Men’s Tennis Players Are Weighing Unionization. But It’s Easier Said Than Done.
Leading men’s tennis players are in preliminary discussions to form a union. Pro sports unions can wield enormous power — but they’re also not always easy to organize.
19144 Articles by: William G. Martin
William G. Martin teaches at SUNY-Binghamton and is co-author of After Prisons? Freedom, Decarceration, and Justice Disinvestment (2016) and a founding member of Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier; he covers local justice matters at www.justtalk.blog
For Players, College Football Is Basically a Feudal System
As the GOP demands college football teams start the season, new research shows that coaches are getting very rich off a system that prohibits athletes from joining a union and being paid for their work.
The First Step on Vietnam’s Long Walk to Freedom
Seventy-five years ago today, Vietnam launched a bid for national freedom with its Declaration of Independence. The French colonial regime answered with brutal repression, kick-starting thirty years of destructive conflict.
Eugene Debs Believed in Socialism Because He Believed in Democracy
Eugene Debs’s unswerving commitment to democracy and internationalism was born out of his revulsion at the tyranny of industrial capitalism. We should carry forth that Debsian vision today — by recognizing that class struggle is the precondition for winning a more democratic world.
New York Teachers Are Still Ready to Strike
New York City teachers stood ready to strike until a deal was reached with the city government today on how to reopen safely. But budgets are strained, the uncertainties are great — and teachers will be watching closely to make sure Mayor Bill de Blasio follows through on his promises.
“We Need To Be Militant About Telling Our Stories”
There’s a brutal history of US intervention in Central America, culminating in the cruelty of today’s border regime. Salvadoran journalist Roberto Lovato speaks to Jacobin about the amnesia that is taking root, and the need for a militant excavation of personal and collective stories.
Let Them Eat Real Estate
Canada’s investor class has enjoyed decades of high profits from real estate, but the national housing crisis reveals the toll this has taken on working-class people. It’s all a textbook example of the private housing market’s inability to meet society’s housing needs.
We Must Learn to Embrace Populism
Thomas Frank’s brilliant new book The People, No focuses on the long elite tradition of anti-populism. But it is really an urgent plea to liberals and radicals alike to embrace a left populism and universalism — or keep on losing.
California Democrats Kill Gas and Oil Regulations After Campaign Donations
Democrats killed legislation protecting California homes and schools from oil and gas operations after big campaign donations and industry-funded junkets.
Finland Is Rallying Around a Six-Hour Workday — And So Should We
Finland’s social-democratic prime minister, Sanna Marin, has called for a six-hour workday without loss of pay, allowing Finns more free time and a fairer distribution of employment. As the pandemic forces us to reassess how working life is organized, we should take up labor’s historic call for a shorter workday.
After the Beirut Explosion, Beware the Helping Hand of France and the US
In the wake of this month’s devastating explosion in Beirut, French and American leaders have made a show of pledging their support to Lebanon. But many have greeted these messages with suspicion in light of the disastrous history of French and US involvement in the country since it attained independence in 1943.
Chadwick Boseman (1976–2020)
More than any other actor of his era, Chadwick Boseman, who played a range of black heroes from Thurgood Marshall to T’Challa, had a capacity to inspire his audience and evoke a sense of pride in the triumphs and struggles of black people.
Strippers Are Workers With the Power to Unionize
Strippers have at least one thing in common with Uber drivers: they’re the victims of rampant labor misclassification at the hands of their bosses. But Brandi Campbell, an adult dancer in Ohio, fought the practice in court and won. The law is clear: strippers are workers with the right to unionize and strike.
There May Be No Choice but to Nationalize Oil and Gas — and Renewables, Too
The global oversupply of oil and gas before the pandemic, plus the massive slump in demand as a result of lockdown, has put the profitability of the sector in extreme crisis. The case for nationalizing energy production has never been stronger.
Japan’s Shinzō Abe Was an Uninspiring Leader Who Prospered by Default
Shinzō Abe became Japan’s longest serving prime minister thanks to the weakness of his political rivals. But Abe never realized his dream of rewriting the Japanese constitution to legitimize the nationalist militarism that was central to his worldview.
Wall Street Doesn’t Like Ed Markey
Ed Markey, the Democratic Massachusetts senator facing a tough primary challenge from Joe Kennedy III, is known for the Green New Deal — but he also has a history of drawing the ire of Wall Street.
How Undergraduate Workers Transformed Their Union to Fight the Neoliberal University
Student workers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have used their union to fight for decent pay, better working conditions, and substantive safety measures in response to coronavirus. Three of those workers explain how they did it.
Andrzej Wajda’s Hidden History of the Polish Working Class
Polish director Andrzej Wajda created an exhilarating form of political cinema that helped shape events as well as depicting them on screen. His films stand as a powerful document of working-class history in Poland, and a glimpse of a socialist democracy that might have been.
Last Week’s Pro Athletes Strikes Could Become Much Bigger Than Sports
Professional athletes have an enormous amount of power that they put to good use this past week in a series of unprecedented strikes. But workers of all types have similar kinds of power — and could, just like athletes, use it to shut society down to fight injustice.
What’s the Difference Between Kyle Rittenhouse and the Police?
Rather than asking whether law enforcement and vigilantes like Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse support or oppose one another, we can see them as different groups who are both performing the same function — policing society.