Troublemakers Blog
February 22, 2010 /
The “reinvention” of the “New GM” has begun with the opening of a lithium-ion battery plant in Brownstown, Michigan, near Detroit. The event was remarkable not only because the Brownstown plant signals GM’s return to the production of an electric vehicle but also because, for the first time in about 30 years, GM has opened a non-union plant in the U.S.
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February 19, 2010 /
The mantra is jobs, and the government has unlocked the public coffers to subsidize employers that are hiring. But what kind of jobs are they creating with our tax dollars? In New York, the Teamsters are putting the heat on employers only too happy to pocket public money while creating lousy jobs and fighting unions.
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February 18, 2010 /
Book Review: Sisters in the Brotherhoods: Working Women Organizing for Equality in New York City, by Jane LaTour. As a journeyman electrician in Portland, Oregon, I hadn’t thought of my choice to enter the trades as a political act. It was eye-opening to learn from Jane LaTour’s book that for some of the pioneers this was their aim.
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February 16, 2010 /
A Labor Notes fundraising party in the Bay Area on Superbowl Sunday raised more than $1,500 to send young activists to the Labor Notes Conference April 23-25 in Detroit. At the “Superbowl/Anti-Superbowl” party, guests divided into separate spaces to watch the game or to ignore it. We asked for a donation of $20, or »
February 15, 2010 /
October’s national “No” vote on concessions is still ricocheting off shop floors at Ford.
The scene is the UAW Local 600 Ford Rouge DDMP (vehicle frame) Plant in Dearborn, Michigan. Management “creatively” proposes a shift that would hurt family life even without overtime! But workers beat it back.
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February 11, 2010 / Mark Brenner
Want to know what chutzpah means? Look no further than TV's newest reality show, “Undercover Boss.” Apparently the titans of industry aren't satisfied that they burned our economy to the ground and got nothing but a slap on the wrist from Washington. They want us to like them, too.
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February 11, 2010 / Jane Slaughter
Ask a union member what’s the bedrock of a union contract, and most will answer “seniority.” Long established as the way to keep the manager’s brother-in-law from getting the good jobs, companies have learned to live with taking turns and following recall lists.
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February 10, 2010 / Paul Abowd
It’s apparent now more than ever why restaurant workers are urgently organizing. While members of the Restaurant Opportunities Center roll on with workplace justice campaigns in several cities, »
February 09, 2010 / Paul Abowd
An outspoken critic of D.C. schools Superintendent Michelle Rhee has entered the race to lead the Washington Teachers Union (WTU). Nathan Saunders, the union’s current vice-president, says the May election is a chance for teachers to take a different direction in contract talks with Rhee, which have dragged on for »
February 08, 2010 /
Call center workers in New York overcame a brutal yet predictable anti-union campaign, but are stuck as management stalls first-contract talks. The National Labor Relations Board, with only two of five seats filled as the Senate dithers, is painfully slow to respond to workers' pleas. They and their union, the Communications Workers, aren't waiting, and took »