Industrial Worker

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Staff at the McDonalds on Van Dyke and Outer Drive in Detroit protest low wages in 2019. Source: Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press

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Food Fight: November Edition

Posted on November 13, 2024November 1, 2024 by Jean-Carl Elliott

Staff at the McDonalds on Van Dyke and Outer Drive in Detroit protest low wages in 2019. Source:...

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A thirteen-panel comic strip entitled Pacey Pratt the Sabo Cat in "Hay, Slow Down!” Panel one shows the boss, a giant rat, driving a pickup truck through a farm field in the morning light and looking in the rear-view mirror. The boss says “Step lively now and load those hay bales on the trailers. I’m setting the cruise control, so you’d better keep up!” Panel two shows three workers carrying bales of hay and loading them into a trailer behind the boss’s truck. From inside the vehicle the boss yells “Back when I was throwing hay, we worked twice this fast. Just give me an excuse and I’ll replace all you bums!” A worker named Mattie, in a purple tee shirt, read baseball cap, and handlebar mustache, says “Bums? He wouldn’t even be the boss if he wasn’t the farmer’s son-in-law.” Panel three shows numerous hay bales waiting in the field to be collected by workers and loaded onto two trailers behind the boss’s truck. Four workers are carrying haybales to-and-from the trailers. Mattie gasps and says “This speed is inhuman. Two hours in and my back is screaming! This next bale is going straight up his—” In panel four Mattie is interrupted by the worker named Bella, who says “Woah Mattie, before you fly off the handle, let’s think it over.” She is dropping a hay bale into the trialer next to Mattie, and wearing a rose-colored long sleeve shirt and a straw sun hat. Mattie shrugs his shoulders, palms up, and says “Oh Bella, I just can’t take it anymore!” In panel five Bella and Mattie are riding home from work in the bed of the boss’s truck as evening sets it. Bella says “We’re all barely keeping up, but is there a more effective way to change things that assault with deadly hay?” Mattie, his baseball cap on backwards now, slouches and says “Maybe if the other workers had some guts, I wouldn’t have to go it alone.” In panel six Bella and Mattie are spending the evening near a large tree outside. It’s gotten dark, but light falls on them from an unseen source to their left, like a porch light. Bella is hanging from a tire swing, and her features have become cat-like, with poity ears and a tabby mark on her forehead. She asks “How can we get the other workers to take action?” Mattiew replies, “I don’t know, talk to them? Hear about their struggles? Maybe we could all plan something together.” “As a union,” interjects Bella. Mattiew continues, “Wait, Bella, you’re Pacey Pratt, the Sabo Cat!” Bella replies, “Who me?”

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Cartoon: Hay, Slow Down!

Posted on October 23, 2024October 24, 2024 by x423931

Editors note: This is the fifth issue in the “Pacey Pratt the Sabo Cat” series. Today, Pacey Pratt...

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On the right, Uncle Sam and a boss hide behind a tree with a baited trap set. The bait is a labor union contract and the box to capture the worker is labeled "NLRA National Labor Relations Act." On the side it says "Prevent Labor Revolt and secure the flow of commerce." On the right, a worker approaches two paths. The path to the trap says "class collaboration." The path to a sunlit vista with the sun labeled "Workers control" is led by a small black cat, and the path is labeled "class war."

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Contracts are not Class Struggle

Posted on February 7, 2025October 17, 2024 by Jay Bettencourt

art by x364181. At first glance, public interest in labor unions appears to have grown exponentially over the...

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A flyer reads "Solidarity with workers in Palestine!" In large block letters in the same colors as the Palestine flag, it says "Unionise! Boycott! Occupy! Protest! Picket! Strike!" Workers behind the text hold Palestine flags and a banner that reads "Solidarity with Palestine."

Call to Action

One Year of Genocide, the Drums of War Bang Louder

Posted on October 10, 2024October 10, 2024 by International Department of WISE-RA

The following statement was originally published on IWW WISE-RA (Wales, Ireland, and Scotland)'s website on October 8th, 2024...

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NYC baristas from Starbucks march down union square in 2007. They carry a banner that says "Starbucks Workers Union."

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Food Fight: October Edition

Posted on October 24, 2024October 3, 2024 by Jean-Carl Elliott

NYC baristas from Starbucks march down union square in 2007. Throughout history, working class people have stood up...

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A 12-panel comic titled "Pacey Pratt the Sabo Cat" Page 1, Panel 1: Workers in aprons and collared shirts sit at a bar over drinks. "...And just when the working class celebrated victory over the old-time masters--kings and lords and overseers--a new pain appeared in our ass: The boss," says a worker in glasses. "So a boss is just a master in another language--I knew it!" A long-haired worker retorts. Below, a subtitle reads "Boss (noun): From the Dutch word "baas" meaning "a master." Page 1, Panel 2: Subtitle at the top of the panel reads "Some say the boss first appeared after a fateful meteor leaked mysterious meteor juice onto a case of tall boys." A couple of bartenders stand near the dumpster in the alley behind a bar where a meteor has struck and a few crates of beer sit soaked in its puddle of juice. Page 1, Panel 3: Two workers toss and turn in bed. "And that night, they slept fitfully, plagued by bad dreams," the subtitle says. Page 1, Panel 4: A boss that looks like a rat appears to claw at the worker in bed who looks wide awake and terrified. "Their nightmares suddenly crystalized and came to life in the form of bossus ratus, THE BOSS," the subtitle says. Page 1, Panel 5: "The boss replaced the OLD lords and masters by ORGANIZING the workplace to serve the capitalists," the heading says. The rat boss says "FASTER!" and looks on, hovering over workers being pushed through a meat grinder who yell "You're squeezing everything out of us!" as another worker cranks the meat grinder. "Now listen up as I tell you my personal philosophy of life--" The rat says. Page 1, Panel 6: The heading says "See, the boss is an ORGANIZER first and foremost and his goal is to prevent the workers from organizing OURSELVES to win demands." The rat seems to be trying to console one of the workers, who looks disgruntled and disbelieving. "That's why I depend on you, Daniela--You're not lazy like the rest of these Wobbly Scumbags. You've got a bright future here." The bottom of the page says "X423931" and "Page one of two."

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Cartoon: Where Do Bosses Come From?

Posted on September 18, 2024September 19, 2024 by x423931

Editors note: This is the fourth issue in the “Pacey Pratt the Sabo Cat” series. In this installment...

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Group of employees strike in front of a restaurant with a red cursive sign that says "Freddys Frozen Custards and Steakburgers." One worker yells into a megaphone and others hold various signs.

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Food Fight: September Edition

Posted on October 24, 2024September 5, 2024 by Jean-Carl Elliott

Workers at Freddy's strike in Durham, N.C. in 2020. Photo from N.C. Raise Up/Fight for $15 and a...

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A man yells through a megaphone at three frustrated and stressed employees.

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The Organizer and the Disorganized Resistance

Posted on August 22, 2024August 22, 2024 by Daniel Bovard-Katz and Margaret Ignatowski

Last year, my workplace instituted a number of changes to our time off policies. While a couple of...

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Culture

Poem: ENDLESS WAR , GAZA 2024

Posted on August 19, 2024August 9, 2024 by Wayne L. Pilon

Two Palestinian women laden with belongings walk through Naseirat camp after it was bombed by Israeli military forces....

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A 12-panel comic titled "Pacey Pratt the Sabo Cat" Page 1, Panel 1: Cooks in black-and-red uniform are hard at work in a kitchen. One worker grills patties at the "Grill-O-Matic," a formidable looking piece of kitchen equipment. A worker in a ponytail is assembling burgers on the other side of the "O-Matic" where buns have been toasted and burgers have been grilled. Another worker is at the deep fryers. Off-panel, a voice says "Oh great--there's NO fries ready! WHO didn't drop fries?" The worker at the deep fryers thinks to himself "Um--didn't we ALL not drop fries?" Page 1, Panel 2: Turns out it was the boss, a mouse-like figure in overalls, talking, and he continues to scold the workers. "Just because we're short-staffed is no excuse for slacking! I swear, it's like no one wants to work anymore!" A worker in the corner whispers, "Like it's an accident WE won't hire more workers." Page 1, Panel 3: "Welp, I'm going back to the office to...uh, count a drawer," the mouse boss says. One worker whispers, "He's not even bringing a drawer with him," and the other whispers, "Don't work TOO hard, boss." Page 1, Panel 4: A person in a black-cat costume rides in on a cart and says, "Have you lost your voices, Fellow Workers?" The workers around are elated. "It's Pacey Pratt--" A long-haired person in the corner says. "--the Sabo Cat!" Another worker says. They add, "Oh Pacey, we don't have the energy to speak up--the boss runs us ragged!" Page 1, Panel 5: Pacey does a hand stand on the cart and says, "I can't believe such an upstanding boss would allow such a thing--how can it be so?" A coworker with a mustache says "That RAT of a boss gets a bonus to keep labor costs low, so he won't hire." He makes a fist angrily. Page 1, Panel 6: Pacey says, "That's the problem with bosses--they think THEY'RE in charge...Does he have a right to treat you like that?" The mustachioed worker says "Hell no!" and Pacey says "AGREED. Why not?" The bottom of the page says "X423931" and "Page one of two."

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Cartoon: Whisper Campaign

Posted on July 25, 2024July 25, 2024 by x423931

Editors note: This is the third in the "Pacey Pratt the Sabo Cat" series. In this installment we...