Work Stoppage

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. On the second part of our series on the history of early US textile strikes, we move into the 20th century. As the textile industry expanded, advances in technology did not come with advances in safety. The drive for maximum profit led to one of the worst industrial disasters in...

This week’s episode is kind of an angry one. We start out with some good news, as the ATU in DC have won their strike, and workers at Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago have won their union vote. Trader Joe’s workers in Minneapolis won their union election in a landslide, potentially setting up a new nationwide union push. We also follow up with the workers at Heine Brothers coffee, where union bust...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. The development of the industrial revolution in the United States begins with the textile industry. Centered in New England, the explosion of wealth from industrial manufacturing of cloth would form the foundation for the construction of the rest of the US industrial base. Along...

We start this week’s episode with a quick follow up with the Indiana grad student workers who have won major gains despite the university’s continued refusal to recognize their union. Boston teachers have used rank and file methods to win a historic new contract that will help address homelessness in the city. The NLRB has signed onto an order demanding UMWA workers cover the costs of their more t...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. On the first two parts of this series, we discussed what exactly rank and file organizing is, and how it differs from top down, business unionist organizing methods, and then discussed some historical examples. In this third part of the series, we do a deep dive on two major ran...

Alabama Starbucks Support Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/relief-fund-for-scottsboro-starbucks-partners This week on Work Stoppage, we start with a couple big union election victories. First, Hudson Workers United finally has their union election win recognized after a year-long ordeal. Then, workers at Trader Joe’s in Hadley, MA won their election to form the first recognized union at the chain....

In order to let as many folks as possible hear from the CAUSE workers fighting for a union at Amazon, we've decided to unlock our full interview with them!  We hope you enjoy the interview, and if you like the show please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage. Original Description: We were honored this week to be joined by Lance, an organizer with Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Emp...

Lina’s back and we had so much labor news this week it was hard to squeeze it all in one episode. We start with several quick follow-ups. 400 Planned Parenthood workers in the upper Midwest won their union election in a landslide this week, as did the workers at America’s Test Kitchen. Workers at Activision walked out across the country this week in protest, and Medieval Times’ union movement has...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. We were honored this week to be joined by Lance, an organizer with Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, CAUSE.  CAUSE has been working to organize workers at Amazon’s RDU1 warehouse in Garner, North Carolina, just outside Raleigh, since the beginning of thi...

Lina is away so it’s just John and Dan on this week’s episode of Work Stoppage. We start out with the Medieval Times workers in New Jersey who have won their union…and immediately got threats from the company to not bargain in good faith.  Next we discuss the Verizon Retail union movement expanding to stores in Portland and Flint, Michigan. We have yet another case of a “progressive” coffee chain...

By popular demand and in order that as many folks as possible are able to hear about the amazing organizing effort going on at Amazon in Kentucky, we've decided to unlock the entire interview!  We hope you enjoy, and if you like the show, please consider supporting us at patreon.com/workstoppage Original Description: We were very lucky to be joined this week by Matt, a worker-organizer at Amazon’s...

Workers are flexing their power all over, and we start this week with a quick update on the situation in Sri Lanka, where the people have had enough and stormed the presidential palace this weekend, chasing the government from power. Next we have a check-in on the Planned Parenthood workers in Massachusetts, who have voted nearly unanimously to join the SEIU this week. Also this week, the ABK Work...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. We were very lucky to be joined this week by Matt, a worker-organizer at Amazon’s SDF1 facility in Campbellsville, Kentucky working to organize his facility with the ALU.  Matt explains the challenges of organizing in a rural area where Amazon more or less runs like a company to...

We start this week with some rapid fire follow-ups with workers organizing at Apple, Trader Joe’s and Amazon. Then we discuss the end (for now) of the national strike in Ecuador, what was won, and where it goes from here. Next we check in on the Case New Holland strike, which is going international as UK Case workers have also gone on strike.  Also this week, knights, squires, and falcon-handlers...

We start this week’s episode with a discussion of how unions can play a major role in fighting for workers’ right to reproductive healthcare in the wake of the Supreme Court gutting abortion rights. Then we start the episode proper with a follow-up with the Indiana University grad workers, where despite winning overwhelming support from faculty, the administration is digging in and refusing to rec...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. On June 2, Microsoft announced that it planned to shift its position on how it relates to unions, rather than pursuing scorched earth union busting campaigns like Amazon and Starbucks, it would embrace “neutrality”.  While it’s possible this is just cover to try and smooth the a...

Filled with renewed energy from watching some of the amazing panels and speeches at this weekend’s Labor Notes conference, it’s another episode of Work Stoppage.  We start with several follow-ups, first in South Korea, where truckers won their strike and secured an agreement to extend minimum wage protections. Also this week, XPO Logistics truckers at the Port of Los Angeles finally won their NLRB...

It’s shaping up to be a hot labor summer out there, we’ve got union busting, we’ve got strikes, we’ve got unions working together on this week’s episode of Work Stoppage.  First we check in on the union drive at Trader Joe’s in Massachusetts, where the company has started its union busting campaign by violating the Button Clause of the NLRA.  Next, we got exciting news this week as Workers United...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. As we discussed in our first episode of this series, there’s a long, sordid history of collaboration between the upper leadership of the AFL-CIO and the US National Security State, specifically the CIA.  Over several decades during the Cold War, through the American Institution...

Another jam packed episode of Work Stoppage this week, as we start with a check in on workers at Amy’s Kitchen, where a second plant has started a union drive. We also follow up on the Case New Holland strike where 2000 UAW workers remain on strike as the company refuses to bring a fair offer to the table.  Amazon has continued their campaign of harassment of organizers, and new documents released...

Unfortunately, we’ve got a few setbacks to start the episode this week. First, we follow up with the USW workers at Chevron’s refinery in Richmond, CA, where workers have narrowly approved a new contract that doesn’t meet the main goals their two month long strike set out for. Next, we talk about workers at the unionizing Apple store in Atlanta being forced to withdraw their election petition due...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. On the first episode of the series, we talked about the reasons why rank and file unionism, running your union in a democratic fashion, is so important to rebuilding the labor movement.  On our second episode, we dig into a few historical examples of rank and file organizing whi...

Labor never stops, and neither does labor news.  We start this week’s show with a couple quick follow ups on the status of the Hudson Workers United and Target Workers Unite campaigns.  Then, in great news, we discuss this week’s victorious union election at Raven Software, where testers have formed the first recognized union in a major video game studio. We also cover the union busting campaign a...

We start this week’s episode of Work Stoppage following up on several stories we’ve previously covered.  First, the Indiana Grad Students have suspended their strike for the summer after winning overwhelming faculty support for recognition of their union.  Next, educators in Brookline held a one day strike on Monday after negotiations stalled, winning their first new contract in three years.  Also...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. We’ve tried to cover all the news coming in from the Starbucks Workers United movement on the regular show every week, but this week there was just so much news we had to give it its own episode. We start out covering Howard Schultz committing a ULP on an earnings call by threat...