Troublemakers Blog

February 18, 2011 / Dan La Botz
Thousands of workers, mostly public employee union members but also from the private sector, rallied at the Capitol in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday to stop a senate bill that would end public workers’ collective bargaining rights. Watch video here. »
February 17, 2011 /
Protests continue into the fourth day here in Madison and the mood is electric. Representatives of nearly every major union in Wisconsin have come to the capitol in solidarity with state workers, clearly recognizing the bill as a union-buster having nothing to do with the budget. »
February 17, 2011 /
The last the demonstrators in the Wisconsin Capitol heard, the 14 Democratic senators have left the state, leaving the Senate one vote shy of a quorum and unable to consider Governor Scott Walker’s bill to strip us of our bargaining rights. »
February 14, 2011 /
As a nurse who has had her life and career forever altered from a debilitating back injury that occurred on the job, I am outraged by the recent decision by the U.S. Department of Labor to withdraw a rule requiring employers to report musculoskeletal injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. »
February 11, 2011 /
Tonight the mood is not only peaceful, it is exuberant, joyful, celebratory: dancing, fire throwers, firecrackers, cheers, yells, and joy in the air. Egypt is finally free. An American writes from Cairo. »
February 11, 2011 / Jenny Brown
Hyatt hotel workers are on the march again. They’re calling out management’s push for more work in less time, plus the chain’s demands to push more health care costs onto workers and “lock in the recession” at the bargaining table. »
February 10, 2011 /
Protests in Egypt escalated this week when thousands of emboldened workers across the country walked off or sat down on the job. A wildcat action that began Tuesday among 6,000 workers in the Suez Canal, however, could rock the Egyptian economy, amplifying the leverage of pro-democracy protesters. »
February 09, 2011 /
In San Francisco, the Young Workers United worker center takes the long view, building membership and mobilizing to advocate for improved working conditions—with unusual success. »
February 08, 2011 /
The Mexican-themed fast food chain Chipotle likes to hold itself up as a model of social responsibility, but labor activists in Minnesota say its ethical behavior doesn’t extend to its immigrant workers. Chipotle fired nearly 700 Latino immigrant workers without notice and in some cases without paying back wages. »
February 03, 2011 / Jenny Brown
Retail worker unions gathered with an association of small supermarkets and city officials Thursday to denounce Wal-Mart as a “job killer” for New York. “For every two jobs, three jobs lost!” was the chant at the City Hall rally. »

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