It’s Our Money: Union Members Fight for Good Public Pension Investments

April 29, 2026 / Jenny Brown

Union members in many states and cities are pushing for a stronger voice in pension investments. And sometimes they’re actually winning: They’re holding pension boards accountable and advocating for investments that insure worker protections, climate resiliency, and decent retirement benefits.

Counter Manufacturers are Killing Workers with Silica Dust, Safety Group Charges

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Two workers place a slab of manufactured stone against a larger slab.
April 28, 2026

Silicosis is a lethal workplace illness that killed thousands each year up through the 1960s. In recent decades, thanks to union workplace safety fights, it became much rarer. Annual deaths dropped to the hundreds. The disease affected mostly older workers with longer exposures.

So it was hard for stonecutter Gustavo Reyes Gonzalez, 35, to get a clear diagnosis in 2019 when he first developed a cough and shortness of breath. It wasn’t until two years later that he was told he had silicosis—and only had a year to live.

How Rhode Island’s Labor Movement Made Its Weight Felt in Politics

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Fifty people pose on the stairs inside the Rhode Island capitol.
April 22, 2026

Over the last decade Rhode Island has been a hotbed of progressive, pro-worker legislation. But it wasn’t always this way. It took years of proactive organizing by the labor movement on legislative and electoral campaigns.

This “blue” New England state was led by Republican Governor Donald Carcieri from 2003 to 2011. During his term he cut 1,000 public sector jobs, passed a regressive property tax law, and attacked pensions for teachers and other public workers—actions that were enabled by centrist Democrats in the state legislature who were lukewarm towards labor.

No podemos cerrar la brecha salarial entre Estados Unidos y México sin apoyar la organización sindical en México

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Members of the independent union SINTTIA rallied at a May 1 demonstration. Photo: SINTTIA
April 15, 2026

El gobierno mexicano está fallando en procesar la violencia de represalia y amenaza contra trabajadores que se organizan, según un nuevo informe, lo que coloca a México en incumplimiento de su acuerdo comercial con Estados Unidos y Canadá.

El informe enumera nueve campañas de organización distintas en las que se hicieron amenazas contra trabajadores: en cada caso, los autores encontraron “poca evidencia de investigación o enjuiciamiento por parte de las autoridades.”

Virginia Workers to Governor: Don't Water Down Our Bargaining Rights!

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A crowd marches with signs
April 14, 2026

After a years-long campaign by unions, Virginia’s General Assembly passed legislation to extend collective bargaining rights to nearly half a million state, county, and municipal government employees.

A Lack of Democracy in the United Farm Workers Gave Chavez Immunity

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Seven women stand by a car holding a Farmworkers Union flag
April 06, 2026

In 2011 Frank Bardacke published an 800-page history of the Farm Workers union: Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers. It opened many eyes to the reasons the UFW became a shadow of its former self.

Bardacke starts the book with an epigraph, a quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: “O what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down...”

Overwhelmed by Strike, San Francisco Schools Found the Money for Top Union Demands

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Smiling strikers pose outdoors with a bright yellow banner handpainted "On strike for our schools" in red. Most people visible in this photo appear to be white or Asian women. Many wear UESF hats. Other visible handmade signs say "Boo Su, give us a fair contract now!" "Keep our counselors" and "Invest in oiur largest asset: children." Palm trees are visible against gray sky. Some people raise fists or a victory/peace sign.
March 31, 2026

Six thousand San Francisco educators won fully funded health care, sanctuary schools, and an up to 8.5 percent raise over two years by walking out for the first time in nearly 50 years.

After just four days on strike, February 9 to 12, they won their top demands—some of which the district had previously refused even to bargain over.

“It was hard and it was joyful and we f-ing beat them,” said Ilan Desai-Geller, a high school teacher who served on the bargaining committee and as a regional strike captain. “They found the money all of a sudden.

In 57 Languages, Meatpackers Strike for the First Time in 40 Years

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March 22, 2026

In less than a quarter-mile stretch of sidewalk, chatter in 57 languages overlaps with the sound of dancehall, bachata, Thai pop, Haitian kompa, and Micronesian hip-hop. At sunset, dozens gather for iftar, breaking their Ramadan fast; the music, pulsing from boomboxes and cell phones held up to megaphones, swells into one shared hum.

In this sliver of land across from the sprawling JBS beef processing plant—among the largest in the country—workers from around the world have united in the largest U.S. meatpacking strike in 40 years.

Gearing Up for May Day: Solidarity Schools Spread

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A group of people in chairs crowd a room listening to a speaker.
March 19, 2026

Last year a network of unions and community organizations organized the largest May Day actions in U.S. history: 1,200 actions in all 50 states. This year, the stakes are even higher, and the examples inspiring us are even bolder.

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