civil service, and labor writ large.

Air Traffic Controllers and Historic Precedent

Trump is not the first administration to target federal workers for political purposes. Infamously, Reagan’s busting of the 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) illegal strike, culminating in the termination of 11,325 workers who had refused the President’s back to work order, has dealt a lasting blow to the American labor movement. The strike bust came despite PATCO’s endorsement of Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign. The defeat marked the beginning of a decline in union participation which has continued until this day, and the beginning of a change in public perception to view unions and government workers much more negatively.

Professor Joseph McCartin outlines how federal workers broadly missed an opportunity to show solidarity with the air traffic controllers in his leading history of the strike, Collision Course. The firing of 11,325 workers could have incited action from workers everywhere. Instead, federal employees watched as the Reagan administration pulverized their colleagues – granted, PATCO never reached out for help – exposing a significant omission of solidarity among federal workers that was leveraged against them. McCartin states, “The PATCO’s ghost still has the capacity to instill fear”, which materialized with private sector bosses emulating Reagan-style strike busting with new vigor. Additionally, PATCO lost the PR battle, and never articulated to the American people why we should be invested in their fair treatment. Lessons from 1981 remain prescient as federal workers navigate the coming months.

The AFA-CWA flight attendants union provides a hopeful counterweight, when in 2017, they threatened to go on strike in protest of the 35-day ongoing government shutdown. What is notable about this action was not just that it was tremendously effective, with the President greenlighting a temporary spending bill the next day and re-opening the government, but that flight attendants are private sector employees. They identified intersections between their employment and the shutdown despite not being personally affected, while also advocating for their own interests, given that the unpaid air traffic controllers were a direct threat to airline safety. It is an incredible example of how workers are capable of using our power for political change, and how solidarity across sectors is absolutely essential for our movement.

How Are Federal Workers Reacting?

Federal employees are nervous, according to Harper, a federal employee at a financial regulatory agency and rank and file union member.

“I joined the federal service to serve other people, but it doesn’t feel good to be caught in the crosshairs of this. Federal employees are thinking, what’s my backup plan?”

These reforms are likely the manifestation of an ideological privatization crusade furiously advocated for by conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Tax Reform, but have an added consequence of eroding established labor protections. Harper adds, “Federal workers are one of the most organized sectors in the workforce, that’s part of the agenda here.”

Ellen is a union steward and federal employee who works in public assistance benefit administration. She noted that her office’s union membership increased by 10% in the past two months, indicating that federal workers are proactively responding to a changing employment environment. “People have been encouraged to better understand their working environment, there is no longer complacency where there once might’ve been.” 

She also adds that DOGE is not omnipotent. “There is a lot of speculation right now, but they have to go through the proper legal procedures. There are 60+ years of Congressional legislation to work through, outlining our agency’s mission and responsibilities. As long as we know the rules, and hit them in the head with the rules, we have a better chance.”

Federal workers are represented by multiple unions, some affiliated with the AFL-CIO while some are independent. The unions have historically worked together during government shutdowns, when much of the civil service is furloughed or temporarily work without pay. “Inter-union solidarity is crucial. All federal workers have to listen to the 535 members of the United States Congress to do our jobs, Congress members forget that we are workers and residents in their districts and they need to listen to us to do their jobs too. We can, and must, band together as federal workers.” The exact next steps of a broader coalition of federal workers is currently unclear, but clearly organizing across federal agencies will be essential – and urgent.

Civil servants are generally cautious of political activism. The Hatch Act is a federal law which prohibits federal workers from engaging in some forms of political activity. Originally intended as a measure to combat corruption and the spoils system, it has recently been weaponized to crack down on free speech. Notably, the Office of Special Counsel accused one federal worker of violating the Hatch Act after penning an op-ed criticizing the Biden administration’s genocide in Gaza. The worker was later found to not be in violation of the law. The Hatch Act does not prevent federal workers from engaging in political activity, protesting, or organizing outside of work, but has had a chilling effect on the organizing potential of these workers due to fear of repression.

The American Federation of Governmental Employees (AFGE) just filed a lawsuit in conjunction with Public Citizen and the State Democracy Defenders Fund against D.O.G.E. to ensure the group complies with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

How Do Federal Worker Issues Affect the Class Struggle?

The federal workforce occupies a unique position within class society. Federal workers perform critical functions that improve the lives of millions of Americans: maintaining national parks, building civilian infrastructure, distributing SNAP benefits, and inspecting food and medicine, among many other essential services. On the other hand, some federal employees participate in the militarization of the border, surveillance of American citizens, and the implementation of vile foreign policy apparatus such as the genocide in Gaza. Despite these contrasts, all federal workers share the same employer, and many are represented by the same unions. This is one example of the many contradictions we must grapple with under capitalism.

Federal workers are, fundamentally, workers. True liberation will only come with a political transformation that abolishes our government’s reactionary and genocidal functions while empowering those that genuinely serve the public good. The workers most likely to suffer under upcoming DOGE reforms are not those complicit in these oppressive functions but rather those whose jobs most directly support and uplift the public.

As neoliberalism nears its end, a ruthless brand of faux-populism is rising to take its place. The oligarchs surrounding Donald Trump seem determined to continue Reagan’s privatization agenda. Their strategy is clear: deliberately undermine the effectiveness of government services, then use that dysfunction as a pretext for further privatization. Worse, drawing lessons from the 1981 PATCO defeat, they see federal workers as the ideal test subjects for implementing harsher anti-union policies, potentially setting the stage for a broader assault on labor rights across the nation.

Federal employees may sense the storm ahead, but readiness is uncertain. The actions of federal unions in the coming months will be critical—potentially leading either to a mass exodus of public-sector workers or to a groundswell of mobilization and transformative change. Existing unions would do well to draw inspiration from the militancy of the flight attendants at AFA-CWA. Educating the American public about the essential work performed by federal employees is vital. A stronger sense of class-consciousness and more vocal leadership within the federal workforce are needed to meet the challenges ahead.

Coalitions of rank-and-file federal employees must organize and strategize to protect themselves. DSA and organizations like it should actively support these efforts. The PATCO strike of 1981 was a devastating defeat, but as the forces of capital and labor prepare for another confrontation, we have a chance to rewrite history. This time, the outcome could mark a turning point—where collective action reclaims power and reshapes the future of federal labor for the better.

Federal workers are invited to share their stories with @fedsworkforyou on instagram.

Chris Brady is a member of Boston DSA.

The post From Our Co-Chair: A Vision for Memphis Midsouth DSA 2025 first appeared on Memphis-Midsouth DSA.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, January 21 (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.): Organizing 101 (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Wednesday, January 22 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Big Chapter Education Meeting (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, January 23 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.): Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group (Zoom)

Saturday, January 25 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Food Service (In person at Castro & Market Sts)

Sunday, January 26 (4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.): Tenant Organizing 101 (Zoom)

Monday, January 27 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Tenderloin Healing Circle (In person at Kelly Cullen Auditorium, 220 Golden Gate)

Monday, January 27 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

Thursday, January 30 (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.):  Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom)

Thursday, January 30 (6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Ecosocialist Monthly Meeting (Zoom)

Monday, February 3 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Meeting (In person at 1916 McAllister & on Zoom)

Monday, February 3 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Reading Group (SF Reds Chapters 4, 5, 6) (Zoom)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates.

Events & Actions

Weekend Report

Over this past weekend, DSA SF members organized and participated in several exciting events through Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialism (PSAI), Immigrant Justice provisional, and Homelessness working groups.

As part of the No Appetite for Apartheid campaign, PSAI and coalition partners at the Arab Resource Organizing Center and Neighborhood Business Alliance canvassed 20+ stores in the Tenderloin, securing a total of 30 pledges from SF local grocers not to carry products from companies complicit in the Israeli apartheid and genocide of Palestinians.

In partnership with Jackie Fielder’s office, Immigrant Justice working group handed out Know Your Rights pamphlets and red cards from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in the Mission District ahead of the People’s March.

The Homelessness Working Group conducted a power mapping event around the Zurich 4 Pillars program, with former SF supervisor Dean Preston in attendance. Finally, SF and East Bay DSA chapters mobilized over a hundred people in Sunday’s We Fight Back rally and march on Market Street.

DSA SF Education Board: 2025 Planning Survey

What did you come to DSA to learn about? What types of educational events do you think would help our organizing work as a chapter? Help the ed board shape our 2025 educational offerings by taking this three minute survey.

Behind the Scenes

The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.

To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.

I started collecting these little sentences in my head, the intention behind them was to show that language matters. Arguably, it informs how we collectively perceive the world and how we live our lives. After all, I thought, aren’t our values formulated with words? While I’m not a linguist, I’m a fiction writer, an avid reader, and work a job that includes identifying and taking down disinformation. These gave me faith in the power of words, sentences, stories. 

But, perhaps I was wrong. Or at least I had a blind spot. I still believe that stories are extremely powerful tools (after all Q-Anon, like all conspiracies, is based on a compelling story – one that resonates with certain American traditions, like not trusting the government). They are capable of creating and unraveling entire civilizations: capitalism (or neoliberalism) is buffered by real material oppression, but also stories we collectively believe in. While stories are made of words, I think that the certainty of what specific words mean has become distorted, sometimes poisoned, often rendered meaningless. 

All these fringe artistic movements co-opted by brands (for more on the topic, check out Chokepoint Capitalism by Rebecca Giblin & Cory Doctorow), or the promises from political candidates that never come into action (the Republicans scamming the middle and working classes out of existence, or the Democrats repeatedly pretending to go after big business while getting bankrolled by Wall Street), all buffered by teary eyed leaders spouting patriotic clichés with hands on their hearts … When I look around me, I see lots of ways words are hollowed out. It never clicked. 

Until, randomly, as I set to writing these little “don’t say… instead say…” bits, I started listening to Naomi Klein’s 2023 Doppelganger. She notes that words that used to carry concepts anchored on the Left have started to be used by conspiracist and hateful spheres; words like “fascist,” “othering,” and “fake news.” 

While I believe that some words are still as powerful as ever (“genocide” for example), there is always the risk that they will be robbed of their substance and thrown back at us as bait or a weapon. In recent years, the French government has yielded several iterations of the word “eco-terrorist” to pit the majority of the population against environmental activists. This also conveniently worked to justify deploying warfare tactics and tools against unarmed civilians. 

And so, as I write these lines, I am not convinced that words will be the key to a more desirable future for all. But, they can (and should) still be useful for crafting and conveying meaningful stories, narratives, and worldviews. To explore what’s outside of capitalism, or rethink how our view of things has been shaped. And so, with that, here is a fun list of some “don’t say … instead say” ideas I’ve written down. Ways to translate what has been said into meaningful ways of interpreting it.

Don’t say “I’m an entrepreneur,” instead say “I profit from the work of others.”

Don’t say “entrepreneur,” instead say “robber baron 2.0.”

Don’t say “this place is closed due to staffing issues,” instead say “the owner didn’t want to pay their workers what they deserved.”

Don’t say “people don’t want to work anymore,” instead say “we don’t want to work to enrich distant shareholders.” 

Don’t say “private health insurance,” instead say “someone found a way to profit from sickness and misery.” 

Don’t say “Donald Trump,” instead say “the Republican Party.” 

Don’t say “I make $XX an hour,” instead say “$XX is the crumbs my boss leaves me.” 

Don’t say “I bought a Tesla,” instead say “I am financing the American oligarchy.”

Don’t say “trickle down economics,” instead say “trickle up scam.” 

Don’t say “I’m living paycheck to paycheck,” instead say “this isn’t a living wage.” 

Don’t say “the Great Resignation,” instead say “that time when employees realized they were being exploited.” 

Don’t say “Right vs. Left, Liberal vs. Conservative, etc…,” instead say “the Rich vs. the rest of us.” 

Don’t say “if we tax them, they’ll leave the country,” instead say “where are they going to go”? 

Don’t say “Taxed Enough Already,” instead say “most of my taxes are used to finance foreign wars and systems of oppression.”

Don’t say “it’s a free country” instead say, “democracy is for sale” 

Don’t say “self made (wo)man” instead say, “they don’t exist without Us”

Don’t say “they’re successful business people” instead say, “they’re really good at taking credit for the work of others”

Don’t say “there’s a housing crisis” instead say, “landlords’ greed has gotten out of control.”  

Don’t say “there is no alternative.”

The post Don’t Say … Do Say appeared first on Pine & Roses.

Whether from management or co-workers, racial divisions serve the interests of the boss and weaken your collective power.

The post The Multiracial, Multilingual Campaign appeared first on EWOC.

[[{“value”:”

By Vanessa Bartlett and Aaron Hall

BTU members rally in Jamaica Plain on Thursday, January 16.

BOSTON—On Thursday morning, public school teachers across Boston participated in informational pickets at three Boston schools prior to the start of the school day. Members of the Boston Teachers Union (BTU) have been working under an expired contract since August, and these informational pickets may be a sign of BTU members’ growing agitation. 

One of the main issues that BTU members raised was the low pay for paraprofessional teachers in Boston. 

Paraprofessional educators work with students who have special needs to help them succeed in a classroom. According to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, an individual needs to have an associates degree, 48 credit hours in post-secondary education, or qualification from an assessment to apply as a paraprofessional. 

Paraprofessionals (“paras,” for short) play a critical role for special needs students performing functions from helping with toileting and hygiene to adapting instructions from the teacher. Currently, paraprofessionals are paid around $30,000 annually.

Mary Thomas, a paraprofessional who works at the Curley K-8 school in Jamaica Plain, told Working Mass, “We’re fighting for living wages for paras. Paras can’t subsist here. They can’t sustain living in the city that they work in and they live in and a lot of our teachers can’t either.” 

Thomas has worked as a paraprofessional in the BTU for 12 years and said that paras like herself have had enough. “I think the last time we were given a raise, it was a dollar, on a salary that is already unsustainable in a city where you need about $70,000 as a single person to live,” said Thomas.

BTU President Eric Berg addresses picketing educators.

Paraprofessionals’ working and living conditions are going to be a central point of contention in the BTU’s fight for a new contract, according to BTU president Erik Berg. 

“Boston is unique among communities in Massachusetts and maybe around the country in requiring a single general education teacher to also be a special education teacher. We’re seeking an end to the city of Boston’s practice of…depriving students with disabilities from the necessary specialized instruction delivered from an additional teacher, which is what they really need to learn and thrive,” Berg relayed.

American Federation of Teachers – Massachusetts (AFT-MA) president Jessica Tang, who was also at the Curley school informational picket, added that they are trying to fight for a livable wage for educators, including paraprofessional teachers who “…are [the] lowest paid workers in [their] bargaining units.” Tang was formerly the president of BTU before taking the top job at AFT-MA, the AFL-CIO affiliated state-wide educators’ union which represents around 25,000 educators across 7 school districts, including Chelsea and Springfield; the larger state-wide educators’ union, Massachusetts Teachers Association, is not a member of the AFL-CIO.

AFT-MA President Jessica Tang attends informational picket.

Vanessa Bartlett is the vice-chair of the Working Mass editorial board and a member of Boston DSA.

Aaron Hall is a biotech worker and a writer for Working Mass.

Photo Credit: Vanessa Bartlett

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