Sick Pay Should Be Enough to Live On
Faced with the threat of coronavirus, Boris Johnson has said statutory sick pay will apply from the first day off work. But the meager payment isn’t enough to live on — and won’t even be made to all workers.
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Comrade Britney Spears, We Salute You
Britney Spears called for a general strike and wealth redistribution in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore we are legally obliged to publish something about it.
Workers Will Still Have to Fight Under a President Joe Biden
Joe Biden says he’ll be a pro-labor president. But his funding from anti-union corporate executives, his Obama administration record, and his flirtation with Silicon Valley all point to a gap between rhetoric and reality.
Biden Aides’ Corporate Ties Should Surprise No One
Newly released documents show Joe Biden's White House staffers recently working as consultants for Lyft, billionaire foundations, and an Israeli facial recognition firm. It's another reminder of the revolving door between big business and the state.
Canada Needs Dental Care for All
Canada desperately needs to expand its public health coverage to include dental care for all — and the NDP can lead the fight for it.
India Walton Is a Sign of What the Socialist Movement Could Become
India Walton’s victory in Buffalo is an enormous advance. With a clear political strategy, the socialist movement could become less dominated by professionals and more driven by the working-class base it requires.
Ban Private Beaches
There are few summertime activities more essential than trips to the beach. But huge swaths of waterfront throughout the country are private property, off-limits to the public. This is a crime: all beaches should be public.
NLRB Says Trucking Companies Are Illegally Misclassifying Port Drivers to Stop Unionization
Logistics companies are reportedly engaged in illegal union busting at the LA and Long Beach ports — including by misclassifying employees as independent contractors. The NLRB wants the employers to reclassify drivers and compensate them for lost income.
How China’s Labor Migrants Write Poetry in the Workshop of the World
The labor of hundreds of millions of rural-to-urban migrants has spurred China’s incredible levels of growth. This social transformation has birthed a tradition of migrant worker poetry, documenting the hardship of the workers behind China’s economic miracle.
Ben Tarnoff Wants to Socialize the Internet
When it comes to internet infrastructure, the for-profit model is presented as inevitable — but political decisions built today's internet, and political movements could build something different.
Antiabortion Democrat Henry Cuellar Is Now Seeking to Gut Labor Rights
Henry Cuellar, the conservative, antiabortion Democratic congressman — who Nancy Pelosi called a “fighter for hardworking families” — has shocked the labor movement with a radical bill seeking to eviscerate workers’ rights.
In Emily the Criminal, Crime Pays When Nothing Else Will
Aubrey Plaza’s title character in Emily the Criminal is trapped by crushing student loan debt, a punitive criminal justice system, and low wages. She, like so many other Americans, feels like she’s out of legitimate options — because she is.
Applying for Unemployment Shouldn’t Be This Difficult
Many workers who qualify for unemployment don’t receive immediate benefits due to confusing application processes and unwieldy websites. A new federal funding proposal could fix these long-standing issues — but it’s in danger of being axed.
FTX Convinced Poor People Their Money Was Safe in Crypto. It Wasn’t.
Many low-income people invested in the now-disgraced crypto exchange FTX. That’s because the exchange allegedly targeted poor and underbanked people and convinced them that FTX was just as safe as a regular bank.
British Universities Keep Squeezing Faculty and Students Tighter and Tighter
The UK’s neoliberal university system is pushing more and more faculty into precarious, low-paid positions while charging students ever more exorbitant fees.
Hollywood Screenwriters Have Always Known That Moviemaking Is a Form of Labor
The Hollywood screenwriters' strike has deep historical roots: stretching back to Hollywood’s Golden Age, writers and many others in the industry have insisted that filmmaking is a form of labor — and fought for their rights as workers.
Kamala Harris Didn’t Defend Lina Khan
Kamala Harris stayed silent during the election as big Democratic donors attacked chief antitrust regulator Lina Khan — at the same time Khan’s agency launched an investigation into the employer of Harris’s brother-in-law and top advisor.
Metal Was Born in Britain’s Urban Working Class
Ozzy Osbourne’s working-class roots were central to the invention of heavy metal. But the world that birthed Black Sabbath is gone — and the conditions created by Britain’s postwar welfare state are long out of reach for today’s musicians.
Crypto Is Making Everything Worse
There’s lots of breathless chatter out there about how cryptocurrency will reshape the world. But the truth about crypto is simple: capitalists are using it to get rich and screw the rest of us.
UPS Teamsters Are Ready to Strike
With UPS making astronomical profits and public support for unions holding strong, a Teamsters strike at UPS this August could be a watershed moment for the American working class. Two UPS drivers explain what’s at stake in the potential strike.