Rebecca Burns is an In These Times contributing editor and award-winning investigative reporter. Her work has appeared in Bloomberg, the Chicago Reader, ProPublica, The Intercept, and USA Today. Follow her on Twitter @rejburns.
Housing
Two Tenant Unions, One Rent Strike
How renters in two Chicago neighborhoods found each other—and fought back—when the same investor planned to displace them.
Rebecca Burns
Housing
Chicago’s Push for “Just Cause” Evictions
A new ordinance would stop landlords from evicting willy-nilly.
Rebecca Burns
LaborDispatchHousing
Home Is Where the Union Is
What tenant unions can learn from labor unions and how they can both work together to win big.
Rebecca Burns
LaborDispatchSpanishEn Español
“No abran la puerta”: Cómo Chicago está frustrando la campaña de miedo de ICE
Meses de trabajo para conocer sus derechos han hecho que el zar fronterizo de Trump se queje.
Sarah Lazare and Rebecca Burns
LaborDispatch
“Don’t Open the Door”: How Chicago Is Frustrating ICE’s Campaign of Fear
Months of know-your-rights work has Trump’s border czar complaining.
Sarah Lazare and Rebecca Burns
Housing
BREAKING: Seattle Defies Landlord Lobby, Votes to Fund Social Housing
Despite a deluge of corporate cash, the measure to fund an ambitious plan for mixed-income, publicly owned housing appears to have won big.
Rebecca Burns
Climate
L.A. Activists Put Price-Gouging Landlords on Notice
Tenant organizers see signs of illegal disaster profiteering on Los Angeles rental sites while 100,000 evacuees seek temporary or permanent lodging.
Rebecca Burns
Housing
Hundreds of Kansas City Tenants Will Strike to Demand Repairs, Rent Caps
Tenants voted to withhold rent on October 1 in a rent strike that could catch fire nationwide.
Rebecca Burns
Housing
Inside the Right’s War on the Homeless
How one Trumpist tech mogul pushed a crackdown on the unhoused all the way to the Supreme Court.
Rebecca Burns
Housing
A National Tenants Union Has Arrived
Local tenants unions are officially teaming up, to the terror of big landlords.
Rebecca Burns
Election 2024
What Biden's "Rent Cap" Is, and Isn't
It’s an ideological win for the left that won’t actually cap rents–but opens the door to other, bolder federal action.
Rebecca Burns
Dispatch
These Three Candidates Worked Together to Bring "Sidewalk Socialism" to Their City Council
In spite of India Walton's loss in Buffalo, N.Y., Election Day 2021 still showed promise for socialism on the local level.
Rebecca Burns
Feature
Meet the New Generation of "Sidewalk Socialists"
Once elected, how do socialists govern?
Rebecca Burns
Feature
As the Housing Crisis Explodes, the Trump Admin Is Quietly Undoing Its “Eviction Moratorium”
Following a pressure campaign from landlords and real estate groups, the Trump administration is giving landlords more leeway to evict tenants.
Rebecca Burns
Feature
Tenants Just Won a Nationwide Eviction Ban. They're Still Fighting to Cancel Rent.
President Trump's surprise eviction moratorium is an election hail-mary. But to stave off a disastrous housing crisis, organizers say Democrats—including Joe Biden—must embrace bolder measures.
Rebecca Burns
Culture
In 1971, Nixon Passed a Rule to Doom the Post Office. Now, It’s Finally Happening.
The Post Office used to be federally funded. Then, Republicans passed legislation requiring it to "pay for itself."
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Warehouse Workers Suspect Amazon’s Promise of PTO for Part-Time Employees Is a Bait-and-Switch
Rebecca Burns
Viewpoint
“I Would Love Medicare for All”: A Nevada Culinary Union Member on Why She Supports Bernie Sanders
While the powerful Culinary Workers Union in Nevada is attacking Sanders' universal healthcare plan, a rank-and-file worker says "a lot of members want Bernie" and support Medicare for All.
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Chicago Teachers Didn’t Win Everything, But They’ve Transformed the City—And the Labor Movement
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Chicago’s Citywide Strike Just Spread to Charter School Teachers
Rebecca Burns
Labor
What’s at Stake in Chicago Teachers’ Strike: Whether Unions Can Bargain for the Entire Working Class
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Amazon Worker: Why We’re Bringing the Climate Strike to Jeff Bezos
Rebecca Burns
Labor
From Victories to Union Militancy, 5 Reasons for Workers to Celebrate This Labor Day
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Angry About Low Pay and Sweltering Heat, These Amazon Warehouse Workers Are Organizing
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Chicago’s Charter School Strike Wave Keeps On Winning
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Black Workers Say Walmart’s Background Checks Are Racially Discriminatory
Rebecca Burns
Labor
The 8 Most Important Labor Stories of 2018
Rebecca Burns
Labor
‘We’re One Union’: Why Chicago Teachers Are Out On the First Charter School Strike in the Country
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Chicago Teachers Just Voted 98% to Authorize the First Charter School Strike in U.S. History
Rebecca Burns
Labor
How European Workers Coordinated This Month’s Massive Amazon Strike—And What Comes Next
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Planned Parenthood’s Union Busting Could Have a Chilling Effect for Workers Everywhere
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Rank-and-File Union Members Are Leading Another Massive Strike. This Time It’s AT&T Workers.
Rebecca Burns
Labor
YMCA Childcare Workers Just Went On Strike. Here’s Why.
Rebecca Burns
Feature
Landlords, Your Lease Is Up: A New Movement for Rent Control Is Spreading Across the U.S.
Tenant activists, local unions, community organizations and socialists are leading campaigns to regulate rents and weaken the market's grip on housing.
Rebecca Burns
Feature
INVESTIGATION: The Troubled History of the Fund Tapped for Rahm’s Controversial Cop Academy
$20 million in West Side TIF money for job creation has sat unspent, and another $36 million was "ported" to other districts. Now more than $10 million is being used for a police academy that will create only 100 temporary jobs.
Rebecca Burns
Dispatch
Socialism, Coming to a State Fair Near You
Give us funnel cake, but give us roses too.
Rebecca Burns
Feature
A New Deal for Wall Street
Trump's plans for mass privatization are a colossal giveaway to the 1%—and Democrats helped pave the way.
Rebecca Burns
Feature
A New Deal for Wall Street: Trump’s Plans for Mass Privatization Are a Colossal Giveaway to the 1%
Trump wants to sell off our infrastructure—and Democrats helped pave the way.
Rebecca Burns
Labor
In a Nightmare for Neoliberal Ed Reformers, Chicago Charter School Teachers May Strike This Week
Rebecca Burns
Culture
Sim City and the Worst Ways to End Homelessness
The neoliberal mindset doesn't compute with ethical public policy.
Rebecca Burns
Feature
The Laquan McDonald Email Dump Shows Rahm Emanuel’s Administration in Crisis Mode
A guide to the documents released by City Hall in the aftermath of the Chicago police shooting.
Rebecca Burns
Feature
Under Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Opens the Door to Privatizing Half its Public Housing
Residents fear that a new redevelopment initiative will usher in another wave of displacement.
Rebecca Burns
Labor
‘Uber is a rip-off for its drivers and the public’: Cab Drivers Protest Rideshares in Chicago
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Striking Oil Workers Say They’re Fighting Deadly Working Conditions
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Obamacare Counselor: “On the Surface, People Have Choices. But It’s a Complete Farce”
Rebecca Burns
Labor
The Sharing Economy’s ‘First Strike’: Uber Drivers Turn Off the App
Rebecca Burns
Labor
Adjunct Instructor: ‘I Was Practically Giving My Work Away. It Was Charity.’
Rebecca Burns
Feature
The Tamale Underground
Street vendors must skirt the law to make a living.
Rebecca Burns
Announcing In These Times’ New Agreement with the National Writers Union
Freelance contributors are essential to the quality and success of In These Times and independent media, and this agreement is one way to demonstrate their value to our publication and our commitment to transparency.
For more information about the National Writers Union, visit nwu.org.
Read the full agreement, which reaffirms a floor for the rates of our freelance editorial content, as well as our current rates (which are higher) and submissions guidelines below.