Art
The Art of Forced Sacrifice
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Essential workers are expected to risk their lives when they go to work every day. I talked with artist Carolyn Olson about her portrait series documenting this perilous labor.
COVID-19
Trader Joe’s Union Campaign Takes Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
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Trader Joe’s workers in Minneapolis won their union in a landslide vote August 12, making theirs the second store to go with the new, independent Trader Joe’s United. The win raises the question of whether the grocer, with its 530 locations and progressive image, could be the next Starbucks. It seems that Trader Joe’s management is considering becoming the next Starbucks in a different sense: closing stores and harassing workers out of union drives. A store in Boulder, Colorado, had a vote lined up for this week, but workers seeking affiliation with Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 there withdrew their petition the day after filing charges against the company for coercion and intimidation. The Trader Joe’s drives reflect an emerging theme of recent new organizing: independent versus affiliated unionism.
Organizing
After walking away from workers, Millennium gets heat from convention delegates
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Housekeepers and other hotel employees took the stage on Day 1 of the AFL-CIO’s Pride at Work convention and told delegates that the Millennium Hotel had pulled back tentative agreements with their union two months after booking the convention. Delegates didn’t take the news sitting down. They marched out of the Millennium ballroom and into the lobby, with hotel staff in the lead, and held a lively rally in their defense. When security guards demanded demonstrators move to the sidewalk outside, they refused, holding the lobby for nearly a half hour. The action marked a spirited start to the three-day convention that began Aug.
Climate Change
Heat Waves Are Putting Teamsters in Danger
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UPS workers say the company is not doing enough to protect employees from scorching temperatures.
Audio
Ask a Railroad Worker: How Did Railroad Jobs Get So Bad?
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As a national rail shutdown over mounting labor disputes looms in the US, it’s worth asking how we got here from the folks who know best—the workers themselves.
Hospital nurses in Twin Cities, Duluth vote to authorize strike
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On August 15, facing multiple public health crises, 15,000 nurses voted to authorize a strike in the Twin Cities and Duluth areas.
Elections
Minneapolis Trader Joe’s workers aim to unionize second store in U.S.
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Workers allege the company has deployed unfair labor practices ahead of next week’s union vote.
Climate Change
Young Workers Are Bridging the Climate and Labor Movements
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Young racial justice and climate activists are using the labor movement to address the climate crisis.
Climate Change
After Yellowstone Floods, Tourism Workers Lose Their Jobs—And Their Housing
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Many Yellowstone workers depend on their bosses for a place to live. When the flood washed away their jobs, they lost their housing, too.
COVID-19
For migrant farm workers, housing is not just a determinant of health, but a determinant of death
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The government of Canada is seeking to address labour shortages by improving housing for workers in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.