All 398 articles by Kari Lydersen

• 09 May 13

• Features

  A New Era for Worker Ownership, 5 Years in the Making

  The New Era Windows Cooperative opens its doors (and windows) for business. MORE »

• 08 May 13

• Working

  Columbia College Chicago’s Adjunct Faculty Poised to Strike

  Unionized adjunct faculty at Columbia College Chicago appear poised to go on strike for the first time, with... MORE »

• 01 May 13

• Working

  Mining Giant Sued Over Silicosis Epidemic

  This week, the British High Court of Justice will decide whether to allow a lawsuit to... MORE »

• 25 Apr 13

• Working

  More Blood on the Tracks

  Louis Moore, 58, was working overnight on subway tracks in Astoria, New York City when he fell from a... MORE »

• 15 Apr 13

• Features

  Blood on the Tracks

  Railway whistleblowers get some federal protection at last. MORE »

• 12 Apr 13

• Features

  Los Mineros’ Leader-in-Exile

  From Canada, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia seeks justice for the deaths of 65 miners. MORE »

• 27 Mar 13

• Features

  Chicagoans Flood Streets To Protest ‘Racist’ School Closings

  City leaders' plan to close 54 public schools, primarily in black communities, was met with defiance. MORE »

• 27 Mar 13

• Working

  Inspired by Teachers and Janitors, Security Officers Take Fight to the Streets

  On Saturday, Chicago's Teamster City thrummed with the sounds of a high school marching band, the young... MORE »

• 20 Mar 13

• Working

  Chicago Police Sergeants Reject Rahm’s Offer

  The Chicago Police Sergeants Union is one of the city’s smaller public unions, with only 1,178 members.... MORE »

• 11 Mar 13

• Uprising

  ‘Let’s Run Amok in This Pit’: For Anne Scargill, The Fight Goes On

  BARNSLEY, YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND—When Anne Scargill looks out from her front porch, she sees hamlets of brick... more »

• 21 Feb 13

• Working

  Surrounded by Industry and Out of a Job in Indiana’s BP ‘Boomtown’

  EAST CHICAGO, IND.—It was shift-change time at BP’s massive oil refinery in northwest Indiana,... MORE »

• 08 Feb 13

• Working

  Chicago Middle-School Students Berate Officials: ‘Don’t Close Our Schools!’

  CHICAGO—“We’re counting on you!” said middle-schooler Marcos Reyes to the row of... MORE »

• 05 Feb 13

• Uprising

  Modeling Capitalist Dystopia: Honduras OKs Plan for Private Cities

  Santos Cruz is a national campesino leader in Honduras who has spent practically his entire life fighting for... more »

• 04 Feb 13

• Working

  Fracking ‘Boom Towns’ Rife with Workplace Accidents

  A recent story in The New York Times documented the spike in serious injuries and health problems in... MORE »

• 31 Jan 13

• Working

  Labor Takes Hard Line Against Social Security and Medicare Cuts

  CHICAGO—Workers and labor leaders around the country rallied on Wednesday to demand that Congress &ldquo... MORE »

• 30 Jan 13

• Working

  Midwest Generation and 100 Workers Plead with Illinois Pollution Control Board

  JOLIET, ILL.—Richard Coronel grew up near the Crawford coal-fired power plant on Chicago’s southwest... MORE »

• 22 Jan 13

• Working

  Laid-Off O’Hare Workers Call for Rebid After Irregularities Surface

  Jermaine Sample’s mother worked at Swissotel in downtown Chicago for 10 years, stocking mini-bars and performing other... MORE »

• 15 Jan 13

• Working

  United Workers Win WARN Act Victory in Baltimore ESPN Zone Case

  When the ESPN Zone restaurant in Baltimore’s touristy Inner Harbor development closed abruptly on June 16, 2010, about 150... MORE »

• 02 Jan 13

• Working

  Coal Mining the Old-Fashioned Way

  Much coal today is extracted in gaping open pit mines where gargantuan equipment—largely unmanned and automated... MORE »

• 25 Dec 12

• Features

  The Death Blow for British Coal

  New revelations have surfaced about police brutality in Thatcher's 1984 battle with miners. MORE »

• 21 Dec 12

• Working

  Illinois Coal Bankruptcy: Good News for Environment, Bad News for Workers

  Clean-energy advocates cheered this week’s announcement that the parent company of Midwest Generation—which closed... MORE »

• 15 Dec 12

• Working

  Fighting Fiscal-Cliff Cuts, Home Care Workers and Employers Forge Alliance

  CHICAGO—Caring around the clock for elderly clients who suffer from dementia and serious physical problems is... MORE »

• 12 Dec 12

• Working

  Rahm the Grinch? Janitors Say Emanuel Is Stealing Their Christmas

  CHICAGO—On Tuesday evening, downtown Chicago was in full holiday mode as people perused the Christkindlmarket under... MORE »

• 05 Dec 12

• Working

  Workers on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile Start a ‘Fight For 15’ (Dollars Per Hour)

  CHICAGO—The workers at Chipotle Mexican Grill on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile quickly and efficiently turn... MORE »

• 03 Dec 12

• Working

  Opponents Cry Foul as Arizona Copper Mine Blames Congress for Layoffs

  The multi-national mining company Rio Tinto has long promised that its proposed new copper mine near the small... MORE »

• 30 Nov 12

• Working

  Facing Job Losses and Wage Cuts, Chicago Airport Janitors Pay Rahm Emanuel a Birthday Visit

  CHICAGO—A diverse crowd gathered outside Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home as dusk fell Thursday,... MORE »

• 27 Nov 12

• Working

  The Freelance Life: Blessing or Curse?

  The setting for labor lawyer Sara Horowitz’s recent author talk in Chicago was itself a fantastic... MORE »

• 19 Nov 12

• Working

  Harry Malkin: From Pit to Paintbrush

  CASTLEFORD, WEST YORKSHIRE—The two elderly women dressed in their Sunday best talked about the “human... MORE »

• 16 Nov 12

• Working

  Chicago Passes Austerity Budget with Little Debate (But More Than Usual)

  On Thursday the Chicago City Council passed Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed 2013 budget, which—although... MORE »

• 13 Nov 12

• Working

  Airports Go Green … And, Labor Leaders Fear, Bust Unions

  Outside the Westin River North hotel in downtown Chicago on Nov. 5, about 20 men and women in winter clothes... MORE »

• 13 Nov 12

• Features

  Activists Arrested Confronting Dick Durbin About ‘Fiscal Cliff’

  Chicagoans dressed as Robin Hood staged civil disobedience at the Majority Whip's office. MORE »

• 01 Nov 12

• Working

  At ‘Official’ Budget Hearing, Chicagoans Find Official Indifference and Empty Chairs

  CHICAGO—During three community budget hearings this month, Chicago union members and other regular residents voiced their... MORE »

• 31 Oct 12

• Working

  Chicagoans Ask City Councillors To Fight Emanuel’s Cruelest Cuts

  CHICAGO—Today, members of the City Council's Progressive Caucus are delivering the news to Mayor Rahm... MORE »

• 30 Oct 12

• Uprising

  Chicago Chicanos ‘Read Out’ in Solidarity with Tucson

  Books can save your life. Especially if you are growing up in a rough area, faced with discrimination,... more »

• 26 Oct 12

• Working

  At Alt Budget Hearing, Chicagoans Decry Privatization and Job Cuts

  CHICAGO–Labor leaders and workers fear that the proposed 2013 budget, which the City Council will vote on... MORE »

• 26 Oct 12

• Working

  New Contract Spells Good News for 1,200 Chicago Airport Workers—Unless City Moots It

  On Oct. 19, after four months of bargaining, UNITE HERE Local 1 union ratified a contract ensuring better wages and... MORE »

• 23 Oct 12

• Working

  Chicagoans Give Rahm Emanuel Poor Grades

  At an October 22 forum sponsored by Columbia College, three prominent Chicago political analysts gave Mayor Rahm Emanuel grades... MORE »

• 16 Oct 12

• Working

  The Original Coal Country

  Kari Lydersen recently spent a week in England reporting on coal mining and coalfield communities through a Climate... MORE »

• 02 Oct 12

• Working

  Lessons From Essen: What the U.S. Rust Belt Can Learn From Germany

  ESSEN, GERMANY—Stephan Haas has probably given this spiel hundreds of times, but he still sparkles with... MORE »

• 04 Sep 12

• Working

  Lawsuit Sheds Light on Murky and Dangerous Warehouse Sector

  Working In These Times has frequently covered the warehousing industry and the way that complicated layers of different... MORE »

• 31 Aug 12

• Working

  City Janitors Are Latest To Feel Sting of Emanuel’s Cost-Cutting

  CHICAGO—Pam Broughton worked for eight years as a janitor at the Fifth District police station on... MORE »

• 28 Aug 12

• Working

  Illinois Unions Fight Prison Closures

  In Illinois, the battle over slated prison closings is highlighting how unions that represent prison guards can find... MORE »

• 27 Aug 12

• Working

  Romney’s Bain in the Ass

  As throngs of eager Republicans and the rains of Tropical Storm Isaac have descended on Tampa, so too... MORE »

• 23 Aug 12

• Working

  Chicago Teachers Move Toward Strike (Updated)

  Update: On Wednesday, August 29, Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis filed 10-day notice of a strike. CHICAGO&ndash... MORE »

• 22 Aug 12

• Working

  Rahm Emanuel’s ‘Leaky Jobs Pipeline’ Exposed

  During Rahm Emanuel’s first year-plus as Chicago mayor, his office has issued a steady stream of... MORE »

• 20 Aug 12

• Working

  Not-For-Profit Hospitals Make Billions—and Provide Little Charity Care

  Not-for-profit hospitals, including some of the country’s biggest and best-known institutions, are almost entirely tax exempt,... MORE »

• 16 Aug 12

• Uprising

  Chicago: Occupiers of Mental Health Clinics Face Trial

  CHICAGO--On Tuesday, N’Dana Carter and others arrested for occupying the now-shuttered public mental health clinic in... more »

• 08 Aug 12

• Working

  Chicago Protesters: “Take TIFs Off the Menu!”

  Some unusual offerings were on the menu Tuesday at the Chicago restaurant Fulton’s on the... MORE »

• 31 Jul 12

• Working

  NLRB Rules In Favor of Chicago’s Columbia College Professors

  Unionized part-time faculty at Columbia College in Chicago gained a major victory, union leaders say, when the National... MORE »

• 30 Jul 12

• Working

  Global Hyatt Boycott Heats Up

  On July 23 unions and other labor and community groups called for a global boycott of Hyatt hotels, citing... MORE »