Troublemakers Blog
December 18, 2025 /
The fact that the meeting was even happening was enough to produce an air of subversive excitement. One hundred years ago on August 25, 1925, Black sleeping car porters, hoping to form a union at the Pullman company, packed the Elks Hall in Harlem. Company spies were probably in the audience as well. »
December 17, 2025 /
More than a dozen volunteers gathered on November 14 at the Community Resource Center in North Charleston for a large-scale food distribution aimed at supporting federal employees reeling from the effects of the recent government shutdown. »
December 17, 2025 /
During a factory organizing drive, the Steelworkers in Chester, South Carolina, saw how criminal legal barriers were undermining its organizing efforts. Many of the workers had felony records and were afraid of losing their jobs, while others in the community were barred from getting these jobs in the first place. »
December 16, 2025 /
Originally published in The North Star, an independent newsroom covering labor and people's struggles in Canada.
After months of stalled negotiations, workers at a big Maple Leaf bacon plant in Winnipeg voted overwhelmingly last month to »
![Eight people hold printed signs, many in the yellow/purple SEIU style: "AB 715 = genocide censorship." "Fight back my ass!" "Opposed AB 715: CFA, CFT, ACLU, CTA, CNA... [but not] SEIU." "SEIU CA: Selective + politically safe. Fight back!" "You can't be neutral on a moving train." "When we fight we win! When we're neutral we lose!" Big white signs with black & red letters: "AB 715 censors education on Palestine." "What's next? Censoring education on: Slavery, Queer/Ethnic Studies, Japanese Internment?"](https://labornotes.org/sites/default/files/styles/blog_thumb/public/main/blogposts/image%20%2818%29.png?itok=p-zxSut-)
December 15, 2025 /
SEIU California routinely uses fighting words. Unfortunately, when it was time to “stand up” and “fight back” against legislation that threatens the working conditions of tens of thousands of SEIU education workers, our union’s spirited rhetoric dissipated. SEIU California stood down. »
December 03, 2025 /
Every few years a book comes out that tries to explain what’s happening in the labor movement and maybe cheer us up from the bad news of union decline. Dave Kamper’s new book, Who’s Got the Power: The Resurgence of American Unions, does the job. »
November 25, 2025 /
Support is building within the labor, academic, and Palestine solidarity movements in defense of Tom Alter, a history professor at Texas State University in San Marcos. »
November 20, 2025 /
Much is going to be written about the path to victory of Seattle mayor-elect Katie Wilson—a political newcomer who came from behind to win an incredible upset. They will say how her campaign benefited from Trump’s presidency and some vague generalized anger toward all politicians. »
November 06, 2025 /
The building trades can be a tough place for union reformers. Union business is typically conducted behind the scenes, with little involvement from members, while the bosses stall and derail negotiations. »
November 06, 2025 /
New Zealand’s streets filled with nurses, doctors, teachers, health care assistants, public workers, and firefighters on October 23 in a massive one-day strike demanding that the government fully fund public services. In all, some 100,000 workers took part in the action—making it the largest strike New Zealand has seen since its first and only general strike in »