The Wisconsin Idea

Labor

“It’s Not Over”: While Biden Touts Rail Deal, Workers Have Yet to Vote—And Many Remain Skeptical

A national rail strike could still be on the table if rank-and-file workers reject the tentative agreement announced by the White House this week.

Jeff Schuhrke

Viewpoint

Grading President Biden’s Economic Record

Rapid job growth and increased worker bargaining power are very good—there’s a whole lot more progressive policy that could be done.

Max B. Sawicky

Labor

In Minnesota, the Largest Private-Sector Nurses Strike in U.S. History

Protesting understaffing and low pay, Minnesota nurses hit the picket line in a “fight for our very profession.”

Sarah Lahm

LaborViewpoint

The Strike that Started the Red Wave

Ten years ago, Chicago teachers modeled what a militant fight for public education looks like by walking off the job. A decade later, the legacy of social justice unionism continues to animate the U.S. labor movement.

Jackson Potter

“Complicit in the Railroading of Democracy”: DNC Panel Blocks Vote on Dark Money Ban

"Democrats can't be the party of democracy in one breath and then let an astronomical sum of money from Republican megadonors and corporate interests flood Democratic primaries."

Jake Johnson

Labor

“Players Realize Now: They’re Workers”: Why Baseball Minor Leaguers Voted to Unionize

The surge in U.S. labor organizing now includes minor league baseball players, who are agitating for higher pay and better protections on and off the field.

Abe Asher

How to Fight Mass Incarceration and Win

Criminal justice reform advocates in Los Angeles have amassed some impressive victories—laying out a model for reducing incarceration and providing care.

Mark Engler and Paul Engler

LaborRural America

The Working-Class Loggers Who Saved an Old-Growth Forest

Often cast as villains in the Northwest’s environmental battles, timber workers have a connection to the forest that goes far beyond jobs.

Steven C. Beda

Can Feminism Survive Class Polarization?

In 1999, Barbara Ehrenreich reflected on how the widening of the wealth gap thwarted the original goals of the feminist movement.

Barbara Ehrenreich