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.
19655 Articles by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
Pay Raises Can Help Save the UK’s Public Sector
In the UK, chronic underinvestment has led to threadbare public services being delivered by an underpaid, overstretched workforce. Meeting striking public sector workers’ demands for higher pay is crucial to stopping the decline of vital services like the NHS.
US Presidents Keep Bungling Disaster Responses
Joe Biden’s mishandling of the Maui wildfire destruction is the second bungled disaster response of his presidency, and follows other, even worse failures from previous presidents. The people of Maui will suffer, but so will public trust in government.
Donald Trump Has Remade the GOP in His Own Image. He’s Not Going Anywhere.
Recent polls show Republican voters now reject many of the old GOP shibboleths that Donald Trump trashed — and that they continue to rally around their new leader, indictments and all. Joe Biden can’t just base his campaign on being “not Trump.”
The Antiabortion Judge With a Financial Ethics Problem
For years, Allyson Ho has received payments from the Alliance Defending Freedom. When the right-wing advocacy group argued a case in her husband’s court, Judge James Ho cast a decisive vote to cut off remote access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
No, Pride Isn’t for Cops, Too
Stonewall was a riot — but in some cities, Pride officials have banned “political” groups and welcomed cops. Now activists are organizing radical Pride marches to show that Pride is a protest, not just a party.
Autoworkers Are Getting Ready to Strike to Win Historic Demands
On September 14, the United Auto Workers’ contract with the Big Three automakers will expire. When it does, members may very well go on strike to win their ambitious demands, including abolishing tiers and establishing the right to strike over plant closures.
Stop Cop City Activists Are Facing 20 Years in Prison for Distributing Flyers
Charley Tennenbaum, a Stop Cop City activist, was charged with felony intimidation for flyering about the officers who shot an organizer 57 times. After months in prison, Tennenbaum spoke to Jacobin about Georgia’s crackdown on civil liberties.
No, the Federal Reserve Hasn’t Brought Inflation Down
Inflation in the US continues to fall from its peak last summer. But the Fed hasn’t been responsible for lower inflation — and understanding why is crucial to advancing progressive policy goals like maintaining high employment and expanding public investment.
The Welfare Rights Movement Wanted Society to Value the Work of Child-Rearing
The welfare rights movement of the 1960s and ’70s resisted invasive policies like caseworker “midnight raids” and cuts to already-miserly public assistance. Their animating vision: that society treat every mother and child with dignity.
A New Louisville Ordinance Aims to Block Public Funds From Aiding Gentrification
Across the United States, housing developers are receiving huge amounts of public money to spur displacement of longtime working-class residents. A proposed Louisville, Kentucky, ordinance would stop that.
In UAW’s Negotiations With the Big Three Automakers, Ending Tiers Is a Central Demand
In its negotiations with the Big Three Automakers, the United Auto Workers wants to eliminate the lower-tier status hurting many electric vehicle workers. A rank-and-file autoworker explains why the fight is central to a just green transition.
Joe Biden’s DOJ Is Claiming “There Is No Constitutional Right to a Stable Climate”
In the same week large swaths of the US were under extreme heat warnings, Joe Biden’s Justice Department filed its most recent motion to dismiss a landmark climate case by arguing that nothing in the Constitution guarantees the right to a secure climate.
Carbon Removal Should Be a Public Good
The Biden administration recently announced badly needed investments in carbon capture. But it shouldn’t be handing out money to fossil fuel companies — carbon capture technology needs to be a state-run public service.
Eugene Debs Really Loved Bicycles
Here’s a summer story you never knew you needed: an 1895 article by Eugene Debs waxing poetic about bicycles, which he said would “liberate millions” and bring “the enrapturing panorama of nature” to all.
The Right Uses College Campuses as Its Training Grounds
Conservatives love to bemoan their supposed status as oppressed minorities in universities. But the college campus has long been a key site for the Right’s recruitment and training of future reactionary leaders and foot soldiers.
Remembering the Revolutionary Cinema of Pino Solanas
Argentine filmmaker Fernando “Pino” Solanas was the father of Third Cinema, the left-wing Latin American filmmaking movement of the 1960s and ’70s. In this 2016 interview with Pablo Iglesias, Solanas talks about his life, his work, and his politics.
When Peoria Banned Paul Robeson
In April 1947, Paul Robeson, the outspoken leftist artist and singer, was barred from performing in Peoria, Illinois. The repressive move, though fought by a radical labor union of black and white workers, prefigured the Red Scare that would soon envelop the country.
Landlords Are Pushing the Supreme Court to End Rent Control
Two landlord lobbying groups are petitioning the Supreme Court to overturn New York City’s rent stabilization law, which would allow further countrywide challenges to rent control. Real estate billionaires friendly with court justices are backing the move.
UPS Teamsters Have Won Big. But for Some Workers, Raised Expectations Have Outpaced Gains.
At UPS, Teamsters just won a historic tentative agreement. Some workers are looking at what the union won without a strike and concluding it should have demanded even more — and creating demands for the next contract fight.