Building workers' power in Roanoke, VA
Originally published on The Virginia Worker, we provided this coverage on the recent picketing by ATU Local 1493 union members and supporters as they fight for living wages and benefits Across the street from a brand new $17.3 million bus terminal stands a row of picketing bus workers of the ATU Local 1493. Above them... Continue Reading →
After months of red tape a union election was finally set for Bridges Starbucks Workers in June, winning their election unanimously 14-0. The following is an interview with a Starbucks partner since their victory. The Virginia Worker: Firstly, congratulations on your sweeping victory with your election, it’s been several months since we last spoke. Last... Continue Reading →
This reportback was written by an anonymous member of the TAP Head Start Workers Committee A year ago, in January 2021, preschool workers at TAP Head Start in Roanoke, VA initiated our first workplace struggle. We were organizing for some basic, decent working conditions (the first two of which were a long time coming, and... Continue Reading →
One of the primary claims of capitalism’s advocates is that it creates innovation. However, the reality is that capitalism does considerably more to hinder innovation than to encourage or push it along. Much of the innovation that capitalists and their supporters try to take credit for occurred in the public commons. Much of the innovation... Continue Reading →
Companies like Food Lion continue to roll out massive PR campaigns honoring their frontline employees as heroes. Some have even made token concessions concerning worker compensation and safety. However, the flashy advertising and bold headlines mask a treacherous reality for many workers in the retail, healthcare, hospitality, and agricultural industries (among others). “To say the least, I do not believe Food Lion cares about anything more than maintaining a façade. Doing the bare minimum is enough to please the customers and silence the workers.” When crisis response is left to the profit-obsessed CEOs of transnational corporations and the corrupt politicians in Washington, essential workers will continue to disproportionately bear the burden of keeping the country running.
Virginia had no public local police force until 1932, before then, policing was almost totally a private affair. The protection of private property & reinforcing the white supremacist social order were & are the two major functions of police in America. Roanoke has its contribution to that history in the form of the Baldwin-Felts Detective... Continue Reading →
We are continuously told in schools, by the media, and authority figures that police & prisons are here for public safety, but a look at their origins, function and current examples of such shows that is simply not true. Prisons were created in the 1700s as an alternative to corporal punishment. Police were created in... Continue Reading →
We, the undersigned, are demanding that Mayor Lea and the City of Roanoke, Virginia Government, as well as Mayor Foley and the City of Salem, Virginia Government, immediately implement a response to the coronavirus pandemic that places the needs of Roanoke & Salem’s most vulnerable groups first. As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout Virginia and... Continue Reading →
The United States, like most western industrial democratic experiments, underwent an iteration of the intensive land redevelopment process often known as “urban renewal” in the postwar period. Under the auspices of liberal progress, massive amounts of civic space were reconfigured to address “urban blight,” facilitate the growth of highway systems, and to enable faster connective... Continue Reading →
(art by: Melanie Cervantes, DignidadRebelde.com) On January 3rd, Qasem Soleimani was assassinated via a United States drone strike. Soleimani had been a Major General in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and one of the most influential figures in Western Asia. His assassination at the hands of the United States is an act of war. Immediately... Continue Reading →