We need strong unions, all of us. Tragically, even during the pandemic, businesses continue to aggressively resist worker attempts at unionization. And recent decisions by the NLRB only add to worker difficulties.
Subjects Archives: Labor
Popular radicalism in the 1930s
At a time when unemployment is skyrocketing in the U.S. and millions of out-of-work Americans have been abandoned by the federal government, it may be of interest to consider how an earlier generation responded to an even greater crisis, the Great Depression (1929-1936).
Times remain hard, especially for low-wage workers
The current economic crisis has hit workers hard. Unemployment rates remain high, with total weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits continuing to grow.
Chart of the day
The number of continued claims for unemployment compensation, while below its peak, rose from the previous week and was more than 29 million American workers—a figure that includes workers receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
Forging unity within the working class: an interview with Michael D. Yates
The ruling class always tries to divide the working class. We must make certain that the working class is not divided internally and we can draw on the past to find examples of working-class organizations that have actively worked to generate a cohesive and class-conscious membership.
“Your Economics Professor is almost Certainly a Charlatan: A review with commentary of ‘My Mis-Education in 3 Graphics’,” a film by Mary Filippo.
Mary Filippo began in 2004 to audit economics classes in the hope that she could “learn something about globalization. Does it really help people in developing countries? What are its downsides?” She did not learn these things.
The pandemic, technology, and remote work: the corporate push for greater control over workers’ lives
The U.S. economy is undergoing a major transformation largely driven by the coronavirus pandemic. One hallmark of that transformation is the explosion in what is called “remote” work.
Chart of the day
The American economy gained 1.8 million jobs last month, even as the coronavirus surged in many parts of the country and newly reintroduced restrictions caused some businesses to close for a second time.
Chart of the day
All told, 54.1 million American workers have filed initial unemployment claims during the past nineteen weeks.
Pandemic worsens, resistance will follow
World leaders like Trump and Johnson trying to get back to business as usual while the virus continues to spread are deliberately sacrificing public health, writes John Clarke.
Beyond work? The shortcomings of post-work politics
Mikael Lyngaas argues that post-work theorists ranging from Bob Black to Srnicek and Williams are utopian socialism for the current era.
Colleges layoff underpaid adjuncts then challenge their unemployment claims
Unemployment insurance laws were developed prior to the widespread use of contingent faculty, and were designed to prevent K-12 teachers and full-time college professors from collecting unemployment during scheduled term breaks and summer vacations when they weren’t teaching. In nearly all states, these laws are being used to prevent adjuncts, who have since become the […]
Essential—and expendable—Mexican labor
Lear Corporation—one of the world’s largest auto parts manufacturers—rose to position 148 on Fortune magazine’s famous list of the 500 largest firms in 2018. It operates with roughly 148,000 workers spread across 261 locations.
Paralysed companies rescued by an ‘army’ of volunteer workers
The 2270-strong Productive Workers’ Army has recuperated 14 state-run firms that had been run into the ground.
Chart of the day
Yesterday morning, the U.S. Department of Labor (pdf) reported that, during the week ending last Saturday, another 1.3 million American workers filed initial claims for unemployment compensation. That’s on top of the 48.7 million workers who were laid off during the preceding fifteen weeks.
Two months of gains, but a huge jobs deficit remains, and deepening pain is on the horizon
Today’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows two months in a row of payroll employment gains, an increase in jobs of 4.8 million in June on top of 2.7 million in May. But, because so many jobs were lost in March and April, we are still 14.7 million jobs below where we […]
Chart of the day
Yesterday morning, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that, during the week ending last Saturday, another 1.4 million American workers filed initial claims for unemployment compensation.
Chart of the day
At the highest of levels of unemployment following the 2007-08 crash, there were 15.3 million jobless Americans.
Vale Jack Mundey: Inspirational Australian Union Leader
Jack Mundey, the leader of the NSW Builders Labourers’ Federation between 1968 and 1974 has passed away at the age of 90. An initiator of the “green bans”, Jack was a Marxist who rediscovered the ecological essence of Marxism.
Reflections from Vermont
That there are good and honorable people who believe that the Democratic Party can be turned around. I don’t. Our major task is to change the entire nature of political discussion in the country. In my view that’s just not going to happen within the Democratic Party.
