Martha Grevatt

ClevelandNow in its fourth week, the strike at unionized Starbucks stores continues to grow and intensify. As of Dec. 6, Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) reported in an email to supporters: “Hundreds of union baristas from 26 new stores joined our national [Unfair Labor Practice (ULP)] strike thi

Since this revised commentary was first written, the Pentagon’s top boss, Pete Hegseth, has asked President Donald Trump to ask Congress to approve $200 billion for the war against Iran.

No Kings protest, Cleveland, March 28, 2026. Antiwar activists gathered in Cleveland’s Market Square Park on April 4 to say “No war on Iran!” Rally speakers represented Cleveland Peace Action, Clevelanders United Against War, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, InterReligious Task Force on Central America and Colombia and Workers World Party. An Iranian speaker described the terror her family in Iran is being subjected to, with bombs falling in Tehran posing a life-and-death threat.

The first prisoner exchange between the Palestinian Resistance and the Zionist state took place on April 17, 1971. In 1974, the Palestinian National Council designated April 17 as Palestinian Prisoners Day.

Delegates to the convention of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) overwhelmingly voted to sever all ties with the Histadrut on May 14, ending a decades-old relationship with the Israel-based pro-Zionist association.

Actions across the U.S. and around the world were called to observe the 78th anniversary of the Nakba (Catastrophe). Nakba Day — May 15 — commemorates the period in 1948 that the Zionist State of Israel declared its formation amidst its opening genocide campaign, when Zionist militias demolished 500 villages, massacred over 15,000 Palestinians and drove 750,000 others from their homes.

Demonstration demands the University of Michigan divest from Israeli apartheid, July 1, 2026. Speaking is Rhiannon Willow, who faced state charges – later dropped, stemming from her involvement with the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on campus.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) has become the largest U.S. union to divest its funds from Israel Bonds. On June 18, delegates to the UAW’s quadrennial Constitutional Convention voted 321-287 in favor of amending the union’s constitution to end current and block future investment in bonds that support the Zionist state. The current investment is reportedly about $400,000.

There has been no letup in the fight by Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) for a first contract with the multibillion dollar global coffee chain. This June — LGBTQIA2S+ Pride month — SBWU has made a point of reaching out to people attending Pride celebrations, asking them to delete the Starbucks app from their phones to show their support for the union.

Over 100 members of United Auto Workers Local 2192 have been on strike at Lorain County Job and Family Services (JFS) since Feb. 18 in what might be the longest public sector strike in Ohio’s history. The workers are fighting for a better wage package than what the county is offering and are protesting staffing shortages and the rising share of healthcare costs that fall on union members. Their contract with JFS expired last September.