BY MARTÍN KOPPEL
Socialist Workers candidates and their supporters around the country have joined striking Teamsters on the picket lines against UPS and are urging other workers to be part of the fight. Among them was Scott Breen (shown above in tie), candidate for mayor of Seattle, who joined a feisty and youthful group of pickets in front of a UPS facility.

Breen, a member of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union at Boeing, and his supporters are circulating a statement hailing the example of the striking Teamsters. This struggle "deserves the utmost active solidarity from the labor movement," Breen declared. He also urged participation in the August 10 march called by the United Farm Workers in support of the organizing drive by apple workers in Mattawa, Washington.

In Pittsburgh, Socialist Workers mayoral candidate Edwin Fruit, along with Leroy Watson, SWP candidate for city council, were welcomed by a couple dozen Teamsters who gathered at a UPS center July 31 in preparation for a strike.

Earlier that day, Fruit, a member of the IAM, joined with hundreds of county workers at an informational picket line at the City-County Building organized by the Service Employees International Union to protest the lack of a contract for the past year. Fruit and Watson solidarized with these fights at an August 1 press conference when they turned in petitions with nearly 2,000 signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Watson, an activist in the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) also pointed out that the U.S. government serves and protects the employers. "That's why we need a workers and farmers government," he said, pointing to how Cuban working people made a revolution and took control of their country.

The Socialist Workers in Miami also launched their campaign. Janet Post, a Machinist at United Airlines, is running for mayor, and Rollande Girard, a garment worker and member of the USWA, is the party's contender for City Commissioner. Post, a former UPS worker herself, joined with Teamsters getting ready to strike in Miami. The unionists told the socialist workers they were sick of the UPS bosses' use of metal detectors and other attempts to regiment them.  
 
 
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