The Labor Notes Podcast

Tyson Shuttered a Plant Overnight, Laying off 2,500 Meatpacking Workers

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 05:00:00 -0300

Tyson workers at a meatpacking plant in Joslin, Illinois, arrived at work one day in mid-August to discover that it was suddenly closed and that 2,500 of them would be out of jobs.

These workers—members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546—are now rallying to demand that the plant reopen, or that they at least be given six months of severance pay rather than the two the company has offered.

Caitlyn Clark of Essential Workers for Democracy reported on the plant closure for Labor Notes, and joins this episode.

A representative for UFCW Local 1546 did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

Relevant reading:

2,500 Tyson Workers Laid Off, Plant Shutters Overnight
The First Major Meatpacking Strike in 40 Years Extends into Third Week
Learn more about the movement to revitalize the UFCW in our podcast episode from June 2025: “Grocery Workers at the UFCW are Organizing for a Fighting Union.”
The incoming new CEO of Tyson just purchased $1 million in Tyson stock, almost immediately after an announcement of low projected earnings due to the beef sector. (Read more here)

Jackson Transit Workers Win Strike, Save Saturday Service

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 05:00:00 -0300

After five weeks on the picket line, 80 public transit workers in Jackson, Mississippi, members of ATU Local 1208, have won a 5 percent wage increase; beat back a plan for “microtransit,” a private on-call service that would have brought in drivers without a commercial driver’s license at a lower-tier wage; and stopped cuts to Saturday service.

Labor Notes Organizer Paul Prescod joins the pod.

Check out Paul’s coverage of the strike on labornotes.org

A Summer Friday Break

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0300

The Labor Notes Podcast is taking a Summer Friday. We’ll be back next week!

Unions Aren’t Backing Down Amid Reported Federal Infiltration Efforts in Minnesota

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0300

The Trump Administration has been surveilling and investigating unions including the Communications Workers (CWA) and Service Employees (SEIU), as part of its targeting of groups resisting immigration raids in Minnesota, according to a report this month in the New York Times.

But union members and representatives have since told Labor Notes that they are undeterred. “We are proud of our work and will never apologize or back down because of these dirty tricks and intimidation,” said CWA Local 7250 President Kieran Knutson.

Read the story by Luis Feliz Leon: Federal Spies Hunt Minnesota Unions in Search of Conspiracy, But Find Solidarity.

Also check out our episode back in February about the uprising in Minnesota, featuring Luis and Diana Varenik: “How Workers Pulled Off a Mass Strike in Minnesota.”

Letter Carriers Fighting to Make their Union More Democratic Have an Opening

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0300

This fall, 200,000 members of the Letter Carriers will get the chance to vote (perhaps fittingly, by mail ballot) for new leadership.

For many postal workers fed up with low pay, forced overtime, dangerous heat, and robberies—conditions they see their opaque, undemocratic leadership failing to address—the upcoming election is a focal point for recent reform currents brewing in the union.

They’ll be voting on 10 officers, three trustees, and 15 regional business agents. Labor Notes Editor Al Bradbury joins the episode.

Also check out:

Letter Carriers Set to Deliver Change in Upcoming Union Election by Alexandra Bradbury, July 29, 2026

On the Labor Notes Pod, in April 2025: Facing Privatization And DOGE Attacks, Postal Workers Are Fighting Back

Labor Notes Online Workshop: What to Do When Your Union Breaks Your Heart, Tuesday, August 18

Labor Notes Online Workshop: Running for Union Office, Tuesday, September 15

New Labor Notes Book: Running for Local Union Office

Steward’s Corner: Are You Thinking Like an Organizer?

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0300

You want more members to share the work of your contract action team? Win more grievances? Commit to wearing Hawaiian shirts together to the Jaws screening? You know what we're about to suggest: Think like an organizer.

It's a common Labor Notes refrain to many organizing conundrums—but what does it mean? A problem-solving approach that engages and involves more people? More direct asks of our fellow union members? Union movie club?

Labor Notes Organizer Joe DeManuelle-Hall joins the pod.

And don't miss our upcoming online Stewards' Workshop on this topic: Thinking Like an Organizer! Monday, August 10, 8 p.m. Eastern. SIGN UP HERE!

How Utility Workers Won Back Real Pensions in Pennsylvania

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0300

For over four decades now, workers have seen their steady, reliable pension payouts replaced by more uncertain returns from 401(k) plans—where employees’ payments are invested in retirement accounts that are vulnerable to the stock market.

But just this month, power workers in Pennsylvania did something that worked—workers at PECO, the electric company for the Philadelphia region and Pennsylvania’s largest electric and natural gas utility, won defined-benefit pensions for 600 newer hires who had been offered 401(k)s, and they won full medical coverage in retirement, Mindy Isser reported for Labor Notes.

Pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann talk about Mindy’s piece on how they did it.

The Other World Cup Winners: Workers Organizing at World Cup Host Cities

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0300

More than 2,000 stadium workers in Los Angeles scored a goal that VAR can’t take away: they overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike and built a credible threat to walk off the job during World Cup matches scheduled at the SoFi stadium—and they won the right to strike over ICE.

Their campaign, and others like it this summer—including in Philadelphia where workers at the Sheraton and Warwick hotels won contracts that will raise wages to $30 an hour by 2028—show how workers are strategically assessing their leverage and notching concrete wins.

Read the story by Labor Notes Organizers Paul Prescod and Natascha Elena Uhlmann. Paul and UNITE HERE Local 274 member Kathleen Householder from Philadelphia join the episode.

App Workers in Mexico Are Fighting The Bosses' Biggest Lie

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0300

Gig workers are often sold the lie that their job is flexible, customizable, and lets them be their own boss. But that hides the reality that they don’t control a lot of their own basic working conditions, including the rates they’re paid or even if they can continue working with the app, if they’re arbitrarily deactivated.

In May, hundreds of app workers across Mexico held a two-hour work stoppage to escalate their demands and to fight for a collective agreement with app giants like Uber, DiDi, and Rappi (two Uber Eats-style delivery platforms), reported Natascha Elena Uhlmann.

Joining Natascha and Danielle this week is Luis Fernando Mora Reyes, an app worker from Mexico City and the secretary of training and culture for the National App Workers Union (la Union Nacional de Trabajadores por Aplicación or UNTA).

Read Natascha’s story in English: Mexico's Gig Workers Fight Efforts to Hollow Out Their Employee Status Win

Lee el artículo de noticias de Natascha en español: Los trabajadores por aplicación luchan por hacer valer sus derechos bajo la reforma laboral

The Labor Notes Podcast: Live! At the 2026 Conference

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0300

Have you ever been so stumped by an organizing challenge that you wished you could just beam out a help signal to others who’ve dealt with the same thing? Enter special guests Tera Arnold and Dakota Massman, who fielded several organizing questions along with pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann at our first ever live episode of the Labor Notes Podcast, which took place last month at the 2026 Conference in Chicago.

Tera and Dakota, of Teamsters Local 135, were two of the casino dealers at the Horseshoe Indianapolis Casino who walked out last year on a rare and courageous strike for union recognition.

Send us more organizing questions in writing or on a voice note to podcast@labornotes.org, and we’ll try to answer them on the pod!

Your Favorite Summer Blockbuster Is Really About Organizing

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0300

You might be in a battle of wits with a great white shark on a New England beach and needing a bigger boat. Or maybe you're getting into property fights with your goth relatives (or imposters) in the Addams Family. Perhaps you're just a toy, a child's plaything, but developing power analysis in the Toy Story franchise.

Wherever your big screen adventures are playing out, we at the Labor Notes Podcast think you're probably applying a labor lesson from our bestseller, Secrets of a Successful Organizer, or our new book, Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When It's Hard.

Tune into this week's episode for why our favorite summer blockbusters are really about organizing.

Links to resources we mention in this episode:

Stewards’ Corner: Workplace Safety Is Not a Game (Labor Notes Podcast, October 2025)

Four Union Strategies to Fight on A.I. (Article on labornotes.org | Labor Notes Podcast, May 2026)

Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When It's Hard: Order your copy | See Inside: Introduction: How to use this book; Chapter 1: Cultivate Respect

Still Having Bad Meetings? Take Another Listen

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 05:00:00 -0300

You guys loved our episode about having bad meetings so much that we’re actually bringing it back. Revisit this old Labor Notes pod banger and evergreen organizing question: “What if Unions Meetings Were Actually Good?”

We Are on a Break

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 05:00:00 -0300

It feels like we just saw about 4,700 of you a week ago in Chicago, so we're taking some space this week to give you a chance to miss us a little. (i.e. We're catching up on sleep after the 2026 Labor Notes Conference, and will be back to our programming next week!)

In the meantime, watch the conference livestream:

Friday, June 12

Main Session: WATCH HERE

Saturday, June 13

The Soul in the Machine: Resisting A.I. Pressure on the Character and Quality of Our Jobs: WATCH HERE
Opening Up Bargaining: WATCH HERE

Sunday, June 14

Main Session: WATCH HERE

See you next week, solidarity y'all!

Keep Going: A Guide To Organizing When It’s Hard (w/ Ellen David Friedman and Carlos Pérez)

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 05:00:00 -0300

What do you do when you work at a public school in a “right-to-work state” that also bars public employees from collective bargaining? And what happens, when your school district exploits its leverage over employees to snatch raises owed to workers?

Members of the Durham Association of Educators in North Carolina turned to the tried and tested principles of collective action. They helped channel members’ frustrations into action, brought more school workers into the union, and built an escalation campaign that empowered members to hold out until their demands were met—and they won.

Theirs is among several stories of strategic, persistent organizing featured in the new Labor Notes book, “Keep Going: A Guide To Organizing When It’s Hard,” by Ellen David Friedman—Organizing that gets the goods, even against what may seem like stacked odds.

Author and Labor Notes board chair Ellen David Friedman and Durham Association Educators member Carlos Pérez join the pod.

Order your copy of “Keep Going” here!

And read Ellen David Friedman’s Labor Notes interview with DAE’s Carlos Perez and Allison Swaim on their organizing wins in North Carolina.

How to Build a List to Expand Your Reach with Co-Workers

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 05:00:00 -0300

You’ve learned the passes on the campaign mountain, figured out your co-workers’ most widely and deeply felt issues, and polished up your 1-1 skills. It’s time to start bringing in your co-workers—with the humble spreadsheet.

List-building is a foundational organizing function that helps you map your workplace, reach out to members, and assess the strength of the union you’re building together.

This episode is based on a recent piece by Labor Notes Organizer Lisa Xu, “List-Building 101, or How to Expand Your Reach as a Troublemaker.”

The Antidote to Organizing Burnout (w/ Teamsters Local 804 Organizer Antonio Rosario and Sarah Slichter, Movement of Rank-and-File Educators)

Fri, 29 May 2026 05:00:00 -0300

It’s natural to feel overwhelmed by the boss’ relentless union busting (it’s why they do it!) and to get discouraged by lapses and disengagement by union leadership.

It can also compound the difficulty of organizing—figuring out how to make a meeting worthwhile, how to connect with members when it feels like your shop floor is in disarray, or even getting through concrete tasks like drafting agendas and to-do lists when everything starts feeling heavy.

That’s when a return to basic organizing principles—and coming up with structural solutions with our co-workers—may be the way forward.

Teamsters Local 804 Organizer Antonio Rosario and Sarah Slichter from the Movement of Rank-and-File Educators, join the pod.

Four Union Strategies to Fight on A.I.

Fri, 22 May 2026 05:00:00 -0300

A.I is a management power grab, disguised as an inevitable technical upgrade. To fight it, workers can use four strategies proven in the past: name the real problem; unionize it; ransom it; and block it.

Also read the piece by Labor Notes Organizer Keith Brower Brown: Four Union Strategies to Fight on A.I.

Massachusetts Teachers Taxed the Rich and Brought in $3B Last Year

Fri, 15 May 2026 05:00:00 -0300

The Fair Share Amendment in Massachusetts, which passed in 2022, has helped offer free community college to tuition residents, provide free school meals for students, run free regional buses, and has helped to fund a multi-billion-dollar capital program for public higher education and vocational high schools.

It’s a tax on the rich that brought in $3 billion in 2025 and went toward public education and transportation. Read more in the piece by MTA president Max Page: “We’re Making ‘Tax the Rich’ More Than a Slogan.”

The measure was the result of organizing by groups including the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition, which the Massachusetts Teachers Association has teamed up with.

Page, also a member of the Raise Up Massachusetts steering committee, joins the pod along with former MTA president and retiring Labor Notes Organizer Barbara Madeloni.

How to Have an Actually Good 1:1 Conversation

Fri, 08 May 2026 05:00:00 -0300

There’s no magic formula for moving your co-worker (nor should there be)! Organizing is about building real relationships across the shop floor based on mutual trust and a shared vision for a better workplace—and having good 1-1 conversations is an important first step!

If you’ve ever been to an organizing training, you’ve probably also heard the mantra to listen more than you talk. But what does that mean? You’re not just here to be someone’s therapist or provide a parallel HR service or create endless surveys! You want to transform your workplace into one that meets your bargaining unit’s needs on the job by building power together.

To do that, it helps to understand what makes a good organizing conversation. Drawn from decades of tested tactics that have worked in shop floors across industries, here are some ways to have great 1-1 conversations that will leave you and your co-workers energized and more connected to the union you’re building together!

Labor Notes Organizer Sarah Hughes joins the pod.

Secret: Use the Issue Your Co-Workers Really Care Most About To Build the Union

Fri, 01 May 2026 05:00:00 -0300

“Secrets of a Successful Organizer” is a core Labor Notes workshop that packages a member-led organizing philosophy into a concrete action plan that you can start using in your union campaigns.

It’s also based on our bestseller of the same name where we explore the basics of bringing members into the union, understanding how your co-workers are already organized, and identifying leaders who can amplify members’ demands and help build power.

Our “Secrets of a Successful Organizer” online workshop series usually takes place in three sessions on different themes: Beating Apathy, Assembling Your Dream Team, and Turning an Issue Into a Campaign.

In this third and final episode in a three-part pod series on this training, we’ll focus on “Turning an Issue Into a Campaign.”

Labor Notes Organizer Sarah Hughes joins the pod. Listen to Part 1 and to Part 2 here!

Secret: Your Workplace is Already Organized and Leaders Are Waiting to Step Up!

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 05:00:00 -0300

“Secrets of a Successful Organizer” is a core Labor Notes workshop that packages a member-led organizing philosophy into a concrete action plan that you can start using in your union!

This workshop series, based on our bestselling manual of the same name, usually takes place in three sessions focusing on different themes: Beating Apathy, Assembling Your Dream Team, and Turning an Issue Into a Campaign.

In this second of our three-part pod series on our “Secrets” training, we’ll get into the theme of “Assembling Your Dream Team.”

Labor Notes Organizer Sarah Hughes joins the pod. Listen to Part 1 of this series here.

Secret: Your Co-Workers Actually Care About Making Your Workplace Better

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 05:00:00 -0300

If you’ve been to a Labor Notes event before, you’re probably familiar with “Secrets of a Successful Organizer,” one of our main workshop series that packages a member-led organizing philosophy into a concrete action plan that you can take to your union and start using in your campaigns.

It’s also based on our bestselling manual of the same name where we explore the basics of bringing members into the union, understanding how your co-workers are already organized, and identifying leaders who can amplify members’ demands and help build power.

Our “Secrets of a Successful Organizer” online workshop series usually takes place in three sessions where we focus on different themes: Beating Apathy, Assembling Your Dream Team, and Turning an Issue Into a Campaign.

In this first of a three-part pod series on our “Secrets” training, we’ll focus on the theme of “Beating Apathy,” i.e. Your Co-Workers Actually Care About Making Your Workplace Better!

Labor Notes Organizer Sarah Hughes, who often leads “Secrets” trainings and teaches union members to run them too, joins the pod.

Why Your Favorite Soup Movie is about Organizing, Actually

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:00:00 -0300

This next one's for soup lovers, haters, and everyone in between. You will learn a little about soup and less about what makes something a soup movie. But if you're here for the organizing take on The Birdcage (1996), American Psycho (2000) and Ratatouille (2007), grab a big spoon and a napkin, because soup's on! 🍜

The First Major Meatpacking Strike in 40 Years Extends into Third Week

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 05:00:00 -0300

Update on 4/6: JBS workers have agreed to go back to work and the company is returning to the table, Mother Jones reports.

Listen to / read our previous coverage on this strike, which workers had extended last week: Nearly 4,000 workers at the JBS beef processing plant in Greeley, Colorado, walked off the job on March 16, launching a two-week unfair labor practice strike that they had extended then into a third week.

Workers spoke to Caitlyn Clark, an organizer at Essential Workers for Democracy, and Lisa Xu, a Labor Notes Organizer, who both join the pod this week.

Read Caitlyn and Lisa’s Labor Notes story on the strike here.

Learn more about the 1980s Hormel strike here.

Support striking JBS workers by contributing to their strike fund, supporting Essential Workers for Democracy’s fundraiser, and learning more about the strike here.

And learn more about the movement to revitalize the United Food and Commercial Workers in our podcast episode from June: “Grocery Workers at the UFCW are Organizing for a Fighting Union.”

So You’ve Been in Reform Organizing for a While. What Next?

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0300

The new Labor Notes guide to Organizing a Union Reform Caucus spells out some basic concepts and definitions around reform caucuses and organizing, but will also be useful to anyone who has been on this path for a while.

Labor Notes Organizers Lisa Xu and Barbara Madeloni (who is retiring) join the pod to talk through some deeper questions around running for office, the relationship between caucuses and leadership, and building democratic structures that can help members work through decision-making and conflict.

This is part 2 of a two-part series on this new resource, which you can find on labornotes.org/caucus.

Listen to part 1 here.

Your Union Isn’t Working Like it Should. Now What?

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0300

Have you and your co-workers been shut out of bargaining? Have you felt pressured to vote yes on a contract you really didn't like? Do you feel like there aren't a lot of ways to address issues in your union besides filing complaints or grievances that seem to go into a void?

Rank-and-file members win more and build power in their workplaces when they also have a voice in their unions!

It’s the lesson that hundreds of thousands of workers—including educators, building trades workers, Hollywood film production crew members, Teamsters, United Auto Workers members, letter carriers and grocery workers— have held onto as they’ve fought for better from their unions and waged militant fights against the bosses.

If you and your co-workers are on this path, you’ll love the new Labor Notes Guide: How to Build A Union Reform Caucus. Find answers to questions like: What’s a reform caucus? Is that even the right option for me and my co-workers? How would it work? What about running for union office?

This is part 1 of a two-part series on this new resource, which you can find on labornotes.org/caucus.

Labor Notes Organizer Lisa Xu and and retiring Labor Notes Organizer Barbara Madeloni join the podcast.

One Year of the Labor Notes Podcast

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0300

In this first year of the Labor Notes Podcast, our weekly show on rank-and-file news and organizing tactics, we’ve covered mass strikes, contract fights, and organizing breakthroughs even in this era of escalating repression at work and on the streets.

Retail workers are leading organizing drives. Building trades workers, letter carriers and grocery workers are pushing for more transparency and democracy in their unions. Immigrant workers and allies are strategizing ways to build power with their co-workers and neighbors to fight back against the brutality of immigration raids.

In this anniversary episode, we look back at a year of workers banding together and raising expectations for what we can win.

Here are links to past episodes we highlight in this one:

How Workers Pulled Off a Mass Strike in Minnesota (February 6, 2026)

Casino Dealers Brought Back the Recognition Strike and Won (December 19, 2025)

Starbucks Workers are on a Nationwide Strike for a First Contract (November 14, 2025)

Are the Democrats F*cking Up the Shutdown? (October 24, 2025)

Stewards’ Corner: Workplace Safety Is Not a Game (October 17, 2025)

Grocery Workers at the UFCW are Organizing for a Fighting Union (June 6, 2025)

Stewards’ Corner: What if Union Meetings Were Actually Good? (May 30, 2025)

Facing Privatization And DOGE Attacks, Postal Workers Are Fighting Back (April 11, 2025)

Three Reasons to Feel Hopeful about the Labor Movement Right Now

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0400

The antidote to despair, even in this era of extraordinary assaults against working people, is organizing. From autoworkers in Chattanooga, TN, winning their first contract to the trolleybus operators in Mexico City preparing to go on strike, there are pockets of labor everywhere building momentum.

Steward's Corner: Just About Anyone Can Be a Good Steward

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0400

Are you a new steward trying to find your footing and avoid rookie mistakes? Are you a veteran steward trying to grow your stewards’ network and make sure newbies stick around? This episode has advice for new stewards and old stewards alike and anyone else who is looking to build power in their workplace.

Labor Notes Organizer Kari Thompson joins the pod.

How to Talk About Immigration with Your Co-Workers

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0400

Walking through your union halls or scrolling through social media in 2026, you’re probably encountering a stream of anti-immigrant propaganda. These views bleed into the workplace, where pushing back can feel daunting.

But with immigration agents ramping up their assaults at workplaces and on daily commutes, workers are figuring out how to take up this conversation in a way that builds solidarity in their unions.

IBEW Local 11 member Francisco “Paco” Arago and IBEW Local 666 steward Chris Anders join pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann to share how electricians are having organizing conversations around immigration. Read Natascha’s piece on dispelling anti-immigrant myths in the workplace.

Paco is a member of the Latin American Electrical Workers Alliance or LAEWA, a new caucus formed in 2025, which Natascha and our co-worker Keith Brower Brown have previously reported on. LAEWA is working on revitalizing Latino member organizing in the union. Follow LAEWA on Instagram at @laewa.local11

Chris and Paco are both also members of Caucus of Rank-and-File Electrical Workers, or CREW, which is a new member caucus that launched in September, as our co-worker Keith reported at the time. Follow CREW on Instagram at @rankandfile_crew

Your Favorite Rom-Com is About Organizing, Actually

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0400

We bet that when you’re watching Valentine’s classics like Mamma Mia, Wuthering Heights, or The Princess Bride, you’re thinking not just about yearning, intrigue and some very gloomy hills, but also about collective action, the campaign mountain, and building power from the ground-up!

If not, here are some classic Labor Notes pieces to get you falling in love with your union all over again:

Don’t Complain, Organize!

Info Requests Can Cool an Overzealous Boss!

Slingshot: Take the High Road

Taking Bottom-Up Action Changes the Balance of Power

How Workers Pulled Off a Mass Strike in Minnesota

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0400

More than 75,000 people, including teachers, food service workers, Uber drivers and many others marched through downtown Minneapolis on January 23, where federal agents have staged a military occupation in the Twin Cities since December.

The march was part of a day of action in Minnesota, and the culmination of a call for “No Work. No School. No Shopping,” by unions, houses of worship and other civic organizations. For many who participated, it was a foray into flexing economic disruption muscle, and an escalation from large demonstrations like “No Kings,” which have drawn millions to the streets.

Joining this episode are Labor Notes staffers Luis Feliz Leon and Diana Varenik, who were there with workers in Minneapolis on January 23 and that weekend. Read Luis’ dispatch from Minneapolis: In the Twin Cities, A Massive Strike Against ICE

How Contract Fights Can Help Build Labor Power in 2026

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0400

More than a million workers across the manufacturing, telecomms, health care, grocery, higher education and other sectors will be taking on their bosses in major contract expiration fights this year.

These campaigns are an opportunity for rank-and-file workers to build power on the shop floor and in their unions. They can also help workers strengthen connections across the labor movement to fight existential threats in this new era of deadly immigration raids and billionaire assaults against workers and the public sector.
Labor Notes organizer Keith Brower Brown joins pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann. Keith and Natascha wrote the piece, One Battle After Another: The Big Contract Fights Coming in 2026.

15,000 Nurses are on the Largest Nurses Strike in New York City in Decades

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0400

Thousands of nurses, members of the New York State Nurses Association, are heading toward the third week of their open-ended strike, an uncommon strategy among nurses and a rare show of organized strength and resolve.

They’re defending the safe staffing ratios that nurses have fought hard for and won through prior strikes; they’re fighting for better conditions for patients at underfunded hospitals like Montefiore in the Bronx; they’re demanding better protocols against workplace violence; and they’re fighting to make sure that management won’t just recklessly force the use of A.I. to replace the medical judgement of skilled and experienced human nurses.

Read Labor Notes' coverage this month of the NYSNA strike.

Why Don't We Have More Labor Films? (w/ director Chris Sessions and Working Films)

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0400

The documentary Partners: How Starbucks Baristas Started a Labor Revolution charts the seemingly improbable course set off by a group of workers in Buffalo, New York, who organized the first Starbucks location in 2021 and helped to grow a highly visible, energetic movement.

The film casts Starbucks workers as a symbol of persistence in the face of vicious union-busting, and projects hope for renewed militancy among rank-and-file workers everywhere.

Director Chris Sessions and Andy Myers from Working Films join pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann.

Support Striking Baristas!

1. Organize a screening of "Partners" in your community! Learn more: https://www.partnersthefilm.com/ 2. Sign the "No Contract, No Coffee" pledge and don't buy from Starbucks during the strike: nocontractnocoffee.org 3. Contribute to the Starbucks Workers United national strike fund. Check out our previous episode on the SBWU strike from November, featuring barista Sabina Aguirre and Labor Notes editor Jenny Brown.

Part 3: How Can Unions Defend Worker Power Under Trump 2.0.?

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0400

Listen here to part 3 of our webinar in November with Haymarket Books and The American Prospect, featuring contributors to our Roundtable Series on how unions can defend worker power under Trump 2.0. You can read all the articles in the series here!

Hear perspectives from Baltimore Teachers Union President Diamonté Brown, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter, and UAW Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla.

This webinar was co-moderated by pod co-host Natascha and David Dayen from The American Prospect.

Listen to Part 1 here.

Listen to Part 2 here.

2026 is OUR Year (w/ Labor Notes staff)

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0400

Making new year’s resolutions we can actually keep *and* working on rebuilding the labor movement? That’s two birds with one handful of birdseed, as our gentle-hearted editor Al Bradbury would say. What would other Labor Notes staff say? Tune in to hear their voice note resolutions!

And if you too are going into the new year with a fresh sense of resolve and vigor—and maybe more than a few battle scars—you're not alone, and we want to hear from you!

Send us your resolutions, organizing questions, and even your holiday movie organizing takes, and we’ll try to tackle them on air! You can record a voice note on your phone or computer and email it to podcast@labornotes.org.

All Holiday Movies Are About Organizing, Actually: The Labor Notes Pod Holidaypalooza

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0400

What do a "Charlie Brown Christmas," "Love Actually," "Little Women" and many of your other holiday faves have in common? We at the Labor Notes pod have played them backwards to decipher their coded organizing messages.

Casino Dealers Brought Back the Recognition Strike and Won (w/ Horseshoe Indianapolis Casino dealer Tera Arnold)

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0400

You can count cards, mute your poker tells, or patiently coax the windfall out of a slot machine that someone just gave up on—but the house always wins, right?

And yet, 200 casino dealers at the Horseshoe Indianapolis Casino in Shelbyville, Indiana, just found a surefire strategy to stack their odds: solidarity.

Dealer Tera Arnold joins the pod, along with our editor Al Bradbury, who reported last month on what has since become a victorious strike for union recognition, as members voted overwhelmingly on Dec. 5 to join Teamsters Local 135.

Part 2: How Can Unions Defend Worker Power Under Trump 2.0.?

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Listen here to part 2 of our webinar last month with Haymarket Books and The American Prospect, featuring contributors to our Roundtable Series on how unions can defend worker power under Trump 2.0. You can read all the articles in the series here!

Hear perspectives from Baltimore Teachers Union President Diamonté Brown, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter, and UAW Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla.

This webinar was co-moderated by pod co-host Natascha and David Dayen from The American Prospect.

Listen to Part 1 here.

Canadian Postal Workers Have Had Enough of Government Backed-Management Stonewalling

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Mail and parcel delivery workers at Canada Post, who are members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, have been bargaining for two years against an intransigent management whose stonewalling is being supported by the Canadian government.

CUPW members have mounted full on strikes twice in just the past year, and taken several other disruptive actions. Management meanwhile has largely ignored their proposals and advanced policies that would end vital services and slash jobs.

This story reflects a phenomenon of the privatization era: the rhetoric of fiscal responsibility is being used to erode affordable, quality public services, and to eliminate stable middle class jobs. And the way that CUPW members are organizing to fight back has lessons for workers everywhere.

Read the story by pod co-host and staff organizer Danielle Smith: “Canadian Postal Workers Strike Again.”

Part 1: How Can Unions Defend Worker Power Under Trump 2.0.?

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Listen here to part 1 of our webinar this month with Haymarket Books and The American Prospect, featuring contributors to our Roundtable Series on how unions can defend worker power under Trump 2.0. You can read all the articles in the series here!

Hear perspectives from Baltimore Teachers Union President Diamonté Brown, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter and UAW Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla.

This webinar was co-moderated by pod-cohost Natascha and David Dayen from The American Prospect.

Notes on the USMCA: The Real Solution to Offshoring and Union-Busting is Cross-Border Solidarity

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0400

International solidarity more than just a chant. It’s how we will raise conditions for workers across borders without allowing the bosses to play us against each other.

Few things make that more explicit than the story of what auto workers in Mexico have been dealing with—from their employers, from some of their unions, and from U.S. trade policy.

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), passed in 2020, was tasked with reviewing the implementation of Mexico’s labor reforms. But those reforms have proved challenging to implement, demonstrating the limits of legal solutions to problems that ultimately call for organizing.

Read the story by Labor Notes pod co-host and staff writer Natascha Elena Uhlmann: "We Can’t Bridge the U.S.-Mexico Wage Gap Without Supporting Organizing in Mexico."

Starbucks Workers are on a Nationwide Strike for a First Contract (with Starbucks Workers United member Sabina Aguirre)

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0400

As of Thursday morning, members of Starbucks Workers United were on strike in 65 stores across the U.S., a massive escalation in their fight for a first contract. They are asking customers not to buy coffee at any Starbucks location during their strike.

Starbucks baristas have been in bargaining for over a year and half now, after striking regularly to get the company to the bargaining table in February 2024, as our editor Jenny Brown reported at the time.

Baristas have said that they are subjected to low pay (starting at $15 to $19 an hour) that leaves them dependent on SNAP and Medicaid, and that they are dealing with dire understaffing that's led to overwork for them and long wait times for customers.

Joining the pod this week are Jenny Brown, and Starbucks barista Sabina Aguirre, who works in Columbus, Ohio. Learn more about how members organized to get strike ready in Jenny’s recent piece, “Strike Captains and Practice Pickets: Starbucks Workers Aim to Bring a Contract Home.”

Starbucks Workers United members are asking customers to show solidarity by:

Not crossing the picket line — don’t buy Starbucks from any of its locations during the strike.
Joining a picket line near you by using the Starbucks Workers United picket line map.
Joining the allies call on Monday, November 17
Amplifying their posts on Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok, and Bluesky.

Learn more at nocontractnocoffee.org.

How Do We Build Worker Power Under Trump 2.0? (with guest Eric Blanc)

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0400

The current moment in the U.S.—marked by billionaire assaults on the working class, the Trump administration’s authoritarian maneuvers, and widespread voter dissatisfaction with both major political parties—presents new challenges and opportunities for the labor movement.

Rank-and-file members can and are demanding more of their leaders, and unions are being challenged to think about how they should be mobilizing their roughly 14 million members right now.

If the goal is to lift up independent working-class leaders and organizations, what should unions be doing differently to rebuild union density and democracy?

Eric Blanc, one of the contributors to the Labor Notes Roundtable series, where we have invited organizers and scholars to address that question, joins the pod to discuss his piece, “After No Kings, How Can We Escalate?”

Blanc is an assistant professor of labor studies at Rutgers University and an organizer trainer in the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee.

All Horror Movies Are About Organizing, Actually: The Labor Notes Hallowepisode

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0300

What can horror movies and fiction teach us about fighting back against the real life horrors of our bad bosses? Tune in to our Hallowepisode to hear about the organizing lessons we saw in the 1988 cult classic from John Carpenter, They Live, and Shirley Jackson’s 1959 pillar in the horror genre, The Haunting of Hill House. Plus, a little Stewards Corner with… Nosferatu (2024) Gulp! But don’t worry, we don’t bite.

Are the Democrats F*cking Up the Shutdown?

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Federal Workers organizing with the Federal Unionists Network have been using the shutdown to organize within their unions, and to push the message that workers should collectively stand firm against cuts to vital programs and executive overreach.

Their actions are bringing clarity and organization to the fight at a time when leading Democrats are framing the shutdown as an inconvenience and Donald Trump as its perpetrator.

Labor Notes editor Jenny Brown joins the pod.

Stewards’ Corner: Workplace Safety Is Not a Game

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Employer-run safety games are not merely instructional or even “fun.” They’re there to trivialize workplace hazards and to pass the buck onto individual workers for their own safety, instead of listening to workers about how to eliminate the dangers they encounter at work every day.

Labor Notes Organizer Kari Thompson joins pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann to talk about a Stewards’ Corner piece we ran on this topic, titled, “Workplace Safety is Not a Game.” This piece was adapted from the UE Steward, a project by the United Electrical Workers Education Department that publishes how-to articles. Browse them all at bit.ly/UESteward.

Wells Fargo Workers Push to Bring A Union to the Banking Industry

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Workers at Wells Fargo are organizing the first union at a major U.S. bank—in one of the least-organized industries in the country.

Labor Notes Editor Dan DiMaggio, whose story on their organizing efforts is on the cover of our October issue, joins the pod. You can also read his piece,“Wells Fargo Workers Push to Bring A Union to the Banking Industry,” on our website.

Subscribe to the Labor Notes magazine by Tuesday, October 14, to start receiving it from the November issue onwards: labornotes.org/subscribe

May 2028 Could Be the Push the Labor Movement Needs to Survive, Grow, and Build Power

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Announcing the New Labor Notes Resource: May2028.org

Are you and your co-workers organizing against attacks on our democratic rights as workers?

Are you, like an estimated 250,000 workers so far, committing to heed United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain’s call for a coordinated strike?

Are you already planning other ways to be part of a nationwide show of power less than three years from now?

Visit May2028.org for new Labor Notes guides on organizing with your fellow union members, co-workers, and members of your community.

Labor Notes organizers Luis Feliz Leon and Keith Brower Brown join the pod.

The Labor Notes Pod will be back next week on Friday, 10/3

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0300

We're taking a break from the pod this week as our staff meets in person to make plans for the next six months of Labor Notes programming! We'll be back to our regular schedule next week with a new episode on Friday, 10/3.

In the meantime, send us voice notes of your organizing questions to podcast@labornotes.org! We can't wait to feature them on a future episode and answer your questions.

See you back here next week!

How Beauty Salon Workers Built a Groundbreaking Union

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Last month, workers at some of the Los Angeles and Santa Monica locations of Sugared + Bronzed, a salon chain offering spray tanning and sugaring hair removal services, voted to unionize with Communications Workers Local 9505.

Workers say the job is an arduous balancing act of delivering a comfortable, safe experience providing intimate services to customers, while navigating a breakneck pace of appointments. Inside the fight to build a beauty salon chain union.

Turn a Disciplinary Meeting into an Organizing Opportunity

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Union members have Weingarten rights, stemming from a Supreme Court ruling in 1975, to ask for a steward at any meeting they believe could lead to discipline. Stewards can do a lot to support members in these meetings, and also organize against patterns of unfair discipline.

Labor Notes Organizer Kari Thompson, who leads some of our Stewards’ Workshops, joins the pod.

Air Canada Flight Attendants Didn't Let the Government Ground Their Strike

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Air Canada flight attendants, who in August had voted 99.7% to strike, were hit with a back to work order within a day after they walked out last month.

But 10,000 of them defied the order and held the line, highlighting their campaign to get paid for all their uncompensated work when the cabin doors are open.

Plus: the Labor Notes Troublemakers School is coming to Toronto in October, and will spotlight the rank-and-file militancy of our union siblings up North! Sign up here to join workers in Toronto on Saturday, Oct. 18!

Under Trump's Anti-Worker Landscape, Employers are Testing the Limits of What They Can Get Away With

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Workers at Mauser Packaging Solutions in Chicago, who handle dangerous chemicals with what they’ve said is insufficient safety equipment, have been on strike since June 9.

These workers, members of Teamsters Local 705, have been on an unfair labor practice strike after Mauser also illegally surveilled union members who were speaking with their business agent during a break, according to the union.

Labor Notes Organizer Luis Feliz Leon joins pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann.

Stories we talk about in this episode:

1. ‘Toxic’ Laundry, Melting Aprons: Mauser Strike Hits Two Months

2. Dispatch from the Employer Offensive: Mauser Teamsters Strike Back

3. “Want to Defend Immigrant Workers in Your Contract? Here Are Some Suggestions.”

Labor Notes Beach Reads: How Starbucks Workers Took On a Behemoth and How To Find What Your Boss is Hiding From You

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0300

In their book, Get on the Job and Organize, former Starbucks worker and organizer Jaz Brisack tells the story of the seemingly improbable success of organizing baristas scattered in small stores across the country.

A good companion to Brisack’s account is What the Boss Doesn't Want Us to Know: Discovering Power and Winning Campaigns, by Tom Juravich, Olivia Geho, and Andrew Gorry, a book-length adaptation of research techniques outlined on the website strategiccorporateresearch.org.

If you want to learn who finances your employers, who its key decision makers are, where your employer makes most of its profit, you’d want to start here.

Labor Notes editor Jenny Brown joins pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann.

Stewards' Corner: Acting Like A Union When Meeting With Management

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Meeting with management is never fun. And worse, those meetings can become another place the bosses try to push workers around.

But we can take control back in the meetings by showing up united and acting like a union.

Labor Notes Organizer Joe DeManuelle Hall joins pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann as they discuss how we can make labor-management committees and other meetings with management work to our advantage.

For more in-depth advice, don't miss this guide by the late labor educator Charley Richardson.

Zohran’s NYC Primary Win Shows People Are Ready to Organize

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Talking to neighbors about the issues they care about can be a lot like organizing coworkers to make your workplace better. The goal is to listen, cultivate relationships and build power as a working class.

Tune in to hear pod co-hosts Natascha and Danielle talk about Danielle's experience volunteering on the Zohran campaign and why it's meaningful for workers everywhere.

Build Power By Coordinating Your Bargaining

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Francisco Ortiz, president of United Teachers Richmond in California, and Chris Spurlock, a steward in Teamsters Local 135 at Zenith Logistics (a third-party operator for Kroger), shared how their unions organized to coordinate on bargaining and contract expirations.

They shared their experiences in a recent Labor Notes online webinar. Hear the main highlights in this episode.

Construction Unions Face a Choice: Cave or Defend Members?

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0300

On the cover of the upcoming Labor Notes August/September issue is the divided, tentative response of building trades union leaders to the Trump administration’s assaults on immigrant members and equity initiatives, and its cancellation of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of construction projects. Labor Notes organizer Keith Brower Brown joins the pod.

Fight Ice. Build The Union.

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:22:54 -0300

There's a perception that unions shouldn’t take up “divisive” issues like immigration, and should focus instead on bread-and-butter topics members already agree on. We think that’s bad advice!

Organizing around social issues like the defense of immigrant workers is an opportunity for open, productive conversations based on mutual respect—and it can mobilize members who feel left behind by their unions.

Ryan Andrews, an English teacher and member of the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) put it this way: “Anybody who thinks we have to ignore certain issues or avoid certain political conversations in order to grow the base, they don’t understand what it means to grow the base.”

As Natascha Elena Uhlmann and Sarah Lazare report in a collaboration with Workday Magazine, workers across the country are taking up the fight against ICE, and strengthening their unions in the process.

What Makes Trump's Big Beautiful Bill So Ugly

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0300

As the GOP budget bill formalizes this administration’s large-scale attacks on government agencies and programs meant to support working people, it’s worth remembering the labor struggles that built them in the first place. Labor Notes editor Jenny Brown joins the pod.

How to Win a Strong Contract

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0300

What's the secret of winning a strong contract? Hint: You won't find it at the negotiations table!

In our "Winning a Strong Contract" workshop series, we talk about how we can build power away from the table to win our demands in bargaining.

Labor Notes Organizer Lisa Xu joins pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Ulhmann for an overview of the workshop, including concepts like the campaign mountain and campaign power spiral.

"Winning a Strong Contract Parts I & II" will be running the next two Mondays (July 7 and July 14th), and you can sign up at labornotes.org/events.

How Grocery Workers in Indiana Said No to a Crappy Contract, and More from Our July Issue

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Peek into the upcoming July issue of the Labor Notes magazine, featuring stories about grocery workers in Indiana fighting for a strong contract, and stories on the running theme of what it means to live under attempts at authoritarian rule and how working people are organizing right now.

Get the Labor Notes magazine! To start with the August issue, subscribe by July 22: labornotes.org/store/labor-notes-subscription

Mexico’s independent auto union has bosses scared

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Auto executives are well aware of what could be won should Mexico's independent auto union continue its winning streak: there hasn’t been a shared contract at 2 facilities in the Mexican auto industry’s 100-year history, a precedent SINTTIA is determined to break.

The union made headlines when 6,500 workers voted overwhelmingly to join at GM’s Silao, Guanajuato plant in 2022. On the eve of a union election at a second GM facility, the company is flagrantly favoring a competitor union, SINTTIA says—a union that some allege has ties to organized crime.

“It’s no use having a little plant with great working conditions and pay,” said Willebaldo Gómez Zuppa, a SINTTIA advisor. “Because ultimately, across the auto sector, all of the other plants are pushing conditions downward.” Improving standards for the long haul will depend on independent unions like SINTTIA building density in the sector as a whole, starting with key players like GM.

77,000 California Educators Are Joining Forces

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -0300

California educators across the state are joining forces in their fight for full staffing, safe and stable schools, and competitive compensation in their contract negotiations this year.

The “We Can’t Wait” campaign involves 32 locals covering 77,000 public school educators in California. That’s about a quarter of the California Teachers Association’s total membership, and those educators serve 1 million students. Educators spoke with Labor Notes organizer and pod co-host Danielle Smith about how they united around common issues, lined up their contracts and organized their coworkers to maximize their leverage.

Grocery Workers at the UFCW are Organizing for a Fighting Union

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -0300

What grocery workers are organizing for, and the way they’re doing it, can be a model for working class unionism.

In recent years, reform-minded members of the United Food and Commercial Workers—UFCW, one of the largest unions in the U.S.—have ramped up their campaigns to make their union more democratic and responsive to the needs of its 1.3 million members.

These members have organized toward resolutions at the 2023 convention, including to have direct elections of the international union’s top officers.

They sued the international in the spring of 2024 over other union democracy issues, pointing out how the UFCW allocates fewer delegates to larger locals.

And they’re leading more vigorous contract fights and campaigns than we've seen in these sectors in decades.

Their fight can tell us a lot about how vital a reform current can be in transforming a union to actually represent its members’ interests, and fight for the working class as whole.

Stewards’ Corner: What if Union Meetings Were Actually Good?

Fri, 30 May 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Most union meetings are, frankly, pretty dry and ineffective.

To an outsider, the agenda looks more or less the same every month, and it seems like the usual suspects show up to either pat themselves on the back, or fight.

Labor Notes Organizer Joe DeManuelle-Hall joins pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann as they share ideas to make union meetings more engaging and useful.

Beyond May Day, Part 2: Organizing in the Authoritarian Whirlwind

Fri, 23 May 2025 05:00:00 -0300

In this moment of existential struggle, what would it mean for our unions to act like a movement? How do we make sense of and tie together the multitude of attacks against working people?

We're joined again by Luis Feliz Leon, who walks us through strategic organizing formations and building on our victories.

If you haven't listened to part 1 of our conversation, don't miss it! We establish why unions are such a critical site for building power, and concrete tasks for organizers today.

Beyond May Day: Part 1

Fri, 16 May 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Billionaires and powerful interests are attempting to hijack our government to marginalize dissent, crush worker power, and drive immigrant workers and trans people out of public life—and that's just their starting point.

Meanwhile, workers have been building actions with their coworkers, most recently at more than a 1,000 May Day rallies across the US.

How do we escalate from this month's massive rallies and walkouts? How can workers build a movement that can resist against state terror and carry a vision for a society that works for all of us? How and where should we be meeting each other right now?

Labor Notes Organizer Luis Feliz Leon joins the pod this week to talk about what organizing in this phase can look like.

This is part 1 of a two-part episode. Tune in again on Friday, May 23, for part 2!

Stewards' Corner: Did You Know You're Allowed to Read Your Boss' Emails?

Fri, 09 May 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Stewards are often thought of merely as enforcers of a union contract on behalf of the unit.

But as unit members themselves, stewards are in a real position to organize their co-workers—not just play a form of de facto legal defense in individual grievance cases.

Joining this week's pod is Labor Notes organizer Joe DeManuelle-Hall, who leads Labor Notes stewards’ workshops on how to think like an organizer, and how to get the information you want from the boss.

Everything Sucks! Here’s What We Can Do About It

Fri, 02 May 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Labor Notes Organizer Barbara Madeloni joins the pod to share her notes for building power in a weary and anxious moment: Keep walking toward each other; Make a sober assessment of our landscape (avoid toxic positivity); and respond to attacks while building an offensive movement—one with a vision for providing the things people need to have full lives.

As a one-time reform president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Barbara learned what it meant to organize in the face of attacks on public schools in Massachusetts. Here’s how she thinks some of those strategies could be put to use now on a broader scale.

Mexican Autoworkers Faced Down Tariff Threats and Won Double Digit Raises—Plus, Labor Notes May Issue Preview!

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Workers at GM’s Silao, Guanajuato plant had a salary review period right in the midst of Trump’s tariff threats.

It would have been easy for the company to extract concessions in the face of widespread uncertainty, but workers held the line and won double-digit raises for the second time in recent years. Their winning streak is also forcing pro-boss, company unions to wake up and deliver for workers—if only for fear of a union election they’d likely lose.

They’re also hard at work building a new union culture—moving workers from a mindset of “Everyone steals, but hopefully you guys steal less” to feeling a sense of ownership over their union. Their fight demonstrates that militancy is the answer to navigating turbulent times—and the whims of bosses and billionaires everywhere.

Union Members are Leading the Defense of Immigrant Workers

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0300

There’s a straight line from years of bipartisan support for ICE and CBP to the alarming political repression we’re experiencing today, where workers and students are being ripped from their daily lives and hauled into detention centers hundreds of miles away.

Over the past year, union members and workers centers have been more intensively building networks and resources to support immigrant workers.

They’ve been organizing to win contract language to protect members from employers simply handing over confidential information or workplace premises to ICE agents; drafting and sharing know-your-rights resources; and mobilizing support at rallies and actions to stand with those being targeted.

That groundwork is mobilizing worker-led resistance to deportation actions against immigrant workers including farmworker union leader Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez, and sheet metal worker Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a member of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, whom the administration shipped off to El Salvador from his home in Maryland.

Facing Privatization And DOGE Attacks, Postal Workers Are Fighting Back

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0300

How does a letter get from rural Alaska to tip of Florida for less than a dollar? The U.S. Postal Service of course!

The USPS is such a staple of our daily lives, it’s easy to take the public service for granted. But corporate greed has threatened to privatize and consolidate the agency in ways that would make the service more costly for the public and help the rich get richer.

Fortunately for us, the USPS isn’t just a vital public service but also the largest union employer in the U.S., and postal workers have long been engaged in a fight to protect our mail.

Now with the Trump administration setting its sights on the agency and DOGE sniffing around, postal workers are building on the organizing they’ve already done and continuing their fight for the future of the postal service.

Mexico City’s Trolleybus Workers Took on Austerity and Won

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0300

What do you do when neoliberal ghouls are set on privatizing services you love and rely on? For Mexico City’s trolleybus workers, the answer was building a coalition of public transit riders, climate activists and labor allies prepared to fight back. They turned fear into action, and supporters into organizers—mobilizing commuters who relied on the transit network to bring other riders into the fight.

As Trump’s schmuck parade sets out to dismantle critical public services millions rely on, we can learn from Mexican workers’ fight to stave off privatization and win vital investments in their public transit system.

PLUS: You heard it here first—it’s pod co-host Danielle’s birthday! Her one birthday demand, we mean wish, is that you subscribe to the pod and leave us a review. Happy birthday Danielle!!!

How TSA Agents and Federal Workers are Fighting a Hostile Administration

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -0300

Facing an administration bent on privatizing public services, federal workers are flocking to their unions in large numbers and connecting with one another through the new rank-and-file group the Federal Unionists Network.

TSA agents are among the latest groups of workers organizing a response after the Department of Homeland Security decided earlier this month to abruptly end their collective bargaining agreement.

How Workers Are Fighting for a Liveable Planet

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -0300

It matters to us as workers to have a liveable planet! And the labor movement has unique leverage and responsibility to push for climate action in the workplace and in contracts.

The upcoming April issue of Labor Notes spotlights how workers are fighting for better conditions as they contend with storms, heat waves, and wildfires while on the job, and how they are staking their place in the transition away from fossil fuels.

Labor Notes Organizers Kari Thompson and Keith Brower Brown join pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann.

Subscribe to the Labor Notes magazine at labornotes.org/store/labor-notes-subscription!

What the Tariffs Debate Is Missing: Workers’ Voices

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -0300

When Nippon sought to acquire U.S. Steel in a $15 billion acquisition last year, the companies went to great lengths to convince U.S. Steel workers that the deal would benefit them too (and not just line executives’ pockets). But the workers didn’t buy it.

Tune in to the inaugural episode of the Labor Notes Podcast to hear about how the workers saw through the companies’ shenanigans and resisted an acquisition that could have left them on the chopping block. The deal, which likely would have helped Nippon evade tariffs, was blocked by the Biden administration at the end of 2024, but might not be entirely off the table for the future.