Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States
In more and more of the country Amazon acts like an employer in a company town, sucking up whole communities and shaping public goods and services to fit its profit-making needs.
326 Articles by: Alex N. Press
Alex N. Press is a staff writer at Jacobin who covers labor organizing.
Frito-Lay Workers Are on Strike for Their Lives
Hundreds of workers are on strike at the Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas. Many of them are working 12-hour days, seven days a week, and some haven’t had a day off in five months — conditions that are literally killing them.
The Federal Writers’ Project Fueled the Cultural Ferment of the New Deal Era
FDR’s Federal Writers’ Project employed thousands of out-of-work writers to produce guidebooks, compile local histories, and collect stories of the country at a moment of turmoil. We need an equivalent program today.
Amazon and Jeff Bezos’s Worst Enemy Is Chris Smalls
It’s been a year since Amazon fired Chris Smalls for organizing a rally to protest COVID-19 conditions. Now, he’s trying to unionize his former warehouse, and he won’t stop until there’s worker justice at Amazon.
Trader Joe’s Is Once Again Accused of Violating Workers’ Rights
When workers at Trader Joe’s flagship location collectively organized to challenge their pandemic-era treatment by the company, management responded by interrogating them. We spoke to a worker who filed a complaint with the NLRB over the crackdown.
The Bezos Theory of Value Is Deeply Disturbing
In his final letter to shareholders as Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos offers a novel — and profoundly disturbing — conception of value creation: a handful of visionaries are the sole source of all “real value.” This aristocracy mercifully blesses customers, clients, and even Amazon workers with social goods.
At a Time of Emergency, ACT UP Refused to Be Bystanders
Sarah Schulman’s Let the Record Show tells the story of one of the most compelling and successful social movements of the past century, ACT UP. We talked to Schulman about the “New York Crimes,” the messy joy of political commitment, and how ACT UP changed history.
Amazon Prime Day Is a Nightmare for Amazon Workers
Amazon calls its annual Prime Day a “holiday” — but it’s pure misery for the hundreds of thousands of workers tasked with fulfilling orders.
It Took a Police Crackdown to Get Israeli-Operated Cargo Unloaded in Seattle
For weeks, pro-Palestine protesters physically prevented the unloading of Israeli-operated cargo that had entered the Port of Seattle. It finally took a violent crackdown by Seattle police to get the ship unloaded.
Oakland Longshore Workers Say No to Israeli-Operated Cargo
In response to calls for a boycott of Israel from the Palestinian labor movement, longshore workers in Oakland, California, last week refused to unload cargo from an Israeli shipping operator.
On Police Reform, the AFL-CIO Has a Lot of Catching Up to Do
The AFL-CIO’s new report on police reform doesn’t come anywhere close to what’s needed. Written largely from the perspective of police officers, it rejects calls to defund the police, embracing the failed approach of trying to weed out bad apples.
Democratic Unions Get the Goods
A new report coauthored by labor analyst Jane McAlevey presents overwhelming evidence that democratic unionism that puts workers at the center of collective bargaining wins strong contracts. Just as important, such unionism also has a transformational effect on workers’ consciousness.
Capitalists Exploit Workers — Even When They’re “Socialists”
After the “socialist”-branded No Evil Foods busted its workers’ union last year, the company settled with two former employees for $40,000. But those workers still aren’t satisfied — and the private-equity backed company is as fiercely opposed to worker organizing as ever.
We’re Being Worked to Death by Capital
Long working hours kill more than 700,000 people per year, even as millions are unable to find enough work to survive. The irrationality of capitalism has a human price.
Chipotle Is a Nightmare Employer
Chipotle says it is raising its starting wage to $11 an hour. It’s not enough for many workers who say the company’s business model relies on understaffing and overwork, leaving them stressed and with little choice but to cut corners on food safety.
Former Obama Staffer Jay Carney Is Amazon’s Top Flack
Jay Carney went from being Barack Obama’s press secretary to being Amazon’s top flack. But PR is only part of his job — his larger mission is to help Amazon ruthlessly exploit its workforce so it can expand endlessly.
Chipotle Is a Criminal Enterprise Built on Exploitation
Chipotle’s contempt for the lives of its workers is appalling, even by fast-food standards. But there’s finally some good news: New York City is suing the fast-casual chain for nearly half a billion dollars, for 600,000 separate violations of workers’ rights.
For Workers at Rutgers, Work Sharing Has Been a Weapon Against Austerity
At Rutgers University, unions have banded together to advance work-sharing as an alternative to the administration’s demands for massive job cuts. The approach has been an engine of solidarity between different groups of workers that has helped cut through the zero-sum logic of austerity.
Labor Has a Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity. Now Is Not the Time for Moderation.
In his first 100 days as president, Joe Biden has proven unusually willing to associate his administration with the labor movement’s agenda. Unions have a greater opening to win an expansive pro-worker agenda than they have in decades. But we haven’t seen real change yet.
Striking NYU Grad Workers: “Our Struggle, Like Every Labor Struggle, Is Part of a Larger Fight”
New York University’s finances are flush, yet the administration has stonewalled grad workers on wages and other demands, including limiting New York police officers’ access to campus buildings. Now, the thousands-strong union is on strike.