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No More Empty Promises, Say Immigration Activists Descending on D.C. »

March 19, 2010 | by Sally Kim

From around the nation, immigrant rights activists say they've had enough of broken promises and broken laws. Protestors are on their way to D.C. to voice frustration with an immigration system they say is worse under Obama.

GM’s Battery Plant Opens Non-Union »

March 19, 2010 | Al Benchich

The “reinvention” of the “New GM” began with the opening of a lithium-ion battery plant in Brownstown, Michigan, near Detroit. The event not only signals GM’s return to electric vehicles—for the first time in about 30 years, GM has opened a non-union plant in the U.S.

Single Payer in Vermont Takes Two Years to Build »

March 19, 2010 | Jonathan Kissam

The chambers of the legislature are a sea of red. Hundreds of Vermonters, many of them wearing the red T-shirts of the Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign, have driven in to attend a January hearing on universal, single-payer health care. . . .

Filipino Workers Face Arrest, Firing, and Worse For Trying to Organize »

March 19, 2010 | Labor Notes Staff

Dole Food is trying to crush Filipino pineapple workers’ right to organize. Beyond facing stagnant real wages, high quotas, and up to a 72-hour work week with no overtime pay, workers and their families are exposed to toxic chemicals and not given proper safety equipment.


Rap: ‘If we can change the White House, we can change the hog house’ »

March 18, 2010 | Gene Bruskin

The victory was so beautiful it deserved a poem--even a rap.


In December 2008, just a few weeks after Barack Obama’s election, the United Food and Commercial Workers won one of the largest union elections in decades at the Smithfield Foods pig slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, North Carolina....

Mexico: Union Strikes and Blockages Back Fired Electrical Workers »

March 17, 2010 | Jane Slaughter

Electrical utility workers in Mexico called for a national strike yesterday to support their fight against the liquidation of their company, and some of the country’s more militant unions responded—including by blocking highways. Police responded with tear gas and violence.

Women in the Trades: They've Got Stories »

March 16, 2010 | Jane Slaughter

It was a day like today—60s and sunny, decades ago—when I swung from the top of a telephone pole and thought I had the best job in the world. A few months earlier, in the Detroit winter, not so much. I remember phoning a customer from the pole behind her house and hearing her tell me she could...

Unions’ Top-Heavy Salaries a Drag on Organizing »

March 15, 2010 | Mark Brenner

According to data filed under the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), the number of union officials and staff earning high salaries has exploded in recent years.

What's happening at the conference? »

March 15, 2010 | Tiffany Ten Eyck

The conference kicks off at 1pm on Friday April 23, with the opening main session at 7:30 pm. Some pre-conference meetings, including the Latino pre-conference at 10 am, begin earlier. Closing session ends at 2pm Sunday, April 25.


What You’ll Find


Control the Shop Floor
Nuts &...

Baltimore Worker Center Says Tourist District Shouldn't Grow on Poverty Jobs »

March 12, 2010 | Tom Kertes

Poverty conditions for workers in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor are threatening to become routine. That doesn't make them tolerable, said a worker center. They're pursuing living-wage agreements by targeting developers.

Drug Tests Followed by Steelworker Suicides: How Should a Union Defend Members? »

March 10, 2010 | Mischa Gaus

As Steelworkers at the Granite City Works outside St. Louis finally got back to work after a long idle, management surprised them with a new drug-test policy that's wreaked havoc.

'Toxic' Health Bill or No, Labor's 'Medicare for All' Activists Dig In »

March 10, 2010 | Jane Slaughter

When I told friends I was on my way to the Labor Campaign for Single-Payer conference, held last weekend, they all said, “I bet that’ll be a bunch of long faces.” I predicted not—these were people who’d always known the health care reform debate in Congress would come up short. Yet the 124...

Just Say ‘No’ to Drug Tests — Then Bargain »

March 10, 2010 | David Cohen

Under the guise of concern for employees’ safety and health, employers demand the right to conduct drug and alcohol testing. Most use it as just another hammer to hold over workers’ heads. Employers often try to divide the membership on this issue, but we can turn this around and fight. What...

Bus Drivers Win First Contract After Strike and Lockout at University of Alabama »

March 9, 2010 | By Jake DaSilva

Bus drivers at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa won a first contract after they were locked out last week following a one-day strike. The deal secures a $1.50 an hour raise and employment security, key sticking points that led to the strike. The drivers endured nine months of bargaining...

Anger at Insurance Companies Pulls 1000s to Protest »

March 9, 2010 | Paddy Lehane

As health insurance lobbyists holed up in the Ritz-Carlton behind dozens of police in riot gear, thousands of health care activists surrounded the downtown D.C. hotel in a peaceful but pointed demonstration of anger and support for health care reform.

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