Labor Notes

05/30/2026

Workers at a New Jersey detention center say they are being “treated like animals” and are engaged in a work stoppage and hunger strike. Here are their demands. Article is linked in the comments.

05/29/2026

On a patch of sidewalk on a busy industrial corridor in Newark, federal agents with rifles, metal batons, flak vests, and balaclavas faced off against unarmed activists with cardboard signs and a bullhorn. Detained workers could be heard on the soccer field behind the prison walls, shouting in Spanish, “¡Libertad!” (Freedom!)

Since May 22, 300 of them are on a work stoppage and hunger strike. Over video chat, one worker told the crowd outside that they had stopped eating and working for as little as $1 an hour (or no pay at all) to demand an improvement in their living conditions. “But that’s not all we demand,” he said. “We are also doing this to demand freedom. We’re not treated like people. We’re treated like animals.”

The hunger strikers are demanding to meet with the governor, the release of young and elderly detainees and all medically vulnerable people, and ultimately, freedom for all.

Read the piece by Labor Notes Organizer Luis Feliz Leon:

On a patch of sidewalk on a busy industrial corridor in Newark, federal agents with rifles, metal batons, flak vests, and balaclavas faced off against unarmed activists with cardboard signs and a bullhorn. Detained workers could be heard on the soccer field behind the prison walls, shouting in Spani...

05/29/2026

What does it take to unionize factories today, especially in the South? In the last two years, bus manufacturing workers secured first union contracts and a national master agreement across New Flyer facilities in three states.

Labor Notes Organizer Keith Brower Brown reports:

What does it take to unionize factories today, especially in the South? In the last two years, bus manufacturing workers secured first union contracts and a national master agreement across New Flyer facilities in three states. Their strategy shows how, with pressure from transit agencies that buy t...

05/29/2026

"Two unions representing 2,300 workers at Portland Community College went on strike for three weeks in March. It was the first-ever community college strike in Oregon, and a rare wall-to-wall strike where both educators and support staff walked out together.

The strike ended in resounding victory. We won wage increases and protection against cuts to course offerings, and defeated the administration’s attempt to impose budget cuts on the backs of workers and students."

Read the piece by Michelle DuBarry, executive vice president of the PCC Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals:

Two unions representing 2,300 workers at Portland Community College went on strike for three weeks in March. It was the first-ever community college strike in Oregon, and a rare wall-to-wall strike where both educators and support staff walked out together. The strike ended in resounding victory. We...

05/28/2026

Gardeners have a saying about newly planted perennials: “They sleep, then creep, then leap.”

The first year of the Trump administration was rough—including the biggest union-busting push in U.S. history. It took time to get our bearings.

But spring has brought green shoots in the labor movement. Here are some causes for hope:

Gardeners have a saying about newly planted perennials: “They sleep, then creep, then leap.” Last summer I pulled a lot of grass out of my yard (hard work!) and planted a garden. The new plants stayed small through the winter, gathering strength. Now suddenly my garden is teeming with new leaves...

05/28/2026

American Axle CEO David Dauch has been paid $111 million in the last decade, the UAW says. Meanwhile the union says workers are sleeping in their cars or living in motels, and biking to work because they can’t afford the very vehicles they supply parts for.

At a contract fight kickoff rally in April UAW President Shawn Fain told the crowd, “They want you to be afraid. But we can win, because we’re gonna fight like hell to get what we deserve. It’s our time, and we’re coming for ours.”

Axles are to vehicles what joints are to human bodies: the mechanism that facilitates movement. For parts worker Rosie Dodge, who has worked on a paint line for American Axle & Manufacturing for 10 years, the metaphor is embodied in the work environment. “They just do not treat us like people,” ...

05/28/2026

"Unions can be a place where people actually change their views. Many times, the act of coming together moves them out of individualistic attitudes and helps them see the power of solidarity.

But that’s less likely to happen if we start by judging workers who don’t already agree with us. To unite members, we can’t begin with party labels. We begin with issues that everyone can understand and feel: job security, staffing, fairness, health care, and pay," writes Steve Lawton, former president of CWA Local 1102.

In my 25 years as a union organizer and labor educator, my core purpose has been to help working-class people recognize and act on their own power. In that work, I’ve come to rely heavily on the writing of Les Leopold. Whether it was running workshops based on his Reversing Runaway Inequality in t...

05/28/2026

“What happened on May Day didn't come out of nowhere,” said Jackson Potter, Vice President of the Chicago Teachers Union. “It came from solidarity schools, picket lines, and months of organizing in cities across the country, from Memphis to Philadelphia to Denver.”

Labor Notes interns Rene Cabrera and Priscila Esparza report.

On May First—International Workers’ Day—people across the U.S. and the world joined rallies and other actions calling for “Workers over Billionaires.” In the U.S., workers organized over 4,000 May Day actions in big cities and small towns. They focused on three demands: tax the wealthy, no...

05/27/2026

It’s not just workplace organizers who are translating Secrets of a Successful Organizer. In Spain, the Madrid Tenants’ Union (el Sindicato de Inquilinos e Inquilinas de Madrid) published a tenant organizing manual inspired by the book.

“Those of us who rent our homes have little power as individuals against our landlords, just like individual workers when they fight against their bosses. But organization turns shared vulnerability into collective strength,” writes the union.

We are happy to report that Secrets of a Successful Organizer has now been translated into eight languages: Spanish, Japanese, German, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Swedish, Danish, Quebecois French, and, most recently, Korean. (See below for details on how to get copies.) We’ve also heard...

05/27/2026

Any campaign that’s grounded in organizing fundamentals—addressing widely and deeply felt issues, with respected workplace leaders at the helm—is also a list-building opportunity, writes Labor Notes Organizer Lisa Xu.

Effective troublemakers need many skills. One of the most important, though not the most glamorous, is list-building. If you otherwise have the fundamentals of organizing in place but you’re still struggling to reach more people, make sure you’re paying attention to your list and not leaving an ...