Labor

LaborPodcast

Teachers Union Staff Faced An Unexpected Labor Adversary—The Union That Employs Them

The National Education Association is the largest union in the country—so large that its 350 employees have a union of their own, and had to fight for a fair contract.

Mel Buer

LaborPodcast

A Rank-And-File Voice: Labor Poet George Fish

An interview with an Indianapolis-based writer, poet, Kroger produce-stocker, and active member of the UFCW Local 700.

Mel Buer

LaborPodcast

Seven Unions Demand An End to US Military Aid to Israel

As the genocide of Palestinians continues, millions of American workers called for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the US-backed siege of Gaza.

Maximillian Alvarez and Mel Buer

LaborPodcast

A Microsoft AI Data Center Saps Water From A Small Mexican Town

After decades fighting against water bottling and beer companies, rural communities in Mexico are now also having to compete against Big Tech for water.

Maximillian Alvarez

LaborPodcast

After Cornell Cracked Down on Pro-Palestinian Activism, its Graduate Student Union Fought Back

Members of Cornell's Graduate Student Union stand in solidarity with Momodou Taal, a Ph.D. candidate and student protestor who was suspended after pressuring the University to divest from Israel.

Maximillian Alvarez

LaborViewpointElection 2024

Labor Now Needs to Be an Anti-Fascist Movement

MAGA forces have begun what they believe to be their final offensive against everything on the Left. One way to fight back is for organized labor to become a conscious anti-fascist movement

Bill Fletcher, Jr.

LaborInterview

After Biden Blocked Their Strike, Railroad Workers Weigh the Lesser of Two Evils

“I don’t think the screwing that we got in 2022 [is playing] any factor today,” one locomotive engineer says. “I can’t imagine any worker voting for Donald Trump.”

Maximillian Alvarez

Labor

Waffle House Workers, At the Front Lines of Disasters, Demand More

The 24-hour chain famously stays open come hell or high water (inspiring FEMA’s Waffle House Index), but pays workers as little as $3 an hour.

Kim Kelly

Labor

Reagan Was a Disaster for the Labor Movement. A Second Trump Term Could Be Worse.

The Right has given us plenty of indications of the dangers a second Trump term could pose to labor. To see how bad things might get, we can look to another example of a brutally anti-labor presidency: Ronald Reagan’s.

Chris Bohner

LaborFeature

Chicago Teachers Have an Ally As Mayor—Now They’re Fighting for a Historic Contract

The Chicago Teachers Union is working to use its newfound political power to win a broad set of “common good” demands while realizing a vision of world-class public education.

Kari Lydersen

LaborInterview

The Hidden Human Labor Behind AI

A discussion with Craig Gent and James Muldoon about the colonial history of tech infrastructure, its human and environmental costs, and how workers around the world are fighting back.

Sarah Jaffe

Labor

The Right Believes It Has the Supreme Court Votes to Overturn Labor Law

Unions need to plan a response now.

Shaun Richman

LaborViewpoint

Believe It Or Not, Unions Have Even Bigger Problems than the 2024 Election

With just weeks until Election Day, the current political trends are a warning siren to the labor movement.

Hamilton Nolan

Labor

The Race Against the Clock to a Workplace Heat Rule

The November election could make or break a draft federal heat protection. Workers' lives hang in the balance.

Isabel Ashford Arya

LaborViewpointClimate

The Search for Green Common Ground

A capitalist transition to electric cars pits auto workers, transit riders and frontline communities against each other. What happens when they sit down together?

Emmett Hopkins

LaborPodcast

The Long Road to Union Recognition: Trader Joe’s Workers Press On

The national chain, widely known as “Your Neighborhood Grocery Store,” continues engaging in unfair labor practices and fighting against workers’ unionization.

Maximillian Alvarez

Labor

Unions Are Hot—Just Ask the Chippendales

We talked with the husband-and-husband team that helped lead a groundbreaking union drive.

Kim Kelly

LaborViewpoint

Winning Worker Rights Requires Fixing U.S. Democracy

Gerrymandering and the filibuster are holding back wage increases, the right to unionize and other benefits for workers. 

Paul Sonn

Labor

After Historic Chattanooga Win, the UAW Is Bargaining for Better Conditions at Volkswagen

Volkswagen workers and the United Auto Workers are hoping a contract with the automaker can reverberate across the South.

Sarah Jaffe

LaborPalestineInvestigation

U.S. Jewish Institutions Are Purging Their Staffs of Anti-Zionists

A months-long investigation found even the smallest hints of dissent are often met with unemployment.

Shane Burley

LaborInterview

Why U.S. Labor Has a "Special Responsibility" to Stop Israel's Attacks on Lebanon

In a special interview, UE President Carl Rosen demands an end to U.S. military aid "because our country is the one that enables Israel to do what it’s doing.”

Sarah Lazare

LaborViewpoint

The Weird and Stupid Teamsters Non-Endorsement Fiasco

Refusing to endorse a presidential candidate will do nothing to stop Trump and the GOP’s war on workers.

Hamilton Nolan

Labor

Los Angeles Teachers’ Road to Durable Power, 2014–2016

United Teachers Los Angeles’ transformation into a strike-ready, progressive union offers lessons for how today’s labor upsurge can produce durable, transformative union power, writes former UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl.

Alex Caputo-Pearl

Labor

The Baristas Who Took Over Their Café

Baltimore’s 230-year-old tradition of workplace democracy is experiencing a revival.

Osita Nwanevu