Workers from a number of trade unions and their allies rallied on Wednesday in the Civic Centre Park neighbourhood of Denver Colorado in support of Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) and Colorado’s labour movement.
Kylie Anderson, SBWU Organiser said: ‘Workers across Colorado are standing up, organising, and demanding better. We want elected officials and the public to know that the working class must be the top priority in upcoming elections.
‘Workers are uniting to pass the Worker Protection Act and move our state forward together.’
Baristas at 17 Starbucks stores across Colorado are on indefinite strike, as well as more than 150 stores nationwide.
Raven Caruth, SBWU member said: ‘This movement is growing every day.
‘When workers come together, we are unstoppable. One brick at a time, we will build a firm foundation for unions to flourish in the land of the free once more because our voice matters.’
Starbucks baristas have been on strike for two months.
Meanwhile, the New York nurses’ strike continues, fellow healthcare workers joined the picket line on Wednesday.
Emily Anthonisen, a nurse practitioner at Mount Sinai West Hospital said: ‘We have to stand together, we have to fight for the patients, we have to fight for the excellent care that we give as a team at Mount Sinai West and I cannot wait to go back and do that.’
Members of the Committee of Interns and Residents union at Mount Sinai West were greeted with cheers and applause as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their colleagues, calling for fair contracts for nurses.
Picketing continued for a 17th day after being forced to stop due to a heavy snowstorm and sub-zero temperatures last Sunday, but there were big pickets on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The New York State Nurses Association says some progress has been made with Mount Sinai and New York Presbyterian hospitals, which have agreed to protect nurses’ health benefits.
But as of Tuesday evening, union and hospital leadership hadn’t reached a final deal.
Nurse Tamara Mair said: ‘When we unite, we have the power to change things that are being done incorrectly.’
Over 15,000 nurses walked off the job on 12th January after contract negotiations failed with three major private hospital systems: Mount Sinai, New York Presbyterian and Montefiore.
Nurses are calling for better health benefits, increased staffing ratios, workplace safety and wage increases. Members of other unions say it’s important to stand in solidarity with nurses.
SAG/AFTRA actors union member, Smokey Sims said: ‘We gotta come together because once they get one union, they’re gonna think they can take over every union, so we gotta stand together now before everything breaks down.’
Elsewhere, the nation’s largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), has called for the resignations of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over the two officials’ statements denigrating nurse Alex Pretti just hours after he was slain by a US Border Patrol agent last Saturday.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Noem would remain at her post, saying: ‘I think she’s doing a very good job.’
Pretti was an intensive care unit nurse at the VA Medical Centre in Minneapolis before he was killed last weekend.
Pretti had gathered with other protesters as Border Patrol was conducting what it called a targeted operation to detain an alleged undocumented immigrant.
Though Pretti had a firearm, it was holstered as he approached officers holding his phone, at which point several agents tackled him to the ground and then shot him 10 times.
On Monday, the AFGE demanded that Miller and Noem resign from their posts over statements they made on Saturday; Noem called Pretti a ‘domestic terrorist’, while Miller described him as a ‘would-be assassin’.
AFGE President Everett Kenney said: ‘Under her leadership, workers have faced sustained attacks on collective bargaining rights and union representation.
‘At several government agencies, her actions have weakened frontline workers, undermined labour protections, and eroded accountability within the agency that is so critical to disaster preparedness and response.
‘Over the past year, she removed senior leaders within different departments, and reshaped the command structure of government departments to ensure adherence to Mr. Miller’s aggressive immigration strategies.
‘Those decisions escalated tensions, undermined professional judgment, and put lives at risk.’
House Democratic leaders, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Representative for New York, Whip Katherine Clark, Democrat Representative for Massachusetts, and Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, Democrat Representative for California, similarly called for Noem to resign and threatened to begin impeachment proceedings if she does not.
In a statement, AFGE Local branch 3669, which represents more than 1,000 workers at the Minneapolis’ Veterans Association Medical Centre, assailed the officials’ comments following the shooting and called for an independent ‘third-party’ investigation into Pretti’s death.
They also took issue with Veterans Association Secretary Doug Collins, who issued a statement blaming Democrats for the shooting.
The statement said: ‘AFGE Local 3669 is disgusted by the abhorrent rhetoric of Trump administration officials following Pretti’s killing.
‘Alex was a son, a colleague, and a fellow union brother, not an “assassin” or a “domestic terrorist”.
‘We are especially disappointed with VA Secretary Doug Collins, who chose to use the murder of his own employee to push partisan, political narratives.’
- Outside of the United States, angry Iraqi protesters have set fire to the image of US President Donald Trump and the flag of the United States following a fresh fall out between Washington and the Arab country’s main candidate for the premiership.
Protesters on Wednesday staged a demonstration near the US embassy in Baghdad in support of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Protesters chanted ‘Yes for Maliki’ while some burned a poster bearing the image of Trump and an American flag.
The protest came after Trump threatened to end all support to the country if Maliki was re-elected to the post.
Maliki on Wednesday denounced ‘blatant interference’ in Iraqi politics by the United States.
In a written statement posted on social media, al-Maliki, the only former Iraqi prime minister to have served two terms since the US-led invasion said: ‘We categorically reject the blatant American interference in Iraq’s internal affairs.
‘We consider it a violation of Iraq’s democratic system.’
