• 'It's Different Here' Is No Excuse
    I talk with labor activists all across the country. Plenty are inspired by strikes that happen elsewhere. But over and over I hear the same excuse for why they can’t make big demands or go on strike themselves: “It’s different here.” How is it different? Pick your poison: It’s the South. It’s the public sector. It’s illegal. Our union leaders would never support us. Everyone is too scared. Too apathetic. This year, the teacher union movement is supplying the best reply to “It’s different here.” Here’s what we’ve seen in 2019 so far: — Mar 19
  • Erie Locomotive Plant Workers Strike against Two-Tier
    Erie Locomotive Plant Workers Strike against Two-Tier March 15, 2019 / Saurav Sarkar, Dan DiMaggio if(isset($entity->premium) and $entity->premium == 1) { echo "Print Only"; } ?>This article has been updated since the original version, first published March 1. At a sprawling locomotive manufacturing complex a mile long and a mile wide in Erie, Pennsylvania, 1,700 workers struck for nine days and fended off their new employer’s efforts to impose a raft of concessions, including two-tier wages. Temperatures were below freezing. Strikers stood on a dozen picket lines ringing the plant, feeding wood into burn barrels and making life difficult for any non-union employees who tried to drive through the gates. — Mar 15
  • TV Review: That Time the A-Team Helped Organize Farmworkers
    The A-Team was a hit show among my friends when it first aired in 1983. Growing up in a union family, one episode that stood out for me was “Labor Pains,” when the A-Team helped farmworkers organize a union. I recently watched it again to see how well it presents unions and the organizing process. — Mar 15
  • How to Use Grievances to Organize
    How to Use Grievances to Organize March 08, 2019 / Mike Parker and Martha Gruelle if(isset($entity->premium) and $entity->premium == 1) { echo "Print Only"; } ?>The difference between a truly democratic union and one that follows a servicing model is stark when it comes to grievance handling. In a strong democratic union there may not even be many grievances; members organize to convince supervisors to stop violating the contract without having to use the formal procedure. — Mar 8
  • The Better Burn Barrel from the Boeing Strike Lives On
    It’s just what you would expect from airplane engineers on strike—they reengineered the picket line burn barrel to be more efficient. The strikers were Boeing engineers, members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), who walked the lines for 40 days in 2000 during a rainy Seattle winter. — Mar 7