Troublemakers Blog

A Black man in a baseball cap and a T-shirt that says "Home" with the shape of Africa for the "O" speaks to the camera. He is standing in a warehouse, in front of shelves stacked high with folded apparel . Another Black man can be seen behind him, working.
March 15, 2024 /
I remember Wisconsin carpenter Tom Crofton trying years ago to convince his local officers to create a worker cooperative to build affordable housing. Housing was an urgent need, he argued—and the union had the skills, the labor power, the organization, and the financial resources to do it. But the officers wouldn’t even consider the idea. »
Two dozen teachers stand on stairs with signs saying ‘Andover Supports Newton’
March 14, 2024 / Barbara Madeloni
Recently I heard members of the Newton Teachers Association recount the path to their 11-day January strike. The audience at the Massachusetts Teachers Association winter skills conference gave them a standing ovation. »
A group of forty cram into a building lobby with signs saying “Labor for Palestine”
March 05, 2024 /
When street protests seem ignored by the war machine, what are union members to do? »
Head shots of five smiling people.
March 04, 2024 /
Labor Notes staff are busy as a hive, ramping up for our biggest-ever conference. As we do, we’re very grateful to have more capable hands on deck: two wonderful new co-workers plus three terrific interns. »
Two book covers are shown, both mostly the title and author text; one has images of cigarettes and smokestack
February 27, 2024 /
One of the occupational hazards of being a labor activist is over-exposure to “corporate bullshit”—on the job, in the community, and in politics. »
A group of autoworkers sit on a makeshift platform under a window in a factory.
February 23, 2024 /
A new podcast, "Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO," tells the story of the Committee for Industrial Organization (which later became the Congress of Industrial Organizations) and organized millions of workers in the 1930s and '40s. »
Two women in green bandanas that say “bans off our bodies” march with many others
January 25, 2024 /
At Local 911, Chief Steward Emma woke up to an angry text from member Jane about having her time off request refused by the boss. »
An image of the cover of the book, with tech workers standing in front of a big sign that says "Google: End Rater Poverty" in the background.
January 10, 2024 /
Many of us have tried to follow the recent kerfuffle involving Sam Altman’s leadership of the company he founded, OpenAI. In mid-November 2023 he was abruptly fired, then returned to power just five days later. The business press highlighted the implications of this power struggle for the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence and the future influence of »
A group of Amazon workers wearing yellow hi-vis vests stands together after marching on their boss.
December 20, 2023 /
Our union campaign at Amazon’s “superhub” air cargo center, KCVG in Northern Kentucky, is taking off. And not surprisingly that’s prompting the company to go into union-busting overdrive. »
December 19, 2023 / Barbara Madeloni
When Becky Pringle, president of the 3-million-member National Education Association (NEA), the largest union in the country, tweeted, “We join our partner organizations along with Jewish and Muslim leaders across the globe in an urgent call for an end to the violence,” it was one more »

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