Dan DiMaggio

Still Fighting at 250

Dan DiMaggio

As America turns 250, it’s easy to despair about where we're going. The Labor Notes Conference was a powerful antidote.

These 4,000-plus fighters have not given up. They're still fighting.

And this country is filled with courageous working people like them, who believe that a better world is possible

“I didn’t hear no bell,” says Rocky Balboa, as he miraculously gets up yet again in the midst of a brutal street fight at the end of “Rocky V.” The best union activists have that underdog determination. It’s sewn into the fabric of this country.

Auto Worker Delegates Back Union's Fighting Direction at UAW Convention

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Delegates stand and applaud at the UAW convention.
June 18, 2026

Delegates to the United Auto Workers constitutional convention affirmed this week the aggressive direction the union has taken under President Shawn Fain, who took office in 2023 and immediately set the 400,000-member union on a new path, illustrated in bold campaigns like the Stand Up Strike against the Big 3 automakers.

Bring Member Power to the Table By Opening Up Bargaining

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A group of 50 people stand behind a bargaining table with fists raised.
June 02, 2026

Since electing new leadership in 2022, Teamsters Local 135 in Indiana has completely changed the way it conducts negotiations. It’s using open bargaining to revitalize the local.

Under the previous leadership, a small bargaining team negotiated behind closed doors. Gag orders ensured that members would know nothing about negotiations until an agreement was presented for a vote.

Secrets of a Successful Organizer Now Available in Nine Languages

Dan DiMaggio
Book covers for six translations of Secrets of a Successful Organizer, in various colors, most featuring the bullseye logo. The Spanish tenants one instead shows two hands joined by the pinkies. A graphic from inside that book shows the "bullseye" diagram adapted to an onion, with the core group in the center, activists and supporters in layers of the onion, distant people outside the onion, and hostiles represented as a knife cutting the onion.

We are happy to report that Secrets of a Successful Organizer has now been translated into eight languages: Spanish, Japanese, German, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Swedish, Danish, Quebecois French, and, most recently, Korean. (See below for details on how to get copies.) We’ve also heard from union activists in Brazil, Norway, and Poland who are interested in translating it.

UAW Pushes for Green Jobs And Affordability in California

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A worker at an Asana heat pump assembly factory stands with a drill working on a heat pump
February 18, 2026

Can unions lead the push toward an environmentally sustainable future, and secure more good jobs in the process? With the Trump administration attacking federal investments in green industries from electrical vehicles to wind, the United Auto Workers is attempting this strategy at the state level in California.

Malaysian Workers Protest Union-Busting at Apple Supplier

Dan DiMaggio
A group of supporters stand behind a red and blue banner congratulating the Lumileds workers on voting for the union and saluting their courage.

Workers in Malaysia who make screens like the one you are reading this article on are protesting after union leaders were fired following an organizing victory. The workers make LED screens for companies including Apple.

The Electronics Industry Employees Union Northern Region (EIEUNR) won an election in November to represent workers at the Lumileds factory in Penang. Of the 1,200 eligible voters, 65 percent voted for the union, with 89 percent turnout.

Teamsters Highlight Renewed Militancy, Rank-and-File Power at 50th Annual TDU Convention

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TDU convention attendees are shown sitting and standing, clapping for a speaker, in the hotel ballroom, under a chandelier.
November 14, 2025

At the 50th annual Teamsters for a Democratic Union convention, 550 Teamsters talked about building power in their workplaces, from UPS barns to school bus yards to the San Diego Zoo. They swapped tips on running for local union office and debated TDU’s strategic priorities.

A major theme at the convention, held in Chicago November 7-9, was the union’s renewed militancy. Teamsters elected Sean O’Brien in 2021 to head the 1.3-million member union; the TDU-backed O’Brien-Zuckerman Teamsters United slate ran under the slogan “new leadership and a new direction.”

Wells Fargo Workers Push to Bring A Union to the Banking Industry

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A large group wearing red with banners and signs and flags pose for the camera
September 23, 2025

Workers at Wells Fargo are organizing the first union at a major U.S. bank—in one of the least-organized industries in the country.

The first branch where workers won a union vote, in 2023, was in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since then, workers have have voted to join the Communications Workers (CWA) at 29 more branches from Apopka, Florida, to Casper, Wyoming. So have 35 workers who review customer and employee complaints at the bank.

EBay Aims to Bust Trading Card Union with 200 Layoffs

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June 03, 2025

More than two years after voting in a union, the 220 workers at TCGplayer, the eBay-owned online marketplace for trading cards, hoped they might be getting close to securing a first contract. Instead, they’re fighting to save their jobs.

On May 22, the company abruptly announced that it was shuttering its Syracuse, New York, authentication center and moving operations to Louisville, Kentucky.

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