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SOMERVILLE, MA – On October 6, 2025, the Somerville Elections Commission issued a final decision to overrule an objection to a divestment ballot initiative led by Somerville 4 Palestine, paving the way for city divestment to be decided by the electorate on the November ballot.

Opposition to the ballot measure was led by Judy Pineda Neufeld. The former Ward 7 Councilor decided to not run for reelection in May 2025 before forming the committee that would accept $150,000 in funds raised by the Anti-Defamation League and their allies to defeat the ballot measure to divest the city from genocide. The average donation was over $1000.

In March, Somerville residents nearly overwhelmed Somerville City Hall in their demand for divestment – 700 outside the doors. The council at that time voted to put the ballot question on file, rather than to approve it directly. Six months later, with the opposition now consolidated to challenge the question on the basis of its rules, the Elections Commission scheduled the hearing on Monday, October 6. 

A Summer of Canvassing

Somerville 4 Palestine has spent the past six months in a “summer of canvassing.”

After learning that the ballot question would move to the ballot, Somerville 4 Palestine registered as a municipal ballot committee and started building support through bread-and-butter conversations with residents across Somerville. 

Organizers spoke to every membership and at every town hall and to every assembly that would have them. They also planned a canvassing operation that spanned the city. Somerville 4 Palestine clipboarded at farmers’ markets, borrowed time at Porchfest stages, grabbed the attention of pedestrians and bikers traversing across the four square miles of the city. Organizers rolled suitcases full of signature sheets from people’s house to house, from Union to Magoun, from Porter to Ball Square. 

It was “pure democracy at work,” said one organizer. 

In the end, Somerville 4 Palestine turned in 11,000 signatures. The number was more than double the 5200 unique signatures from residents needed to reach the ballot.  Organizers indicated there were 288 community members volunteering for the initiative gathering the astounding mountain of signatures. 

Even though 8000 signatures were certified by Elections prior to the hearing, Zionists still poured money into their challenge to decertify the “polarizing, divisive” ballot question to divest from genocide. Supporters rallied outside City Hall at 9:15AM before packing the council chamber for the hearing at 10AM.

Challenge in the Chamber

The room quickly reached capacity. Outside, supporters turned away by security stood in the bright sunshine texting others in the chamber. Others wrapped in keffiyehs stood in tense conversation with hecklers who showed up late just to deny Palestine’s existence and dismiss genocide concerns with “we both want humanity for both peoples.”

Nonetheless, the only person whose voice rose to a screaming pitch was yelling about parking.

Inside, every seat was filled. Willie Burnley, Jr., DSA-endorsed city councillor running for Mayor of Somerville, listened to the hearing next to supporters in the audience. DSA city councillor JT Scott took notes, brow furrowed, in a chair on the side of the room. Palestine banners draped from seat to seat as the people watched the hearing.

At 10:45AM, Somerville 4 Palestine began to rebut the arguments of the objection. The Elections Commission listened, impassive, as organizers related each point of the canvassing operation. Organizers also described the step-by-step process through which Somerville 4 Palestine approached the subject to ensure all rules were followed, including the recommendations of city councillors and the city solicitor. At the end of the hearing, the chair motioned for deliberation.

As a Somerville 4 Palestine organizer said during their speech:

There’s no ballot question that isn’t contested. That’s the whole point of elections. This is an exemplification of the democratic process.

The audience murmured for the three minutes of deliberation taken by the commission. Then, suddenly, the chair stood. “We have decided to overrule the objection,” he said. A quick all in favor passed before he slammed the gavel: “so ruled.”

The audience erupted into a storm of applause. Now, the decision on divestment rests with Somerville itself.

Travis Wayne is the deputy managing editor of Working Mass.

The post Somerville 4 Palestine Defeats Challenge, Divestment Moves to Ballot appeared first on Working Mass.

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When did prisons become the primary method of justice? What future should abolitionists be working towards? In her short but powerful book, Angela Davis carefully maps out the origins of the prison system, explains the haphazard merging of interests that created the Prison Industrial Complex, and uncovers the inner workings of its racist and misogynistic structures that continue to evade reformation.

Join us for a collective conversation using this landmark book! This will be an open discussion. So bring your unanswered questions, your concerns, and your personal stories. Feel free to join even if you didn’t get the chance to read.

The post Greenville Book-Talk: “Are Prisons Obsolete?” by Angela Davis appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

Chapter & Verse: a summary of chapter news for September 2025

The post DSA Electeds Arrested Outside Immigration Court, Labor Support Mapped, and More appeared first on Democratic Left.

Author: Julie C

The purpose of this piece is to notify Cleveland DSA members that there are now two local caucuses in our chapter and to give some brief history of internal politics in our chapter from a personal and limited perspective. These caucuses do not hold any formal positions of power within our chapter, and in fact are not “officially affiliated” with DSA Cleveland, but they were created in order to bring comrades together based on shared identities and vision.

The Black and Brown (B&B) Caucus was announced at or around the time of the June 2025 General Meeting. Inspired by Detroit DSA’s Black & Brown Alliance, as well as DSA’s national Multiracial Organizing Committee, the purpose of the B&B caucus is to bring together members of color and focus on ways to increase our diversity within the chapter, and working class power in Northeast Ohio’s communities of color. The caucus is not exclusive to members of color and there is no formal leadership or approval process for planning events for the B&B Caucus. If you are interested in this caucus, please reach out to Shay or Emma B on our member Slack.

The Praxis Caucus was announced at the September 2025 General Meeting and its Points of Unity can be found here. This caucus was formed with the intention of bringing members together to form a long-term and proactive vision for DSA in Cleveland and the surrounding areas. While the founding members have ideas on where to start, the current goal is to bring more members together to help develop the vision for our chapter in a way that aligns with our Points of Unity. All Cleveland DSA members are welcome to join meetings and events held by Praxis. If you are interested in this caucus, please reach out to Justin E or Julie C on our member Slack.

Background

When I joined Cleveland DSA (fall 2020), our chapter was very focused on local issues and local organizing. We were not fully plugged into the national org structure or any particular working group/committee in any serious or noticeable way. Also, from my perspective, while there were some political differences among comrades, our membership seemed rather homogeneous and came to consensus regularly. The most obvious difference was the approach to electoral politics and our biggest political “battle” was whether or not to endorse Nina Turner in 2021. This issue drew our largest General Meeting crowd at that time (over 60 members) and the motion failed with about 63% of the vote (it needed 66%).

Since then our chapter has experienced sizable growth in our membership which has naturally magnified the differences in perspective of how to achieve our shared goals. The national organization is more visible and connected to the work that we do through the use of resources available to us as well as some of our members being plugged into the work of different national committees. We also have at least close to a dozen members who belong to various national caucuses. At our October 2024 General Meeting, we passed a much more rigorous endorsement policy and that policy was put to the test this year. A substantial amount of work was put into a project proposal that would see a local DSA member endorsed in their run for city council. That proposal failed 64 nay vs 51 yea after a zealous debate at our May General meeting (5/8/25). The Praxis caucus formed with core members who voted yea on endorsement.
During and after the May General meeting, the political strategies among Cleveland DSA members have been more clearly outlined through internal debates and discussions. To be clear, DSA is a socialist organization. We believe in transitioning our society from capitalism to socialism and our “political” differences stem from what is the best way to do that. And even more specifically at our chapter level, what should our focus be in order to contribute to that outcome. While the differences in political opinion at times seem great, we are very much working towards the same goal.

1.  There are many lists and articles about the national caucuses but I am not linking any here since there is no “official” list that broadly summarizes them.

The post Caucuses in Cleveland DSA appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.

Offshoring threats are common but damaging to campaigns. Learn how secure the facility is and how important it is to the overall company structure.

The post 6 questions to ask if your boss threatens to offshore your job appeared first on EWOC.

The Colorado Springs DSA strongly believes in the power of public education to empower and to liberate. We believe that the best people to decide how and what to teach are professional educators. We have been deeply troubled at the consistent interference from the extremist school board in District 11 of Colorado Springs as they deprive teachers of the very agency that allows them to excel. Their decisions are becoming ever more concerning. No novels in high school English classes. Pages physically cut out of health textbooks. And just last week we understand they cut from the curriculum the incredible abolitionist, writer, and orator Frederick Douglass.

Instead of cutting Douglass from the curriculum, we choose to live by his words, “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.” We choose to unite with Charles Johnson, a union-endorsed candidate for the school board in D11. We know that he is trying to do right, even as the allies of the extremists now vying for seats on the board play into the shameful, racist tradition of painting Black men as criminals by sending out a mass text showing the mugshot from Charles’s 2020 arrest. True to what we know of him, he was guilty only of, as John Lewis loved to say, making good trouble.

In 2019, a good friend of Charles, De’Von Bailey, was shot in the back and killed by the Colorado Springs Police Department. Charles organized for greater accountability for the department. At COS DSA, we know that Black history is fundamental to American history. Maybe if these extremists spent more time studying it instead of erasing it, they would know how predictable it was that Charles was then singled out for arrest by CSPD. But they don’t know, and we suspect they just don’t care.

We stand in solidarity with Charles Johnson. Charles has been a friend to many of us who are organizers and activists in Colorado Springs, and we know him to be kind and insightful. A product of D11 himself, his commitment to teachers and students in the district is an inspiration. As the Colorado Springs Education Association prepares to strike on October 8th, we call on everyone able to show teachers their support by joining them on the picket line and by standing with Charles and the rest of the union-endorsed school board candidates come the November election. Their only goal is one we all surely share; outstanding public education in this city we love.

On 10/1/2025 the Global Sumud Flotilla was intercepted by the IDF while trying to deliver life saving aid to the Palestinians living under a blockade in Gaza. A coalition of organizers, humanitarians, doctors, artists, clergy, lawyers, and seafarers across 57 countries were just off the coast of Gaza, intending to break Israel’s blockade with much needed humanitarian aid, when they were violently intercepted by the IDF. 

We condemn this act of violence against a group of peaceful humanitarians working to end the man-made famine imposed upon the Palestinians in Gaza. While Israel continues to actively and mercilessly bomb the Gaza strip to complete its goal of genocide and ethnic cleansing, the Global Sumud Flotilla was a beacon of hope to those waiting for much needed relief. The Global Sumud Flotilla poses no threat. They are unarmed and only carrying supplies needed by the population of Gaza such as baby formula, medical supplies, and food. 

To meet a peaceful convoy of humanitarian aid with such violence and little regard for human life is appalling. The response from Italy to try and force the Global Sumud Flotilla to turn away, siding with the IDF and betraying their own citizens, is shameful. The United States is turning a blind eye to the U.S. citizens that have been kidnapped from the convoy while it continues to be involved with and enable the illegal and immoral actions of the illegal occupation known as Israel. 

We are living in a moment which, when looked back on, everyone will say they have always been against these violent acts. We must keep hope, because to keep hope is to believe truly and honestly that Palestine will be free.

Israel must release all the hostages they have kidnapped from the Global Sumud Flotilla, they must ensure their safety, and they must allow aid into Gaza. As activist and arguably one of the most famous members of the Global Sumud Flotilla, Greta Thunberg, has said, “I'm not scared of Israel. I'm scared of a world that has seemingly lost all sense of humanity.” We must not lose our humanity and continue to uplift the Palestinian cause as it is just, it is moral, and it is freedom, not just for the Palestinians, but for all of us. Because none of us are free until all of us are free. We stand with the Global Sumud Flotilla, we condemn the violence and kidnapping, and we stand with the Palestinians in their hope to someday soon be truly free.

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By: Terence Cawley

SOMERVILLE, MA – The last few weeks have been tumultuous for the workers at the Starbucks store in the Davis Square neighborhood. On Wednesday, September 17, workers voted to join Starbucks Workers United. That made Davis Square the 650^th unionized Starbucks store. One week later, on Thursday the 25th, Starbucks announced the imminent closure of hundreds of stores nationwide – including the Davis Square store. By that Saturday the 27^th, the store had permanently closed. The new unionized location was gone.

Starbucks shuttered at least twenty locations in Massachusetts in this round of closures, including eight union stores. Besides the Davis Square store, the union store closures include the Harvard Square Starbucks, which unionized in May, and the store at 874 Commonwealth Avenue in Brookline, where the longest strike in Starbucks union history occurred over 64 days in 2022. 

Brief History of Starbucks Workers United

Since Starbucks workers in Buffalo, N.Y. started Starbucks Workers United in August 2021, 650 stores (representing over 12,000 workers) have unionized. More than 200 of those stores joined Starbucks Workers United since February 2024. Despite these successes, not one of these stores has so far reached a collective bargaining agreement with the company.

Starbucks Workers United’s demands include changes that will enable more baristas to make a living wage, like higher pay, expanded healthcare benefits and paid leave, and more consistent scheduling. The union is also asking for stronger protections from racial and sexual harassment, as well as the enshrinement of current benefits in a contract so they cannot be revoked by the company later. 

Starbucks initially opposed unionization efforts aggressively, leading to over 700 Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) filed against Starbucks with the National Labor Relations Board. The company reached an agreement with Starbucks Workers United in February 2024 to negotiate a “foundational framework” for contracts for union stores. Starbucks then failed to meet its own deadline to agree to this framework by the end of 2024, leading to workers at over 300 Starbucks locations going on strike on Christmas Eve for the largest labor action in company history. 

Starbucks Workers United and the company entered mediation in February 2025. While the union has made some progress in contract negotiations, reaching 33 tentative agreements with the company, Starbucks continues to hold out on the workers’ three core demands: increasing worker hours to address understaffing and ensure workers qualify for benefits, increasing take-home pay, and resolving all outstanding ULP charges. 

Starbucks Workers United claims on their website that Starbucks could finalize fair union contracts for less than the over $97 million Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol made for four months of work in 2024. Starbucks also covered the cost of Niccol commuting from his home in California to company headquarters in Seattle via private jet. 

Organizing at the Davis Square Starbucks

Ben Levin has worked at the Davis Square Starbucks since April 2023. “From the beginning,” he has loved his coworkers. However, when Levin and his partner began planning to have children, he saw how his coworkers with families struggled due to a lack of consistent scheduling, subpar benefits, and low wages, not to mention the high cost of living in the Greater Boston area. Levin reported to Working Mass:

I was like, it would be so cool to be able to keep this job and start a family, and the only way I can see that that would be possible would be to fight back and win some of those things.

Some Starbucks customers had already encouraged Levin and his fellow Davis Square workers to unionize, but workers spent several years organizing the groundwork to reach the point where the store was ready for an election. Levin partially attributes this to the “stigma Starbucks manufactures in the workplace” around unionizing. “I understand why people are scared,” Levin said. “There are very material reasons for that.”

While Levin said management at his store did not engage in active union-busting, they did discourage workers from organizing through what he characterized as “trying to manufacture a sense of divisiveness and fear.” Despite the opposition, Levin found success building support for the union by connecting with his coworkers on a human level, listening to the challenges they faced at work, and providing accurate information about how a union could help with those challenges. According to Levin:

At the end of the day, everyone cares, everyone wants a better workplace. [You just] have to keep shoring up support and reminding folks why we’re in it together.

Levin also found inspiration in the accelerating momentum of the nationwide Starbucks Workers United effort. “It’s important to be connected to a larger movement,” said Levin. “This is a really powerful and kind of explosive labor movement- you know, [Starbucks Workers United] is the fastest-growing unionization effort in modern history.”  

Additionally, the Davis Square workers had the support of Julie Langevin, a Starbucks Workers United staff organizer and former barista who has been involved with the union for over three years. She sees significance in the milestone of 650 unionized stores which Starbucks Workers United reached with the Davis Square election victory. Langevin said, on a hopeful note:

Every store that unionizes shows other baristas that they can do it too. 650 is a number some people thought impossible, but to us, it’s the proof that workers know what they’re worth and that they know when they fight, they can win.

Store Closures and What Comes Next

“It was sweet to celebrate,” said Levin. “It’s just hard to think about it not in the context of the closure.”

The official reason given in Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol’s statement is that the stores being closed are “coffeehouses where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don’t see a path to financial performance.” In a separate statement, the company denied that unionization impacted which stores they closed.  Still, Levin believes that, while Starbucks targeted stores without customer seating (like Harvard Square) and stores with lower revenue (like Davis Square) for closure, a desire to close union stores, particularly newly unionized stores with “the most fired-up workers,” may have been a factor. 

While Niccol’s statement claimed that Starbucks would offer workers at closed stores the opportunity to transfer to other stores, as of September 30, Levin and his Davis Square coworkers have yet to receive any such offer. Fortunately, Starbucks Workers United has secured several protections for laid-off union members, including an extra month of health care benefits and the option to decline a transfer offer without losing their severance package. 

“For some of us, this is our last week at Starbucks, but we still got to see the real material impact that the union is having,” said Levin. And even in the face of store closures and protracted contract negotiations, Langevin and Levin remain confident that the union will ultimately prevail. As Langevin said:

We have no other choice. Workers can either accept what the company gives them, or fight for a chance at a better life. And every time workers reach out and want to fight, it brings me hope and continued inspiration.

Supporters of Starbucks Workers United can show their solidarity and receive email updates about future actions by signing the No Contract, No Coffee pledge at https://sbworkersunited.org/take-action/. The union and its supporters have been canvassing for these pledges since summer to demonstrate to Starbucks how many customers will not cross the picket line if workers go on strike. To that end, Starbucks Workers United will hold a practice picket outside the Harvard Square Starbucks on Saturday, October 4 from 11am to 1pm.

“I absolutely think that a fire has been lit. We’ve had so many customers come in and express outrage at what’s happening to us, and ask what they can do to support us.”

“We’re escalating to something major,” said Langevin. “This practice picket is just the beginning of us flexing that power to company leadership, and there’s more to come.”

Terence Cawley is a member of Boston DSA.

The post Starbucks Workers in Davis Square Join SBWU; Company Closes Store One Week Later appeared first on Working Mass.

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