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Enough With the Just In Time Schedules, Say Retail Workers »

November 19, 2012 | Jenny Brown

A familiar cry for the 40-hour week has gone up, but among retail workers the meaning is new. Part-time workers are demanding an end to erratic scheduling and a chance to work enough hours to survive.

Undermining Social Security from Within »

November 16, 2012 | Jane Slaughter

When the Alliance for Retired Americans rallied at an Orlando Social Security office November 8, workers came out, spoke to the crowd, and said they would put up “Don’t Cut My Social Security” signs in their cubicles.


Social Security unionists see threats to the program from the inside,...

‘Grand Bargain’ Would Be a Social Security Swindle »

November 15, 2012 | Jane Slaughter

If Congress and the President reach a “grand bargain” in the lame-duck session, seniors, the poor, and the disabled will pay for it—and it won’t be a good buy. Here are three ways politicians are hoping to cut your Social Security benefits.

Fiscal Cliff or Fiscal Bluff? »

November 14, 2012 | Mark Brenner

The fiscal cliff doesn't need to be jumped. Panic-mongers are sounding the alarm so they can get away with cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and more. Breathe deep, do nothing, and the clock will run out on Bush’s tax cuts for the 1%.

For UPS Contract, Union Focus Is on Harassment, Not Concessions »

November 9, 2012 | Jane Slaughter

At the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) convention last week, local officers and rank and filers dissected bargaining now underway with UPS. Remarkably, members were focused not on concessions but on advances their union has vowed to win.

Union-Backed Ballot Measures Mostly Voted Up »

November 7, 2012 | Samantha Winslow

Union-backed ballot measures, including minimum wage increases and taxes on the rich, fared well around the country yesterday, with an exception in Michigan and an uncertain outcome in Phoenix. Here's a round-up.

Sit-In Tells Rahm Emanuel: Stop Closing Chicago Schools »

November 6, 2012 | Samantha Winslow

Chicago Teachers Union leaders vowed that their seven-day strike was just one step in their fight to defend public education. Now teachers and community groups are demanding a moratorium on school closings. Ten were arrested Friday.

California Vote Could Encourage Anti-Union Initiatives Nationwide »

November 5, 2012 | Matthew Fleischer

A California ballot initiative stands poised to fundamentally alter national politics—even if it loses tomorrow. Proposition 32's backers hope to silence unions by disallowing use of mandatory payroll deductions for political purposes.

Election Season: Let’s Be Watchdogs, Not Lapdogs »

November 2, 2012 | Mark Brenner

There’s plenty of pressure to bite your tongue and keep quiet about your criticisms till after the election, but a few unions turned the conventional wisdom on its head this year, piping up instead of quieting down.

Postal Service to Cut Trucker Jobs on Flimsy Environmental Pretext »

November 1, 2012 | Alexandra Bradbury

The Postal Service is using environmental regulation as a fig leaf for its latest privatization ploy.


Postal workers, politicians, and community activists staged a Halloween rally yesterday outside Representative Darrell Issa’s office in Vista, California, calling for Congress to “carve...

Workers in the Northeast Come Face to Face with Climate Change »

October 31, 2012 | Jenny Brown
Union members are on the front lines cleaning up after weather disasters caused by global warming. It’s time for unions to be on the front lines of preventing them.

Nothing Grand about Proposed Social Security Bargain, Unions Say »

October 31, 2012 | Jane Slaughter

After months of campaigning vigorously for President Obama, unions made a “hard pivot” today and jumped into action to head off threats to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The AFL-CIO and allies planned picket lines and other actions in close to 100 cities demanding that the lame-duck...

Turning the Tables on Romney’s Scorn for Workers »

October 30, 2012 | Gene Grabiner

In his now-famous 47 percent speech, Mitt Romney wrote off almost half of Americans as deadbeats and hopeless dependents. But who actually generates society's wealth—is it the "job creators," or is it workers?

Democrats Dodge Minimum Wage Increases, Activists Undeterred »

October 29, 2012 | Alexandra Bradbury

Majorities of voters, even Republicans, support raising the minimum wage, and politicians who oppose it sound mean and out of touch. But no one is running on it this year.

Missouri Labor Takes on the Poverty Business, Cements Alliances »

October 26, 2012 | Judy Ancel

The labor-community coalition Missouri Jobs with Justice is taking on low-wage employers, championed by the Missouri Restaurant Association, and the payday loan industry.

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