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Labor movement

Damaging Dishonesty

July 26, 2021 by Betsy Leondar-Wright 1 Comment

I guess you could call me a liar.  Back when I had fundraising responsibilities at several small nonprofit organizations, I lied to foundations all the time.  I assumed, often correctly, that funders wanted to believe that their money would directly bring about specific program impacts, so I told them it would. That meant hiding some […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classism in Diversity Work, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Classism in the Economy, Dismantlng Classism, Labor movement, Money, Women and Class Tagged With: low-wage jobs

The Work to Be Done This Labor Day

August 31, 2018 by Miranda Cunningham Leave a Comment

On Labor Day 2018, it’s hard to maintain hope. Many will labor on Labor Day (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Growing up in a blue-collar union household, working on holidays was considered a boon). Many labor in worse conditions than our parents and grandparents. The Gig Economy The gig economy leaves millions on their […]

Filed Under: Building Economic Alternatives, Classism in the Economy, Classist Corporations, Corporate power, Dismantlng Classism, Labor movement, Poverty, Systemic Classism Tagged With: activism, community organizing, downward mobility, low-wage jobs, middle class, Minimum wage, public services, race and class, social movements, unions

Janus v AFSCME:

February 24, 2018 by Bill Fletcher Jr. Leave a Comment

What the Supreme Court May Strip from Workers The roar of the approaching storm can be both heard and felt in workplaces across the United States. The prospects inherent in a much anticipated – and in many places feared – Supreme Court decision in the case Janus v AFSCME has the political Right giddy. Among […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class prejudice, Classism, Classism in Politics, Classist Corporations, Corporate power, Labor movement, Politics and Class, Workplace classism Tagged With: blaming the victim, labor law, low-wage jobs, privilege, teachers unions, union-bashing

Trump One Year Later: Most of Us Live in Dread

January 29, 2018 by Bill Fletcher Jr. Leave a Comment

I had a discussion with my doctor late spring 2017. I was having gastrointestinal issues, and I said to him that I kept wondering whether the anxiety that I felt about the Trump regime was affecting me physically. My doctor responded very seriously and with a straight face. He replied that many of his patients […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classism, Classism in Politics, Classism in the Economy, Dismantlng Classism, Labor movement, Politics and Class Tagged With: activism, budget cuts, bullying, classism, community organizing, owning class, super-rich, tax cuts, union-bashing, working class

Beyond Trump: Donald Trump Needs Our Racism

October 19, 2016 by Jude Diebold 1 Comment

Part of the White, Working Class, and Worried about Trump (#WhiteWorkingClassVsTrump) Campaign*: Throughout the 2016 election cycle, the U.S. electorate has subjected to overt and systemic racism from the Republican candidate Donald Trump. We have also borne witness to Trump exploiting white racial fears in order to garner the support of white people, in particular the white […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classism in Politics, Dismantlng Classism, Electoral politics, Institutional racism, Labor movement, Owning class, Politics and Class, Race and Class Tagged With: #WhiteWorkingClassVsTrump, blaming the victim, classism, owning class, unions, working class

SCOTUS: Public Sector Unions Safe for Now

March 30, 2016 by Bill Fletcher Jr. Leave a Comment

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it was deadlocked in the case of Friedrichs v California Teachers Association (representing 325,000 teachers in 1,000 school districts). The 4-4 vote, for now, leaves undisturbed a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which found itself bound by a prior SCOTUS precedent upholding a system […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Building Economic Alternatives, Classism in Politics, Labor movement, Politics and Class Tagged With: labor law, public sector, public sector unions, Supreme Court, union-bashing, unions

Class and the Labor-Environmental Divide

October 15, 2014 by Chuck Collins Leave a Comment

How do we address the deep class and culture divide that has opened up between workers and environmental activists? We are heading to a potentially severe clash between green advocates who advocate for reducing carbon emissions and labor-community activists concerned about jobs, racial equity and reducing extreme wealth inequality. Both the climate crisis and the […]

Filed Under: Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Classism in the Economy, Environmental classism, Labor movement Tagged With: climate change, climate crisis, inequality, just transition

Where is labor on Labor Day 2014?

August 29, 2014 by Bill Fletcher Jr. Leave a Comment

With every passing year, Labor Days becomes increasingly surreal. Labor, as a movement, receives decreasing attention and, to the extent to which Labor Day is acknowledged, it tends to be in the context of work alone. This may sound strange except when you remember that both the original Labor Day—May 1st—as well as the US-constructed […]

Filed Under: Labor movement Tagged With: activism, Labor Day, movement building, unions, working class

Open Shop Trend Makes Organizing “the Organized” Top Union Priority

August 28, 2014 by Steve Early 1 Comment

For many years, American unions have been trying to “organize of the unorganized” to offset and, where possible, reverse their steady loss of dues-paying membership. In union circles, a distinction was often made between that “external organizing” — to recruit workers who currently lack collective bargaining rights — and “internal organizing,” which involves engaging more […]

Filed Under: Labor movement Tagged With: labor law, open shop, Right to Work

Against Silencing Race & Class Resistance, in Ferguson & Everywhere

August 28, 2014 by Michael C. Duff Leave a Comment

Recently I read an essay on the Huffington Post written by Baptist theologian and activist, Jeff Hood, about developments in Ferguson, Missouri.  Hood took issue with clergy on the scene who asserted to African-American protesters, “If we remain peaceful then we will get what we want!”  On the contrary, Hood argued, suppressing anger in the […]

Filed Under: Labor movement, Race and Class Tagged With: "class warfare", nonviolence, race and class, racism, speaking up, struggle

Labor Day, American Values and the Status Quo

August 26, 2014 by Maynard Seider Leave a Comment

For the past two years I’ve traveled across the country to film festivals, labor events and public forums to show my documentary, “Farewell to Factory Towns?” With Labor Day on the horizon, I’d like to offer a few thoughts on the reactions of audiences to the film. While relatively diverse, the audiences generally support the […]

Filed Under: Building Economic Alternatives, Classism in Politics, Labor movement Tagged With: budget cuts, environmentalists, green jobs, job loss, movement building

Beneath the Veneer of Harris v. Quinn

July 17, 2014 by Michael C. Duff 2 Comments

Harris v. Quinn is a recent Supreme Court opinion, featured often on the news, holding that “partial” public employees – home health care providers – should not be “compelled” to join a union or, put in less charged language, to contribute to union representation in their workplace even when a majority of employees has voted […]

Filed Under: Classism in Politics, Labor movement Tagged With: labor law, public services, Right to Work, unions

“Sixteen Tons” brings mine wars of ’20s and ’30s alive

June 25, 2014 by Carol Alexander Leave a Comment

“Are the mules okay?” Not to diminish hard-working mules, but the mine boss’s urgent question after an accident captures the cruel reality thrust upon generations of underground coal miners, whose toil fueled America. That authentic quote valuing mules over expendable common laborers jumps off the pages of “Sixteen Tons,” (Hard Ball Press, 2014), described as […]

Filed Under: Class Themes in Film and Fiction, Labor movement, Workplace classism Tagged With: immigrants, labor history, low-wage jobs

Grassroots Voices Rising for a New Economy

May 15, 2014 by Aisha Shillingford Leave a Comment

Imagine an event where the people in control were the house cleaners, the nannies, the family farmers and the unemployed! A little over two weeks ago I attended the joint organizing summit and member assembly of National People’s Action (NPA) and National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA). Entitled Rising Voices for a New Economy, the four-day […]

Filed Under: Cross-class alliances, Labor movement, Politics and Class, Workplace classism Tagged With: activism, immigrants, low-wage jobs, organizing, working class

Trying to survive on $8.25 an hour

December 13, 2013 by Ann Berlak and Nelson Myhand Leave a Comment

On Thursday December 5th in 130 cities across the country fast food workers walked off their jobs calling for $15 in wages and the right to form a union. In Oakland, CA, hundreds of supporters joined the action at a local McDonalds during the lunch rush hour, successfully interrupting business as usual. The crowd was […]

Filed Under: Corporate power, Labor movement, Money Tagged With: activism, corporations, greed, low-wage jobs, Minimum wage

Isn’t it Time for All Workers to Have More Job Security?

December 10, 2013 by Rand Wilson Leave a Comment

The United States is alone among industrialized countries in allowing workers to be considered “at will” employees and dismissed for any reason – justified or not, unless protected by a union contract or individual agreement. Labor should seize the opportunity to champion the passage of “just cause” dismissal standards into state laws. It’s a labor […]

Filed Under: Classism in the Economy, Classist Corporations, Labor movement, Workplace classism Tagged With: fairness, job security, workplace

The Worker Center Boogyman

December 9, 2013 by Michael C. Duff Leave a Comment

Lately the Chamber of Commerce (the Chamber) has been complaining loudly that Worker Centers are a kind of front group for unions.  Worker centers are community-based and community-led organizations that engage in a combination of service, advocacy, and organizing activities to provide support to low-wage workers. The vast majority of the Centers were created primarily […]

Filed Under: Labor movement, Politics and Class Tagged With: labor law, union-bashing, unions, worker centers

Why I became an adjunct (against the advice of everyone that I knew…)

October 8, 2013 by Abby Machson-Carter 2 Comments

When I was finishing my master’s degree in creative writing I started telling my professors and family members that when I graduated I wanted to “go into teaching.” I got a variety of responses.  When I was lamenting a missed a job opportunity, one teacher responded: “Good.   Being an adjunct teacher was the worst job […]

Filed Under: Class in Higher Education, Labor movement, Workplace classism Tagged With: academia, low-wage jobs, teachers unions, unions

Destroying Labor Law in the “Sharing Economy”

September 3, 2013 by Lita Kurth 6 Comments

Many a magazine, including the usually liberal New Yorker, has gone ga-ga about Taskrabbit, AirBnB, Elance, and other new companies that in one fell swoop make a mockery of fair labor practices, regulated consumer products, minimum wage, and taxes. In a rather lengthy article in which a New Yorker writer gushed about her Taskrabbit experiences, […]

Filed Under: Building Economic Alternatives, Class in The News, Classism in the Economy, Labor movement, Poverty

Labor Day, 2013: Realities and Hopes

September 1, 2013 by Maynard Seider Leave a Comment

I like to listen to Bruce Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball” album from time to time, at moments when my spirits need lifting up.   In “Jack of All Trades,” the protagonist does outdoor work, carpentry, auto repair and farming (“I’ll harvest your crops”).  Given the recent one day strikes in some 60 cities by fast food workers,  […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classist Corporations, Labor movement, Politics and Class Tagged With: Bruce Springsteen, fast food jobs, low-wage jobs, strikes, working class, working poor

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