Luis Feliz Leon

Learning, Recharging, Uniting at Labor Notes 2026

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Several people stand on stage with fists raised and with a Labor Notes banner behind them.
July 02, 2026

In a time when there’s real cause for fear and despair—and when the Trump administration is pushing hard to divide us—the Labor Notes Conference June 12-14 in Chicago was an oasis of inspiration and solidarity.

As Contract Deadline Looms, Auto Parts Workers Say ‘No Axles, No Trucks!’

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People, mostly wearing red, hoist printed signs in a packed indoor rally. A woman in the foreground, smiling, wears a "no tiers" button. Her sign, held high, reads "UAW: Fight for Job Security." Other visible signs say "UAW: Fight for No Tiers" and "UAW: It's Our Time at Local 2093 American Axle." A man behind her, applauding, wears a red and black buffalo plaid shirt. Most people visible in the photo appear to be white.
May 21, 2026

Axles are to vehicles what joints are to human bodies: the mechanism that facilitates movement. For parts worker Rosie Dodge, who has worked on a paint line for American Axle & Manufacturing for 10 years, the metaphor is embodied in the work environment.

“They just do not treat us like people,” Dodge said. “We are often referred to as bodies, like they don’t even want to give us credit for having a pulse. They do what they call ‘manpower moves,’ and they say, ‘We just need bodies over here.’”

In Major Breakthrough, Volkswagen Auto Workers Reach Tentative Deal

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A Black woman in a red "Stand up UAW" T-shirt throws her hands in the air in celebration, phone in one hand, tears in her eyes. Other workers in matching shirts, and other people, stand nearby, all smiling, some clapping. In a room, looks like a union hall, with a logo on the wall that says "United we stand, divided we fall" around a handshake.
February 10, 2026

Volkswagen had dangled a treat: a ratification bonus of $4,000, sweetened by $1,500 if a first contract at its assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was approved by Halloween 2025. But auto workers had a trick up their sleeves: collective action.

One hundred and sixty workers on the second shift hampered that day’s production schedule by skipping work in a mass call-out. Workers used sick time or paid time off to secure the day off, leaving management in a bind.

In the Twin Cities, a Massive Strike Against ICE

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A big crowd carries a banner “ICE out of MN!”
January 27, 2026

Icicles hung from the beards of men in union beanies. The lobbies of large commercial buildings in downtown Minneapolis opened to the public for respite filled with people rubbing each other’s sore feet, peeling the sticky adhesive off foot warmers to place them under their socks, and jamming their feet into thickly insulated boots.

Will ICE Ignite a Mass Strike in Minnesota?

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Mass march with many handmade anti-ICE signs. Most prominent are rainbow butterflies with the word "Together." Another in lower right says "How do have money for ICE but not teachers, veterans, childcare, health care, mental heath services, clean water, SNAP?" A flag farther back in crowd shows Star Wars rebellion logo.
January 16, 2026

Minnesota appears to be in gear for a mass uprising. Unions, community organizations, faith leaders, and small businesses there are calling for a statewide day of “no work (except for emergency services), no school, and no shopping” on January 23.

Fifteen Thousand New York City Nurses Strike

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Three Black women nurses pose for camera; two are smiling, one looks determined. Two hold printed NYSNA signs: "Safe nurses = safe patients" and "STOP hiding the truth about your $$$" and the other holds a handwritten sign, partly covered, long text. Lots of red NYSNA hats are visible in the dense, upbeat crowd behind them.
January 13, 2026

Fifteen thousand nurses across 10 campuses in New York City’s three biggest hospital systems are on an open-ended strike. It’s the city’s largest nurse strike in decades.

Picket lines stretched for blocks at Mount Sinai, Montefiore, and New York Presbyterian hospitals on January 12, thronged with nurses plus Teamsters, hotel workers, and university staff showing solidarity.

Renee Good, Killed by ICE, Was Standing in Solidarity with Her Neighbors

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photo taken at night shows a giant crowd of people in a residential street, facing away from the viewer, silhouetted by a streetlight
January 09, 2026

The whistle blows in short bursts: PHWEEE! PHWEEE! PHWEEE! PHWEEE! Code: ICE is nearby. Then comes the long blast: PHWEEEEEEEEEEE! Code: ICE has taken someone.

These are the codes rapid responders are using to alert their neighbors and co-workers to ICE sightings and kidnappings.

‘No More Blood for Oil’: Global Labor Movement Opposes Trump’s Attacks on Venezuela

Luis Feliz Leon
A handpainted sign on a city street reads in red letters "no war with Venezuela."

Labor federations around the world are condemning the Trump administration’s acts of war in Venezuela.

In a raw display of imperialist aggression, the United States bombed the country, kidnapped its president and his wife, and imprisoned them in New York City on January 4. Special forces and military aircraft killed 80 civilians and military personnel.

Zohran Mamdani: New York's Working Class Elects a Movement Mayor

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A dense and diverse crowd of people, some wearing yellow hats, marches across the Brooklyn Bridge in early-morning light. At the front are Zohran Mamdani and others carrying a banner that says in big purple letters "Our Time Is Now"
November 04, 2025

Zohran Kwame Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist and the Democratic nominee, will be New York City’s next mayor, after trouncing former Governor Andrew Cuomo in a primary and general election double whammy.

“The working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the well-connected that power does not belong in their hands,” Mamdani told a roaring crowd at his victory party in Brooklyn.

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