An Interview With Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes
Legendary indie singer-songwriter Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes talks to Jacobin about the Iraq War, protest music, and what a more egalitarian music industry would look like.
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Severance Is the Perfect Thriller for the Great Resignation of Our Era
Ben Stiller’s excellent new limited series, Severance, turns the corporate workplace into the setting for a new and timely subgenre: “job horror.”
Chuck Klosterman Remembers the ’90s Wrong
The Nineties is, on the surface, a mixture of '90s pop culture nostalgia and cultural critique. But it also has a political agenda: Chuck Klosterman wants the leftist kids to knock it off.
Teachers Are Right. Reopening Schools Too Early Could Be a Disaster.
Everyone wants schools to reopen, but the Biden administration seems to be ignoring what mounting evidence from overseas shows: many of the newest COVID variants do in fact infect children and promote community spread.
Uber’s Flexible Work+ Campaign Is a Scam to Evade Canada’s Labor Laws
Beneath the shiny rhetoric, Uber’s Flexible Work+ program is just another bid by the company to deny its employees their legal rights, like California's Prop 22. For all its riches, however, Uber is vulnerable to a challenge from workers who know what they’re due.
Living on Poverty Wages Means Living on a Razor’s Edge
We spoke with Fight for $15 activist Terrence Wise, who recently testified before the Senate Budget Committee, about life on low wages, the rhythms of collective protest, and why the Biden administration will pay a price if it abandons its pledge to support the movement's central demand of a $15 minimum wage.
Nina Turner: “Good Ideas Are Not Enough, We Need to Marry Our Ideas to Power”
Former state senator and Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign cochair Nina Turner is running for Congress. In an interview with Jacobin, Turner reflects on the heartbreaks and new opportunities of both Bernie campaigns, the left agenda she will bring to Capitol Hill, and why policies like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal are racial justice issues.
Arby’s Says It Helped Kill the $15 Minimum Wage
Inspire Brands — which owns Jimmy John's, Arby’s, Sonic, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Dunkin’ — bragged in internal documents about its role preventing workers from getting a living wage. $15 an hour and a union is the least we should be demanding from predatory corporations.
The Lead Organizer for the Amazon Union Drive Has No Regrets
In an interview, the lead organizer for the Amazon union campaign in Bessemer says that the drive has built momentum to unionize Amazon despite the defeat — and that “Bezos had better not get too cocky, because them folks are pretty fired up.”
Why Minneapolis Educators Are on Strike
Teachers and support staff in Minneapolis and Saint Paul say they’re no longer willing to let their students pay for the mistakes made by officials who’ve neglected and mismanaged the public education system. Now they’re on strike.
After Almost a Decade, Fight for $15 Has Made Progress — But It’s Not Enough
A national “Fight for $15 and a Union” action yesterday saw thousands of McDonald's workers walk out of their jobs against low pay and disrespect on the job. The decade-long campaign has seen acts of heroism by low-wage workers — but it hasn’t yet been enough to win.
Capitalists Are Escalating Their Shakedown of American Workers
Last year’s modest wage gains have been wiped out by inflation, and prices are up across the board. Meanwhile, the rich are living large on superyachts and private islands — and they’re coming for working Americans’ last scraps of wealth.
80 Years Ago Today, Disney Animation Workers Went on Strike
The Disney cartoonists and animators’ strike that began at a California studio on May 29, 1941, forever changed the labor standards of an industry — and inspired cultural workers to take greater ownership over their labor.
Oakland Longshore Workers Say No to Israeli-Operated Cargo
In response to calls for a boycott of Israel from the Palestinian labor movement, longshore workers in Oakland, California, last week refused to unload cargo from an Israeli shipping operator.
The Rich Breathe Easier Than the Poor
A new study shows that disparities in pulmonary health between the rich and poor have been widening for six decades, setting the stage for vastly unequal, devastating outcomes during the pandemic. The rich quite literally breathe easier than the rest of us.
Nobody Should Be Celebrating the Affordable Care Act
Presidents Obama and Biden yukked it up this weekend in a video celebrating the Affordable Care Act. But the real thrust of Obamacare was always finding ways to pretend to address the health care crisis while protecting the health insurers fueling it.
A For-Profit Housing System Can’t Eliminate Racial Inequality
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s book Race for Profit reveals a basic truth about homeownership in a for-profit housing system: it can never produce equitable, just outcomes and dignified housing for all.
Nora Ephron Wrote Through It
I love Nora Ephron. The world needs more Nora Ephrons. There are potential Noras all around us — they, and we, deserve a society that supports and nourishes and encourages them.
To Pass the PRO Act, We Need to Examine Past Labor Law Reform Failures
The battle for labor law reform has historically been one of the most difficult in US politics. Passing the PRO Act is crucial — but workers may not be able to win it without flexing their strike muscles.
During the 1971 Prosecution of Angela Davis, I Fought the Law — And I Won
When Angela Davis was arrested after two months on the lam in 1971, Michael Myerson interviewed her and a codefendant in jail — turning him into a prosecution’s witness. He was now in a tough spot: Could he defy the prosecution without going to jail for perjury? Luckily, he figured out how.