Troublemakers Blog

December 07, 2012 /
When airport workers in Oakland, California, rallied yesterday to threaten a strike, they were joined by non-union workers from food outlets like Subway and Auntie Anne's. Their action came on the heels of a solidarity picket where workers from one union helped another in a 24-hour strike. »
December 03, 2012 / Jane Slaughter
Workers who make underbodies for the Mustang pulled off a mini-strike and work-to-rule last Friday. These are the sorts of wildcat actions that were frequent in the United Auto Workers’ early days—and a lot faster than the “obey now, grieve later, wait months for a solution” grievance procedure. »
November 30, 2012 /
Activists protested at the steps of GM’s world headquarters in Detroit yesterday, chanting “down with exploitation, up with mediation!” Jorge Parra, former GM worker from Colombia, in the eighth day of his third hunger strike, led the demonstration. »
November 29, 2012 /
Employees of the Hot and Crusty restaurant in Manhattan have signed a groundbreaking first contract that gives their union control over who the bakery hires. »
November 28, 2012 /
When Walmart workers all over the country asked for support for their Black Friday pickets and strike, Occupy Detroit decided to organize an action. A few of us started conversations with workers at stores in the area. »
November 20, 2012 / Jenny Brown
While Walmart workers protest having to work Thanksgiving, retail workers in Toronto—who’ve never been forced to work on holidays—are trying to fend off a push for holiday openings from big box retailers there. »
November 16, 2012 / Jane Slaughter
When the Alliance for Retired Americans rallied at an Orlando Social Security office November 8, workers came out, spoke to the crowd, and said they would put up “Don’t Cut My Social Security” signs in their cubicles. Social Security »
November 09, 2012 /
At the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) convention last week, local officers and rank and filers dissected bargaining now underway with UPS. Remarkably, members were focused not on concessions but on advances their union has vowed to win. »
November 01, 2012 / Alexandra Bradbury
The Postal Service is using environmental regulation as a fig leaf for its latest privatization ploy. Postal workers, politicians, and community activists staged a Halloween rally yesterday outside Representative Darrell Issa’s office in Vista, California, calling for Congress to “carve the pumpkin, not the postal eagle.” »
October 31, 2012 /
After months of campaigning vigorously for President Obama, unions made a “hard pivot” today and jumped into action to head off threats to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The AFL-CIO and allies planned »

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