Trader Joe’s Workers Are Carrying Out an Experiment in Independent Unionism
Independent unions are a real rarity in the US labor movement. But at multiple stores across the country, Trader Joe’s workers are organizing outside of established unions.
344 Article(s) by: Alex N. Press
Alex N. Press is a staff writer at Jacobin who covers labor organizing.
Shawn Fain Is Right: The Workweek Should Be Shorter
UAW president Shawn Fain has called for a 32-hour workweek. It’s the revival of an old vision in the US labor movement — and the sort of ambition overworked and underpaid employees need.
The American Political Science Association’s Profile in Cowardice
In declining to cancel its annual conference at Southern California hotels where workers are on strike, the American Political Science Association is refusing to sacrifice for workers whose cause is just. There’s a word for that: “cowardice.”
Newly Unionized Amazon Delivery Drivers Say the Company Is Hiding Behind Subcontractors
Like many corporations, Amazon has used subcontractors to avoid responsibility for working conditions and pay. A group of Palmdale, California, subcontracted workers wants to force Amazon to change that.
The New UAW Is Ready to Fight the Big 3 Automakers
This week, the UAW presented proposals to automakers in contract negotiations covering some 150,000 workers. Autoworkers want big raises, an end to tiers, and the right to strike over plant closures — and conditions appear favorable for them to win.
Can the UAW Rise Again?
Despite the ravages of deindustrialization, the United Auto Workers remains the most important American industrial union. Members recently elected a new leadership promising democracy, militancy, and an end to corruption. But change isn’t coming easy to the UAW.
Southern California Hotel Workers Are on Strike Against Automated Management
On top of issues like low pay, workers are up against faceless algorithmic management that can punish them for various offenses — including for refusing to cross picket lines. Workers at a hotel in Southern California are on strike against this practice.
Hollywood Is on Strike Against High-Tech Exploitation
As both writers and actors are on the picket lines in Hollywood, the stakes couldn’t be higher: Will average entertainment workers be able to eke out a living in an industry awash in cash, or will studio executives use new tech like AI to gobble up all of it?
As Amazon Refuses to Bargain, Divisions Have Emerged in the Amazon Labor Union
More than a year after the Amazon Labor Union’s landmark victory at a Staten Island warehouse, Amazon still refuses to bargain with the union. Meanwhile, a reform caucus is pushing for the ALU to hold leadership elections.
Adam Pickets Everything
During the ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike, comedy writer Adam Conover has been a constant presence on picket lines and on social media, explaining what’s at stake for strikers and how the union plans to win. We spoke to him about the strike.
Teamsters Are Close to the Largest Strike in Decades
Today Teamsters are erecting practice picket lines as the July 31 expiration of their contract with UPS rapidly approaches. After negotiations broke down yesterday, the second-largest strike at a single employer in US history is a real possibility.
Actors Want to Be Paid for Auditions — and Their Contract Already Guarantees It
Under the banner of “Auditions Are Work,” a group of SAG-AFTRA members are organizing to enforce a little-known provision of their contract that guarantees pay for auditions. With many actors spending hours each week auditioning, there’s a lot to gain.
Wabtec Train Manufacturing Workers Are on Strike
Workers at the Wabtec locomotive manufacturing plant in Erie, Pennsylvania, have walked off the job. Their demands get to the heart of bigger questions about the nature of work and the role workers can play in fights like climate change.
One Tech Subcontractor’s Road to Unionization
Just because you’re doing work for a massive company like Google doesn’t mean you’re technically working for them. And just because you’re a Google subcontractor doesn’t mean you can’t organize a union, as Ben Gwin and his coworkers did in Pittsburgh.
1,400 Pennsylvania Locomotive Manufacturing Workers Are on the Verge of a Strike
Workers at the Erie, Pennsylvania, train manufacturing complex Wabtec are poised to walk off the job should they decide the company’s contract offer is insufficient. One of their main priorities is a rarity for US unions: the right to strike over grievances.
In Obama’s Working, There Is No Way Out
Barack Obama abandoned his commitments to unions, and many top staffers went to work for the gig economy. In his Netflix series Working, the former president bears witness to workers’ suffering as if it were immutable — and something he had nothing to do with.
Hollywood Is Facing the Prospect of Actors Joining Writers on Strike
The actors’ union SAG-AFTRA enters negotiations with studios today over a new contract. Members just returned a 97.91 percent vote in favor of authorizing a strike — meaning striking film and TV writers could soon be joined on the picket line by actors.
Issue 49: Inside the Teamsters’ Preparations for a UPS Strike
This summer could see 350,000 UPS workers walk off the job in the United States’ largest strike in decades. The Teamsters are getting ready. Here’s a look at how.
Dollar General Is Still Putting Workers in Harm’s Way
Workers say Dollar General continues to understaff its stores and pay poverty wages. The alleged violations have gotten so bad that, this week, shareholders defied the company’s board of directors and approved a proposed third-party audit of safety conditions.
Barboncino Workers Are Forming New York City’s First Unionized Stand-Alone Pizzeria
Workers at the Crown Heights pizzeria Barboncino are organizing a union with Workers United. It would be the first pizzeria of its kind to go union in New York — and perhaps not the last.