Troublemakers Blog

August 31, 2012 / Mark Brenner
Workers at the New York City bakery Hot and Crusty got a jump start on Labor Day this year, storming one of the chain’s Manhattan locations this afternoon—and refusing to leave. The occupation came 11 days after owners announced they were closing the 63rd Street store. Workers condemned the closure as retaliation for union organizing. On May 23 a majority of »
August 29, 2012 /
Union organizers have heard all the myths about unions. “They’re bankrupting us and destroying the economy.” “Unions are corrupt and mobbed up.” Bill Fletcher busts 21 such myths and explores where we have to go succinctly and superbly. »
August 27, 2012 /
The three-week-old hunger strike of injured GM workers in Colombia was suspended August 22 when workers and company signed an agreement in Bogotá on a framework for mediation to resolve their conflict. »
August 21, 2012 / Steve Early
In the wake of last year’s long overdue U.S. troop withdrawal, media coverage of Iraq has dwindled to near zero. The fate of costly U.S.-funded projects and institutions is little known or largely forgotten, $800 billion later. Among the many problematic U.S. efforts to remake the country was the Coalition Provisional Authority’s assistance in quashing one type »
August 14, 2012 / Alexandra Bradbury
As a Democrat running for re-election, President Barack Obama might assume he has organized labor in his pocket, but one West Coast union staged a public protest when the president made a campaign stop in Portland, Oregon. »
August 09, 2012 /
More than 100 Teamster drivers in Louisville, Kentucky, lost their jobs when employers colluded with a United Auto Workers local to oust them and sign a sweetheart deal. »
August 06, 2012 /
Last week four disabled former General Motors workers in Bogotá, Colombia, sewed their lips closed to begin a hunger strike that they say they will continue until GM responds to their demand for other jobs, or until they die. »
August 03, 2012 /
Many of us hesitate to read books, or watch movies, where we’re familiar with the subject matter, because it’s so painful when the author gets it wrong. Attorneys wince watching the many lawyerly TV shows, because it just doesn't happen that way. »
July 31, 2012 /
Students or workers? As grad employees wait for the NLRB to consider allowing them to unionize, some aren’t waiting for the legal right to bargain to start acting like a union. On several campuses, they’ve spent years organizing. »
July 25, 2012 / Theresa Moran
The Chicago Teachers Union won a major victory yesterday when the city halted its plans to increase teacher work hours. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago school board announced in April that they were unilaterally increasing the school day by 20 percent in the fall—without increasing teaching staff or providing proportional compensation for the additional »

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