Jennifer Abruzzo Wants Workers to Fight Back

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Just one week after taking office, President Donald Trump fired Jennifer Abruzzo, general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board. Abruzzo led the agency with a bold, worker-centered interpretation of the Act, resulting in wins for workers like expanded financial remedies for illegally fired workers, and broader protections for workers engaging in protected concerted activity, regardless of their immigration status. On May 5, Workday Magazine interviewed Abruzzo, who has since returned to the Communications Workers of America, as a senior advisor to the president. We talked about how protected concerted activity can include Gaza protests, why it’s a shame that domestic workers and farm workers are excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, and what workers can do to fight back in the Trump era. “It’s up to the people to actually use their power and flex their muscles in order to get the changes that they deem are appropriate,” she says, “so that they can live the lives that they deserve with dignity and respect.

Workers

The Great Neoliberal Burden Shift (Part I) – How Corporate America Offset Liability Onto the Public

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This episode was produced by Citations Needed, in collaboration with Workday Magazine. “Choose the product best suited for baby,” Nestlé urged in a 1970s baby formula ad. “What size is your carbon footprint?” wondered oil giant BP in 2003. “Texting, music listening put distracted pedestrians at risk,” USA Today announced in 2012. These headlines and ad copy all offer a glimpse into a longstanding strategy among corporations: place the burdens of safety, health, and wellbeing on individuals, in order to deflect responsibility and regulation.