Work Stoppage

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...

There’s so much to cover this week we had to pull Starbucks out for its own episode, watch for that in the patron feed later this week. We start by following up with the striking Chevron workers in Richmond, CA, where the oil conglomerate has hired local cops to act as strikebreakers. After a few more quick-hit follow up stories, we discuss a strike at Case New Holland in Wisconsin and Iowa, where...

We start this week’s episode of Work Stoppage with some tough news, as the organizing drive at the LDJ5 facility by the ALU was defeated 62%-38% in their election.  The same week, OSHA refused to do anything to Amazon after they murdered six of their workers in last year’s tornado, while at the same time Amazon has now dropped any covid protections for their workers.  Meanwhile, Delta is feeling 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. We’ve talked about the importance of unions being organized and run in a “rank-and-file” manner a million times on the show, but we hadn’t really had a good opportunity to sit down and layout exactly what that means.  On this episode, we discuss what exactly rank-and-file unioni...

For International Workers' Day, we decided to unlock our recent patron episode on the organizing methods of the Amazon Labor Union since it's a discussion on such an important, ongoing organizing campaign.  Happy May Day Comrades! Original Description: On April 1, the Amazon Labor Union won one of the most historic labor victories in the US in decades.  Despite the enormous difference in resources...

We start this week’s episode following up with Verizon workers, where the company seems to be taking a page from Starbucks’ union busting as they have illegally fired a worker at a store in Washington for organizing.  Then we catch up with the striking Finnish healthcare workers, who have ended their strike and are threatening mass resignations in response to threats from the government to make he...

We start this week following up on the effort to unionize in immigration law by the brave organizers of Hudson Workers United, whose fight has now dragged on for over a year.  Next we check in with the ALU, where the focus has turned to the LDJ5 sorting center’s upcoming election, and Amazon has cranked up the union busting.  In our weekly look at the Starbucks Workers United movement, we discuss...

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 April 1, the Amazon Labor Union won one of the most historic labor victories in the US in decades.  Despite the enormous difference in resources, the ALU was able to defeat one of the richest, most anti-union corporations in the world.  This is such a momentous development, w...

We start this week’s episode of Work Stoppage checking in on the fallout from P&O Ferries illegally laying off their entire workforce without warning.  Three weeks later and their fleet is still out of service, leading to massive shipping and travel delays in the UK. Next we discuss the end of the striking IBEW workers at WTTW, where the three week strike seems to have ended largely in defeat with...

It’s a jam packed episode this week, everyone’s excited for the main story but we’ve got a lot to talk about in the labor world first.  After hitting a few quick updates to some ongoing stories, we discuss the end of the Sacramento teachers’ strike, where a new tentative agreement has won raises without cuts to healthcare.  Next, we cover some of the recent news in organizing in the games industry...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. In the final part of our series on the decline of the US labor movement, we reach the End of History.  We discuss major events in US labor since the 90s, including waves of mergers, corporate consolidation, accelerating financialization, NAFTA, and the crash of 2008.  We then ge...

It’s another packed episode this week, as the class struggle never stops. First, we follow up with the Minneapolis educators, who have agreed to a new contract, ending their three week strike. Next we do our weekly Starbucks roundup, discussing union busting in Boston and union victories in Mesa, AZ, Seattle, and Knoxville, TN. Another major teachers strike is on, this one in Sacramento, where low...