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Flipcharts on the wall list workplace hazards including combustible dust and bloodborne pathogens

Workplace Safety Is Not a Game »

August 22, 2024 | United Electrical Workers Education Department

Employer-sponsored “safety games” or “safety contests” may seem benign on the surface, but there’s a deadly motive.


Employers are rediscovering an old scheme to con workers into undermining their own job safety. These games are designed to reward employees for not reporting accidents.

Striking Is in the Air at Boeing »

August 22, 2024 | Jenny Brown

Mondays and Wednesdays are loud at the vast Boeing factory in Everett, Washington. As the Machinists’ contract campaign heats up, the workforce has been serenading management at lunch with air horns, train horns, and vuvuzelas—plus chants of “Out the Door in ’24.”
In a bright sunny room, a man in a black polo shirt and jeans stands on the left, speaking into mic, while about 30 people seated in chairs on the right listen. Most or all appear Latino/a.

Grocery Teamster Gets Job Back, Prepares to Organize for More »

August 14, 2024 | Luis Feliz Leon

Sixteen months after his illegal firing, Juan Vargas walked into work in June to cheers and pats on the back from his co-workers at the Anthony Marano Company, a major produce distributor in the Chicago area. He won full back pay.
Book covers for six translations of Secrets of a Successful Organizer, in various colors, most featuring the bullseye logo. The Spanish tenants one instead shows two hands joined by the pinkies. A graphic from inside that book shows the "bullseye" diagram adapted to an onion, with the core group in the center, activists and supporters in layers of the onion, distant people outside the onion, and hostiles represented as a knife cutting the onion.

Secrets of a Successful Organizer Now Available in Seven Languages »

August 13, 2024 | Dan DiMaggio

We are happy to report that Secrets of a Successful Organizer has now been translated into seven languages: Spanish, Japanese, German, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Swedish, and, most recently, Danish and Quebecois French.
Four port workers in hardhats and neon vests look tiny as they stand beside a line of trucks with a stack of huge containers behind them.

East Coast Longshore Contract Clock Ticks Down »

August 12, 2024 | Joe DeManuelle-Hall

Union negotiations covering longshore workers on the East and Gulf Coasts have been stalled since June 10, bringing the union closer to a potential strike at the September 30 contract expiration.
Several people work around a table adding colorful paints to a banner. Photo: ATF

New Mexico Teachers Organize Rainbow Contingent in Pride Parade »

August 6, 2024 | Sarah Hughes

Jamie Shelton can’t prove that someone shot out her windshield because of her eighth-grade Queer History curriculum a few years ago, but she has a hunch.
An electric coach bus drives under an underpass with city buildings in the background

Lack of Worker Input Creates Bumps in the Road for EV Buses »

August 6, 2024 | Audrey Elberger

Electric buses are rolling out nationally, and promise to help clean up city air.
A crowd of 40 in green holds yellow and green signs saying “Fair Pay Now” and “Contract Now”

Leadership in AFSCME DC 37 is Stifling Rank and File Engagement, Members Say »

July 31, 2024 | Duncan Freeman

(Reprinted from The Chief.)
Metal ribs and girders of a factory being constructed are visible, with a red construction crane

New ‘Battery Belt’ Opens Organizing Front in the South »

July 31, 2024 | Ben Carroll

Towering cranes pierce the sky, contrasting with the rural surroundings. It’s an early morning in June, the air already gauzy and thick, and construction is humming at the Toyota Battery mega-site in Liberty, North Carolina.
A group of workers, diverse in race and gender, poses together on the factory floor. Most appear young; one wears a prosthetic arm. A few have fists raised and most smile or wear determined expressions. Most wear shorts and some wear blue work vests.

Reform Caucus Wins Amazon Labor Union Officer Elections »

July 30, 2024 | Luis Feliz Leon

Amazon workers at the JFK8 fulfillment center on Staten Island, New York, voted to elect reform officers in the first-ever leadership election.

Letter carriers stand outdoors in the rain, rallying, listening to a speaker with a mic. Printed picket signs say "We deliver--how about a fair contract?" "End closed bargaining" "Harder work deserves a fair contract" and "Fair contract now."

Letter Carriers Convention Shapes Up to Be Open Bargaining Showdown »

July 29, 2024 | Tim Bash

City letter carriers have been working without a contract for more than 400 days, and leaders of the Letter Carriers (NALC) still refuse to provide any substantive updates from bargaining.
A chanting crowd stands in front of the White House fence. Three people are helping hold a large cardboard sign that says "UE stands with Palestine" with the union's lightning-bolt logo and a slice of watermelon. Other printed signs say "American Postal Workers Union: Fighting for Justice" and "Biden, you are starving Gaza. Permanent ceasefire now!"

Unions Representing Six Million Workers Demand an End to All U.S. Military Aid to Israel »

July 23, 2024 | Luis Feliz Leon

Seven national unions representing 6 million workers in the United States called on President Joe Biden today to end all military aid to Israel.
Inset photo of Sal Rosselli, a white man in red NUHW scrubs, speaking on a mic at a rally. Behind this, a black-and-white photo of a racially diverse, mostly female group of NUHW workers pose on strike. Most carry printed picket signs with messages like "Patients before profits" and "Kaiser, don't deny my patients [the rest is obscured]." One woman carries a large handpainted sign with a fist logo and the words "Huelga de NUHW," Spanish for NUHW strike.

Militant Health Care Union Leader Sal Rosselli Retires »

July 23, 2024 | Cal Winslow

I get a kick watching Sal Rosselli at Labor Notes, always meeting, talking, on a panel, on the move, working, full of energy, out of the limelight, but known by many, health care workers especially.
Three older people in a crowd hold signs saying “Our lives are not for Profit” and “Retirees want Medicare, Not Corporate Greed”

‘Elections Have Consequences’: NYC Teacher Retirees Save Their Medicare »

July 22, 2024 | Jenny Brown

The dissident Retiree Advocate caucus in the giant New York City teachers union won a decisive victory over the incumbents in the retiree chapter election June 14, winning 63 percent of the 27,000 votes cast. Turnout jumped compared to previous elections.
Warmly dressed people march with LIUNA and IBEW union signs opposing "Right to work for less" in Wisconsin.

Viewpoint: I’m a Teamster Against Trump »

July 18, 2024 | Dan Campbell

I worked hard to elect Sean O’Brien. He is the right president for the Teamsters union. Donald Trump is the wrong president for my country—and I will work like hell to defeat him.

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