Troublemakers Blog
September 13, 2023 / Joe DeManuelle-Hall
Management everywhere relies on workers “going the extra mile.” We cut corners, we skip breaks, and we look the other way on common violations of the contract, work rules, or even safety.
But it’s also possible, when the time is right, to just stop doing the boss these favors. After all, how often does management do workers a favor? »
September 12, 2023 /
Conventional wisdom tells us we would rather not strike if we can avoid it. Labor Notes’ Secrets of a Successful Organizer says to start small and build escalating campaigns of bigger and riskier actions. This is not the attitude, however, at Stellantis’s stamping plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan. »
September 08, 2023 / Keith Brower Brown
Earlier this year, on the Ford stamping line in Buffalo, sewage started pouring onto the floor. Careless managers had shut down a pump to install new equipment and caused a deluge.
The workers didn't work meekly through the dizzying stench. They shut down their line, fast. And they did it with so much unity that their manager decided not to fight back. »
August 29, 2023 / Luis Feliz Leon, / Alexandra Bradbury
The heat was scorching in Louisville, Kentucky, last Thursday. But what the windless day lacked in gusts, it made up in guts.
The union-made placards read: “United for a Strong Contract.” That resonated with auto workers at Ford who hadn’t been part of a contract rally for as long as anyone can remember. »
August 24, 2023 / Lisa Xu
As auto workers prepare for the expiration of the Big 3 auto contracts covering 150,000 members September 14, some are turning to a valuable tool they saw UPS Teamsters use: the 10-minute meeting. »
August 22, 2023 /
For the first time since I started working at UPS 15 years ago, it feels like unions across the country are on the rise. UPS Teamsters mobilized for a massive contract campaign to win the best contract we’ve ever had. Now it’s the Auto Workers’ turn. »
August 17, 2023 / Alexandra Bradbury
With reformers at the helm, the Teamsters and the Auto Workers (UAW) are raising the bar for contract campaigns. »
August 09, 2023 /
This summer organized labor is on the offensive, with more unity and determination than we have seen in two generations. In Los Angeles, New York, and elsewhere, more than 10,000 writers and 160,000 actors are on strike, seeking to make Hollywood’s global reach finally work for them. »
August 08, 2023 /
I’m a 34-year Teamster and package car driver for UPS, and I’ve been a steward for the past seven years. Since I’ve been with UPS for so long, I am very used to the constant harassment and intimidation this company has thrived on. »
July 06, 2023 / Jenny Brown
When I heard the debt-ceiling deal would target people in their fifties for new work requirements to get food stamps, I thought about my brother. »