Jenny Brown

Student Guestworkers Pressure McDonald's

Foreign students on cultural exchange visas walked off the job again, this time from three McDonald’s restaurants. Can guestworker programs incorporate labor rights?

Boeing’s ‘Angry Nerds’ Reject Contract as Dreamliner Crisis Continues

Seven thousand technical workers at Boeing narrowly rejected the aircraft company’s final contract offer on Tuesday and authorized a strike.

Climate Change Is Drowning Out ‘Jobs vs. Environment’ Debate

The old argument that unions must choose between jobs and the environment is losing its grip, as climate change becomes more evident and more urgent.

In Walmart and Fast Food, Unions Scaling Up a Strike-First Strategy

Small but highly publicized strikes by Walmart retail and warehouse workers last fall set the labor movement abuzz and gained new respect for organizing methods once regarded skeptically.

“The labor movement is all about results,” says Dan Schlademan, who directs the Making Change at Walmart project of the Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). “The results are creating the energy.”

Walmart is a particularly rich target because the company is so large that it sets wages and prices among suppliers and competitors.

In a Year of Politicians and Bad News, Surprising Stories of Resistance

After a slog of an election season, workers braved high unemployment rates to strike their low-wage jobs in 2012.

Walmart Nervous as Black Friday Strike Nears

Plans for Black Friday walkouts at Walmart stores have spread dramatically, in what has been dubbed the first “viral strike.” Organizers suggest that protests may hit 1,000 stores, including what the group calls “marquee events” in nine cities.

Toronto Retail Workers Defend Holidays

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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.

Enough With the Just In Time Schedules, Say Retail Workers

A familiar cry for the 40-hour week has gone up, but among retail workers the meaning is new. Part-time workers are demanding an end to erratic scheduling and a chance to work enough hours to survive.

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