Troublemakers Blog
March 18, 2020 /
The unions representing 34,000 workers at Verizon have negotiated paid leave for union members who can’t work during the COVID-19 outbreak. Will other unions fight for these benefits to protect members?
Like many health care workers, UPS drivers, and grocery workers, telephone workers are on the job as essential workers during the coronavirus outbreak. »
March 18, 2020 / Jane Slaughter
UPDATE: A Detroit bus driver, Jason Hargrove, has died. Glenn Tolbert, president of the Detroit bus drivers local and quoted below, has tested positive for the coronavirus. »
March 18, 2020 / Chris Brooks
Update 2:00 p.m. EST, March 18: Following a number of wildcat strikes bubbling up in auto plants with confirmed cases of the coronavirus, the Big Three automakers announced they will begin temporarily suspending production until at least March 30. Honda, a non-union company with several plants in North America, had already announced they were suspending »
March 18, 2020 / Joe DeManuelle-Hall
Employers, like the government, have been slow to respond to the crisis. Amazon initially limited its response to its tech offices, including in Seattle, where two workers tested positive for COVID-19. Office workers were told to work from home through March, and the company stopped employees’ “non-essential” travel. »
March 17, 2020 /
Everybody is sharing their thoughts on COVID-19, so I thought I’d share mine. The anxiety in the air even has us laid-back folks on edge. »
March 16, 2020 / Dan DiMaggio
Across the globe, workers are taking action in the face of the coronavirus, pressuring employers to boost paid sick leave, suspend punitive attendance policies, and apply safety measures. While some companies have been proactive, too many have reacted only after workers forced them to. »
March 05, 2020 /
In this occasional series, film buff and labor historian Toni Gilpin recommends movies that depict working people and their lives on the job. »
February 24, 2020 / Dan DiMaggio
There’s only one living member of Congress who’s ever been invited to speak at a Labor Notes Conference (or for that matter, subscribed to this magazine), and he’s currently leading the polls for the Democratic presidential nomination. »
February 17, 2020 /
We have good news and bad news.
The good news is that locals representing more than 60,000 Auto Workers (UAW) members have passed the Article 8 resolution calling for a special convention to amend our union constitution and mandate the direct election of top officers. It’s pretty astonishing to see just how quickly momentum built for this effort. »
February 13, 2020 / Chris Brooks
Officials in the Auto Workers (UAW) have been working arm in arm with the Big Three automakers since the 1980s to increase productivity. So perhaps it was inevitable that union officials’ hands would find their way into the employers’ deep pockets. »