With millions of people ordering basic necessities direct to their homes, the pandemic has massively strengthened big distributors like FedEx and Amazon. But while official discourse celebrates delivery drivers as “heroes,” the logistics firms themselves have used the crisis to undermine workers’ most basic rights.
Over its 25-year rule in Madrid, the right-wing Partido Popular has given rise to vast webs of corruption, widespread privatizations, and a disastrous mishandling of COVID-19. But its Thatcherite revolution has also forged a new voter base loyal to the ruling party — meaning predictions of imminent collapse are likely premature.
The rise of casual work has multiplied uncertainty, lowered wages, undermined conditions, and handed power to employers.
Amid the pandemic, Uber and Lyft drivers are more precarious than ever. Even as the companies dodge court rulings, the battle for drivers to be legally classified as employees is growing.
A new book capturing the voices of workers in Silicon Valley’s tech industry — from software engineers to cafeteria workers — reminds us that the relentlessness of labor exploitation is just one side of the story. The other is the persistence of worker resistance.
As Secretary of Labor, Bernie Sanders could do a lot to empower American workers. But the working class might be better served with Bernie pushing for pro-labor legislation outside the Biden administration rather than inside it.
The entrepreneurial reality show Shark Tank is saturated with the absurdity of twenty-first-century capitalism. But watching it, you can’t help but think about how its basic premise — helping ordinary people with extraordinary ideas implement them on a wide scale — could be carried out under socialism.
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.
We don’t have a labor party in the US, but as of earlier this month, we do have a Labor Caucus in Congress. We talked to Wisconsin representative Mark Pocan about the caucus’s plans.
Reforms instituted by the US–Mexico–Canada Agreement have been critical to enforcing labor rights and supporting independent unions in Mexico. Protecting and expanding these measures can help to improve pay and working conditions across the continent.
We can’t talk about the rise of right-wing populists like Donald Trump, reactionary and bizarre conspiracy theories like QAnon, and the increasingly pervasive sense of nihilism across global politics without talking about neoliberalism.
Recent survey data show that Americans have lost their faith in the future. Socialism can restore it.
The Morrison government has proposed sweeping changes to Australian labor laws intended to cut wages, entrench precarious work, and cripple unions. The proposed changes would sweep away the remnants of collective bargaining and hand dictatorial power to bosses.
From California to Massachusetts, companies like Uber and Lyft are promoting legislation that misclassifies gig workers. What’s worse, they’ve convinced some people that their pursuit of cheap labor is actually a crusade for equality.
Hu Anyan’s I Deliver Parcels in Beijing describes life working in China’s logistics and service trades. Anyan’s account reveals differences in context between Chinese and US workers that indicate the difficulty of international working-class solidarity.
Australia’s pension funds control nearly $3 trillion of workers’ capital, but they’re currently dominated by corporate interests. The labor movement should take back control over them from bankers and use the funds to build a better future.
Under the guise of helping businesses, the GOP is working to bar medical leave mandates in state by state across the country.
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.
Italy's new premier, Mario Draghi, has pointed to "digitalization" as the key to economic recovery, heralding tax incentives to boost start-ups and foreign investment. But for all the breathless talk of digital revolution, Draghi's recipes are all-too familiar: rolling out the red carpet for the likes of Elon Musk while doing nothing to help the millions of unemployed.
Jaslin Kaur is a socialist running for New York City Council. In an interview with Jacobin, she talks about the desperate need for debt relief for New York taxi drivers, cutting the New York Police Department’s massive budget, and the spurious attacks on socialists as “white gentrifiers.”