Will ICE Ignite a Mass Strike in Minnesota?

Main Image: 
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

Main Image: 
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.

Five Things Steward Training Gets Wrong

Main Image: 
Richard, a white man with a mustache and glasses, speaks to attentive labor school participants seated in a classroom.
January 08, 2026

Recently I did some training with a group of newly elected officers and business agents. We used their International’s steward training manual, but I felt it missed the mark on several issues. When I reviewed manuals from other unions, these mistakes kept coming up:

1. Representing two members who get in a fight

One new business agent asked, “Two members get into a fight. Both get suspended, under a zero tolerance policy. Can I refuse to file a grievance for the one who was clearly at fault?”

2025 in Review: Stark Battle Lines, Big Potential

Main Image: 
Montage of three photos, all showing details from crowds at large outdoor protests. 1: Workers hold blue signs printed with UAW logo, and someone behind holds a handmade "Bad DOGE" sign with Elon Musk's face. 2: An older white man and younger woman of color lean together. He has a fist in the air and she holds high a yellow sign with a fist graphic, the word "Solidarity!" and the Painters union logo. 3: A white woman holds a handmade "Bring Kilmar Home" sign with a photo of his face.
December 18, 2025

Already before Donald Trump was inaugurated in January, there were dire omens. Poultry workers reported that their supervisors were using Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric to divide workers up—allowing white workers bathroom breaks but denying them to Hispanic workers. “The more people are afraid to organize, the more the bosses will take advantage to create worse working conditions,” wrote Magaly Licolli of the worker center Venceremos in January.

One Battle After Another: The Big Contract Fights Coming in 2026

Main Image: 
People, mostly white, rally outdoors on building steps. Printed signs say "Kill the cuts, save lives" and "UAW says: Fight for our future!" Handmade signs can't all be read but one says "Science belongs to everyone."
December 16, 2025

The coming year could keep the strikes rolling through steel mills, state offices, telephone lines, axle plants, baseball diamonds, and hospitals from coast to coast. Union contracts expiring in 2026 could open up major fights by manufacturing, education, entertainment, and government workers.

We’re Making ‘Tax the Rich’ More Than a Slogan

Main Image: 
A group of excited people hold blue signs saying “Yes on 1”
December 10, 2025

Taxing the rich should bring a smile to your face. It certainly brings one to mine.

To Get on Offense, Offer Workers Many Ways In

Main Image: 
Fourteen workers, mostly Black and mostly women, pose smiling in a school classroom. Most are wearing yellow "Baltimore Teachers Union" T-shirts.
December 08, 2025

[This article is part of a Labor Notes roundtable series: How Can Unions Defend Worker Power Against Trump 2.0? We will be publishing more contributions here and in our magazine in the months ahead. Click here to read the rest of the series.—Editors]

Red Cups Raised in Rebellion, Starbucks Strike Spreads

Main Image: 
A crowd raise huge red cups that say “Baristas on Strike”
December 05, 2025

Several hundred more Starbucks baristas walked out Thursday, the 22nd day of their growing unfair labor practice strike. It is now the longest strike the coffee giant has faced, spreading to 145 stores in more than 100 cities.

Kingston, New York, baristas joined the strike early Thursday, and management didn’t even bother trying to open the store. So the workers, joined by supporters, picketed a nearby store in Lake Katrine, piercing the crisp winter air with chants of “What’s disgusting? Union-busting!” and “I want to eat food and pay rent at the same time!”

Maybe a General Strike Isn’t So Impossible Now

Main Image: 
December 04, 2025

[This article is part of a Labor Notes roundtable series: How Can Unions Defend Worker Power Against Trump 2.0? We will be publishing more contributions here and in our magazine in the months ahead. Click here to read the rest of the series.—Editors]

ICE Raids Turn Schools into Battlegrounds to Defend Students

Main Image: 
A teacher holds a sign between a school bus and the front of a school, with students visible in the background
December 02, 2025

Educator Carolyn Brown was meeting with school counselors when she got the call: ICE agents were out front. By the time she got out of the building, ICE had abducted a woman and her 17-year-old daughter, an American citizen.

Brown, a coordinator of the International Baccalaureate program at Thomas Kelly College Prep, is also part of the rapid-response team for the school, in a Mexican enclave in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.

Pages

Subscribe to Labor Notes RSS