Will Visual Effects Workers Unionize?
A new survey of visual effects workers in the film and television industry paints a picture of rampant labor violations and a demoralized workforce. VFX-IATSE is hoping to change that.
228 Articles by: Alex N. Press
Alex N. Press is a staff writer at Jacobin. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Nation, and n+1, among other places.
Amazon Increasingly Sets the Conditions of Global Commerce That Everyone Else Operates In
A new report on Amazon’s third-party buyers argues that, rather than merely helping or hurting small businesses, the company has reshaped them in its own image, enlisting them as agents in its global expansion.
Strikes Were Up Significantly Last Year
New numbers show that the number of strikes and the number of workers on strike both went up last year. Labor is still incredibly weak, but more workers walking off the job is a very good thing.
Rail Carriers’ Cost-Cutting Is Endangering All of Us
Rail carriers are operating longer, heavier freight trains, and with fewer workers than ever. The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, is a reminder that the issues railworkers nearly struck over last year are far from resolved.
Inside the Teamsters’ Preparations for a UPS Strike
This summer could see 350,000 UPS workers walk off the job, the United States’ largest strike in the 21st century thus far. The Teamsters are getting ready. Here’s a look at how.
Temple University Administrators Have Declared War on Striking Grad Workers
Unionized graduate students at Temple University are on strike. The school’s administration has responded with unabashedly brutal retaliation, cutting off their health care and tuition remission, in an attempt to crush them.
Inland Empire Amazon Workers Say They’ve Forced Concessions From Bosses by Organizing
Despite recent breakthroughs in Amazon organizing nationally, it’s still a tough slog for workers to get the company to change. But workers at an Inland Empire, California, Amazon facility recently showed that it’s possible.
Starbucks Workers in Ithaca Say the Company Is Trying to Crush Them
Workers say that in retaliation against their unionization, Starbucks is shutting down a heavily trafficked store in Ithaca, New York. It’s part of a scorched-earth strategy that appears to be aimed at wearing workers down and forcing out pro-union employees.
Amazon Workers in North Carolina Are Building a Union
Since the Amazon Labor Union’s victory in New York, interest in organizing has surged nationwide. In North Carolina, worker-organizers are building solidarity by helping coworkers struggling with starvation wages and an increasingly punitive management.
Automation on the Docks Means Fewer Jobs — and Often No Improvement in Productivity
A new report finds that automation has led to significant job losses on West Coast docks. We spoke to an automation specialist and trade unionist who works at a fully automated terminal to see what that transformation looks like for those at the heart of it.
When Workers Lose Abortion Rights, the Boss Gains a Bargaining Chip
The Supreme Court’s attack on abortion rights will strengthen employers seeking to maintain their unilateral power over workers within and outside the workplace. Luckily, the labor movement knows that abortion rights are workers’ rights.
Our Current Moment of Increased Labor Organizing Could Become Something Much Bigger
Trying to win progressive change without rebuilding the labor movement is a fool’s errand. That’s why the union victories at Starbucks and Amazon are so promising: the current uptick in labor militancy could become a transformational upsurge.
Miami Janitors Have Won a First Contract — but Some Are Still Facing Employer Resistance
Miami-area janitors, the lowest paid of any major US metropolitan area, have won a collective bargaining agreement with the city’s cleaning contractors — but one holdout company, Coastal Building Maintenance, still refuses to sign.
Kentucky Amazon Workers Are Starting to Organize a Union
After the victory on Staten Island, Amazon workers across the country have expressed interest in organizing a union. The latest site for potential unionization: the SDF1 Amazon facility in Campbellsville, Kentucky.
The Beating Heart of the US Labor Movement Was at Labor Notes
This past weekend, 4,000 labor militants gathered near Chicago for the Labor Notes conference. Amazon and Starbucks workers, teachers, Teamsters, Bernie Sanders — Labor Notes is a mosaic that brought the labor and leftist upsurge under one roof.
Gig Labor Is Impoverishing Workers
A new survey finds that US gig workers face much greater economic hardship and insecurity than conventional low-wage retail and food-service workers. Lacking most labor law protections, many make less than minimum wage and can’t afford to pay basic bills.
Amazon Is Trying to Destroy Its Staten Island Union by Firing Union Supporters
Amazon has fired another key union organizer at JFK8, the Staten Island fulfillment center that voted to unionize with the Amazon Labor Union in April. The company has one goal: destroy the union.
The CEO-to-Worker Pay Gap Is Climbing to Truly Obscene Levels
A new report finds that the gap between worker pay and CEO compensation continues to grow at some of the United States’ lowest-paying firms. At dozens of companies, the ratio exceeds one thousand to one.
A Stunning New Chapter Begins for Amazon Warehouse Workers
In a staggering upset, Staten Island Amazon workers just won a union election. It’s the start of a new chapter for workers at one of the world’s most powerful companies
LA Korean Restaurant Workers Just Won a Pathbreaking Union Contract
After a hard-fought, five-year organizing campaign, the largely immigrant workforce at Genwa, a Korean BBQ chain in Los Angeles, has won a first contract — a first-of-its-kind agreement in an almost entirely nonunion sector.