Troublemakers Blog
March 15, 2024 /
I remember Wisconsin carpenter Tom Crofton trying years ago to convince his local officers to create a worker cooperative to build affordable housing. Housing was an urgent need, he argued—and the union had the skills, the labor power, the organization, and the financial resources to do it. But the officers wouldn’t even consider the idea. »
March 14, 2024 / Barbara Madeloni
Recently I heard members of the Newton Teachers Association recount the path to their 11-day January strike. The audience at the Massachusetts Teachers Association winter skills conference gave them a standing ovation. »
March 05, 2024 /
When street protests seem ignored by the war machine, what are union members to do? »
March 04, 2024 /
Labor Notes staff are busy as a hive, ramping up for our biggest-ever conference. As we do, we’re very grateful to have more capable hands on deck: two wonderful new co-workers plus three terrific interns. »
February 27, 2024 /
One of the occupational hazards of being a labor activist is over-exposure to “corporate bullshit”—on the job, in the community, and in politics. »
February 23, 2024 /
A new podcast, "Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO," tells the story of the Committee for Industrial Organization (which later became the Congress of Industrial Organizations) and organized millions of workers in the 1930s and '40s. »
January 25, 2024 /
At Local 911, Chief Steward Emma woke up to an angry text from member Jane about having her time off request refused by the boss. »
January 10, 2024 /
Many of us have tried to follow the recent kerfuffle involving Sam Altman’s leadership of the company he founded, OpenAI. In mid-November 2023 he was abruptly fired, then returned to power just five days later. The business press highlighted the implications of this power struggle for the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence and the future influence of »
December 20, 2023 /
Our union campaign at Amazon’s “superhub” air cargo center, KCVG in Northern Kentucky, is taking off. And not surprisingly that’s prompting the company to go into union-busting overdrive. »
