Troublemakers Blog
September 29, 2016 / Jane Slaughter
The 15 stories gathered here are meant as an “instruction manual for other workers considering direct action.” Workers can learn, sometimes by negative example—because defeats and partial victories are common—“how to formulate demands and select representatives, the various strategies bosses use to coopt representatives, what to look for as signs that the boss »
September 28, 2016 /
In August the National Labor Relations Board ruled that graduate employees at private universities have the right to unionize. Cartoon: Daniel Mendez Moore
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September 15, 2016 /
On the eve of Labor Day, students and alumni of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Labor Center discovered that the program was under attack.
Professor Eve Weinbaum, the center’s respected director, alerted alumni and students by email that she was being ousted, and that the university administration was slashing funding for many aspects of the nationally »
September 12, 2016 /
Ever wanted to know what it’s really like to work in retail? “Superstore” is the show to watch. »
September 08, 2016 /
The Space Needle, Seattle’s iconic landmark and tourist destination, is also home to Washington state’s highest-grossing restaurant. »
September 01, 2016 /
After a two-year battle that culminated with students occupying the president’s office in May, the maintenance staff at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, finally has a union contract.
In August the dozen workers, now members of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 30, ratified the first contract for directly hired employees in this small liberal-arts »
August 30, 2016 /
Passionate voices across labor have spent the past year arguing over the 2016 election. But the debate over whom to support too often obscures an equally important question—how unions support candidates.
Most of us, the research suggests, are doing it wrong. »
August 24, 2016 /
The first problem that confronts the writer of a murder mystery series is how the protagonist manages to get drawn into so many murders. No wonder most protagonists are police investigators or private eyes. It’s what I think of as the Miss Marple Problem—how can so many people get murdered in the quiet little village of St. Mary Mead, anyway? »
August 23, 2016 /
It isn’t often that one gets invited to see a musical produced by a friend. And I have to admit, while I knew that Gene Bruskin has been a fine organizer for 40 years, I was a bit skeptical that he could also be a playwright. »