Troublemakers Blog

Leadership in AFSCME DC 37 is Stifling Rank and File Engagement, Members Say

A crowd of 40 in green holds yellow and green signs saying “Fair Pay Now” and “Contract Now”
July 31, 2024 / Duncan Freeman
(Reprinted from The Chief.) Members of District Council 37's Local 3005 in New York City say that attempts to mobilize their coworkers over the last two years have been stonewalled and met with apathy by union leadership. »

Reform Caucus Wins Amazon Labor Union Officer Elections

A group of workers, diverse in race and gender, poses together on the factory floor. Most appear young; one wears a prosthetic arm. A few have fists raised and most smile or wear determined expressions. Most wear shorts and some wear blue work vests.
July 30, 2024 / Luis Feliz Leon
Amazon workers at the JFK8 fulfillment center on Staten Island, New York, voted to elect reform officers in the first-ever leadership election. »

Letter Carriers Convention Shapes Up to Be Open Bargaining Showdown

Letter carriers stand outdoors in the rain, rallying, listening to a speaker with a mic. Printed picket signs say "We deliver--how about a fair contract?" "End closed bargaining" "Harder work deserves a fair contract" and "Fair contract now."
July 29, 2024 / Tim Bash
City letter carriers have been working without a contract for more than 400 days, and leaders of the Letter Carriers (NALC) still refuse to provide any substantive updates from bargaining. As rank-and-file anger boils over, a new group called Build a Fighting NALC (BFN) is building momentum to demand a stronger and more transparent contract fight next time. »

Unions Representing Six Million Workers Demand an End to All U.S. Military Aid to Israel

A chanting crowd stands in front of the White House fence. Three people are helping hold a large cardboard sign that says "UE stands with Palestine" with the union's lightning-bolt logo and a slice of watermelon. Other printed signs say "American Postal Workers Union: Fighting for Justice" and "Biden, you are starving Gaza. Permanent ceasefire now!"
July 23, 2024 / Luis Feliz Leon
Seven national unions representing 6 million workers in the United States called on President Joe Biden today to end all military aid to Israel. The news came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a wanted war criminal, came to Washington to »

Militant Health Care Union Leader Sal Rosselli Retires

Inset photo of Sal Rosselli, a white man in red NUHW scrubs, speaking on a mic at a rally. Behind this, a black-and-white photo of a racially diverse, mostly female group of NUHW workers pose on strike. Most carry printed picket signs with messages like "Patients before profits" and "Kaiser, don't deny my patients [the rest is obscured]." One woman carries a large handpainted sign with a fist logo and the words "Huelga de NUHW," Spanish for NUHW strike.
July 23, 2024 / Cal Winslow
I get a kick watching Sal Rosselli at Labor Notes, always meeting, talking, on a panel, on the move, working, full of energy, out of the limelight, but known by many, health care workers especially. Sal talking about organizing hospitals, including, I suspect, his dream of a national “industrial” health care workers union. »

Viewpoint: I’m a Teamster Against Trump

Warmly dressed people march with LIUNA and IBEW union signs opposing "Right to work for less" in Wisconsin.
July 18, 2024 / Dan Campbell
I worked hard to elect Sean O’Brien. He is the right president for the Teamsters union. Donald Trump is the wrong president for my country—and I will work like hell to defeat him. »

Project 2025: Eliminate Unions

Workers in red UNITE HERE shirts pose at a huge rally. One handlettered sign says "Fair contract for Trump workers" and another printed sign says "Love Trumps Hate."
July 16, 2024 / Jenny Brown
Corporate backers of the Trump campaign have tipped their hand. In “Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project,” the Heritage Foundation unveiled its 900-page wish list for a new Trump presidency and a compliant Supreme Court. »

Organize, Teach, Fight: Jane McAlevey, 1964-2024

Photo of Jane McAlevey smiling at a microphone and looking left in an aqua blue shirt
July 08, 2024 / Eric Blanc
Jane McAlevey was a friend and a comrade and I can’t believe she’s gone. After she won the battle against her cancer so many times over the past few years, up until the very end part of me thought she’d find a way to beat it yet again. As a mutual friend texted me yesterday, “Jane was like a superhero, it seemed like if anybody could defeat death, it was her.” »

Viewpoint: Migration Isn't Going Away. Unions Have to Get Sharper on It.

Workers in red UNITE HERE shirts and carrying round matching signs stand on steps outside. Those in front hold a large printed banner: "Tech Cafeteria Workers Say... No Ban, No Wall, Sanctuary for All."
June 27, 2024 / Alexandra Bradbury
The Trump campaign is doing a great job of stirring up anti-immigrant sentiment. Maybe you’re getting an earful from co-workers. Maybe you’re worried yourself. »

Viewpoint: If the AFL-CIO Gets away with a Vermont Purge, It Won’t Stop Here

Two women in dark t-shirts stand side by side, one reading from a thick booklet
June 26, 2024 / Ellen Kaye, Katie Maurice, and Jeremy Rathbun
Vermonters have a special relationship with direct participatory democracy. The first Tuesday of every March, in towns big and small, citizens gather in person to do the business of their community the old-fashioned way—face to face, one person, one vote. Everyone can have the floor to speak their opinion, from an elected officer to the worker who hauls the »

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