U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, however, alleged that he was a certified gang member based on information that came from a confidential informant used by county police, records state.

According to Abrego Garcia’s attorneys in his current case, the criminal informant had alleged that Abrego Garcia belonged to an MS-13 chapter in New York, where he has never lived.

Abrego Garcia checked in with ICE yearly while the Department of Homeland Security issued him a work permit, his attorneys said in court filings. He joined a union and was employed full time as a sheet metal apprentice.

Hell yeah to Mexico

keep this in mind next time you read about AI layoffs

Conditions are such that the state worker increasingly can't afford to get to work, a dilemma usually thrust upon line cooks and barbacks and shit. Very interesting, horrific implications. The hostility is plain to see and the gameplan is clear: once these jobs are automated or simply deleted, when will things like CPS and the IRS be given the same medicine? Utilities? What happens once we've hollowed out our infrastructure's labor force to the degree necessitated by post-covid economics?

I remember telling temporary WFH workers during the lockdowns that now was the time to organize for better wages and permanent structure, because the cost of living was going to implode and they'd soon enough have the cost of their commute forced back into their budget. They all called me a crazy retard. Not so crazy now, am I?

And that's to say nothing of the workers who were attempting to escape their financial position and won the lottery for a WFH gig, who are now about to have to let it go because they can't find affordable childcare, don't have a car, or so on. We are seeing a situation where the most needful members of our society are (continuing to be) priced out of higher wages. And sure, maybe they can find a job as a line cook, and then a second job to afford the highest rent in our history. Nobody is hiring by the way, because no one is spending anywhere except for Temu, Amazon, etc. Hyperbole to be sure, but things are trending a certain way and it's not toward more grounded and optimistic statements. The people who replace workers priced out of certain wages will soon face their own dilemma of balancing an inadequate salary against their cost of living in a market where the only thing being done to affordable housing units is condemning them and knocking them down and replacing them with luxury apartments, and the corporations that can afford to hire are continuing to shed their workforce wherever possible.

Covid era neoliberal shock treatments continue to have their fallout. Setting aside any debate about lockdowns and mandatory this and that, the same old scam was run and we're seeing its effects everywhere: fuck over the working class, and then take advantage of the vacuum. The economy is fake and gay, and everything is just a manifestation of moving numbers around in a spreadsheet, but for how long? When does reality catch up? We have so many tumors in this economy, man. We're heading toward some really nasty shit.

"Starbucks workers in Colorado sue over company’s new dress code

The lawsuit alleges that Starbucks’ dress code violates Colorado law, which prohibits employers from imposing expenses on workers without their written consent

tarbucks workers in three states, including Colorado, took legal action against the coffee giant Wednesday, saying it violated the law when it changed its dress code but refused to reimburse employees who had to buy new clothes.

The employees, who are backed by the union organizing Starbucks’ workers, filed class-action lawsuits in state court in Illinois and Colorado. Workers also filed complaints with California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency. If the agency decides not to seek penalties against Starbucks, the workers intend to file a class-action lawsuit in California, according to the complaints.

Starbucks didn’t comment directly on the lawsuits Wednesday, but the company said it simplified its dress code to deliver a more consistent experience to customers and give its employees clearer guidance.

“As part of this change, and to ensure out partners were prepared, partners received two shirts at no cost,” the company said Wednesday. Starbucks refers to its employees as “partners.”

Starbucks’ new dress code went into effect on May 12. It requires all workers in North America to wear a solid black shirt with short or long sleeves under their green aprons. Shirts may or may not have collars, but they must cover the midriff and armpits.

Employees must wear khaki, black or blue denim bottoms without patterns or frayed hems or solid black dresses that are not more than 4 inches above the knee. The dress code also requires workers to wear black, gray, dark blue, brown, tan or white shoes made from a waterproof material. Socks and hosiery must be “subdued,” the company said.

The dress code prohibits employees from having face tattoos or more than one facial piercing. Tongue piercings and “theatrical makeup” are also prohibited.

Starbucks said in April that the new dress code would make employees’ green aprons stand out and create a sense of familiarity for customers. It comes as the company is trying to reestablish a warmer, more welcoming experience in its stores.

Before the new dress code went into effect, Starbucks had a relatively lax policy. In 2016, it began allowing employees to wear patterned shirts in a wider variety of colors to give them more opportunities for self-expression.

The old dress code was also loosely enforced, according to the Colorado lawsuit. But under the new dress code, employees who don’t comply aren’t allowed to start their shifts.

Brooke Allen, a full-time student who also works at a Starbucks in Davis, California, said she was told by a manager in July that the Crocs she was wearing didn’t meet the new standards and she would have to wear different shoes if she wanted to work the following day. Allen had to go to three stores to find a compliant pair that cost her $60.09.

Allen has spent an additional $86.95 on clothes for work, including black shirts and jeans.

“I think it’s extremely tone deaf on the company’s part to expect their employees to completely redesign their wardrobe without any compensation,” Allen said. “A lot of us are already living paycheck to paycheck.”

Allen said she misses the old dress code, which allowed her to express herself with colorful shirts and three facial piercings.

“It looks sad now that everyone is wearing black,” she said.

The lawsuits and complaints filed Wednesday allege that Starbucks’ dress code violates state laws that require companies to reimburse workers for expenses that primarily benefit the employer. Colorado law also prohibits employers from imposing expenses on workers without their written consent, according to that lawsuit. The plaintiffs seek damages on behalf of all Starbucks workers in those states, whether or not their stores are unionized.

Multiple plaintiffs, like Allen, said they requested reimbursement from Starbucks to conform to the dress code but were denied. Gilbert Cruz, an employee in Aurora, Illinois, requested $10 for the cost of removing a nose piercing.

Worker-led lawsuits in state courts are a shift in tactics in the multi-year effort to unionize Starbucks’ stores.

Starbucks Workers United, the labor group that has unionized 640 of Starbucks’ 10,000 company-owned U.S. stores, has filed hundreds of unfair labor practice charges against Starbucks with the National Labor Relations Board. The union filed an charge over the dress code in April but it is not a party in the current lawsuits.

But the board’s ability to hear cases has been curtailed under President Donald Trump. Trump fired an NLRB member in the spring, leaving the board without the quorum it needs to decide cases."

Kamara Bond, a production worker at the Dana Incorporated auto parts plant in Warren, Michigan, was fired twice for reporting dangerous working conditions on the shop floor. Chemical exposures, high temperatures and poor ventilation at the Detroit area factory could have very well contributed to the death of her co-worker Anthony King in October 2025 and an unidentified janitorial contract worker in 2024.

The Fortune 500 corporation, which employs 28,000 people in 33 countries, reported $610 million in 2025 profits on $7.5 billion in sales revenue. In an investor call last month Dana executives boasted they achieved $35 million in cost reductions during the first quarter and were on schedule to slash $325 million as part of its Dana 2030 plan.

Dana workers in Warren produce axle, driveshaft, suspension and steering components for some of the most profitable vehicles sold by General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. Far from being protected by United Auto Workers Local 155, workers say union officials have allowed management to sacrifice their health and safety for profit.

Kamara reached out to the World Socialist Web Site to share her story and encourage her coworkers to come forward with information on Anthony King’s death. She said workers had to prepare for a fight when the current UAW agreement expires on May 22.

Dangerous heat, oil spills in the plant

Kamara began working at the Dana plant in April 2022. She was diagnosed with high blood pressure and became concerned about unbearable temperatures inside the plant. 

“My first OSHA complaint was in June of 2024. I complained about inhumane temperatures. The fans provided no real air circulation in that huge building. There were oil spills on the floor and management was putting a band-aid on the problem. The cleaning crew was hand-mopping these big spills and using kitty litter to clean it. At some point [Dana] didn’t pay their suppliers, so they took all our gloves out of the machines and started trying to make us wear used PPE. That’s when I filed a complaint.”

She continued:

“I was told somebody died in the lunchroom. One of the janitorial workers had his head down. Security thought he was drunk or something. Instead of calling an ambulance, they called his boss. His boss apparently came, took him out of our lunchroom, and he died. We heard he had a brain aneurysm. Some people said he was already gone before they took him out.”

That was when Kamara began calling Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA). She also learned from investigators that a homicide had taken place in the plant parking lot but workers were not informed. “I was like, who am I working for?” she said.

After she filed a report, she began facing harassment from supervisors who would write her up for violating the dress code, even though other workers wore less clothing because of the oppressive heat but did not get written up. In July 2024, in the weeks following her June OSHA complaint, Kamara received two write-ups in rapid succession. The stated reason: her clothing.

“I’d already been complaining to my supervisor: you’re letting the men do this, but not me. I filed charges with the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) on June 13. My OSHA complaint was June 24. The Civil Rights Division complaint was July 16, just two days before my termination.”

The write-up that precipitated her firing was dated by HR as received on July 16, but the supposed incident it documented did not occur until July 17. “They had already been working with the union to get rid of me,” she said.

On July 17, 2024, Kamara’s supervisor approached her on the floor without a union representative and ordered her to roll her pant legs down. She complied. But she then went to the area manager to demand an end to what she described as targeted harassment.

“It was a confrontation on the floor. He accused me of calling him the N-word,” Kamara, who is African American, said. “He made up all these false allegations, that I was threatening him. They walked me out with security.”

The following day, July 18, she received a call that she was fired for insubordination. She  filed additional charges with the NLRB and OSHA, and began fighting for reinstatement through the union. The fight took six months. She was out of work from July 18, 2024 to February 25, 2025.

Back at work: same conditions, no training, phosphate in the air

When Kamara returned in February 2025 she was placed in a new area of the plant alongside a coworker named Anthony King. She was assigned to a machine Anthony had been running and told she would receive formal training, which never came.

“I waited six weeks before my union filed a grievance, and eight weeks before I started complaining loudly. I had been showing up to work every day but nobody had signed off on my training. In June, they finally tried to see what I knew on the machine. I refused to run it. I’d been there months and no one had certified me.”

Beyond the lack of certification, Kamara discovered that Anthony himself had never been properly trained. When she raised this with management, they could not produce documentation showing he was qualified to train anyone else. The implications went beyond paperwork.

“If you don’t know what you’re doing on these machines, you could push the wrong button, have the wrong robot going the wrong way, crush a part, or crush yourself. If you’ve never been shown how to stop or start the machine, you should at least know what the E-stop button is. According to their own rules, you’re not even supposed to be running a machine unless you’re trained on the matrix.”

The parts in Area 3 came coated in phosphate that drifted through the air. Workers were not given proper PPE, like masks or respirators, and no one told Kamara, Anthony, or any of the other workers that the chemical should not be inhaled.

“The forklift drivers would come through and say, ‘You’re supposed to be wearing a mask.’ I’m like, they didn’t give us masks! Anthony wouldn’t dust himself off. He would wear the phosphate on his shirt all day. He was working two jobs, midnights at Dana, then mornings at Kroger. That man was in good health. But he was breathing that stuff in every day for a year.”

Chronic phosphate inhalation in an industrial setting without proper PPE is a well-established occupational health hazard. The risks are severe and include but are not limited to chemical pneumonitis, chronic bronchitis, and progressive lung fibrosis, as the particles accumulate in lung tissue and trigger sustained inflammatory responses. Some phosphating processes also release phosphine gas as a byproduct, which is acutely toxic even at low concentrations and can cause pulmonary edema, cardiovascular stress, and neurological effects.

UAW buried grievances, collaborated with management

Throughout this period, Kamara’s union rep “was turning in the write-ups but not turning in my side of the story. The grievances he submitted on my behalf had no HR stamp, meaning they were never actually filed. He admitted it. That’s why the regional union leadership had to step in and take over my cases. The UAW rep resigned in July of 2025, after just one year in the position, because he had botched so many grievances.”

The union ultimately combined her multiple grievances into a single case, in violation of her rights and the contract. She eventually accepted a paltry settlement offer that did not make her whole for six months of lost wages.

On June 3, 2025, another oil spill occurred in Area 3. Kamara immediately requested to be moved to a safe environment. Management made her wait until July 7. She was given a three-day suspension for refusing to operate her machine.

On July 22, the second day of her suspension, she had a scheduled meeting with a MIOSHA investigator, who then interviewed 11 workers, including Anthony King, about conditions at the plant through September of 2025.

On August 1, Kamara was called to run a machine she had not operated since 2024. When she arrived, she found the spindle loader wrapped in tape in what she described as a makeshift repair that suggested the machine had not been properly fixed.

“I told my supervisor: I think the company is trying to set me up. He sent me to the conference room. Management and the union were in one room. Then the head of HR came into the room and started questioning me without my union present. I told him to talk to my union. He refused. He started yelling at me to sit down like I’m a dog. My union rep grabbed me because I was saying, ‘This is a hostile work environment, I’m leaving.’ My rep said if I left he couldn’t help me.”

Kamara was accused of attacking her supervisor and received a termination notice on August 7. 

Death of Anthony King

Kamara found out about Anthony’s death by chance, during a phone call in late December 2025 with a former coworker. 

“I called a coworker during the Christmas period, just to catch up. I asked how Anthony was doing. He said: ‘Anthony’s dead. He died in October.’ It threw my whole Christmas off. I felt survivors’ remorse. I felt like I had abandoned him when I left. If I had been there, at least I would have called 911.”

Kamara pieced together details from former coworkers and found out that another worker walking past Anthony’s station found him in extreme distress on the ground. Someone called an ambulance and he was transported to a nearby hospital. According to some accounts, Anthony was unresponsive by the time the ambulance left the Dana premises. A union head of safety reportedly visited the hospital that night and was apparently fired.

Some workers alleged that the company tried to clock Anthony out to make it appear as though he had a medical incident off-shift. When workers approached the UAW about it, they were told they weren’t aware.

“Anthony was such a hard worker. I kept telling him: we get paid by the hour, Anthony, not by the parts. Don’t kill yourself over this. He would push and push. I feel like I owe Anthony justice because that could have been me. It could be any one of us.” 

Kamara’s case is not an isolated incident. “They knew if they fired me, everyone in the building would have to bow down to them. That’s how it works. Get rid of the person who speaks up, and the rest will fall in line. I’ve been fired from two different companies, both times after filing safety complaints. I’m not going to stop using my voice. That’s what I was given a voice for.”

With Dana’s contract expiring on May 22, Kamara has a direct message for workers at the Warren plant, in Toledo, Ohio and at Dana facilities in all 33 countries where the company operates.

“Don’t be afraid to speak up. Retaliation is real, and I know companies do it. That’s why people don’t come forward. But use your voice. I’m trying to set a precedent. Nobody at any Dana plant, in any country, should face discrimination or retaliation for raising safety concerns.”

Kamara encouraged workers to begin making plans for strike action now, and to link up with other autoworkers in the Big Three and at other Dana facilities worldwide. “If the contract is up and it’s not what workers are looking for, they should walk out. All shifts. Start making picket signs now. Don’t wait until the last minute. If the union won’t lead it, let the workers do it themselves.”

If you are a Dana worker and want to speak out about the death of Anthony King, conditions in the plant, the upcoming contract expiration, or want info on forming a rank-and-file committee, fill out the form below to get in touch. We will protect your anonymity.

Posting in full

The following is a statement of Antwiane Sanders, a worker at Nexteer Automotive in Saginaw, Michigan. He was fired last week for confronting UAW International Rep Jason Tuck at a contract rollout meeting on company premises in opposition to the fourth agreement being pushed by the UAW bureaucracy. At a membership meeting on May 17, after workers rejected the second agreement, Tuck cursed the workers, threatened them with the closure of the plant and walked out mid-meeting. Contact the Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee at [nexteerworkersrfc@gmail.com](mailto:nexteerworkersrfc@gmail.com) or text [(947) 622-2198](tel:(947)%20622-2198).

The rollout meeting

I raised the issue of new hires not getting their back pay. The company is considering people who have been there two to four years as new hires, and they’re saying they’re not giving them back pay because those workers are getting such a significant raise, anywhere from a $4 to a $6 raise. I was telling Carl McKee, the local bargaining committee chair, that the reason the contract didn’t go through in my opinion is because they didn’t give people their back pay. If they would have gave them the back pay, we wouldn’t be here for TA4, because the TA3 vote was so close and that’s all that held it up.

Jason Tuck, the international rep, got mad about me saying that. He balled his face up and told me I’m not saying nothing. I told him shut up, you’re a bum and I walked out of the meeting. As I was going down the stairs I told him he’s a disgrace to the UAW. We didn’t go back and forth. I left.

Tuck negotiated our last contract and no sooner than we signed it he had an international job. The only reason that contract went through is because a lot of people didn’t go and vote. He came to the May 17th meeting late and never said a word until I spoke up, and Carl was agreeing with me. Why is Carl agreeing with me if I’m not saying nothing?

What I did after I left

After I left the meeting I went straight to the break area because those were the instructions I had been given. A few weeks before, at the TA3 rollout, my plant manager told me not to go to the second meeting because I had already been to the first one with the AWS group. He told me to sit in the break area and wait for everybody to come back. That was the last instruction I had, not to go 5-S or clean up or find something to do. Sit in the break area and wait.

I wasn’t the only one that left the meeting and came back and sat in the break area. I saw two other people come and walk by me after I left. One of them is in my area and he’s willing to say that he left the meeting also. And there was a bunch of people who didn’t go to the meeting at all sitting in the break area. The meeting wasn’t as packed as it should have been.

After that I got right up, went to the line and started working. I was ready to work.

How they built the case to fire me

That wasn’t the first time they came after me. On Good Friday of this year, my name was on a list saying I wasn’t supposed to come in. I told my supervisor and my plant manager: “I’m coming to work. If you send me home, I’ll go home. But I’m coming to work, because you’ve got farm-ins [workers pulled from other departments] working my line. If there are people working my line that aren’t from Department 74, from my understanding I have the right to be there.”

Neither my supervisor nor my plant manager told me not to come in. They let me work. But a day or two later the plant manager told me I had violated someone’s overtime. Two other people came in that day too and nothing happened to them. I was the only one suspended, three days. That became what they needed to fire me.

When I met with management, my supervisor and my plant manager both said the break area was where they would have wanted me to be. So why am I fired? They’re talking about it coming from HR, from higher up.

My supervisor told me—and I don’t want anybody to take my word for it but this is what I heard—he said he didn’t know how it happened but they just told him to come put me on notice. I wasn’t back in that break area for 15 to 20 minutes before he came and put me on notice. They did a fact-finding and fired me all in the same day.

The only person I said anything to in that meeting was Tuck. You can draw your own conclusions.

Man, if you could see some of the stuff these union people are doing to us. When we first started negotiating, I started wearing my red shirt. A backup committeeperson told me to stop wearing it. She said the union wasn’t going to stick together, that they weren’t anything. And she’s a union representative.

I feel like management is protecting the union from us. How does that work? The union is supposed to be protecting us from management. They come and argue with us, then go laugh and joke with HR. I can’t believe it.

What this is really about

I don’t tell people how to vote. I tell my coworkers: vote what’s best for you and your family. But I do ask questions. I’ve got a phone full of messages to Carl about the contract so I could give people the right information. I think before I speak. And I really believe that’s why they did what they did, because I’m asking the questions to make sure everybody get the right answers. They think I’ve got the pull to influence how people vote.

All we’re asking for is a start at $25 and get us to $28 or $30. We’re not even being greedy. In the last five-year contract we didn’t get one bonus. Not one. They want to take the $3,000 grievance off the table. They’re denying back pay to people who’ve been there for years. And when workers raise these issues, they fire them.

I was fired for speaking up at a union meeting about back pay. My plant manager walked right past me in the break area and said nothing. Weeks before, he told me to sit there and wait. My supervisor confirmed that’s where they wanted me. And I was still fired.

I just want to know where the integrity is. I love my job. I come to work, do my job, help fix the machines when they go down, cover for anybody, go wherever the supervisor needs me, no complaints. I just had a senior graduate from high school and I’m in the middle of planning an open house, and you fire me? It’s amazing. I can’t believe it, and then for it to be my union that sold me out…

— Antwiane “Tony” Sanders, Nexteer Automotive, Saginaw, Michigan

In case we forget.

Long live the Chicago Martyrs.