The Labor Notes Podcast

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 mont...

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 Podc...

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?”   

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...

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...

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...

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 agend...

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.

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 educatio...

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...

“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 a...

“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 Cam...

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...

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! 🍜

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 t...

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 caucus...

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...

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 de...

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.

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.

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...

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...

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 c...

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...

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 hospital...