A conversation with student and graduate employees about why workers are simultaneously on strike at two universities. Right now, a majority of residential advisers at Kenyon College, organized with the Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee, are on an indefinite strike over unfair labor practices. At the same time, over 1,750 graduate student workers at Indiana University with the …
When workers at Du Nord Craft Spirits decided to form a union, joining UNITE HERE Local 17, the company voluntarily recognized them without any delay and in fact publicized the occasion itself. Du Nord bills itself as the first Black-owned distillery in the United States. “The production staff of Du Nord Craft Spirits chose to form a union …
Black-owned distillery embraces its workers’ union, this week in the war on workers Read More »
How many strikes are there in the United States? It’s a question with obvious importance to labor activists, yet there is no readily accessible answer. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases an annual work stoppage summary in February reporting the number of strikes and lockouts over the prior year—but only those that involved at least 1,000 …
Despite the challenges of organizing during a deadly pandemic, working people across the country (and beyond) continue organizing, bargaining and mobilizing for a better life. This edition begins with: CODE-CWA’s Tech Industry Organizing Efforts Lead to Union Recognition at Mobilize: Workers at Mobilize, a community-organizing app, announced the formation of a new union as part of …
It looks very likely that Democrats will win control of the Senate. That means that for the first time in more than a decade, the Democrats will control both the White House and Congress. The labor movement will and should view this as the time to collect on their hefty investment in the Democratic Party. This …
Unions are hoping that President-elect Joe Biden quickly takes control of the National Labor Relations Board and launches a new era of federal labor policy. Over the past four years, a cabal of Trump appointees, determined to rewrite U.S. labor law, has run the NLRB into the ground. The agency has issued a steady stream of …
Union leaders are hoping to influence Joe Biden’s pick for Labor secretary — but they’re increasingly at odds over who should get the job. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and some of his organization’s largest affiliate unions are singing the praises of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who previously led the city’s Building and Construction Trades Council …
Unions disagree over Biden’s Labor secretary pick Read More »
With the Democrats’ failure to win an outright majority in the Senate and Republicans making surprising gains in the House, Joe Biden’s sweeping promises to expand American labor rights just got a lot harder to fulfill. Proposals pushed by Democratic lawmakers to raise the federal minimum wage to $15, expand workers’ ability to form unions …
Democrats’ lackluster performance in Senate spells trouble for labor Read More »
OAKLAND, Calif. — The myth of lockstep liberal California took a hit this election. Voters in the deep-blue state rejected a progressive push to reinstate affirmative action, sided with technology companies over organized labor and rejected rent control. They are poised to reject a business tax that had been a decadeslong priority for labor unions …
California proves it’s not as liberal as you think Read More »
The police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis ignited the most widespread series of protests in U.S. history. Working people—not only Black, but people of all races—were the driving force. Even labor leaders who are usually reluctant to weigh in on hot social issues spoke out. The challenge now is to bring the militancy and …
The Movement for Black Lives and Labor’s Revival Read More »
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
