US: How Zoomers Organized the First Chipotle Union

Jonah Furman

Labor Notes | August 31, 2022

None of the members of the organizing committee at the Lansing Chipotle have any direct union experience. They relied on friends who had organized at Starbucks and at a local library for advice on their campaign. Photo: Atulya Dora-Laskey

Chipotle workers in Lansing, Michigan, formed the fast food chain’s first recognized union in the U.S., voting 11-3 on August 25 to join Teamsters Local 243. It’s the latest in a string of new organizing breakthroughs at prominent national brands, from Starbucks to Apple to Trader Joe’s to REI.

Of all the employers that have seen union drives over the past year, Chipotle—with 100,000 employees across 3,000 stores, and long-term plans to double its footprint in North America—is the most similar to Starbucks. They’re both outliers in fast food: their stores are primarily corporate-owned, rather than franchised out to smaller operators.

Though chains like Subway and McDonald’s have more total locations, Starbucks and Chipotle are two of just four fast food chains with more than 1,000 company-operated locations. (The others are Panda Express and Arby’s.)

Mikhail Gorbachev, a modern Judas

Nikos Mottas

In Defense of Communism | August 20, 2022

“My ambition was to liquidate communism, the dictatorship over all the people. I found friends that had the same thoughts as I in Yakovlev and Shevernadze, they all deserve to be thanked for the break-up of the USSR and the defeat of Communism”

 — Mikhail Gorbachev, 2000. 

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, the man who betrayed the dreams and expectations of his own people, has died at 91. His biological death bears little importance. In fact, in the consciousness and hearts of the working class people all over the world Gorbachev had died a long time ago, when he consciously decided to become the gravedigger of the first socialist state in human history, the Soviet Union. 

Gorbachev exposed: “My ambition was to liquidate communism”

In Defense of Communism | August 20, 2022

“My ambition was to liquidate communism, the dictatorship over all the people. Supporting me and urging me on in this mission was my wife, who was of this opinion long before I was. I knew that I could only do this if I was the leading functionary. In this my wife urged me to climb to the top post. 

While I actually became acquainted with the West, my mind was made up forever. I decided that I must destroy the whole apparatus of the CPSU and the USSR. Also, I must do this in all of the other socialist countries. My ideal is the path of social democracy. Only this system shall benefit all the people. This quest I decided I must fulfil.

I found friends that had the same thoughts as I in Yakovlev and Shevernadze, they all deserve to be thanked for the break-up of the USSR and the defeat of Communism.

Turkey: Communist, Left parties formed the “Union of Socialist Forces”

In Defense of Communism | August 20, 2022

An electoral alliance under the name “Union of Socialist Forces” (Sosyalist Güç Birliği) was formed in Turkey in order to context in the upcoming general elections which are due to be held on 18 June 2023.

Under the slogan “We protect the future of our country together”, the electoral alliance was announced on August 20th during a press conference in Ankara. 

The participatory parties include the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), the Left Party (SOL), the Communist Movement of Turkey (TKH) and the Revolution Movement (Devrim Hareketi).