Troublemakers Blog
February 04, 2015 /
What about the nights I moved humongous, unsteady cargo like coils, pipes, plates, and tires across uneven terrain and stacked them perfectly in the dark, with nothing but the dim light of my heavy lift to guide me? Was I a thief then?
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January 30, 2015 / Jenny Brown
Tipping raises the stakes on sexual harassment in restaurants. With co-workers, “I have more freedom to be like, ‘okay, stop it,’” said one server. “But when a guest does it, then I feel a lot more powerless."
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January 27, 2015 /
As the cries of “what part of illegal don’t you understand” escalate, Aviva Chomsky reminds us that the concept of illegal immigration only came into existence 50 years ago.
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January 21, 2015 /
With unusual public attention focused on coal and oil trains, a railroad workers group is seizing the opportunity to teach the general public “railroading 101”—and rail workers “environmental politics 101.”
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January 17, 2015 /
On a windblown, gray Chicago day 100 years ago, January 17, 1915, Ralph Chaplin left his home on the South Side for a raucous, poor person’s rally at the city’s famous women’s center, Hull House. He asked a visiting friend he’d met organizing coal miners with Mother Jones to listen to the lyrics of a new tune he had been working on: »
January 15, 2015 /
Imagine you’re trapped at the bottom of a mine, 2,000 feet belowground. It is dark, dirty, wet; you have very little food; the water is tinged with oil. And you share this predicament with 32 of your co-workers.
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January 14, 2015 / Alexandra Bradbury
The Laborers union says senators who voted against the Keystone XL Pipeline "killed thousands of jobs." Meanwhile, jobs are killing us.
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January 12, 2015 /
Even public employers are dipping their toes into the "permatemp" economy. Workers designated "trainees" clean Santa Monica bathrooms and lifeguard stations, earning half of what permanent workers earn for the same job.
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January 08, 2015 /
Ever heard of a “FICA alternative plan"? The university implied it would amount to a pay raise and give us more flexible retirement options—but we were skeptical.
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January 07, 2015 /
This significant, comprehensive new history collects for the first time the stories of many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer labor activists. It's essential to a contemporary understanding of union solidarity.
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