- A history lesson on saving labor: Look to how unions rebounded in the 1920s for insight on how they can make progress today (9/3/2018) - Many obituaries have been written for labor. The anti-union Janus vs. AFSCME Supreme Court decision is already being followed by a dark money campaign to convince workers to quit their unions. In the private sector, employers evade the reach of workplace-based union contracts by off-shoring, sub-contracting and freelancing jobs. Despite occasional bright spots like Missouri voters’ rejection of right-to-work, this is labor’s lowest point in a century. The parallels between today and the 1920s are… …
- The Case for “A Right to Your Job” Campaign (8/30/2018) - [This article was co-authored by Moshe Z. Marvit.] It is time for the labor movement to campaign for a “Right to Your Job” law. With anti-union Republicans in control of Washington, this might not seem like the best time to think and plan about workers’ rights. But to surrender to a mere survival mentality would be a mistake. We are on the verge of a major opportunity for labor renewal. Among congressional Democrats, there is… …
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- ‘Cut red tape?’ People are dying in the workplace! (8/16/2018) - The horrific death of Carlos Gabrielli on a Westerleigh construction site should shock us all to the core. His throat slashed by an electrical saw after a slip and fall, he died in an ambulance after his coworkers frantically tried to stanch the bleeding with the shirts off their backs in the immediate aftermath of the gruesome accident. As the Advance notes in its coverage, this was only the second of three dreadful workplace accidents… …
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- Nonunion Workers Can Save Unions. We Just Need to Reimagine How We Collect Dues. (7/20/2018) - IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A MOMENT OF TRIUMPH. The writers at DNAinfo and the Gothamist network had voted to form a union. But a few days later, on Nov. 2, 2017, their sullen jerk of a CEO decided to fold operations in perfectly legal retaliation. Our peculiar labor relations system bases whether or not you are protected by a union contract on whether you can survive a campaign of threats, harassment and outright lies to… …
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- Take This Bullshit Job and Pretend to Love It (6/11/2018) - The British economist Joan Robinson once remarked, “The misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all.” What kind of misery is it, then, if your particular form of exploitation is being asked to do nothing particularly useful? David Greaber explores this question in his thought-provoking and hilarious new book, Bullshit Jobs. Five years ago, he wrote an essay for the radical magazine Strike!, asking why… …
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- Elon Musk’s Very Dumb Tweet (5/30/2018) - The United Auto Workers union (UAW) slapped billionaire gadfly Elon Musk with charges of violating federal labor law in a stupid tweet last week. Musk owns the unprofitable luxury electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors, which the UAW has been unsuccessfully trying to organize. Tesla has previously been scrutinized over allegations of “excessive mandatory overtime,” a lack of workplace safety and union busting. Musk’s tweet suggesting that Tesla workers would lose their stock options in the… …
- What Is Janus and Why Does It Matter? (5/29/2018) - Half of the labor movement could go “right-to-work” depending on the outcome of a pending Supreme Court decision. In Janus v. AFSCME, the justices are weighing whether union shop contract clauses that compel represented workers to join or pay a representation fee should be illegal in the public sector. With 7.2 million union members’ participation at stake, the case represents the latest in the unrelenting corporate assault on union power and financial resources. Part of… …
- After Janus, Should Unions Abandon Exclusive Representation? (5/25/2018) - The Supreme Court is set to issue a ruling on Janus vs. AFSCME, which could have far-reaching consequences for the future of public-sector unions in the United States. The case has sparked a wide-ranging debate within the labor movement about how to deal with the “free-rider problem” of union members who benefit from collective bargaining agreements but opt-out of paying dues. We asked three labor experts to discuss what’s at stake in the case and… …
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- Supreme Court Guts Workers’ Rights in Murphy Oil (5/21/2018) - With their decision Monday, May 21, 2018 in Murphy Oil, the Supreme Court has just gutted workers’ rights to act collectively to battle wage theft and discrimination. Murphy Oil is a gift to corporations, allowing them to force their workers to sign a class action waiver as a condition of employment. Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the 5-4 decision that might as well have read, “Because we have the votes.” A class action waiver is when… …
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- Drop all the bridge tolls, tax the billionaires (5/11/2018) - The toll on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is too damn high. I realize that it's a time-honored tradition for Staten Islanders to beat our breasts and complain about how "forgotten" and taken for granted we are. Don't let me steal your birthright from ya, but there are hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who have to go over the river and through the woods and across two expensive bridges to get to Grandma's house in New… …
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