Troublemakers Blog

January 27, 2012 /
After workers at an Inland Empire warehouse began organizing, their company was fined for breaking the law. But now Walmart's contractor is ending their jobs—and the workers are calling it retaliation. »
January 20, 2012 /
Machinists at Manitowoc Crane in Wisconsin voted 112-59 yesterday to end their nine-week strike over union rights. “The outcome isn't what we wanted,” said bargaining committeeman Craig Holschbach. »
January 17, 2012 /
Three New Year appointments to the National Labor Relations Board assure that it will continue to operate. But while unions are celebrating the NLRB’s ability to keep the lights on, along with a handful of union-supportive decisions by the board, the hard fact is that even when the NLRB is operational, it doesn’t work for workers. »
January 12, 2012 / Steve Early
One hundred years ago today, thousands of angry textile workers abandoned their looms and poured into the frigid streets of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Like Occupy Wall Street in our own gilded age, this unexpected grassroots protest cast a dramatic spotlight on the problem of social and economic inequality. In all of American labor history, there are few better »
January 11, 2012 /
A South Korean Hyundai Motor worker set himself afire Sunday after management responded to his request to slow the pace of production by stepping up discipline. The 44-year-old unionist, Shin Sung-hun, is in critical condition. »
January 06, 2012 /
The push to dismantle the U.S. Postal Service’s distribution and delivery network is a scheme by corporate privatizers to crush the largest organized workforce in federal employment, pick apart a trusted government service, and grab the most profitable parts of the business for their own enrichment. »
December 29, 2011 /
Coming at the beginning of the Reagan-era conservative ascendancy, the 1981 PATCO strike is often cited as the defining labor struggle of our time. Yet the union's intense solidarity, insularity, and ultimate miscalculations are little understood today. A new book, Collision Course, explains much about this important chapter in labor history. »
December 23, 2011 /
Just as the cherry blossoms fell from their trees as summer began in Washington, D.C., the 170,000 registered nurses who are members of National Nurses United, the nation’s largest nurses union, launched their Main Street Contract campaign. Six months later, NNU’s campaign is resonating on an international stage and shifting what’s politically possible here at »
December 15, 2011 /
After a year of fruitless attempts to meet with management, frustrated Comcast technicians at the Fall River and Fairhaven garages in Massachusetts sought an NLRB supervised election six weeks ago. Votes were counted Wednesday and union supporters fell short. Labor law would have compelled management to finally begin the long-sought-after negotiations if techs »
December 13, 2011 /
When leaders of the Occupy movement’s most reliable labor ally, the Longshore Union (ILWU), declared the union would not participate in Monday’s shutdown of West Coast ports, they illustrated a great weakness plaguing our unions. »

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