#general-strike

#general-strike

On January 30, anti-ICE protests are scheduled around the country as an untold number of Americans participate in a general strike. The organizers, a group of student associations and immigrant-rights groups, are pushing a limited "No work, no school, no shopping" action to pressure the Trump administration to curb the abuses of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which include the recent killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

The strike is a response to the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota. In the days since, calls for a nationwide shutdown have spread rapidly across social media, shared by activists, nonprofits, and everyday people urging a halt to economic activity. Celebrities including Pedro Pascal, Edward Norton, and Jamie Lee Curtis have amplified the message to their followers.

"We're not going to have one magic solution to the problem that ails us," Raskin said on Sunday. "It's not going to be the courts, or the House, or the Senate, or the people in the movements. It's going to be all of it together."

Donald Trump's ICE, a Gestapo-like agency, has run rampant for weeks in Minneapolis, snatching thousands of people and even children off the streets, citizens and immigrants alike, breaking into peoples' homes, shooting and murdering people, and trying to suppress lawful protests. In response, the people of Minneapolis have organized a massive fightback, flooding the streets to confront ICE agents and protecting the people from the transgressions of the state-sponsored neo-Nazis who are trying to occupy the city.

There is a general strike on the horizon in Minneapolis. More than 50 Minnesota labor unions, nonprofits, and other community organizations have signed onto a January 23 Day of Action, which calls for a complete "economic blackout" in the state. "No work. No school. No shopping," its posters declare. Some of Minnesota's largest labor unions are leading the way, including the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, SEIU 26, and UNITE HERE Local 17.

Portugal is bracing for a widespread impact nationally from its first general strike in 12 years, as unions urge action against the centre-right minority government's planned workers' rights reforms. Heavy disruption is expected for public transport, schools, courts and hospitals on Thursday, as workers protest against a draft law aiming to simplify firing procedures, extend the length of fixed-term contracts and expand the minimum services required during a strike.

"Under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece's conservative government has transformed the country's labor market into one of the most "flexible" in Europe. Since July 2024, employees in industry, retail, agriculture and some service sectors have been forced to work six-day weeks if that's what their employer wants. They are, however, paid an extra 40% on top of their ordinary wage for the sixth working day."