Blogs

  • Reality TV Gives Corporate America a Big Wet Kiss
    Mark Brenner
    February 11, 2010

    Want to know what chutzpah means? Look no further than TV's newest reality show, “Undercover Boss.” Apparently the titans of industry aren't satisfied that they burned our economy to the ground and got nothing but a slap on the wrist from Washington. They want us to like them, too.

  • NUHW is Decisive in Santa Rosa, SEIU Tries to Postpone Defeat
    Mark Brenner
    December 18, 2009

    Workers capped a six year campaign to organize Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital tonight, with 283 voting to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) against 263 votes for "no union."

  • Teamsters Reformers Win Big at New York UPS Local
    Mark Brenner
    December 3, 2009

    UPS Teamsters in New York City voted in a reform slate by to a 2-to-1 margin Thursday. It’s the second win in as many months for Teamsters reformers in the city, and it comes after a tireless yearlong campaign in a local with a long tradition of troublemaking.

  • Cracking the Subcontracting Shell Game
    Mark Brenner
    November 30, 2009

    If you want a glimpse inside the legal maze global corporations have erected to fatten their bottom lines and keep workers off-balance, take a look at this video. Monica Sanchez, a worker at the vacuum-maker Bissell's warehouse in Elwood, Illinois, talks about what happened to her and her co-workers when they tried to form a union with the United Electrical Workers.

  • Bissell Tries Sucking the Life Out of Union Organizing Drive
    Mark Brenner
    November 13, 2009

    Forty warehouse workers and their supporters picketed Wednesday in front of the Bissell distribution center in Joliet, Illinois, one of dozens of mammoth buildings that have sprung up off of I-55 south of Chicago. One week earlier Bissell—through their temp agency—dropped the axe on all 70 workers in the warehouse. Their offense? Trying to form a union.

  • Now For Something Completely Different: Dispatches from the UE Convention
    Mark Brenner
    September 15, 2009

    Looking for a break from the palace politics and spit-shine glitz of the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh (where, behind our reporters just hours ago, they turned back on the booming sound system to give tomorrow's speeches a dry run)? Let us transport you to downtown New Haven, where a gathering of a totally different stripe is underway.

  • Day 2 - Anna Burger, Politics and Accountability
    Mark Brenner
    June 8, 2008

    Today was Anna Burger's day in the spotlight. Her stump speech was about the 2008 elections, and why politics was so important to SEIU's future. Burger, who heads up Change to Win, is apparently the czar of SEIU's political operations, and it was nice to hear her say, "There is no question that organizing and politics go hand and hand," acknowledging the link between SEIU's growth and their work in the political arena.

  • Day 1 - Teachers meet with SEIU members
    Mark Brenner
    June 7, 2008

    Tonight the Puerto Rican teachers held a "charla" or chat with SEIU members interested in learning more about their struggle, and the conflict between SEIU and their union the FMPR. I couldn't be there but Labor Notes Policy Committee member Steve Early was on the scene. From Steve's reports, the FMPR event sounded about as far from the highly scripted, stage-managed SEIU convention as you could get.

  • Day 1 - Time to Vote! (Long Post)
    Mark Brenner
    June 6, 2008

    After the division reports, International Executive Vice President Tom Woodruff closed the show, emphasizing a couple of the key pieces of the “Justice for All” program. These include:

    • Ensuring all locals follow through on constitutional commitment to spend 20 percent of their budgets on organizing.
    • Recommendations from the International Executive Board (IEB) that when bargaining with designated national employers and industry sectors, designated by the divisions, that we speak with one voice and unite our strength.
  • Day 1 - Organizing Report: Politics & Fuzzy Math
    Mark Brenner
    June 5, 2008

    After Andy’s speech the union turned to its bread and butter, the question of organizing the unorganized (who SEIU has determined, through focus groups I guess, we should call not-yet-union workers). Executive Vice President Tom Woodruff ran the show, and spoke about some of the strategies and key campaigns the union has on its agenda.