Let Workers Lead
The “worker-to-worker” organizing model adopted by many of the most dynamic unions and campaigns in the country has enormous promise for revitalizing labor — in large part because it puts workers themselves in the drivers’ seat.
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Hope Springs Eternal
When and where organized labor’s been on the move.
Let’s Get to Work
"Salting" built the early American labor movement -- and it can revive it today.
Labor Must Take Up the Fight for Abortion Rights
In the labor movement, we are only as strong as the weakest among us. Revoking the right to abortion undercuts much of the workforce’s bargaining power — which means reproductive freedom is a cause the entire labor movement must champion.
A Tidal Wave of State and Private Repression Is Targeting Pro-Palestinian Voices
Critics of Israel’s merciless war on Gaza are facing threats of government prosecution and blacklists or firings. In this neo-McCarthyist environment, anything pro-Palestine is being made to carry the whiff of bigotry or even incitement to violence.
Unions Need to Spend Big to Seize the Day
Even as union density has declined, unions have spent little on organizing while amassing vast war chests. But the UAW and Workers United are showing that spending big on strikes and organizing pays off.
Marxism Shows Us How Our Problems Are Connected
Why is there so much misery in a world of plenty? Why do private profit and wealth come before human needs and lives? Marxism has answers to these questions — answers that are actually easy to understand.
The Buffalo Bills’ New Stadium Is a Scam
The billionaire owners of the Buffalo Bills, Terry and Kim Pegula, have struck a deal to collect $850 million in public money for a new stadium. It’s a scam we’ve seen time and time again — one that enriches a team’s owners at the expense of local residents.
Amazon Workers Are Organizing, and Elected Officials Are Supporting Them
A reborn workers’ movement needs both organized workplace militancy and left-wing politicians that back them. Sunday’s Staten Island Amazon rallies — attended by Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and other elected officials — featured both.
How a Wisconsin Autoworker Dodged Death Threats to Grow a Fighting, Multiracial Union
Jon Melrod was part of a wave of student radicals who took jobs in factories in the 1970s. He spoke to Jacobin about life in working-class Wisconsin, becoming a workplace leader, and how to merge shop-floor fights with a broader left politics.
From the Progressive Era to Today, Employers Have Always Been Petty Dictators
Today’s union-busters owe much to the bosses of the Progressive Era, who refused to recognize unions and fired labor organizers. Employers have never been “enlightened,” instead fighting tooth and nail to maintain their dictatorial powers.
What You Should Have Read in 2022
We published 2,500 original essays in 2022. Here’s a recap in case you missed one or two of them.
Inside the Teamsters’ Preparations for a UPS Strike
This summer could see 350,000 UPS workers walk off the job, the United States’ largest strike in the 21st century thus far. The Teamsters are getting ready. Here’s a look at how.
Jane McAlevey’s Plan for How to Build a Fighting Labor Movement
As a longtime labor organizer, scholar, and writer, Jane McAlevey has repeatedly articulated how mass numbers of workers can organize, negotiate, strike, and change the world. In an extended interview with Jacobin, McAlevey reflects on her life and work.
Unions Are for Fighting the Boss. Don’t Turn Them Into Toothless Guilds.
Manhattan Institute fellow Allison Schrager argues in a nationally syndicated opinion piece that unions can best serve their members by focusing on insurance schemes and cooperating to find boss-friendly solutions. That’s nonsense.
Christmas in July
When and where organized labor’s been on the move.
US Labor Should Act Boldly and Choose Solidarity With Palestine
While some US unions and many labor activists are calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, most union officials are keeping silent. They're forgetting the old labor adage: “an injury to one is an injury to all.”
The United Auto Workers Are Looking to Unionize the Whole Auto Industry
In the wake of its historic strike victory, the United Auto Workers says thousands of nonunion autoworkers have reached out asking for support in organizing their plants. The UAW already has plans in motion to unionize the whole US auto sector.
The US Labor Movement Experienced a Breakthrough Year in 2023
In 2023, half a million workers, including machinists, teachers, baristas, nurses, hotel housekeepers, actors, screenwriters, and autoworkers, went on strike and won. Their historic gains underscore the momentum of a rising reform movement in US unions.
In 2023, the US Working Class Fought Back
More than half a million workers in the US went on strike this year, winning gains not only for themselves but for nonunion workers too. While there’s much more work to be done, 2023 was a year when the working class punched back at the capitalist class.