Troublemakers Blog
March 28, 2017 /
On a snowy winter day, 25 people gathered in a library meeting room in Greenfield, Massachusetts, to hear how a movement of progressive activists had won elections and taken power in Richmond, California. »
March 09, 2017 /
Year after year, the official statistics tell us the strike is all but disappearing from the United States. But is this the whole story?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics only reports strikes of 1,000 or more workers. There were just 15 of those last year. »
March 03, 2017 /
Hace catorce años unos trabajadores en Buenos Aires, Argentina, ocuparon un hotel céntrico que sus propietarios habían abandonado. Desde entonces, han operado el Hotel Bauen como una cooperativa dirigida por trabajadores, recuperándolo no sólo como hotel, sino también como un centro para eventos sindicales y de movimientos sociales, buscado por visitantes »
March 03, 2017 /
Fourteen years ago workers in Buenos Aires, Argentina, occupied a downtown hotel that its owners had abandoned. Ever since, they’ve operated the Hotel Bauen as a worker-run cooperative, making it not only a hotel but a center for union and other movement events, sought out by progressive visitors from around the world. »
February 20, 2017 /
Every year on the eve of the Super Bowl, celebrity chefs, National Football League players, and Hollywood stars come together in the game’s host city for an opulent fundraiser for local and national food banks. It’s called the Taste of the NFL. »
February 17, 2017 / Chris Brooks
The Machinists’ loss in the February 15 union vote at Boeing was devastating. Out of 3,000 workers eligible to cast ballots at the Charleston, South Carolina, plant, 2,097 voted against unionization, and only 731 in favor.
But contrary to the armchair wisdom of pundits, this vote was not a referendum on whether or not it’s possible to organize in the South. »
February 13, 2017 /
When I first heard the good news on February 3 that U.S. District Court Judge James L. Robart had slapped a restraining order on Trump’s travel ban, I texted a labor attorney friend: “Goodness—Judge Robart! Am I obliged to like him now?” »
February 10, 2017 /
“They’re always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case.” That’s Andrew Puzder, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, praising the advantages of employing robots over human beings in an interview with »
February 09, 2017 /
On January 28 I woke up, heard the news about immigrants being detained because of the president’s executive order, and decided to head over to New York’s JFK Airport.
Part of why I wanted to act is that members of my own union, which represents university professors at Rutgers, and their families are from the targeted countries and will be directly affected by »
February 09, 2017 /
President Donald Trump claims he will use international trade policy to bolster the middle class and reduce income inequality.
“The great American middle class is disappearing,” he wrote for USA Today during his campaign. “One of the factors driving this economic devastation is America’s disastrous trade policies.” »