Troublemakers Blog
October 11, 2019 / Chris Brooks
Let's be honest: Picket lines can be tedious, especially if strikers simply repeat the same hackneyed chants over and over again.
But not always. To break up the monotony, workers often make up their own chants, dances and songs. »
October 08, 2019 /
This is Day 23 for the United Auto Workers' strike vs. GM. Today’s Detroit Free Press says at least three items have not been resolved: »
October 04, 2019 /
You’ve probably noticed that Hollywood doesn’t turn out many movies about unions. But, says film buff and labor historian Toni Gilpin, there are some overlooked movies out there that depict working people and their lives on the job even though they might lack scenes with picket lines. This is her latest installment in an occasional series of viewing »
October 02, 2019 / Jane Slaughter
General Motors workers have been on the picket lines for 17 days now, and just picked up their first weekly strike pay of $250. Strikers wonder who will hold out the longest—a workforce seeking justice or an immensely profitable corporation »
September 30, 2019 / Chris Brooks, / Saurav Sarkar
At times it can seem like international solidarity is just a rallying cry, devoid of the oomph that would make it a force to build power among workers across borders. But this past August, we had the chance to witness international solidarity in action. »
September 25, 2019 / Samantha Winslow
Joining a wave of reformers, high school teacher Tiffany Choi of the Caucus of Today’s Teachers just got elected president of the Denver teachers union—again. In a re-vote, Choi cemented her May defeat of a 10-year incumbent.
She ran on a platform that the union should partner with parents, involve members more in decision-making, and fight back against »
September 20, 2019 /
This week 49,000 auto workers are walking the picket lines at General Motors factories across the U.S. in the biggest private sector strike in more than a decade. And you can help! »
September 20, 2019 /
Humans have created an existential crisis. It’s up for grabs who will live, how and where, which species will survive, and how the big decisions are made.
No exaggeration—we are in the eleventh hour.
Fossil fuel companies, banks, and all those who profit from these industries have exacerbated the warming of our planet, creating a climate disaster. »
September 13, 2019 /
More than 120 years ago the American Federationist, the newspaper of the American Federation of Labor, printed an editorial denouncing the entry of women into the trades. One of its many nuggets of misogyny was this: “The wholesale employment of women in the various handicrafts must gradually unsex them.” »
September 10, 2019 /
To mark our 40th anniversary year, Labor Notes is reprinting occasional selections from our archives. This story was published in issue # 22 in November 1980. --Editors »