To Win Big, Labor Has to Lose More
There’s no sugarcoating it: Mercedes workers’ loss last week was a punch in the gut. Hopefully we can soon get some sober assessments from worker leaders and staff organizers about what — if anything —...
View ArticleHow US Labor Law Constrains Unions’ Political Activity
A growing number of unions have taken a stand against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Yet US labor law throws up major obstacles to unions using their leverage to press political demands, including the...
View ArticleEducation in Gaza Has Been Decimated, but the Spirit of Refaat Alareer Will...
Palestinians have always been proud to have one of the lowest illiteracy rates in the world. Many Palestinian refugees, who lost their homes in the Nakba and Naksa, believe that investment in...
View ArticleWelcome to the Hedge-Fund Driven Neoliberal University
There can be little doubt that neoliberalism has undermined, if not crippled, the notion of higher education as a democratic public sphere—a protective and courageous space where students can speak,...
View ArticleUS Labor Today and the Way Forward
The labor movement in the United States used to be respected and looked to for leadership; people cared about what positions labor took, watched when they mobilized, noticed the causes they supported....
View ArticleHousing, Not Handcuffs
On April 22nd, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Grants Pass v. Johnson, a case that focuses on whether unhoused — the term that has generally replaced “homeless” — people with no indoor...
View ArticleRetired New York City Teachers Rise and Run
They’ve really stepped in it. The incumbent Unity Caucus that runs the huge teachers union in New York City is facing a challenge from the Retiree Advocate slate who hope to take leadership of the...
View ArticleWorker Co-Ops Have a Role to Play in Socialist Strategy
Copenhagen, 1910. Here, at the beginnings of social democracy’s ascent in Europe, the Second International passed a resolution supporting cooperatives. While acknowledging that cooperation alone was...
View ArticleThe Indigenous Growers Reviving Hemp’s Deep Roots
Cannabis can transform our materials economy and textiles industry, return carbon to the soil, provide sustainable housing material, nurture health and well-being and set us on a path to restorative...
View ArticleDonald Trump’s Assault on the Wages of American Workers
Although Donald Trump, as president, proclaimed in his 2020 State of the Union address that he had produced a “blue-collar boom” in workers’ wages, the reality was quite different. Using his control of...
View ArticleAuto Workers’ Loss at Mercedes-Benz Slows the UAW Organizing Drive, but Won’t...
Mercedes-Benz succeeded in defeating the United Auto Workers (UAW) in an election held in the company’s plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but UAW President Shawn Fain sees the defeat as a temporary setback...
View ArticleHow Union Reformers Passed the PRO Act in Vermont
If you’re a fan of unions, there’s been a lot to get excited about lately. Strikes and militancy are up, public support for labor is peaking, and the prospects for new organizing are better than...
View ArticleUS Undergrads Are Getting an Extracurricular Crash Course in Labor Organizing
When Grinnell College wanted to begin compensating community advisors (CA), who work to provide students living in residence halls with programming and support for personal and academic issues, on an...
View ArticleAlabama Mercedes Workers Lose First Union Election, Vow to Fight On
A no-holds-barred campaign by Mercedes management convinced a majority of workers at its Alabama factory complex to vote against forming a union. In addition to anti-union videos and mailings,...
View ArticleHistory of Co-Op City
In 1909, at a library in Manhattan’s Yorkville neighborhood, Abraham Kazan, a twenty-year-old union clerk who had grown up on the countryside estate of a Russian general in what is now Ukraine, and who...
View ArticleEconomic Damage From Climate Change Six Times Worse Than Thought
The economic damage wrought by climate change is six times worse than previously thought, with global heating set to shrink wealth at a rate consistent with the level of financial losses of a...
View ArticleHow Solidarity Triumphs Over Corporate Greed
Management at Amfuel tried to bully Jo Tucker and her 200 co-workers—most of them Black women, a number of them single moms—into accepting dozens of unnecessary concessions in a new contract. For four...
View ArticleWhy Corporations Choose Lawlessness to Fight Unions
Workers in Towson, Maryland, have earned the distinction of becoming the first Apple retail workers in the nation to vote to strike over failed union negotiations with their employer. The approximately...
View ArticleThe Strategy of the Green New Deal from Below
The Green New Deal from Below pursues strategic objectives that implement Green New Deal programs, expand the Green New Deal’s support, and shift the balance between pro- and anti-Green New Deal...
View ArticleDenser Housing Can Be Greener Too
Cities across Aotearoa New Zealand are trying to solve a housing crisis, with increasing residential density a key solution. But not everyone is happy about the resulting loss of natural habitats and...
View Article