The Weekly Download

“For decades, the share of workers represented by unions has steadily declined in the United States. This trend is often framed as a story about workers’ collective bargaining power slipping away. But scholars like Ruth Milkman and Kim Voss remind us that revitalizing the labor movement is not just about winning at the negotiating table. It also depends on how unions present themselves, build relationships, and speak to the public. For many workers, unions are not only vehicles for securing better wages or working conditions–they are communities, sources of support, and voices for fairness. Understanding how unions tell their stories is, therefore, central to understanding how they rebuild power.”

“In his new book We Are the Union, Eric Blanc, a sociologist at Rutgers, argues that the chasm between the popularity of the union idea and the paltry collective-bargaining payoff can be bridged only by a radical decentralization of labor’s organizing efforts. Blanc considers the staff-reliant organizing model deployed by most unions, even the most progressive ones, to be the main problem. An issue he first explored in a stirring earlier work, Red State Revolt: The Teachers’ Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics, staff-centered organizing drives, Blanc argues in his current book, are too expensive, too cumbersome, too top-down, and, perhaps most important, are unable to take advantage of the enthusiasm and creativity emerging out of the workforce itself. It’s not that the model doesn’t work when enough people and money are targeted on a single workplace, but it is not ‘scalable,’ Blanc explains. A staff-intensive effort can ‘win battles, but not the war.’”

“When I talk with fellow workers, organizers, and union leaders across the country, I often hear the same two feelings expressed in the same breath: excitement and frustration. People see energy building in places we never expected—baristas, warehouse workers, graduate employees, workers in retail and tech who are standing up in ways that felt impossible just a few years ago. The media has rediscovered labor. Young workers in particular are organizing at rates we haven’t seen in decades. Public approval of unions is the highest it has been since the 1960s.”

“Two of America’s largest railway workers unions have come out against the $85 billion merger of two major railroad conglomerates, warning that it will harm competition and worker safety. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) represent more than half of the employees at the Union Pacific Railroad and the Norfolk Southern Corporation, which it plans to acquire…If approved, it would allow the two firms to merge into the largest railroad company in US history, controlling more than 50,000 miles of track across 43 states. According to the Associated Press, such a railroad would likely control over 40% of the nation’s freight. The unions warned on Wednesday that the deal would create a ‘de facto monopoly’ in large swaths of the country.”

“In the midst of an economic downturn and wide-ranging, McCarthyist political attacks on Black history and anything presumably related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or critical race theory, union-busting at PushBlack now threatens workers’ ability to fight for Black liberation at a time when this work is most needed. For millions of Black Americans, the Black-led progressive and social justice-centered nonprofit media organization PushBlack is a digital lifeline: a source of news, civic information, and affirming content in a publishing landscape that often marginalizes our stories. Our celebrated get-out-the-vote campaigns are a testament to our public power. But today, that power is being squandered.”

“Union busting is old as unionization itself. From illegal actions like terminating union organizers to sometimes-permissible sometimes-impermissible tactics like captive audience meetings, employers consistently attempt to deter and defeat union drives. Recently, an older tactic has reemerged: trademark infringement lawsuits. Noteworthy employers like Medieval Times, Starbucks, and Trader Joe’s have all brought lawsuits against their respective unions for trademark infringement in the past few years. While the former two suits were dismissed, Trader Joe’s lawsuit was just revived by the Ninth Circuit, as detailed in a previous post. Even when trademark infringement claims are dismissed, however, these lawsuits can have negative impacts on union drives. This post offers background on trademark infringement claims in the labor context and examines one such lawsuit that ultimately contributed to the end of an organizing campaign.”

“Episode #16 of the Power Half-Hour has arrived! The Power Half-Hour is a livestreamed, fast-paced, bi-weekly roundtable with a rotating group of regular guests. Our guests discuss the biggest labor story of the preceding week and the labor story everyone should be talking about over the next two weeks. Joining Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris for this episode are:”

“The House has voted on a bipartisan basis to restore labor rights to 1 million federal workers after President Donald Trump yanked them away in an executive order earlier this year, in a rare show of defiance against the president by over a dozen GOP members.”

“Amazon has long evaded unionization of its last-mile delivery drivers by subcontracting them to third-party companies. Legislation introduced by socialist New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán could put an end to that.”

“The agency charged with overseeing U.S. labor relations has been largely sidelined for the past year, mired in a legal limbo that has delayed the handling of major cases and fueled deep uncertainty about the future of federal labor law. The agency, the National Labor Relations Board, has for months had merely a single member on its five-seat board, two short of the required number to hear cases. Even if the vacancies are filled — the Senate could vote to confirm two nominees from President Trump as soon as this week — the board could fundamentally change if the Supreme Court rules in coming months that the president has wide powers to fire appointed officials at federal agencies.”

“Millions of Americans gathered around their kitchen tables to visit with friends and family and indulge in favorite recipes late last month. Those who could luxuriate in a long holiday weekend did just that, but not everyone got to enjoy it; about a third of the American workforce still had to get up and go to work as usual on Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, that included at least a few members of the Trump administration’s Labor Department, who spent their holiday dealing yet another crippling blow to the nation’s beleaguered coal miners. On November 26th, the Department of Labor and the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association filed a status update in an ongoing lawsuit over a long-awaited workplace safety regulation. Taken out of context, this may not sound all that exciting, but it’s actually quite devastating. One of the Biden administration’s last useful actions was to issue a new Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for respirable crystalline silica that was aimed at protecting coal miners from inhaling the dangerous, carcinogenic dust particles. Then and now, the law allows coal miners to be exposed to twice as much of the toxic dust as any other worker in the country.”

“President Donald Trump promised to be a “champion for the American worker,” but his administration’s actions are setting workers without a college degree up for failure. The first year of the second Trump administration resulted in job losses, slowing wage growth, and rising costs for working-class Americans compared with the beginning of 2025. With a difficult labor market, wages that are not rising fast enough, and weaker unions and labor standards, working families are finding it harder to deal with rising costs for essentials including electricity, food, and household appliances. At the same time, the administration is busting unions, cutting the minimum wage, weakening agencies that protect workers, and installing anti-worker judges in the judiciary, which will likely make working-class struggles worse in the future.”

“Willian Giménez González is a day laborer in Chicago known for organizing for workers’ rights. He was part of a group that filed a federal lawsuit over the alleged beating and harassment of day laborers at a Home Depot. On September 12, federal agents detained him outside of his barbershop, beginning a 47-day ordeal in which he was held in the Broadview ICE detention center in Illinois and then moved to the North Lake detention center in Michigan. The abduction came in the early days of ​’Operation Midway Blitz’ as the Trump administration dramatically ramped up the presence of heavily armed, masked federal agents throughout the Chicago area. Giménez González’s community responded with outrage and concern, rallying at the Broadview facility the day after he was detained. To the tremendous relief of loved ones and supporters, on October 28, Giménez González was released from ICE after his legal team successfully argued it is unlawful for ICE to detain him indefinitely without a bond hearing.”

“When Ravina Turner, 53, started working for Michigan’s Home Help Program around 2015, she was just grateful to get paid. For years, she’d missed work to care for her daughter, Davina, who has Crohn’s disease and colitis. At first, the Home Help Program, run by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, paid her about $300 a month for her work, allowing her to scale back her hours as a nursing assistant. By last year, she had become a full-time caregiver for Davina, and her wages had risen to $15.88 an hour. That is still well below the $35.59 per hour living wage for a single parent in Dearborn Heights, outside Detroit, according to the MIT Living Wage Calculator…This October, Turner was among 32,000 Michigan home care aides who became union members after 73% of voting home care workers voted to join the union. They are currently working towards negotiating a contract with the state. And their victory, say observers, achieved something politicians increasingly need to pull off: building coalitions across political divides by speaking to material concerns.”

“Anagram, a subcontractor for Disney, pays prisoners as low as $0.90 per hour to package balloons in prisons across Minnesota. A coalition of formerly incarcerated workers and Minnesota unions are demanding they pay workers minimum wage.”

“Striking workers in Chicago say they received an unwelcome visit on their picket line Tuesday from a high-profile government official: Gregory Bovino, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commander spearheading President Donald Trump’s urban deportation campaign. Teamsters Local 705 shared video of strikers interacting with an officer in a U.S. Border Patrol uniform who appears to be Bovino. The soundless video shows the official, flanked by agents, pointing at the camera and laughing. Nicolas Coronado, an attorney for the union, told HuffPost that Bovino had asked the worker shooting the video if he was a U.S. citizen. He alleged that the interaction was a violation of the workers’ right to 

“The coming year could keep the strikes rolling through steel mills, state offices, telephone lines, axle plants, baseball diamonds, and hospitals from coast to coast. Union contracts expiring in 2026 could open up major fights by manufacturing, education, entertainment, and government workers.”

“Labor officials said on Wednesday that contract talks with Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab covering the future of roughly 1,600 white-collar union members at fuselage supplier Spirit AeroSystems after its acquisition by the planemaker had been paused until January 5. The workers are part of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace's (SPEEA) non-engineering bargaining unit in Wichita, Kansas. SPEEA-represented engineers in Wichita approved a new four-year with Spirit management in November 2024.”

“SEPTA has reached a deal with another one of its workers' unions to avert a strike. The Philadelphia-based transit agency and SMART Local 1594, which represents more than 300 bus, train and trolley operators in Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties, reached a tentative deal Thursday after the union authorized a strike last month. Earlier this week, SEPTA reached a tentative labor agreement with Transport Workers Union Local 234, which is the transit agency's largest workers' union. A SEPTA spokesperson said the deal for SMART Local 1594 is the same deal it reached with TWU Local 234. Both contracts still need to be ratified.”

“A new documentary from the independent nonprofit Six Eye Films, Without Shade, Without Rest, follows the grueling struggle by agricultural workers in Miami-Dade County to establish the first local ordinance in Florida to guarantee heat safety protections for outdoor workers. That fight, years in the making, would have required employers to provide basic protections against extreme heat for agricultural and construction workers, such as guaranteed water breaks and access to shade on the job once the temperature outside reached a certain threshold. The ordinance was on its way to passage in 2023 when the effort was stalled by complaints from business owners, who then subsequently lobbied the Florida Legislature to pass a law shortly after that barred any Florida county, including Miami-Dade, from establishing any kind of heat safety mandate.”