Daniel Kopp is a writer and trade unionist.
Organized labor has been more effective at defending the welfare state in Belgium than in most European countries. After recent actions resisting austerity plans, a three-day strike this week seeks to finally defeat the right-wing government.
Jeremy Kimbrell was fired from his job at an Alabama Mercedes-Benz factory after playing a leading role in the UAW’s failed effort to unionize the plant in 2024. Jacobin spoke to him about his experience and the union’s ongoing fight to organize the South.
Fifty years ago, women cleaners at a Belgian university went on strike, then set up their own cooperative called the Liberated Broom. A new film shows how they kicked out the boss, starting an experiment in self-management that lasted for 14 years.
On this day in 1941, workers in Belgium launched one of the first strikes in Nazi-ruled Europe. Tens of thousands of strikers risked dire repression to stand up against poverty wages — and showed the working class’s determination to resist occupation.
In Finland, a conservative government including the far-right True Finns has launched a Margaret Thatcher–style attack on job security, unemployment benefits, and the right to strike. Trade unions are fighting to defend the country’s storied social model.