Troublemakers Blog

Book cover shows a person bending over a table, indoors, welding. On the table is a bright diorama of a farm with miniature barn, buffalos, and a farmer pouring a bucket of water on the same spot where the welder is aiming.
January 17, 2023 /
A woman navigating the challenges of the male workplace makes a good story, and Hilary Peach does the genre proud in her new book, Thick Skin: Field Notes from a Sister in the Brotherhood. »
In the foreground we see the backs of a few strikers in red UAW 2865 T-shirts, one holding a strike sign, sitting at a table. Facing them is a huge crowd of strikers, standing, with picket signs, outdoors. The signs say "UAW on strike, unfair labor practice."
January 05, 2023 /
In December, the contract bargaining team for Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2865 brought back a tentative agreement with the University of California and presented it to its membership of teaching assistants, graders and tutors for ratification. A lively “vote no” campaign arose. »
January 05, 2023 /
One of the fun things about the 2022 Labor Notes Conference was the presence and enthusiasm of young people. To this labor veteran, it was encouraging to see the young blood and new faces; it was clear that we have a new generation of leaders emerging in the labor movement. And that is more than welcome! »
December 22, 2022 /
This week, I joined farmworkers across the country in sounding the alarm on legislation that would make us even more vulnerable. We have defeated it for now. However, the agricultural lobby has been pushing for this legislation since 2019, and we know they will continue to propose legislation that ties immigration reform to labor exploitation. »
Amazon strikes hold signs saying strike, higher wages, stop racism. An Amazon facility is in the background
December 20, 2022 / Jenny Brown
When Amazon workers at a St. Louis fulfillment center walked out on Black Friday demanding $30 an hour, the Twitter trolls came out, too: They’re wimps, they’re whiners, they’re making inflation worse. Quit if you don’t like the job! »
A group of workers and supporters hold signs that read STRIKE in front of a blue Amazon Prime truck.
December 14, 2022 /
Over the last 27 years Amazon has grown from a little-known online bookseller to a global sprawling logistics and delivery empire, overtaking brick-and-mortar retailers with its e-commerce offerings and threatening to make serious inroads on last-mile carriers like FedEx, UPS, and the Postal Service. Recently Amazon even established a virtual health services »
People sit in a classroom. Most are looking attentively at a person in the foreground who must be speaking, but has his back to us. He is wearing an interpretation headset and the back of his T-shirt says "Los Deliveristas Unidos," Spanish for united delivery workers.
December 13, 2022 /
Four hundred rank-and-file organizers gathered November 19 in a New York City high school at the largest Troublemakers School yet. The day was part learning opportunity, part celebration of shared struggle. »
View from above of a sea of marchers outdoors, all carrying matching printed "UAW on strike" picket signs
December 09, 2022 /
Forty-eight thousand academic workers have been on strike across the 10 campuses of the University of California since November 14. It’s the biggest strike in the country this year. »
December 01, 2022 /
La primera vez que Yuris Reyes pidió compensación por enfermedad, se la negaron. “Mis jefes me dijeron que la compensación por enfermedad era solo para los gerentes y no algo a lo que yo tenía derecho”, dice la trabajadora de un restaurante de Filadelfia. »
November 29, 2022 / Alexandra Bradbury
If your union goes into negotiations right now and doesn’t win its biggest raise ever, you’re leaving money on the table. Soaring inflation means it takes a bigger raise just to break even. And with unemployment low, labor has extra leverage to win more. »

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