Numerous metalworkers participated in an eight-hour general strike called last week by Italian unions FIOM, FIM and UILM in Lombardy, the heaviest COVID-19 affected region in northern Italy.
The unions decided to strike to persuade the government, which under pressure from the employers’ association Confindustria had approved a wide list of the companies allowed to continue production despite the pandemic. It appears that” profits not people” is also global virus among the Owning Class. Local unions report about work abstention levels as high as 60-90% in all the provinces of the region, according to IndustriALL, the global workers union.
Continue reading
2020 NAIAS Canceled. TCF Center to be Field Hospital. Michigan’s COVID Crisis had Little Federal Help
Governor Gretchen Whitmer at 2019 NAIAS.
The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) announced today that it is canceling the June 2020 show in Detroit because of the global corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will likely convert the Convention Hall (TCF Center) into a field hospital for an unknown period of time. The effect on the Detroit Auto Dealers Association – organizers of the show – is unknown, but like COVID-19, it could be fatal. According to the Labor Department, nearly 3.3 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week. The last weekly record, set in 1982, was 695,000 claims.
Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmore today publicly released a letter to President Trump requesting a major disaster declaration during the COVID-19 pandemic that she wrote last week. Continue reading →