LaborInvestigation

She Refused To Take a Drug Test Before Getting a Workplace Injury Treated—And Was Fired

A worker's arm was mangled in a machine. Before treatment, a manager requested a drug test.

LaborInterview

To Prevent Future Rail Tragedies, We Need to Nationalize the Rail System

“Corporate greed [is] turning railroads into banks to extract billions and billions of dollars from what should be critical infrastructure.”

Viewpoint

Military Budget Hike for 2023 is 3,200 Times the NLRB Increase

If a budget reveals what we value, this one should give us pause: extravagant spending for the war machine, scraps for workers.

Feature

As Afghans Suffer, U.S. Stalls on Plan to Return Central Bank Funds

In September, the U.S. created a foundation that was supposed to unfreeze Afghanistan's foreign assets. Yet, interviews with trustees reveal that, in three months, no funds have been disbursed—or concrete plans made—to help the Afghan people.

LaborViewpoint

The “Labor Shortage” Is Being Used as a Pretext to Harm Workers

Lawmakers and bosses are citing a supposed lack of workers as justification for a suite of reactionary policies aimed at further squeezing the working class.

Labor

They Waged the Largest Private-Sector Nurses’ Strike in U.S. History. They’re Still Waiting for Justice.

Minnesota nurses made national headlines by going on strike this fall, but as contract negotiations stall, they’re fighting for a voice on the job.

Viewpoint

Joe Manchin Says He’s Pro-Job Creation, But He’s Lobbying the Fed to Increase Unemployment

Sen. Manchin has justified fossil fuel extraction because it “creates jobs.” He's also pushing a policy that would cut them.

LaborViewpoint

The Fresh Hell of Depending on Your Employer for Abortion Access

Some companies say they will cover abortion travel. Here's what's wrong with relying on their benevolence.

Feature

The Spectacular Failure of the WTO To Fight Covid

The global body has proven itself unwilling to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry. Here's what it means for the next crisis.

Feature

Big Tobacco Is Funding Opposition to Global Covid Vaccine Access

Tobacco companies are bankrolling a group that is working to defeat an intellectual property waiver. And the companies have a direct interest in doing so.

Feature

The Pentagon Is Protecting and Funding the Same Gun Makers Democrats Want to Regulate

Daniel Defense, the company that made the gun used by the Robb Elementary shooter, has been handed over 100 federal contracts.

Feature

At Global Covid-19 Summit, Biden's Silence on Pharmaceutical Monopolies Speaks Volumes

The White House appears to have no plans to break Big Pharma's stranglehold on intellectual property for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.

Feature

One Year Ago, Biden Promised to Support Generic Vaccines for the World. That’s Amounted to Nothing.

A conversation with South African public health activist Tian Johnson about outrageous global inequalities in access to Covid vaccines, tests and treatments.

Feature

The U.S. Spent 7.5 Times More on Nuclear Weapons Than Global Vaccine Donations

Since the pandemic started, the United States has prioritized funding for nuclear arms and the military over global vaccines.

Labor

The LGBTQ Rights Group That Helped Launder Amazon’s Image

Human Rights Campaign gave Amazon a perfect score on workplace equality—while Amazon was donating to the organization.

Feature

The Weapons Industry Sees the War in Ukraine as a Goldmine

Arms companies are exploiting Russia's invasion to push a military spending frenzy.

Labor

How Workers Used Amazon's Captive Audience Meetings Against the Company

Workers flipped the script on the e-commerce giant by turning anti-union tactics into organizing opportunities.

Feature

Biden Is Using the Ukraine Crisis to Justify Dangerous Investments in Nuclear Weapons

The president's budget calls for $50.9 billion in nuclear weapons spending.

Feature

New "Compromise" on IP Waiver for Covid Vaccines Is Worse Than No Deal, Activists Say

A tentative agreement between India, South Africa, the United States and the European Union only waives intellectual property for Covid vaccines (not tests or treatments).

Feature

Democrats Quietly Cut $5 Billion in Global Covid Aid—With Biden Already Behind on Vaccine Donations

The Biden administration would actually have to increase its donations 50% to meet its pledges.

Climate

The Existential Danger of Using the Ukraine Invasion to Ramp Up Fossil Fuel Production

Just as scientists warn we must drastically shift away from fossil fuel extraction, the Biden administration is pressing for more oil production.

Broad Economic Sanctions on Russia Could Follow Familiar Playbook of Punishing the Poor

The impulse to punish Putin for his unconscionable invasion of Ukraine is understandable, but wrecking entire economies comes at a high human cost.

Feature

In Closed-Door Talks, the U.S. and E.U. Are Excluding Covid-19 Tests, Antivirals From Intellectual Property Waiver Negotiations

The exclusion bucks the demands of global activists, who say diagnostics and therapeutics must be included in any final deal.

Feature

What Moderna Reveals About the Cruel Absurdity of "Innovation" Under Pharmaceutical Monopolies

South African scientists spent 8 months reinventing the wheel while Moderna withheld patent information.

Feature

Top Weapons Companies Boast Ukraine-Russia Tensions Are a Boon for Business

In calls with investors, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin boasted that the worsening conflict is helping profits.

Feature

The Hypocrisy of Biden's New "Blame the Unvaccinated" Strategy

As long as we're blaming individuals, we are not talking about how the Biden administration's policies are failing the world.

Feature

120 Manufacturers in the Global South Could Be Producing mRNA Vaccines If Big Pharma Would Only Show Them How

A new report finds that pharmaceutical monopolies are preventing the production of significant quantities of vaccines in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Feature

The Weapons Industry Is Jubilant About Biden's Nominee for Pentagon Arms Buyer

Bill LaPlante's nomination is just the latest spin through the revolving door between the Pentagon and the military industry.

Feature

Documents Reveal Biden Admin Not Fighting for a Covid Vaccine Patent Waiver, Despite Public Statements

Amid mounting concern about the Omicron variant, Biden declared U.S. support for a Covid-19 vaccine patent waiver. But new documents from Geneva tell a different story.

Feature

Biden Is Wrong. There Is No Such Thing As “Defensive” Saudi Weapons in the War on Yemen.

Biden wants to put a friendlier face on U.S. support for the war. We shouldn't let him.

Feature

Think Tank Funded by the Weapons Industry Pressures Biden Not To Regulate Military Contractors’ Emissions

The Heritage Foundation has received considerable donations from the arms industry. And now it's trying to shield that industry from climate regulations targeting military contractors.

Viewpoint

Big Pharma’s Big Lie About Vaccine Patents

Companies say that sharing vaccine recipes wouldn't boost manufacturing soon enough, but now we know that's not true.

Viewpoint

Sorry, Biden: There Is No “National Security” Solution to the Climate Crisis

The Biden administration is turning to agencies like the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to shore up climate action.

Feature

He Exposed Colombia’s Vaccine Contracts with Big Pharma. Then the Right Came for Him.

What the case of Camilo Enciso reveals about the power of pharmaceutical companies.

Feature

Report Reveals the IMF's Hidden Fees, and How Desperate Countries Pay the Most

Little-known "surcharges" are adding to cash-strapped countries' mountains of IMF debt.

Labor

A Landmark Win for Domestic Workers Lurks in the Reconciliation Bill

$190 billion for home care has been folded into reconciliation—toward measures aimed at improving pay and job security for domestic workers.

Feature

U.S. Says It Supports a Covid Vaccine Patent Waiver, But Document Reveals It Is Dragging Feet at WTO

Global health advocates say a patent waiver would ease access to Covid vaccines, but the U.S. declined to support as-is a proposal to greenlight the waiver, a summary of a September 14 WTO meeting shows.

Feature

Imagine If We Had Spent the Last 20 Years Fighting Climate Change Instead of the War on Terror

At the dawn of the new millennium, we directed our national resources in the exact wrong direction. But it's not too late to turn things around.

Feature

Afghan Activist: We All Deserve Refuge, Not Just Those Who Served the U.S.

"This was a stupid occupation and invasion where nobody received anything," says Afghan activist Nematullah Ahangosh.

Feature

Military Contractor CACI Says Afghanistan Withdrawal Is Hurting Its Profits. It's Funding a Pro-War Think Tank.

What CACI reveals about the feedback loop between military contractors and think tanks.

Viewpoint

We Can’t Let the Generals Who Lied About the Afghanistan War Define Its Legacy

The U.S. architects of the ruinous war are getting the last word on its “lessons.”

Interview

This Obscure Financial Tool Could Help Global South Countries That Are Drowning in the Pandemic

Here's why some of the IMF's biggest critics are calling on it to issue "special drawing rights."

Climate

Democratic Leaders Are Finger-Wagging Over the IPCC Report. They Should Look To Themselves.

If Democrats really heeded the warning of the IPCC report, they'd end the fossil fuel industry.

Feature

Congress Tried To Force Trump to End the Yemen War. Now They’ll Have To Do the Same With Biden.

Activists say it's not enough to trust Biden's promises to end U.S. support for the war: Congress must compel him.

Big Pharma Is Deciding Who Lives and Who Dies in the Global South

The chilling effect of the pharmaceutical industry's veiled threats.

Viewpoint

U.S. Media Outlets Are Still Banging the Drums for the Afghanistan War

Major press outlets are trying to goad Biden into staying in Afghanistan.

Viewpoint

Biden Says He’s Ending the Yemen War—But It's Too Soon to Celebrate

The details of Biden’s Yemen war announcement are what matter. Those are still not clear.

LaborViewpoint

The “Essential Worker” Swindle

How this label is used to justify a social order in which workers are abused, discarded and left to die.