There are reports circulating that the workers at Waste Management in LA have gone back to work and called off the strike.

After a preliminary poke around it appears that this is NOT a union victory. Based on a discussion with a friend in California, the workers got the crap scared out of them after watching some 40 replacement scabs take their jobs – they decided that they could not do any better than the last offer (originally rejected) and went back to work.

These 40 scabs hired by the company to help break this strike and get the workers back on the job will probably get swept under the mainstream media carpet. Instead what we will hear is that Waste Management handled this labor dispute fairly and just … should you hear or read that -- know it is bull.

In July of this year a similar dispute went down in Oakland, California when the company locked out 500 Teamsters and spent a reported $600,000 a day to keep the workers out. In that situation, the workers stayed on strike for 25 days as the trash piled up. When it was finally all said and done, the workers went back with a good contract in place. From what I understand, it took the public, politicians and the press to push what the workers needed – and they got it all – this is not the case down south in Los Angeles.

Though it is difficult to prove there is a racial issue involved with no validating points, some might see the mostly Latino workforce at Waste Management in LA getting the short-end of a stick; at least I do.