Earlier this year, we published a fun and educational series of posts and blogcasts that we dubbed #LaborOscars2024 (see here, here, here, here, and here) to celebrate worker power, unions, and worker collective action in film. You reacted so positively to Labor Oscars 2024 that we are planning to do it again in a couple of months.
But then we thought . . . wait a minute! We love movies AND music AND worker power. Let’s share another of our cultural passions with the Power At Work community.
So, Power At Work is proud to announce the kickoff of #LaborGrammys2025.
As the Grammy Awards selections and ceremony (slated for February 2, 2025) approach, Power At Work takes immense pride in lifting up songs that feature worker power and unions, labor leaders, and workers' collective action. We’ve started by curating a list of ??? labor songs we think you will enjoy, with a special hat tip to our friends and labor music listmakers like labor journalist and music critic Kim Kelly and Chris Garlock of the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Labor Radio Podcast Network.
We think there are some songs on our list you already know and a few you have sung at some point in your life, perhaps on a picket line or in a union hall. Other songs may be entirely new to you. We hope so. Learning about new labor music has been one of the great joys of putting this list together for you. The songs come from several different genres, but they are listed below in alphabetical order by song title.
Please listen to as many of these songs as you can over the next few weeks because Power At Work is planning to ask your opinions about them very soon. Details to come.
One explanatory point: Power At Work used a specific definition of “labor song” when assembling this list that we need to share with you so you can understand what you are getting below. Power At Work’s mission includes the following declaration:
"Sustained and effective worker power arises out of collective action. By building self-funding, democratic organizations, America’s workers can confront and influence powerful forces, including employers, Wall Street, and the government. Our goal at Power At Work is to contribute to a discourse in the United States that emphasizes the importance of collective action and puts workers and worker power at the center of that conversation."
We focused on songs closely related to Power At Work’s mission. Songs about unions, strikes, collective bargaining, and workers coming together to struggle or otherwise to improve their lives meet our definition. We are less interested in songs, even great songs, that are generally about work and the struggles of workers.
The quintessential labor anthem “Solidarity Forever” and “Which Side Are You on” plainly satisfy our definition. But so do songs like Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” which features this lyric:
"Now Tom said, ‘Mom, wherever there's a cop beating a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight against the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me, Mom, I'll be there
Wherever somebody's fighting for a place to stand
Or a decent job or a helping hand
Wherever somebody's struggling to be free
Look in their eyes, Ma, and you'll see me’"
That lyric’s poignant nod to worker collective action is good enough for us to put Ghost of Tom Joad on our list. Further, any song with that level of focus on worker collective action or more should be included, along with songs about unions, strikes, and bargaining.
By contrast, Dolly Parton’s iconic “9 to 5,” Pete Seeger’s classic “Little Boxes,” Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It,” and Dropkick Murphys’ “Worker’s Song” do not satisfy our definition. We love those songs, but they are more about the pain or drudgery of work and employer exploitation than worker power and worker collective action. Those are important issues, but not our principal focus.
Of course, this list does not include every song that meets our definition of a “labor song.” If you know about other songs in any genre from anywhere in the world that you think would satisfy this definition, please let us know on social media. Tag Power At Work in your post and add #LaborGrammys2025 so we can find your post.
Below is Power At Work's Labor Grammys 2025 list of labor songs. Click on the title of each category to find a spotify playlist of the songs.
The Complete List of Songs:
Rock Songs:
All You Fascists, by Billy Bragg and Wilco
Casey Jones the Union Scab, by Rabble Rousers
The Ghost of Tom Joad, by Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello
Never Cross a Picket Line, by Billy Bragg
Part of the Union, by Strawbs
Picket Line, by Bobby DePace
Solidarity, by Angelic Upstarts
Union Burying Ground, by Struggle
Unionize, by Redskins
Union Man, by Neil Young
Union Song, by Rabble Rousers
Traditional Songs:
Better World A-Comin’, by Woody Guthrie
Bread and Roses, by The Unthanks
Hold the Line, by Pete Seeger
I Am a Union Woman, by Bobbie McGee
Joe Hill, by Paul Robeson
One Day More, by Elaine Purkey
On The Picket Line, Joe Glazer
Roll the Union On, by Peter Seeger and The Song Swappers
Talking Union, by The Almanac Singers
There is Power in a Union, by Holger Danske
We Shall Not Be Moved, by Mavis Staples
Which Side Are You On?, by The Almanac Singers
Pop Songs:
Big in the Body-Small in the Mind, by The Selecter
The Chemical Worker’s Song, by Great Big Sea
Labour Song, by Solas
A Miner’s Life, by Solas
Talkin’ Bout a Revolution, by Tracy Chapman
Union Town, by Stewart Francke
Union Train, by Steve Horelick and Rory Dodd
Folk Songs:
50,000 Lumberjacks, by Joe Glazer
Celebrated Working Man/Oakey’s Strike Evictions, by Bob Fox and Benny Graham
The Commonwealth of Toil, by Joe Glazer
The Death of Mother Jones, by Joe Glazer
The Diggers Song, by Chumbawamba
Dump the Bosses Off Your Back, by Anne Feeney
Get Thee Behind Me, Satan, by The Almanac Singers
Have You Been to Jail for Justice?, by Anne Feeney
I Don’t Want Your Millions, Mister, by The Almanac Singers
I’m Union and Damn Proud of It, by Joe Glazer
It’s My Union, by Arthur Johnstone and The Stars Band
Mill Mother’s Lament, by Pete Seeger
No More Reds in the Union, Utah Phillips
Pastures of Plenty, by Woody Guthrie
The Popular Wobbly, by Utah Phillips
South Medomsley Strike, by Bob Fox and Benny Graham
Tear the Fascists Down, by Woody Guthrie
They’ll Never Keep Us Down, by Hazel Dickens
U in Union, by Roy Bailey
Union Buster, by Joe Glazer
Union Card, by Joe Glazer
Union Prayer, by Billy Bragg and Wilco
We Have Fed You All For a Thousand Years, by Utah Phillips
What Are You Fighting For, by Phil Ochs
Workers of the World, Awaken!, by Magpie
Workers of the World Unite!, by The Last Internationale
You Gotta Down and Join the Union, by Woody Guthrie
Punk Songs:
General Strike, by D.O.A.
Harry Bridges, by Rancid
One Big Union, by Reason Unknown
A Power Inside, by Rancid
Take ‘Em Down, by Dropkick Murphys
Up The Union, by Street Dogs
We Got the Power, by Dropkick Murphys
Solidarity Forever Songs:
Solidarity Forever, by Fast Rattler
Solidarity Forever, by Pete Seeger
Solidarity Forever, by Utah Phillips
Solidarity Forever, by Tom Morello: the Nightwatchmen
Solidarity Forever, by Seth Staton Watkins
Solidarity Forever, by Bobbie McGee
Solidarity Forever, by Joe Jencks
Solidarity Forever, by Matt Rivers
Solidarity Forever, by Joe Glazer
Solidarity Forever, by Anne Feeney
Solidarity Forever, by Janne Lærkedahl
Solidarity Forever, by Jester Of No Court
Solidarity Forever, by The Mountain Goats
