Troublemakers Blog
March 24, 2011 / Mischa Gaus
Honeywell International pleaded guilty in federal court March 11 to knowingly storing hazardous waste without a permit at its southern Illinois facility, a felony. For locked-out Steelworkers at the plant, the episode reinforced their belief that the best defense they and their communities have is a vigilant union.
»
March 23, 2011 / Nina Chacker, / Evan Rohar
Up to 8,000 Michiganders turned out last week to emphatically protest the signing of a bill that would give emergency managers appointed by the governor power to oversee towns or school districts. But no union was prepared to mobilize members to stop it. In choosing to fight many long and slow battles instead of one big one, the unions missed an opportunity to »
March 18, 2011 / Jane Slaughter
A judge issued a temporary restraining order today to block publication of Governor Scott Walker’s anti-collective bargaining law. What does the bill contain, and what would it mean for public workers' current contracts?
»
March 18, 2011 / Jenny Brown
Nursing techs, service, and maintenance workers at Pocono Medical Center escalated the defense of their union with a three-day strike this week.
»
March 17, 2011 /
Steve Early’s new book The Civil Wars in U.S. Labor tackles the series of messy internal disputes that wracked the labor movement for much of the last decade, many involving the Service Employees (SEIU).
»
March 14, 2011 / Jane Slaughter
Wisconsin Republicans will start feeling nervous soon because of people like Karl Gartung, a Teamster at UPS cartage services in Milwaukee who's been out collecting signatures to recall his state senator.
»
March 09, 2011 /
Far from the snowy battles of Wisconsin and Ohio, organizers had hoped for 100 people to attend the Labor Notes Troublemakers School in San Diego last Friday. But 284 packed the halls and classrooms.
»
March 04, 2011 /
I can’t count how often I’ve heard radio sportstalk jockeys offer the following wisdom: “The fans want their pro football on Sunday. They couldn’t care less about millionaires fighting with the billionaires about dividing the NFL pie.” It’s not just the assumption that “the fans” are willfully ignorant; it seems the networks want to make sure we stay that way.
»
March 03, 2011 / Mischa Gaus
What damage is done to schools if teaching becomes a revolving door job? Young teachers say they’d prefer not to find out. A group in New York schools called on state leaders this week to preserve “last in, first out” seniority rules.
»
March 02, 2011 /
The wave of protest cresting in Madison is amazing: students, workers, seniors, everyone is coming together in peaceful but unyielding opposition to Governor Scott Walker’s attack on democracy. Our contingent from the LA County Fed arrived to find the self-organized, old-fashioned Tom Paine America. It ain’t dead yet.
»