Sarah Hughes

VIDEO: What is Visual Strategy? Projecting Power in the Street

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Sarah Hughes

Holding a union sign at a picket line or rally is a rite of passage for a fighting union. But how often do we stop to think about how we are using these moments of collective action to strengthen our sense of unity, pride, and power?

Labor Notes hosted the co-creators of Look Loud in a webinar filled with practical tips about how your union presents its message and power to the world, the joy of making beautiful and effective signage together, and how to stage rallies for maximum impact.

Last year’s longest-running strike came to an end in early January when nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, overwhelmingly voted to ratify their new contract and return to work.

Striking Massachusetts Nurses Outwait Corporate Giant Tenet

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Woman in blue coat facing sideways with hand up among many picketers with hands up, who are holding signs in support of St. Vincent striking nurses

Nurses and mental health techs at a Tukwila, Washington, facility have won their safety strike after three and a half months on the picket line.

Washington Mental Health Workers Win Safety Strike

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Workers picket in a circle. Many carry purple printed SEIUHealthcare signs that say "Safe Staffing Saves Lives" or "United for Our Patients." In the foreground is one worker viewed in profile and three silhouetted from behind; two of these workers wear head scarves and one wears the conical style of hat common in Southeast Asia.

Sixty thousand film and television crew members are finally set to vote on tentative agreements announced in mid-October. Emboldened by the high turnout for their strike authorization vote, many members are continuing to speak out about the long hours and dangerous conditions they endure to produce profits for Netflix, Amazon, and Disney.

Interview: Why I’m Voting No on the IATSE Hollywood Basic Tentative Agreement

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Picket signs stacked against a wall. They say "FIGHTING FOR LIVING WAGES," "ON STRIKE NO CONTRACT," and "TOGETHER WE RISE" and have the IATSE logo. There is also a fire extinguisher in the photo.

The union representing 60,000 film and television crew workers reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood producers October 16. The deal averted a first-ever national strike by the Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE), which was set to begin the next night—at least for the time being. The contracts will be voted on in the next several weeks.

Shocking Death on Set Shows What’s at Stake in IATSE Film and TV Crew Contract Fight

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IATSE preparing picketing signs on tables in rows in room with gray floor.

At midnight on September 30, the national agreement expired between Kaiser Permanente and the Alliance of Healthcare Unions: 21 locals representing 52,000 workers. Now 35,000 of them have authorized strikes.

The heart of the conflict is a two-tier wage proposal, a rarity in health care. The company wants to create regional wage scales for everyone hired after 2022—meaning a giant cut in pay.

Kaiser isn’t hurting financially; last year it netted $6.4 billion, and it even returned $500 million in CARES Act funding to the federal government.

Kaiser's Outrageous Two-Tier Wage Proposal May Provoke a Massive Strike

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Three women dressed in red hold hand-lettered signs: "Safe Staffing Saves Lives" and "Patients Over Profits"

Two thousand nurses, clerical workers, technologists, and service workers have walked out of Mercy Health in Buffalo, New York, in an open-ended strike over the hiring and retention of workers throughout the hospital.

At 6 a.m. on October 1, the sky just starting to lighten, an already full picket line cheered the night shift workers flooding out the front doors to take a stand against Catholic Health System (CHS), which owns Mercy Hospital of Buffalo and two other hospitals in the area.

Two Thousand Hospital Workers Strike in Buffalo

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Workers with "On Strike" picket signs march past a hospital in the near-dark, silhouetted by one bright light.

A terrifying scene unfolded the evening of August 1 at Cascade Behavioral Health Center in Tukwila, a suburb of Seattle. A volatile patient had stolen a badge and set of keys from an employee and was running between treatment units for mental health and addiction, taunting patients, vandalizing offices, making lewd comments, touching female staff and patients, and lashing out at attempts to restrain him.

A “Code Gray” was called—a signal for staff to rush to help restrain the man before he could hurt himself or others.

'If Your House Is On Fire You Run': Workers Strike for Safety At Understaffed Mental Health Center

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On the same day that their employer announced it had made more than $400 million in profits during the Covid-19 pandemic, the nurses of St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, declared their intention to strike.

“St. V’s” is part of the Dallas-based Tenet Health—one of the largest and most profitable for-profit hospital corporations in the country. It is refusing to back down on the number one issue for nurses: safe staffing ratios.

As of this writing, close to 90 percent of the 800 nurses have been on strike since March 8.

Massachusetts Nurses Face Down For-Profit Health Care Giant Tenet in Daring Strike

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Two nurses hold a green St. Patrick's Day banner that reads "And the righteous did cast out the evil from the land." The banner pictures a group of nurses chasing off a snake labeled Tenet.

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