Labor Movement

Colorado Unions Rally To Demand Passage Of The Worker Protection Act

March 22, 2025 Fight Back! News. Resist! Colorado, Labor Movement, Unions, Worker Protection Act, Worker Rights and Jobs

Denver, CO – On March 19, Colorado Worker Rights United, a coalition of labor unions, gathered at the Colorado State Capitol to rally for the Worker Protection Act, which is currently under consideration by Colorado lawmakers. Around 150 union workers gathered on the steps raising signs and showing support for measure has passed the senate and is on the way to the house and governor. Several elected officials made speeches that called for the passage of this act, which would eliminate the need for a second union election to start the collective bargaining process.

How Rank-And-File Democracy Transformed The Teamsters And UAW

March 3, 2025 Michael J. Goldberg, Power At Work. Strategize! Democracy, History, Labor Movement, Rank and File, Teamsters, UAW, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

It’s well known in labor circles that the 2020’s opened with a tremendous resurgence of rank-and-file activism in the workplace. Beginning with 2021’s “Striketober” and sparked initially by the hardships of the pandemic and emboldened by the labor shortages that followed, that upsurge targeted union and nonunion workplaces alike. Among the collective bargaining breakthroughs in already unionized workplaces, two of the most important involved the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and the United Auto Workers (UAW). In 2023, the IBT won a historic contract with its largest employer, UPS, without having to follow through on its threat to strike.

International Solidarity Is The Union Answer To Tariffs And Deportations

February 25, 2025 Jeffrey Hermanson, Labor Notes. Strategize! International Solidarity, Labor Movement, Trade, Unions, Worker Rights

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain has recently expressed the UAW’s readiness to “work with Trump on trade.” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien spoke on a podcast against “illegal immigrants that come into our country to commit crimes and steal jobs.” But based on my experience, in the long run, international solidarity is the only way we can build working-class power. Demagogues like Trump have often exploited the protectionist and anti-immigrant sentiments that have been widespread in American labor for generations. A working class that is divided, both within the U.S. and across North America, is easier to exploit. Corporations have greatly profited from our divisions over the three decades since NAFTA was enacted.

Utah’s Anti-Union Bill Sparks Outcry As Labor Movement Fights Back

February 15, 2025 Devin B. Martinez, People's Dispatch. Resist! Federal Employees, Labor Movement, State legislature, Unions, Utah, Worker Rights

A controversial bill in the US state of Utah, HB 267, is making its way through the state legislature, sparking intense debate and widespread opposition. If signed into law, the bill would make it illegal for any federal agency in Utah to recognize labor unions or engage in collective bargaining with their employees. This sweeping measure would impact thousands of workers, including teachers, health care workers, emergency responders, and a variety of other workers employed by federal agencies. Many federal employees rely on unions to fight for fair wages, benefits, and working conditions.

It’s Time For A United Front To Take On Billionaire Rule

February 13, 2025 Luis Feliz Leon, In These Times. Strategize! Class Struggle, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Federal Workers, Labor Movement, Worker Rights and Jobs

President Donald Trump relishes deploying the “weave,” his vulgar stream-of-consciousness spiels in which his vengeful fantasies and antipathy towards a cast of enemies become punchlines in an insult-comic routine. His far-right former adviser Steve Bannon has termed the Trump administration’s psychological warfare approach “flooding the zone.” “Every day we hit them with three things,” Bannon told PBS’s Frontline in 2019. “They’ll bite on one, and we’ll get all of our stuff done. Bang, bang, bang. These guys will never — will never be able to recover. But we’ve got to start with muzzle velocity.”

How Black Workers Overcome Historic Obstacles To Labor Organizing

February 13, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. Organize! Black Working Class, History, Labor Movement, Racism, Right to Work, The South, United States, Worker Rights and Jobs

The struggle between Black organized labor and the political establishment has been historically waged with particular fierceness in the US South—a region with the highest proportion of Black workers but with the most hostile laws against workplace organizing. States in the US South have some of the lowest rates of union coverage in the country—meaning that they have a lower share of workers who are organized in a union. The national union coverage rate stood at 11.2% as of 2023, while the rate was as low as 3% in South Carolina, 3.3% in North Carolina, 5.2% in Louisiana, and 5.4% in Georgia.

Unionized Grocery Workers Are A Sleeping Giant

February 10, 2025 Isaac Soto, Caitlyn Clark, and Jacob Eshom, Portside. Strategize! Colorado, Grocery Workers, Krogers, Labor Movement, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

In the first six months of 2025, grocery contracts covering over 130,000 union workers are set to expire. The contracts span five states, a dozen local unions, and several employers — namely the grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons. Kroger’s last, best, and final offer included abysmal wage increases, with thousands of workers offered $0.25 or less in the first year of the contract. It failed to address worker concerns over understaffing, low wages, two-tier discrimination, shorter wage steps, and protections from automation. Grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons’ $24.6 billion mega-merger was blocked in court after a coalition of UFCW and Teamster locals, including UFCW Locals 7, 324, 770, and 3000, organized a powerful “Stop the Merger” campaign.

Labor Fights Back Against Attacks On Federal Workers

February 9, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. Resist! DOGE, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Federal Workers, Labor Movement, United States, Worker Rights and Jobs

Following a legal response by organized labor, one of Trump’s early attacks against the US federal workforce have been temporarily halted. On Thursday, February 6, Trump’s deadline to furlough millions of federal workers if they did not accept a buyout offer was paused following an injunction by a federal judge in Boston. This pause came less than 11 hours before the deadline for workers to accept the buyout offer, which 65,000 federal workers did—agreeing to leave their jobs in exchange for eight months of pay and benefits through September.

From Gripe Sessions To Grievance Tracking

February 7, 2025 Bonny Hulberg, Labor Notes. Organize! Labor Movement, Rank and File, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

When I joined my local union, I dove in headfirst and became a steward. I was excited to see how things were run and where I might fall in the grand scheme of things. It wasn’t quite what I expected; then again, I had never been in a union before. So I sat back and watched our organizer run our steward meetings, listened to the other attendees—and realized our meetings were gripe sessions, lacking structure and focus. Stewards and members alike were expressing frustrations, but there was little tangible action to address these issues, as far as I could tell.

How The Teamsters Tested Amazon

February 7, 2025 Luis Feliz Leon, In These Times. Organize! Amazon, Labor Movement, New York City (NYC), Strikes, Teamsters, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

New York City — At 6 a.m., a few days before Christmas, in the postindustrial neighborhood of Maspeth, 47 workers kick off a nationwide Teamsters strike against Amazon. Maspeth, a corner of Queens that two centuries ago boasted lumberyards, linoleum manufacturers and rope factories, is still a bastion of union pride. “The people are working-class and they respect the unions and belong to them, especially the uniform ones, like the firemen, cops and sanitation workers,” said a retired construction worker at a local pub in 2020’s The Queens Nobody Knows. But today, the uniforms increasingly seen around Maspeth sport Amazon’s signature “smiley swoosh” icon.

Months After Indefinite Strike, Samsung Workers Register Their Union

January 31, 2025 Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch. Resist! India, Labor Movement, Samsung, Unions, Victory, Worker Rights and Jobs

Hundreds of workers at Samsung India’s Chennai plant celebrated the registration of their union after months of struggle. Following the official notification of the registration on Monday, January 27, they held a victory rally to mark the occasion. Samsung India Workers Union (SIWU) is Samsung’s first workers’ union in India. It is only the second such union in a Samsung plant anywhere in the world. The first was National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), which only recently formed in South Korea in 2021, despite the company’s over 55 years of operation.

Closures In Quebec Show Amazon Is Scared Of Workers Organizing

January 30, 2025 Pola Posen, Left Voice. Resist! Amazon, Canada, Labor Movement, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Quebec, Unions, Whole Foods, Worker Rights and Jobs

The workers at a Whole Foods location in Center City, Philadelphia, voted to form the grocery chain’s first-ever union on Monday, marking an incredible victory for workers who have been organizing at the store for over a year. Whole Foods was bought by Amazon in 2017, and since then benefits, staffing levels, and working conditions have gotten worse. 130 workers voted in favor of unionizing with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), while 100 voted against. Through the union, workers are demanding a living wage (the starting salary is currently only $16/hour), better benefits, and more protections.

SF Native Touts Worker-To-Worker Organizing As Key To Labor Revival

January 27, 2025 Steve Early, Beyond Chron. Organize! Books, Democracy, Labor Movement, Worker Rights and Jobs

How many graduates of Buena Vista Elementary and Lowell High School have become labor book authors? Probably not many–other than Eric Blanc, whose mother taught in the San Francisco school system (and served as union president) and whose father was long active in the central labor council. Blanc became a teacher himself and drew on that experience when writing his first book, Red State Revolt: The Teachers Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics. Now an assistant professor at Rutgers University, Blanc has just published a more wide-ranging study. It grapples with a perennial question facing the labor left—namely, what kind of break with business as usual, within established unions, would help more private sector workers win union recognition, first contracts, and strikes?

Amid Bad News For Workers, Win In New Orleans Offers Hope

January 27, 2025 Sarah Jaffe, In These Times. Create! Elections, Labor Movement, Louisiana, New Orleans, Worker Rights and Jobs, Workers Bill of Rights

There’s a little bit of hope in the city, even with grim election results and a grimmer start to the year. A Workers’ Bill of Rights was overwhelmingly approved by voters on Election Day. More than 80% of those who cast a ballot voted to enshrine workers’ rights in the city’s Home Rule charter, the first step in the process of building a real framework for enforcing higher minimum wages, employer-provided healthcare, paid family and sick leave, vacation time and the right to organize. In a state where President Donald Trump won 60% of the vote and where a far-right legislature and governor have preempted many of the possibilities for local action, the Workers’ Bill of Rights offers a blueprint for forward motion under conservative governance.

Labor Faces Artificial Intelligence And Outsourcing

January 26, 2025 Ed Grystar, Counter Punch. Strategize! Artificial Intelligence, Jobs, Labor Movement, Outsourcing, Worker Rights and Jobs

Two recent articles on AI / automation and outsourcing / immigration offer a glimpse of what faces labor unions and the working class as capital, emboldened by the election of Trump and his alliance with Big Tech, sets up to continue its push on automation, subcontracting, outsourcing, and the importing of foreign labor – despite Trump’s tacit claims to support “American jobs”. Organized labor, which, with the exception of the Teamsters, doubled down on its support for Biden and the Democrats in November and clinging to the lost strategy of labor-management cooperation, now appears more on the backfoot than ever to defend against the onslaught.

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