In Fast Food, Worker Stress Is the Business Model
In the fast-food industry, worker stress is built into the system by design. The more unnatural and unsustainable the pace, the greater the corporate profits.
19579 Articles by: Elizabeth Mahony
Israel Is Begging for a Brutal Regional War
The United States is largely acting like it’s business as usual in the Middle East and Iran right now. But Israel’s assassinations of top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah have brought us to the precipice of an absolutely disastrous war throughout the region.
How Kamala Harris Ditched Medicare for All
Kamala Harris once championed Medicare for All, calling the US’s current system “inhumane.” As the 2024 election approaches, questions about Harris’s stance on health care have a new urgency.
Greek Unions Want Paid Time Off When It’s Too Hot to Work
Greece’s latest heat wave in July highlighted the danger of 100°F-plus temperatures for workers toiling in the sun. Trade unions are proposing a sensible solution: mandatory, paid stoppages on outdoor work when temperatures reach dangerous levels.
India’s M. N. Roy Was the Pioneer of Postcolonial Marxism
M. N. Roy was a revolutionary activist across national borders, from his home country of India to Mexico and the USSR. Roy rejected Eurocentric versions of Marxism, and his ideas about the postcolonial state are strikingly relevant to Indian politics today.
Turkey’s War in Iraq Is About Building Its Regional Power
Turkey’s war on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party has seen it build a permanent military presence in Iraq. But its de facto occupation is also about building the “Development Road” — a megaproject meant to strengthen Turkey’s power across the region.
The South’s EV Boom Is an Organizing Challenge for Labor
Thanks in part to investments from the Inflation Reduction Act and tariffs on China, the US South is seeing a boom in electric-vehicle manufacturing. The industry’s expansion in the mostly nonunion region presents an urgent organizing challenge for labor.
What Will the Constitutional Challenge to the NLRB Do?
The most likely outcome of the current constitutional challenge to the National Labor Relations Board is not that the Supreme Court will destroy the agency — it’s that the board will be unable to operate in many states while the litigation is proceeding.
The US Is Backing Israel’s Systematic Killing of Journalists
The United States government regularly decries authoritarian press crackdowns around the world. Yet that same government gives billions to Israel as it makes no attempt to hide its policy of killing journalists.
J. D. Vance Fought Health Regulations on the Steel Industry
Despite claiming to champion the interests of US workers, J. D. Vance pressured regulators to abandon proposed rules on steel production meant to protect the health of steelworkers and communities in steel-industry towns.
The Democrats’ “Weird” Glass House
Yes, Republicans are “weird,” but the in-vogue Democratic talking point gets us further away from an economic argument about why Donald Trump is bad for working-class families.
Israel Is Slaughtering Journalists With No Consequences
With Israel’s killing of young journalist Ismail al-Ghoul, the body count of journalists in Gaza continues to grow higher. What kind of country carries out such wanton slaughter of journalists? And why won’t anyone stop it?
On Family Policy, Neither Party Has a Vision of the Good Life
Democrats have far better childcare and education ideas than Republicans, but their tendency to frame such policies as mere “good business” misses what really matters about the policies: the freedom to make life meaningful for both parents and kids.
Sing Sing Is a Humanizing Portrait of the Dehumanized
Prisons serve as giant holding pens for people our society has come to see as subhuman. Sing Sing resists such dehumanization through a tender portrait of the creative capabilities and emotional lives of prison actors.
The Crypto Industry’s 2024 Election Spending Spree
Pro-crypto candidates in the 2024 election cycle are enjoying a major funding boost from the $2.5 trillion cryptocurrency industry, which is fighting hard to reverse regulatory measures put in place by government agencies like the SEC.
The Amazon Labor Union Just Elected New Leadership
In its first-ever elections for top officers, the Amazon Labor Union on Staten Island voted in new leaders backed by the union’s reform caucus. The victorious slate ran on promises of transforming the union and winning a first contract.
The Labour Party Is Promising More Misguided Austerity
The Labour Party’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, is arguing for austerity on the grounds that the government is broke. In fact, the UK’s economic woes are due in large part to a decade-plus of insufficient public investment.
Australia’s Labor Movement Has Abandoned Unemployed Workers
Once the Australian Council for Trade Unions fought for full employment. Today it celebrates Anthony Albanese’s Labor government for its commitment to maintaining high unemployment as an antidote for inflation.
The Colombian Right Can’t Accept a Progressive President
Two years after taking office as Colombia’s first left-wing president, Gustavo Petro still faces tenacious resistance to his agenda. His opponents in Congress have united to block labor and health care reforms that are vital for working-class Colombians.
Israeli Soldiers Accused of Rape and Torture of Palestinians
The accusations of abuses by the Israel Defense Forces against Palestinian detainees in Sde Teiman are growing more gruesome. Last month: dozens of deaths. This week: gang rape.