Film Industry Workers Are Fed Up With Long Hours
Punishingly long hours have always been the norm in the film industry. But now, a year and a half into the pandemic, the workers behind television shows and movies are fed up and starting to organize.
350 Article(s) by: Alex N. Press
Alex N. Press is a staff writer at Jacobin who covers labor organizing.
Amazon’s Power Will Only Keep Expanding in the Near Future
Amazon was already gargantuan before the pandemic. Its rapid growth since then has made it one of the most powerful institutions in the country’s history — shaping our physical as much as mental landscapes, and putting more and more of our daily lives under its control.
Alabama Amazon Workers Are Likely Getting a Second Shot at a Union
A federal official has recommended that the results of the union election at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama warehouse be thrown out and a second election be held, due to the company’s illegal anti-union tactics. It’s a step forward for the essential task of organizing one of the world’s most powerful companies
In Poland, Amazon Workers Are Organizing
Ever since Amazon arrived in Poland in 2014, the country has been a laboratory for the company's strategy of pitting workers of different nations against one another. We spoke with Polish shop-floor activists who are organizing Amazon workers for a global fightback.
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.
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.