A former labor writer for the Chicago Tribune, Stephen Franklin is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Labor and Employment Relations.
Franklin, who speaks Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew and Spanish, spent time in Egypt teaching journalists while on a Knight International Press Fellowship. He has received two Lisagor awards for business reporting and a George Polk Award for consumer interest reporting with Marcia Stepanek at the Detroit Free Press in 1983. Franklin lives on the North Side of Chicago with his wife, director of a local social services agency. The couple have two children.
Labor
UPS and Teamsters Have Reached a Tentative Deal, May Avoid Strike
The tentative agreement, which must be ratified by the union’s membership, apparently includes wage increases and an end to a two-tiered wage system.
Teddy Ostrow and Stephen Franklin
Labor
The UPS Strike Looms as Corporate America Cashes In
The backdrop of what could be the largest strike at a single employer in decades is that CEOs and corporate America are making record profits as unions—from actors to Teamsters to hotel workers—fight back and flex their power this summer.
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Can UPS and the Teamsters Reach a Deal?
Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien tweeted Saturday that "huge gains have been made" but "we're not across that goal line yet."
Stephen Franklin
LaborDispatch
Game Workers Are About To Take On The Biggest Boss Fight Of All
Long hours, stagnant wages: a look at the landslide of union interest across the industry.
Stephen Franklin
LaborDispatch
Fighting Anti-Abortion Extremists — And The Boss
Workers fighting to unionize and protect reproductive rights face the threat of retaliation.
Stephen Franklin
LaborDispatch
In California, Independent Truckers Face Uncertain Future
A California law making it harder for trucking companies to classify drivers as independent contractors is now in effect—with big implications for truckers at America’s largest ports.
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien Vows to “Pulverize” UPS in Fiery TDU Convention Speech
The first TDU-endorsed leader in 30 years sought to meet the hopes of the militant rank-and-file, promising a UPS strike if needed.
Stephen Franklin
Labor
In 40 Years of Labor Reporting, David Moberg Never Gave Up on the Working Class
As a staff writer for In These Times from its birth in 1976, Moberg secured a unique position for himself in the small band of the nation’s labor writers.
Stephen Franklin
Labor
"We Are Emptying Out Their Shelves": Nabisco Workers’ 5-Week Strike Won by Shutting Down Business as Usual
A beaten-down workforce took on a powerful company—and won.
Stephen Franklin
Feature
The Oreo Workers Trump Betrayed
Trump used these workers to win the White House. Their union has fought a losing battle against outsourcing ever since.
Stephen Franklin
Labor
The Chicago Tribune Is Finally Union as the Media Organizing Wave Intensifies
Stephen Franklin
Labor
After 41 Years, The Teamsters Reform Movement Is Finally Building Power
Stephen Franklin
Labor
One Taxi Driver’s Story of Trying to Survive in the Age of Uber
Stephen Franklin
Labor
A Day in the Life of a Day Laborer
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Meet the Workers Who Took Overnight Buses to Bring the Fight for 15 to McDonald’s Stockholders
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Why White Working Class Americans Are Dying “Deaths of Despair”
Stephen Franklin
Labor
The War on Workers’ Comp
Stephen Franklin
Labor
‘I Didn’t See These Times Coming’: The Economic Despair Behind the Rise in Blue-Collar Deaths
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Domestic Workers Emerging from the Shadows
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Lawyer: ‘We Should Stay on the Parapets and Keep Fighting’
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Leslie Orear, 103, Helped Bring Together Black and White Packinghouse Workers in the 1930s
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Pete Camarata, Teamsters’ ‘Best-known Insurgent,’ Had a Resolve of Steel
Stephen Franklin
Feature
A Farewell to Retirement Security
What the loss of pensions at Boeing means for U.S. workers.
Stephen Franklin
Colombian Ex-GM Workers Call on U.S. for Help
Stephen Franklin
Labor
U.S. Free Trade Deal Hasn’t Ended Struggles for Colombia’s Unions
Stephen Franklin
Feature
Hard Times For Turkish Dissenters
Many tout Turkey as a model for "Arab democracy," but its human rights record raises troubling questions
Stephen Franklin
Feature
Freedom of the Press Remains Elusive in Turkey
Though the government denies targeting journalists, more than 90 Turkish journalists have spent most of the last year behind bars
Stephen Franklin
Feature
Letter from the Syrian Border
An on-the-ground report from the growing Syrian refugee camps in Turkey.
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Turkey Arrests Public-Sector Unionists Under Broad Terror Law
Stephen Franklin
Labor
‘There Is Not Enough Work’: Nearly Half of Mexicans Now Officially Poor
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Below Soaring CEOs, Struggling Black and Latino Youths
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Goin’ Backward in Indiana: Muncie’s Omen and the Push for ‘Right to Work’
Stephen Franklin
Labor
More Than a Number: Troubling Trends Behind the Dropping Unemployment Rate
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Welcome Home Vets: Your Jobs Are Long Gone
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Iran’s Simmering Labor Struggle
Stephen Franklin
Labor
What’s Happening to Black Families?
Stephen Franklin
Labor
A Mumbai Slum’s Quest for Dignity
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Egypt’s Workers: All They Needed Was the Courage
Stephen Franklin
Labor
What Are the Public Sector Unions to Do?
Stephen Franklin
Labor
To Organize Foreign Carmakers, UAW Must Build Transnational Labor Coalition
Stephen Franklin
Labor
You Are No One. You Are Without Papers.
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Don’t Count on Tomorrow: The New Credo for the Unemployed
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Sandy Pope: The Woman Who Would Rule the Teamsters
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Restaurant Opportunity Center Offers Ray of Hope in Dire Times
Stephen Franklin
Labor
A Workers’ Guide to the Messed-Up Economy
Stephen Franklin
Labor
Why You Should Earn Less: the Company’s Argument
Stephen Franklin
Labor
The Long Trail North Turns Deadly for Migrants Hungry for Work
Stephen Franklin
Labor
A Brief History of Labor Unsolidarity: AFL-CIO and Change to Win
Stephen Franklin