Troublemakers Blog

June 05, 2012 /
GM is offering its salaried retirees a deal. Not a gratuity or a bonus after a record-breaking year of profit, but a cash-in-your-chips kiss-off: one lump-sum payment in lieu of their monthly checks. Rumor has it that union hourly retirees are next. »
June 04, 2012 /
Tomorrow’s Wisconsin recall election will be a replay of November 2010—Governor Scott Walker vs. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. If the million voters who signed recall petitions, plus another half million, come out and vote for Barrett, Walker will be toast. »
May 31, 2012 / Mischa Gaus
Teamsters on the Canadian Pacific Railway will be ordered to end their nine-day strike shortly, when Parliament sends them back to work. Government back-to-work legislation is becoming a trend in Canada, with CP the third private company to receive that form of government help against its workforce since the Conservatives were elected in 2006. »
May 24, 2012 / Mischa Gaus
The Chicago Teachers Union filled an auditorium with 4,000 teachers yesterday, in a show of numbers marking the next step in the union’s struggle for educational justice. »
May 22, 2012 /
Do workers need a union to negotiate “market-based” wages? Machinists at a Caterpillar hydraulic parts factory in Joliet, Illinois, struck May 1 to tell the heavy-equipment giant they deserve better. They're hampered by the fact that Cat workers represented by the United Auto Workers accepted wages pegged to an annual employer survey back in 2004. »
May 17, 2012 /
Lockheed Martin has seen fit to distribute nearly $20 million annually to politicians in Washington, and to pay its CEO nearly $150 million in the last five years. But executives can’t seem to find the money to pay for new hires' pensions or to maintain comprehensive health coverage at its F-35 jet plant in Fort Worth, Texas. »
May 16, 2012 / Mischa Gaus
When Chicago’s “Mayor 1%” Rahm Emanuel threatened to derail the National Nurses United rally this Friday, NNU didn’t back down. Chicago nurse Martese Chism tells why. »
May 09, 2012 / Mischa Gaus
Wisconsin voters chose Tom Barrett yesterday as the Democrat to face Republican Scott Walker in the June 5 vote for governor. Barrett won the Democratic primary handily, defeating Kathleen Falk, the candidate endorsed by most major unions in the state, by 22 points. Barrett, the preferred choice of the state's Democratic establishment, has hinged his campaign »
May 03, 2012 /
A new how-to handbook makes the case that women and people of color can benefit from formal mentoring programs that encourage their development as union leaders. The programs are most effective when paired with a broader education program, but they need to express a shared commitment to democracy—or they could simply recreate a new group of business unionists. »
May 01, 2012 /
Hundreds of Vermonters took to the streets of the capital Montpelier on May 1 to demonstrate, rally, and celebrate the victories of working people. Advocates, organizers, and working people from across the state came together to show their solidarity with the struggles of all working people. »

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