Critical Mass bicycle rides started in 1992 in California and have since spread around the world. Hundreds of people ride together in a group on roads, forcing cars to go at bicycle speed. They often chant, “Critical Mass, don't use gas!”

There will be a Critical Mass ride in Brattleboro. It starts December 21 at the town common at 5:45 p.m.

The goal is to get politicians to deal with climate change, which the world's leading scientists say is a major threat to earth's ability to support human life.

Details about the Brattleboro ride are available from the Brattleboro chapter of www.350.org. The ride will be rescheduled if the roads have snow or ice on them.

On September 8 in Brattleboro, there was a Critical Mass ride. It's shown in the below photos. To enlarge a photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "see full size image." photos by Eesha Williams

In Boston news, about 1,800 Marriott hotel workers won a strike that lasted 46 days. The win came last month. Larrilou Carumba cleans hotel rooms. “This is one the best contracts we’ve ever seen,” she said. The workers have a web site at www.UniteHere.org.

To get from Springfield to Boston by Greyhound bus takes 1 hour and 30 minutes at the fastest time of day. Tickets bought far enough in advance cost $6.

Workers who join a union in the USA make an average of 27 percent higher wages. That's according to www.bls.gov.

Non-union workers can be fired at any time for no reason. Most union contracts say that workers can only be fired for a good reason. If the boss and the worker disagree, a neutral third party decides.

Millions of workers in the USA are union members, including all the workers at UPS and Stop & Shop.

The middle class in the USA is disappearing. There are more rich people and more poor people than there have been since the 1920s. This allows billionaires more influence over politicians. Unions are one way to expand the middle class and increase democracy.

“I learned during our strike that one of the most powerful things we can do is believe in ourselves and each other,” Carumba said.