“Campus workers are organizing more than anyone else. It's time for them to unify.”

“Scholars investigating the economic and social impacts of a variety of labor and employment issues are launching new labor centers across the University of California. The new centers will provide timely, policy-relevant research, educate the next generation of labor and community leaders, and will grow labor and occupational health programs across UC.”

“It is a consequential moment for American labor unions. Over the past decade, public support for labor unions has skyrocketed. Yet even in this moment of renewed public interest, I argue that the American conversation about unions remains constrained by the legacy of past legal decisions.”

“To some, the memes are just a misstep, an excess of the too-online. But this is what at least some organizing is likely to look like from a newer, if not exclusive cultural face of labor.”

“In 1962, when Chávez and his allies began organizing farmworkers, chemical companies deceptively asserted that their pesticides could be used safely, so long as they weren’t applied beyond the recommended dosage. But farmworkers’ own experiences helped them realize that these claims were specious.”

“...[W]orkers at all kinds of workplaces can fight for their unions and win demands here and now. It's a strategy called “pre-majority” unionism, and the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) is here to help navigate it.”

“Over the past year, there has been a notable influx of energy surrounding the labor movement, with tight labor markets giving workers a greater ability to demand better wages. At the same time, popular support for unions reached highs not seen since the 1960s. To take full advantage of the moment, a comprehensive policy rethink is needed.”

“Opportunities now exist for workers and unions in all three countries to jointly oppose efforts of employers to use the integration of the three economies to weaken the Mexican, Canadian, and U.S. labor movements. Such an alliance also presents the opportunity to reverse the depression of wages and poor working conditions of workers across the U.S., Canadian, and Mexican borders.”

“The wave of unionization continues apace across the United States and elsewhere in the world, but there’s often much less attention paid to the part of the process that comes after the winning of a union election: the bargaining of a contract. It can seem like the hard part is over when the votes are counted, but our guest this week reminds us that the hard part is just beginning. If that sounds daunting, well, Jane McAlevey is here to share her knowledge of how to make that hard part, if not easier, at least to help you succeed.”

“Increasingly, Amazon plays the central role in capitalism’s distribution and logistics system, as well as in the tech sector through Amazon Web Service’s dominant role in cloud computing. The monopolistic behemoth fully intends to keep growing. Its hyper-exploitative model is percolating throughout the entire economy, even seeping into currently unionized workplaces. Few jobs are insulated from its influence. Nearly 90 years ago, basic industry worker organizing was key to the revival of the labor movement. Today, Amazon workers occupy the same strategic position, standing at the front lines of the battle to determine whether working people have a fighting chance in the 21st century. Organizing Amazon is labor’s pinnacle challenge: A project that is extraordinarily daunting—and yet equally obligatory to tackle. It will take years of work and tremendous resources.”

“Strikes in the U.S. rose by nearly 50% in 2022, according to Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. And the trend has continued this year, including a three-day strike by some 30,000 Los Angeles school teachers' aides, bus drivers, custodians, and other support staff in March. Wall Street tycoons and their allies in elected office and the media have devoted decades to vilifying unions and the very notion of workers going on strike to better the lives of workers and the communities they live in. Yet 2022 also witnessed the largest rise in support for unions in half a century, up to 71% public approval. The message seems clear: Even when facing virulent retaliation from employers, workers were willing to engage in dynamic workplace actions, with growing support for unions.”

“In order to guarantee that California has an economy that works for everybody, impacted workers must be at the center of planning for the ongoing transition to clean energy, and they must have access to union jobs that guarantee financial security, strong protections, and good benefits.”

“In this report, we assess how the federal government’s $931 billion fiscal response points the way to a permanent tool to boost worker power: a federal guaranteed income, or a direct public cash investment without attached obligations, arriving on a predictable monthly basis. We explore the potential of guaranteed income to boost worker power, by analyzing findings from U.S. guaranteed income pilots, from federal pandemic cash policies, and from other available research. We also listen to what workers themselves say about how cash affects their agency over their work lives and their ability to exercise their power in the economy, and weave their stories throughout the report.”

“In their latest effort to invest resources, raise awareness and build a safe space for the wellness of the professional athlete community, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), NHL Players’ Association (NHLPA), MLB Players Association (MLBPA), MLS Players Association (MLSPA) and Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) announced a collaborative campaign on Monday for May’s Mental Health Awareness Month.”

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center Senior Fellow Seth Harris hosted a roundtable of labor reporters from a diverse group of news outlets to talk about some of the biggest stories about workers, unions, and worker power in the U.S. today.”

“In this episode, Burnes Center Senior Fellow Seth Harris hosted a roundtable of labor reporters from a diverse group of news outlets to talk about some of the biggest stories about workers, unions, and worker power in the U.S. today.”

“There’s an important puzzle here: How can support for unions be at its highest level ever and union membership be at the lowest level ever recorded in the U.S.? How can we continue to witness heroic worker efforts to form unions in industries once thought unorganizable, when actual unionization rates continue to plummet?”

“Upon release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual report on union membership and earnings, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has launched a Union Wage Calculator to help workers evaluate the material benefit of having a voice on the job.” 

“Are you tired of feeling powerless in the face of workplace injustices? Have you ever wondered how technology could help amplify your voice and bring about real change in the workplace? While some may fear ChatGPT as a threat to job security, we see it as a powerful tool for workers, especially for helping them to bring change in the workplace.” 

“Cooperative initiatives in cities across the world are strengthening worker pay, local economies and democracy.” 

“In recent years, a surge in worker organizing across the country has coincided with unions achieving levels of popular support not reached in decades. A growing number of businesses are now recognizing that their workers want unions and are opting out of fighting workers in intense union election campaigns.” 

“On the 55th anniversary of the Memphis Sanitation Strike, Fred Redmond — the nation’s highest-ranking African American to ever serve in the labor movement — hopes to ‘unleash a new era of economic prosperity for Black workers.’”

“John Womack Jr.’s new book, Labor Power and Strategy (PM Press, 2023), edited by Peter Olney and Glenn Perusek and with responses from 10 organizers, labor activists, and educators, is a timely consideration of some basic strategic principles. Womack maintains that the primary power that workers have is structural power—that is, power based on their position in the production process. Associational power—developed via collective organizations like unions—derives from this structural power.”

“A new book coauthored by ILR School Professor Shannon Gleeson and Xóchitl Bada analyzes how labor unions, worker centers, legal aid groups and other immigrant advocates put tactical pressure on government bureaucracies to holistically defend migrant rights… The book is available to read online for free.”

“In Jonathan Weisman’s account in the New York Times, the economic legislation promoted by President Biden and passed by a Democratic Congress is little more than a political quid pro quo… This discourse is wrong, anti-worker, and destructive of worker power.”

“Compared to other Western democracies, in the United States fewer people subjectively identify as working class historically and many working-class individuals think of themselves as middle class. This likely has important political implications. We argue, however, that union membership can strengthen identification with the working class, through communications from leaders and interactions among members.” 

“State and local governments are short over 500,000 jobs, bringing crisis conditions to agencies that operate around the clock. New strategies are needed to fill these gaps, say union experts.”

“Today, a bipartisan group of House and Senate Members introduced the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2023 (H.R. 20), a comprehensive proposal to protect workers’ right to come together and bargain for higher wages, better benefits, and safer workplaces.”

“Something is stirring this spring. People in the U.S. are becoming increasingly interested in what commentators once called ​“the labor question,” following recent organizing victories at Starbucks, Amazon and Apple stores; well-publicized strikes of teachers, nurses and railway workers; and the unionization of staff, graduate assistants and even faculty at scores of campuses, including the recent successful strike of nearly 50,000 academic workers on the campuses of the University of California.”

“The civil rights movement wasn’t just about attitudes around racism, but about access to good jobs, access to economic institutions and expanding workers’ rights. “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal spoke with Kelley about the labor and economic dimensions of the movement. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.”

“Largely ignored is the positive role veterans from working-class backgrounds have played in key labor and political struggles since the mid-20th century.  In the heyday of industrial unionism in the 1950s and ‘60s, tens of thousands of World War II veterans could be found on the front-lines of labor struggles in auto, steel, electrical equipment manufacturing, mining, trucking, and the telephone industry.  Today, about 1.3 million former service members work in union jobs, and women and people of color make up the fastest growing cohorts in these ranks.”

“From its inception, the U.S. labor movement’s fate has been intimately bound up with the fate of political democracy. That historic connection seems more true than ever at this time. From Starbucks to Amazon, from legislative victories by fast food workers in California to the AFL-CIO’s creation of the new Center for Transformational Organizing, many signs indicate a labor movement stirring to life after years of false starts, retrenchment, and retreat.”

"Freelance labor journalist Kim Kelly’s debut book, “Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor,” is not your traditional book detailing labor history. The book’s concentration on marginalized workers and historically exploitative industries is a refreshing change from history books that forget anyone who isn’t a cishet white man."

“As a heavy equipment operator for the city of Dayton, Ohio, Kelly Yeaney says women who choose this line of work often feel they must prove themselves to their male counterparts. “When you’re working around 25 men, it really matters how well you back up that truck,” says Yeaney, a member of AFSCME Local 101 (Council 8). “You definitely have to carry your weight.” But although Yeaney works in a male-dominated field, one thing she doesn’t have to worry about is equal pay for equal work. As a member of AFSCME, she is covered by a union contract that treats every worker the same.” 

“March 14th is Equal Pay Day, a day to remind us that, in 2021, women working full time, year-round in all sectors were paid only 84 cents for every dollar paid to a man. And that’s just talking about women overall. If we break it down by race and industry, the gender wage gap only gets wider and grimmer for many women of color. For decades, our country has tried and failed to eradicate this wage gap. But somehow, we’ve been overlooking one of the simplest (and most obvious) solutions: Pay transparency.”  

“After decades of union decline, the labor movement is seeing an increase in union membership. Workers across the board are using their voices to rebalance power at work. The recent success with retail and service workers has made headlines, and the interest in these sectors continues to grow. But to keep this movement trending upward, we as union activists must adapt to the ever-changing workforce – and to do that, there has to be change.”

“For decades, the Republican Party has seemed to care more about labor unions than the Democratic Party has….But events in Michigan this week raise the question of whether Democrats are starting to change their approach and devote more attention to strengthening organized labor.”

“Choice and power are connected, but very different, concepts when they are used to describe workers’ circumstances. These two terms are often confused or treated as synonyms, which they are not. The resulting confusion contributes to a public discourse that undermines workers and weakens their position in the labor market and the workplace. So, the goal of this post is to try to clear up the confusion, explain the differences and connections, and explore their implications.”

“A record-breaking number of workers unionized last year, coinciding with increased federal enforcement of laws protecting labor organizing. While many workers decided to organize under established labor organizations like the AFL-CIO and the SEIU, others organized independently…As labor organizing grows across the country, it is important to understand the distinctions and nuances between different types of organizing. While most unions choose to organize with a larger labor union to take advantage of professional assistance and resources for organizing and negotiations, other unions want to operate as unaffiliated entities to have more control over their operations.Both kinds of unions aim to win better wages and working conditions for the people they represent but have different approaches to accomplishing these goals. The approach of established unions is that their large-scale collective power, significant financial resources, and professional organizing capabilities allow them to secure bigger wins for workers in a more efficient manner. Independent union leaders are closer to the ground, allowing them to more effectively serve the workers they represent and have greater democracy and transparency.”

“After a whirlwind few months, the Minnesota Legislature has completed its most productive session in decades. Amidst a plethora of significant victories for everyday people, the comprehensive new labor legislation stands out as a major step forward for working people…It also bans noncompetes — provisions found buried in the fine print of employment contracts that prevent workers from seeking new employment opportunities when they have reason to leave their current workplace. This ban is a critical first step to ensuring that workers are empowered to exercise their power in the workplace. However, the law is not enough. Corporate employers and their lawyers have long made clear that legislation alone won’t stop them from attempting to force workers to stay in jobs they no longer want. The Minnesota Bar Association and the Legislature can take some concrete steps to make sure the ban on noncompetes is given its full and meaningful effect.”

“The recently announced agreement on a new contract for hotel workers at the downtown Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles was only one deal, but it mattered. It has raised hopes among union members for favorable outcomes with the nearly 60 other area hotels where they work — and where they have authorized summer strikes, including the new wave of walkouts that began in the early hours of July 10…But there is a larger reality at play in both Los Angeles and Orange County. The truth is that the cost of housing in the area has soared so far beyond the reach of most lower wage workers that only aggressive, sustained increases will enable them to live anywhere near where they work. And that sets the union on a crash course with hotel ownership groups for repeated, grinding negotiations. According to UNITE HERE, most of its hotel workers earn $20 to $25 per hour. The union is seeking an immediate $5 per hour raise, plus increases of $3 per hour each year over the next three years — a $14 per hour increase over four years. A coalition negotiating for 44 of the hotels says it has offered a $2.50 per hour immediate raise, and a $6.25 per hour increase over four years.”

“Construction workers have nearly twice the rate of substance abuse as the national average, and the rate of suicide for men and women working in construction is about four times higher than that of the general population. 'It’s about meeting people where they’re at,' (Aaron) Walsh said. 'Breaking down that stigma and the shame and the guilt of being an addict or having mental health issues is what we’re about – just supporting people where they are.'"

“Full employment policies and strong enforcement of labor laws by federal agencies during the Biden administration have improved labor protections and increased union membership, promoting gains in worker power. Simultaneously, however, the American labor market has continued to experience a growth in employer monopsony that undermines worker power. The administration has attempted to create a balance of power between workers and employers, but additional policies are needed to complement existing efforts. This brief calls for the implementation of sectoral bargaining to enhance worker power so that it can withstand a weakened labor market and counteract anticompetitive corporate practices.”

 “The fate of the labor movement has broad implications for other movements, including and especially disability justice…Union representation already produces sizable benefits for disabled workers. Though union membership shares are roughly similar for employees with and without disabilities, there is an especially high union wage premium for workers with disabilities compared to other groups.”

“We need a new institution that does a single task: New organizing. An institution staffed by organizers whose single job is to help non-union workers unionize their workplaces. A new organizing center that only does new organizing. When the workers have won their unions, they can be placed into existing unions that can do the contracts and grievances and enforcement and all of the other normal union stuff. But new organizing—the job on which the future of the entire labor movement depends — is too important to be relegated to an afterthought within unions that are focused on catering to current members. We need to build something new that does not have any mixed incentives. Its success can be judged entirely on the number of people it unionizes.”

“Within the labor movement, all of the bright ideas and strategic insights in the world won’t amount to much if the democratic rights of union members themselves aren’t respected, restored, and expanded.”

“In this Q&A with Prism, Union of Southern Service Workers member Mama Cookie discusses the uphill battle of fighting for labor rights and protections in North Carolina.”

“Campus workers are organizing more than anyone else. It's time for them to unify.”

“Scholars investigating the economic and social impacts of a variety of labor and employment issues are launching new labor centers across the University of California. The new centers will provide timely, policy-relevant research, educate the next generation of labor and community leaders, and will grow labor and occupational health programs across UC.”

“Our guests Senator Jessica Ramos and Debby King describe the current program in New York state to help working people find childcare, which is in high demand but low supply, and the impact it has on young people, especially young moms. There are some great ideas in here to bolster worker power that unions in other states should pay close attention to this fantastic program.”

“The labor movement has a special responsibility — and existential need — to defend transgender* people and their loved ones from these escalating attacks. Transgender people are disproportionately poor and working-class. They are counted among members of unions, and leaders in unionization drives. And management has used anti-transgender policies to undercut union drives. Starbucks, for example, has threatened to punish unionized shops by withholding gender-affirming care benefits from workers at those stores, in what workers say is an anti-union tactic ... .Here are five things the labor movement can do to defend transgender workers.”

“Workers want unions. And in the states with the most anti-labor conditions, workers need unions more than anywhere else. The UAW (and other unions who face the same urgent necessities) desperately need to organize under these conditions. It will take a lot of money. To make a meaningful change, it will require an investment of billions of dollars in union organizing. Spending on this scale is completely reasonable when you consider the size of the task at hand, but no union in America has this much money to spend on what must be done. This is the place where the government — sympathetic to the cause, but hamstrung by political reality — can step in to help.”

“U.S. democracy is in crisis. Books are being banned, new voter suppression laws abound, and leading presidential candidates flirt with fascism. As the ‘hot labor summer’ of 2023 extends into autumn, including a high-profile visit by President Joe Biden to the United Auto Workers picket lines, the slew of national strikes and labor actions seems unrelated to our democracy problem. The unions’ actions are generally viewed as disputes about wages and benefits. But in fact, there is a close connection: Unions have a crucial and vastly underappreciated role in shoring up our fragile democracy.”

“Five years ago, Troy Bowman was earning about $14 an hour as a custodian at a Minneapolis Target. His wages were so low that a breakup led him to a stint sleeping in his car. That led, in turn, to a room in a transitional housing facility, where he pays rent for a private room but shares the kitchen and bathroom with other residents. In 2021 he found a job as a community safety specialist that came with a 39% increase in pay to $19.50 an hour. Yet the worsening housing affordability crisis prevented him from moving out of the Catholic Charities facility, where the 59-year-old still lives today.”

“December 1, 2023 marks the first anniversary of the Power At Work Blog. We arrived at exactly the right time. This has been a historic year for workers, worker power, collective action, and unions. Dramatic increases in organizing and greater success in union representation elections. Historic gains through collective bargaining in industry after industry. A president (and other public officials) visiting picket lines. We have done our best to give you a front row seat to all of it.”

“From the UAW to the Writers Guild, this year’s biggest contract victories have been won by unions in which members directly elect their leaders. That’s a right denied to most US union members — but it may be the key to unleashing broader labor militancy.”

“We’re in a moment of profound uncertainty and disillusionment across this country. Americans are fed up with politicians, institutions and the status quo. Approval ratings for Congress and most major institutions have plummeted to well below 50%. The labor movement is the one exception. Polling shows 71% of Americans believe in unions — more than two-thirds of people in this country, the highest number in the past 60 years. Unions are where people seem to have increasingly placed their hopes, their dreams and their aspirations for a better future.”

“The direct care workforce provides essential care to people who need help with activities of daily living, but the care workforce is relatively low-paid and struggles to keep up with the growing demand for their services.  Some institutional features help explain why market forces could struggle to address worker shortages and highlight potential solutions to the mismatch between the supply of direct care workers and demand for care services.”

“The extraction of wealth is a pathology of late capitalism and is defined by the cultural and political processes by which the rich establish themselves as the dominant class. Social theorist and organizer Marjorie Kelly labels this phenomenon “wealth supremacy” which is also the title of her latest book. But as she points out in this exclusive interview for Truthout, wealth supremacy, which has institutionalized greed, defines a system that is not only biased but rigged against the great bulk of the population and thus detrimental to the economy, the citizens and the planet.”

“Lainey Newman and Theda Skocpol’s Rust Belt Union Blues makes a compelling case that left-wing success in the rust belt depends on reviving the presence and stature of unions — and the sense of social connection they offer — in local communities.”

"Unions and collective action have long served as a vehicle for ensuring prosperity for working families and creating a more equal economy. Despite these critical functions, workers engaged in collective action, like strikes, have historically been barred from accessing safety net programs like unemployment insurance (UI). In a welcome development, state lawmakers are beginning to rethink this convention, recognizing the dual roles of UI in stabilizing the economy and unions in securing broad-based economic growth."

“It’s been nearly six years since the initial boot camp program kicked off in July of 2018, and the success of the program is evident. Dozens of local lodges have hosted the camps throughout the United States, completing 258,730 training hours in over 105 boot camps, teaching 1244 students with an overall pass rate of 86%. In just the first two months of 2024, seven boot camps trained both new recruits and apprentices.”

“The 1930s rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations led to millions of people being union members for the first time. The lesson of the CIO is that it’s necessary to harness the collective power of the working class on a grand scale.”

“At the heart of the current uptick in union organizing at companies like Starbucks has been “worker-to-worker unionism.” That model could be key to scaling up organizing and revitalizing the labor movement.”

“Hamilton Nolan’s debut book has a clear message to the modern-day labor movement: expand or dwindle into obscurity. The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor analyzes the post-pandemic landscape, where workers are pissed off, union favorability is high, and many union campaigns have reached national news coverage in ways the labor movement has not seen in decades.”

“The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City's Greenwich Village was one of the worst workplace disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The fire took the lives of 146 young immigrant garment workers. It also galvanized a reform movement to raise standards for workers."

“It’s a common situation: there’s too much union work to do, and not enough people doing it. And the ill effects are serious. Carrying too much work puts a lot of pressure on you, and you’re liable to burn out. You may find yourself overwhelmed with tasks, unable to prioritize, dissatisfied with the results—and possibly making poor decisions, because you’re too busy to solicit and include ideas from others.”

“Latino-owned breweries: Brewjeria Company, Norwalk Brew House, and South Central Brewing Company team up with famed cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, to release Los Farmworkers, a collaboration beer supporting the United Farm Workers labor union (UFW).”

“Liz Shuler was standing inside a university lab one day a few years ago when she saw the future of everything — in a cutting board. At the time Shuler was secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, one of America’s most storied labor organizations, and she’d come to Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University with a delegation that included members of Unite Here, the union representing hundreds of thousands of workers in the hospitality industry. Their mission: to get a glimpse at how technology might impact the workplace in the years ahead. It didn’t take long before that impact became clear, at least in the kitchen. One of the professors at CMU, a school known for its prowess in technology and design, was demonstrating a cutting-edge cutting board that was able to measure how fast someone sliced vegetables, as well as the quality of their motion.”

“Across the United States, almost three-quarters of those teaching in colleges and universities today are employed as contingent faculty. This is a reversal from the period before the economic turmoil of the 1970s, when three-quarters of the faculty held tenured or tenure-track positions. These precarious academic workers—ranging from part-time course-by-course adjuncts to faculty in full-time, long-term, non-tenured track positions, to graduate student workers—share the worries and uncertainties that plague other workers in today’s gig economy. These include little to no job security, few if any health care benefits, insufficient retirement savings, and diminished professional status. Our book, Contingent Faculty and the Remaking of Higher Education: A Labor History, explores the history and current challenges faced by contingent faculty – and how workers are fighting back.”

“While there is a great deal of apprehension about AI and its impact on the workforce, public servants who embrace innovation and continuous learning can use the technology to deliver more efficient and effective services that better meet the needs of the residents they serve. Read a transcript of Rick Maher, Seth Harris, and Beth Simone Noveck on this conversation.”

“Despite a booming U.S. economy and historically low unemployment, the exploitation and abuse of workers remains rampant in low-wage industries where unionization is difficult and regulation is lax. Consider the problem of wage theft. Although 30 states have raised their minimum wages above the federal rate of $7.25, increasing pay for millions of workers, roughly 5 million workers are nevertheless paid below their state’s minimum wage each year. On average, these wage theft victims lose 20% of their income, causing many to fall under the poverty line.”

“Members from 21 different states convened this week in Washington, D.C. in their roles as state legislative directors to sweep Capitol Hill on behalf of the BMWED-IBT and Rail Labor. These 25 Brothers and Sisters visited various Congressional offices Thursday afternoon, flexing collective strength and pressing several of our issues with federal legislators and their staffs, most chiefly the Railroad Employee Equity and Fairness (REEF) Act, which aims to eliminate the unjust sequestration of RRB unemployment and sickness benefits.”

“When the UAW won the historic union election at Volkswagen in Chattanooga this past Friday, it did something that many labor experts said couldn’t be done. For decades, unions have been told, “You can’t win in the South.” For decades, they’ve also been told that it’s next to impossible to unionize factory workers because they’re so terrified that their factories will close and move south of the border or overseas if they unionize.”

“President Claude Cummings Jr. led a CWA delegation to South Africa this week for the Information, Communications, Technology, and Related Services (ICTS) UNI Global Conference. The conference, held every four years, was attended by approximately 200 participants from unions representing workers in telecommunications and technology from all over the world. During the conference, CWA leaders had the opportunity to learn from other unions about their struggles, deepen relationships with key partner unions from around the world, and highlight our tech organizing successes.”

“The uptick in high-profile strikes in recent years has been heartening. But sustaining and expanding the gains won by that militancy will require careful strategizing and deep political engagement that starts with but goes beyond the shop floor."

“Each year, May Day invites us to revisit and rethink revolutionary traditions from the nineteenth century for the present and the future. The annual international holiday comes out of a trajectory from the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886, when police attacked workers making demands for an eight-hour workday. At that time, the demand for an eight-hour workday was understood as a total opposition to the capitalist workplace, where employers extracted as much as possible from their exhausted workforce. The beginnings of May Day were not about better wages and working conditions but about an opposition to the whole system of life governed by capital and ruled by money. To insist on sixteen hours for play and rest every single day was understood as a real threat to capital, a fact corroborated by the hostile opposition to those making the demand. Take a look at the history of May Day, International Workers’ Day, and you will see that it comes from immigrants, anarchists, communists, socialists, revolutionaries of many varieties, and others disenchanted. I think one could argue that May Day is the holiday of imaginary power and real horizons.”

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by labor leaders from Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia to discuss how the labor movement succeeded in stopping the billionaire owner of two sports teams from relocating those teams from downtown D.C. to the suburbs of Northern Virginia and, in the process, stood up for union jobs and workers in the region. Harris is joined by Virginia Diamond, President of the Northern Virginia AFL-CIO; Samuel Epps, President of the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO; and Greg Akerman, President of the Baltimore/DC-Metro Building Trades Council to talk about their efforts to work with the developers to secure a project labor agreement and labor peace agreement, the consequences for workers if the deal went through, and how workers in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. feel about the final result.”

“Until last year, TV writer Danny Tolli never imagined that AI could threaten his career. It wasn’t until ChatGPT came out at the end of 2022 and he saw its uncanny ability to instantly generate scripts and dialogue that he took notice. Suddenly, he worried that TV studios in Hollywood would use AI to replace writers, destroy the career ladder he was rising, and erode the compensation and job stability he counted on. As Tolli’s fears grew, his union, the Writers Guild of America West, was negotiating a three-year contract with Hollywood studios. Suddenly, AI became a top priority for Tolli and thousands of Guild members who went on strike in spring 2023.”

“When it comes to juggling work and family, moms are truly doing it all. Seventy-four percent of mothers were in the labor force in 2023 even as they took on a majority of families’ unpaid caregiving responsibilities. They’re major breadwinners too – nationally, 79 percent of Black mothers, 48 percent of white mothers, 43 percent of Asian and Pacific Island mothers, 49 percent of Latina mothers and 64 percent of Native American mothers lead their household’s earnings.”

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Christine Root, Project Manager of the African Activist Archive at Michigan State University, and Alan Wierdak, reference archivist and social media manager for the Labor collections in University of Maryland's Special Collections and University Archives, to discuss the importance of maintaining the records and artifacts of labor history and how the labor movement can apply the knowledge of archives to today's struggles. Watch now to see some interesting items from these archivists’ collections.”

“Going into 2024, many workplace experts said America’s labor movement needed two things especially to give it the upward momentum it needs. The first would be for the UAW to show that it could finally succeed in unionizing auto plants in the anti-union South after its previous attempts had failed. The second thing would be for the union that represents workers at 400 Starbucks stores, Starbucks Workers United, to somehow overcome Starbucks’ months and months of negotiating delays and finally reach a landmark first contract.”

“Can the new models of union organizing coming out of recent high-profile campaigns like Starbucks be a potential way to capture the current upsurge of support for and interest in unions? Labor scholar Eric Blanc thinks they can.”

“In recent years, the right has targeted diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, and, as we barrel toward a presidential election, the scapegoating of DEI is worsening. According to the University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center, 18 states have banned spending public funds on DEI-related activities in K-12 schools, and eight have done the same for colleges and universities. Equally concerning, many corporations have now co-opted DEI language to deflect from anti-union activity. They have been aided by consultants and a DEI-industrial complex that strips away the social justice core of DEI and stresses talk over action.”

“In this blogcast,  Professor Orly Lobel joins the Burnes Center for Social Change and the Power at Work Blog to discuss her new book The Equality Machine - Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future. Burnes Center Senior Fellow and former top White House labor policy advisor and Deputy U.S. Secretary of Labor Professor Seth Harris moderated the discussion. The conversation continued the Burnes Center’s Rebooting Democracy in the Age of AI lecture series and was recorded live on May 16th. The Equality Machine is a contrarian constructive response to debates on AI, automation, and datafication. The book examines distributive justice and the potential – as well as risks – of digital technology to tackle inequities in our labor markets, media, government, health, family, and intimate relations.”

“In this edition of The Power Hour, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Lilly Irani,  Associate Professor of Computer Science and Faculty Director of the Labor Center at U.C. San Diego; and Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Labor; to discuss the transformative potential of generative AI in building worker power, how technology can facilitating worker organizing, and how workers are resisting the exploitative nature of online platforms like Uber and Lyft.”

“The labor movement has played a key role in fighting for democracy all around the world. The fight for greater democracy is especially important in the United States right now, as the US government continues to support Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza over the opposition of a majority of Americans. But congressional and White House support for the war on Gaza is just one particularly dramatic illustration of how our political system fails to represent the popular will, and in particular the interests of working-class voters.”

“Across the US, labor unions are starting to ally with tenant organizers around affordable housing and tenant protection campaigns. The efforts reflect a growing sense of shared interests — and shared corporate enemies.”

“Collective bargaining systems that promote sectoral bargaining as well as workplace-level bargaining have much greater union contract coverage compared to purely workplace-level bargaining systems.  But some union allies worry that promoting sectoral bargaining could reduce union membership because it can create a free-rider problem, whereby similarly placed workers are covered by a union contract whether they are members or not.Yet, there is little evidence that sectoral bargaining hinders union membership. Rather, as I highlight in a new Center for American Progress report, sectoral bargaining can — and typically does — support high union membership.”

“Labor’s ability to improve queer workers’ lives stems from its power to raise standards for all workers.”

“After a victory in Tennessee and a loss in Alabama, the UAW is pressing onward in its fight to organize the notoriously anti-union South. The fate of Southern workers — and all workers — depends on the movement’s willingness to think big.”

“As we gear up for another hellish election cycle, replete with the breathless horse-race commentary already well covered in this issue, your friendly neighborhood labor reporters are bracing for the resurgence of a particular kind of bad journalism: the (white) working-class “safari” piece. Reporters travel to far-flung corners of so-called swing states looking for voters who both epitomize—and at the same time confound—their stereotypes of who votes Democrat and who votes Republican. They find what they seek, inevitably, and what they seek is a tribune of the working man (and it is, so often, a man). I have amply critiqued this process elsewhere, so I don’t want to spend much time on it other than to note that it is a symptom of the problem I’m actually here to address: the lack of respect and support for the labor beat.”

“If there is a chicken-or-the-egg question as it regards working class politics in the year 2024 and beyond, some of the boldest labor leaders in the United States have a very unified response: organized workers come first and then—and only then—can the progressive vision of a healthier democracy and more equal nation that meets the material needs of all its people finally come to pass.”

“Though labor unions and industry associations have different roles in the American labor market and economy, they play similar roles in organizing young workers and employers in youth apprenticeships. Labor unions and industry associations can expand the apprenticeship model by building on the opportunities they are creating for young people.”

“The Luddites, who smashed machines in the 19th century, in an organized effort to resist automation, are often portrayed as uneducated opponents of technology. But according to Blood in the Machine author Brian Merchant, “The Luddites were incredibly educated as to the harms of technology. They were very skilled technologists. So they understood exactly how new developments in machinery would affect the workplace, their industry, and their identities.” In this episode of “Movement Memos,” host Kelly Hayes talks with Merchant about the history and legacy of the Luddite movement, and what workers who are being oppressed by the tech titans of our time can learn from the era of machine-breakers.”

“Discussion about adopting policies to support sectoral bargaining -- a type of collective bargaining that provides union contract coverage for most or all workers in a particular sector -- has been growing in think tank and academic circles and with some leading Democratic politicians. The push for sectoral bargaining has been driven in large part because sectoral bargaining leads to much greater union contract coverage compared to purely workplace-level bargaining systems. This means more workers receive higher wages and benefits and society has lower racial and gender pay gaps as well as less economic inequality.”

“Labor’s decline over the past half century has devastated working-class communities, undermined democracy, and deepened the grip of big business over our work lives, our political system, and our planet. To turn this around, we need tens of millions more people forming, joining, and transforming unions.”

“...By using the bully pulpit—a public official’s ability to gain attention and sway key actors through public speech and private convenings because of their prominent position—officials are increasing workers’ confidence that their demands will be respected. At the same time, they are leveraging the bully pulpit to remind corporations that the government will hold lawbreakers accountable. Yet public officials and policymakers at all levels can do more to advocate forcefully for workers throughout the entire span of a unionization and contract bargaining process, particularly when corporations are undermining worker efforts or receiving financial incentives from the public.”

“In December of 1936, a day into their historic sit-down strike at a General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan, autoworkers set up a school. Surrounded by idle machines, freed from the foreman’s gaze, they took classes in public speaking and labor journalism, in political economy, in the history of the labor movement. This was not a spontaneous idea. Some of the key players in the strikes—the education director and several rank-and-file organizers in the nascent United Auto Workers (UAW), as well as its future president, Walter Reuther, and his brother, Roy—had spent time at Brookwood Labor College, a small independent school for workers who wanted to radicalize the labor movement. Many of the classes at the factory in Flint were based on those at Brookwood. S, to a degree, was the strike itself. It was at Brookwood that the Reuther brothers first studied the sit-down—a tactic that would be deployed in the coming year by nearly 400,000 workers in one of the most radical upsurges in American labor history. The start of the modern labor movement in America owed a lot, as one historian puts it, to ‘Brookwood’s Detroit vanguard.’ That moment should be front of mind today for a new generation of labor leftists.”

“As class solidarity arises from alienation and exploitation under capitalism, workers have various means of achieving economic democracy. Historically, labor unions served as the primary organizational tactic for workers to leverage their power; however, engaging in repeating contract cycles does not fundamentally shift ownership or resolve class conflict. Worker cooperatives present another opportunity to build worker power through collective ownership of the workplace. Although this strategy shifts the fundamental ownership dynamic, it raises new challenges and limitations. In this blog post, adapted from my literature review on unions and cooperative development, I argue that unions and worker cooperatives can compensate for each other’s limitations while utilizing their respective strengths. Bridging these traditions of unions and worker co-ops opens collaborative possibilities for a stronger labor movement that fights private employers while building frameworks to transfer ownership.”

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Gregg Johnson, a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, and Robert Bruno, a Director of the Labor Education Program and a Professor of Labor and Employment at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Watch now to learn about Illinois' groundbreaking new bill for students in high schools to learn about the workforce, unions, and the labor movement. Hear the perspective from both the sponsor of the bill Rep. Gregg Johnson, and a labor expert in the state, Robert Bruno.”

“Union leaders have a duty to tell members the truth about politics and how they affect our union. As the President of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, I did: I spent all of October and the first few days of November traveling through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin to get out the vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”

“Washington, D.C. — The National Employment Law Project, NYU Wagner Labor Initiative, Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School, Towards Justice, American Economic Liberties Project, and the Economic Policy Institute released a new policy brief on Tuesday outlining how states can defend the key pro-worker advances of the Biden administration, many of which are under attack in the courts and which face an uncertain future as the presidential administration changes.”

“On one hand, last week’s massive two-day strike by nearly 40,000 University of California workers was exactly what it appeared to be. Employees are falling further behind the skyrocketing cost of living in many areas where UC campuses are located, and they are pressuring UC officials to resolve months-long contract negotiations.”

“Unionized staffing cooperatives like AlliedUP can offer workers not only better pay and benefits, but critical support and a measure ownership over their professional futures.”

“Wages for too many working Americans have stagnated over the past several decades, even as corporate profits have approached record highs and CEO pay skyrockets.1 A key reason for this is that workers still do not have sufficient power to negotiate for higher compensation.2 Decades of attacks against collective bargaining, along with changing economic and employment structures, have weakened worker power.3 While federal reforms are necessary to rebalance power across the economy and fix many structural issues facing workers, state lawmakers can empower workers to bargain for decent working conditions and support good-quality jobs in local communities, even without federal action. This issue brief details eight ways that states can continue growing worker power and improving the lives of working people in the U.S. economy.”

“Voice gap,” which measures a worker’s perceived gap between desired and actual influence at work, significantly impacts job-related outcomes, such as job satisfaction, according to new research by ILR Assistant Professor Duanyi Yang. ‘The findings were very straightforward,’ Yang said. ‘A voice gap is significantly associated with lower job satisfaction and well-being, as well as higher burnout and turnover intention.’”