Troublemakers Blog

Dallas Black Dancers Fight for Their Union

A Black dancer dances joyfully on the picket line, her long hair streaming out behind her. She is wearing a blue AGMA shirt. A delighted crowd, also mostly Black, surrounds her watching and taking photos -- some also wear AGMA shirts. The photo is full of energy, motion, and joy.
September 12, 2024 / Rosemary Curts
Leave it to performing arts unions to make a picket line that grabs attention. The rally outside Dallas Black Dance Theatre included a drummer, line dancing, and spontaneous performances from the unionized dancers. »

Un Trabajador De Supermercado Y Miembro De Los Teamsters Recupera Su Empleo, Y Se Prepara Para Organizarse Para Obtener Más

En una habitación soleada, un hombre con una camiseta polo negra y jeans está de pie a la izquierda, hablando por un micrófono, mientras unas 30 personas sentadas en sillas a la derecha escuchan. La mayoría o todos parecen latinos.
September 09, 2024 / Luis Feliz Leon
Traducido por Natascha Elena Uhlmann Dieciséis meses después de su despido ilegal, Juan Vargas entró a trabajar en junio entre vítores y palmadas en la espalda de sus compañeros de trabajo en la empresa Anthony Marano, una importante distribuidora de productos agrícolas en el área de Chicago. Obtuvo el pago completo de su salario retroactivo. »

Worker Co-ops: A Pathway to Good Jobs for Immigrant Workers

A white woman, right, hands a baby to a Latina woman, left. They are in an apartment kitchen. Both are smiling big. The baby's face is not visible.
August 27, 2024 / Tareq Saghie
How can immigrants without work authorization avoid being hyper-exploited, and instead find work where they have some autonomy and collective power to raise standards? A movement that has been incubating in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, might offer some answers. Sunset Park boasts one of the highest concentrations of worker cooperatives in the United States. »

Workplace Safety Is Not a Game

Flipcharts on the wall list workplace hazards including combustible dust and bloodborne pathogens
August 22, 2024 / United Electrical Workers Education Department
Employer-sponsored “safety games” or “safety contests” may seem benign on the surface, but there’s a deadly motive. Employers are rediscovering an old scheme to con workers into undermining their own job safety. These games are designed to reward employees for not reporting accidents. »

Grocery Teamster Gets Job Back, Prepares to Organize for More

In a bright sunny room, a man in a black polo shirt and jeans stands on the left, speaking into mic, while about 30 people seated in chairs on the right listen. Most or all appear Latino/a.
August 14, 2024 / Luis Feliz Leon
Sixteen months after his illegal firing, Juan Vargas walked into work in June to cheers and pats on the back from his co-workers at the Anthony Marano Company, a major produce distributor in the Chicago area. He won full back pay. »

Secrets of a Successful Organizer Now Available in Seven Languages

Book covers for six translations of Secrets of a Successful Organizer, in various colors, most featuring the bullseye logo. The Spanish tenants one instead shows two hands joined by the pinkies. A graphic from inside that book shows the "bullseye" diagram adapted to an onion, with the core group in the center, activists and supporters in layers of the onion, distant people outside the onion, and hostiles represented as a knife cutting the onion.
August 13, 2024 / Dan DiMaggio
We are happy to report that Secrets of a Successful Organizer has now been translated into seven languages: Spanish, Japanese, German, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Swedish, and, most recently, Danish and Quebecois French. »

New Mexico Teachers Organize Rainbow Contingent in Pride Parade

Several people work around a table adding colorful paints to a banner. Photo: ATF
August 06, 2024 / Sarah Hughes
Jamie Shelton can’t prove that someone shot out her windshield because of her eighth-grade Queer History curriculum a few years ago, but she has a hunch. The father of one of her students had been so irate about the material that he threatened to beat her up, and co-workers started walking her to her car. »

Leadership in AFSCME DC 37 is Stifling Rank and File Engagement, Members Say

A crowd of 40 in green holds yellow and green signs saying “Fair Pay Now” and “Contract Now”
July 31, 2024 / Duncan Freeman
(Reprinted from The Chief.) Members of District Council 37's Local 3005 in New York City say that attempts to mobilize their coworkers over the last two years have been stonewalled and met with apathy by union leadership. »

Reform Caucus Wins Amazon Labor Union Officer Elections

A group of workers, diverse in race and gender, poses together on the factory floor. Most appear young; one wears a prosthetic arm. A few have fists raised and most smile or wear determined expressions. Most wear shorts and some wear blue work vests.
July 30, 2024 / Luis Feliz Leon
Amazon workers at the JFK8 fulfillment center on Staten Island, New York, voted to elect reform officers in the first-ever leadership election. »

Letter Carriers Convention Shapes Up to Be Open Bargaining Showdown

Letter carriers stand outdoors in the rain, rallying, listening to a speaker with a mic. Printed picket signs say "We deliver--how about a fair contract?" "End closed bargaining" "Harder work deserves a fair contract" and "Fair contract now."
July 29, 2024 / Tim Bash
City letter carriers have been working without a contract for more than 400 days, and leaders of the Letter Carriers (NALC) still refuse to provide any substantive updates from bargaining. As rank-and-file anger boils over, a new group called Build a Fighting NALC (BFN) is building momentum to demand a stronger and more transparent contract fight next time. »

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