We publish this interview with Mexican workers in struggle which was conducted by members of the CWI in Latin America for our Spanish web page mundosocialista.net. We are sure that this interview will be of interest to our readers, but it does not necessarily fully reflect the ideas and programme of the CWI.

The Smithfield Packing plant located in Tar Heel, North Carolina is the largest pork slaughterhouse in the United States. Ever since it opened in 1992, workers at the plant have been struggling for their rights to have union representation. On Thursday, December 11, this fight resulted in a victory, as Smithfield workers voted 2,041 to 1,879 to join the United Food and Commercial Workers.

By occupying their plant, and refusing to budge, workers at the Republic Windows & Doors factory in Chicago have provided an inspirational example to workers around the country of how workers can fight and win their demands.

On the afternoon of Friday, December 5, the roughly 260 workers at Chicago’s Republic Window and Door factory were told that the factory was closing down and that they would be laid off. In response, they took the place over.

On Black Friday, November 28, the largest shopping day of the year in the U.S., a worker at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, New York was trampled to death by hordes of shoppers. For us as socialists, the blame for this tragedy lies with the capitalist system as a whole.

The Big Three auto companies and the United Auto Workers (UAW) are lobbying Congress for $25 billion. The big questions to be decided are: Will this be another bailout to the owners, managers and CEOs of an industry that they have run into the ground? Or, will the funds be directed to drastically overhaul the products coming out of Detroit, and create a new environmentally-friendly transportation industry for the future, while protecting living wage jobs and providing job security for the existing workforce?

Twenty seven thousand Boeing workers, members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, struck for 57 days in September and October in one of the biggest strikes in recent years. The strike was settled on November 2, when 74% of machinists voted to accept a new contract. Workers won a number of concessions from management, including rescinding proposed cuts in medical benefits and a promise to protect 5,000 parts delivery and facilities maintenance workers from layoffs. However, Boeing kept control of the right to outsource work, which will threaten more Machinist jobs in the future.

Mick, an Irish worker for an Airbus supplier and CGT union activist, interviews Patrick, a French Airbus sheet metal worker, on the Final Assembly Line in Toulouse.

An Airbus union organizer and shop steward explains the situation and sends a message of solidarity to the workers at Boeing USA who are currently on strike.

Boeing, the largest private employer in Washington State and one of the richest corporations in the U.S., apparently hasn’t made enough profits. Never mind the $4.1 billion they made in 2007 or the $2.1 billion they made in the first half of this year alone.

Members and supporters of Socialist Alternative at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ (AFSCME) International Convention, in San Francisco, last week, submitted and passed a resolution on the US mortgage crisis.

The events of May 1st, 2006 showed the determination and courage of im­migrant workers as millions organized demonstrations and strike actions across the country. This May Day 2008, we saw largely native-born dockworkers taking strike action to resist the war in Iraq. It is good to see May 1st, Interna­tional Workers Day, re-established as an event of celebration and resistance in the country of origin, the United States.

A movement needs to be built to fight for a living wage of at least $12.50 an hour or a guaranteed income of $500 per week for all, to fight foreclo­sures, for a free single-payer universal healthcare system, to extend unemployment ben­efits and to provide relief to all who need help.

Recent trucker protests are another sign of deepening economic crisis. $4 a gallon and more for diesel fuel sparked a wave of long-haul truckers’ protests beginning in April and still continuing. New Jersey, Washington D.C., New York, Maine and other areas have seen trucker slowdowns, shut downs, horn-blaring convoys, marches and other acts of resistance.

The fastest-growing and most widely publicized union in the country has been building its dues base by making confidential agreements with employers that exclude the members. It is the opposite of union democracy: instead of members electing their leaders, these leaders work with employers to choose their members - and determine what rights and benefits they’ll have before they ever get the chance to join.