Michigan Amazon Workers Staged a Walkout on Prime Day
Joined by striking delivery drivers, last week Amazon workers in a Michigan warehouse staged the largest delivery station strike yet.
18 Articles by: Luis Feliz Leon
Luis Feliz Leon is a staff writer and organizer with Labor Notes.
Amazon Teamsters Are Setting Up Pickets Nationwide to Demand a Contract
This spring, Amazon delivery drivers unionized with the Teamsters — but the logistics giant refuses to bargain with them. The workers are now setting up picket lines at Amazon warehouses across the country, joined by fellow Teamsters from other employers.
In Georgia, 1,400 Bus Manufacturing Workers Have Just Won a Union
Electric vehicle manufacturing in the US is overwhelming nonunion, but 1,400 workers for an electric bus manufacturer in Georgia have just unionized. It’s one of the labor movement’s biggest victories in the South this century.
UAW Reform Candidate Shawn Fain Is Set to Win the Union’s Presidential Election
In a stunning upset in the United Auto Workers leadership election, reformer Shawn Fain is set to win the presidency. Fain is part of a reform slate that will now control the UAW after vowing to bring democracy and militancy back to the long-calcified union.
UAW Rank-and-File Reformer Says There’s “No More Asking ‘Please’”
UAW reform candidates have made sweeping gains in recent leadership elections. In an interview, recently elected rank-and-file worker Daniel Vicente explains how the reform slate is seeking to deliver members a more democratic, militant union.
Noncompete Clauses Are Depressing Wages and Hurting Workers
The proliferation of noncompete agreements in even low-wage jobs keeps wages low by preventing workers from finding new jobs in their field. For a Minnesota couple allegedly fired for unionizing, such agreements may also make them homeless.
A New Independent Union in Mexico Is Gearing Up for Its First Contract Fight
Last August, workers in an auto parts plant in Mexico voted to form an independent union. As their employer, VU Manufacturing, continues to try and bust the union, workers are fighting for a contract.
Amazon Workers Staged Walkouts at 4 Warehouses for Prime Week
Last week workers at four different Amazon warehouse across the US walked out to protest the company’s low pay and brutal working conditions. The actions were timed to coincide with Amazon’s Prime Day promotional sales rush.
Our Current Moment of Increased Labor Organizing Could Become Something Much Bigger
Trying to win progressive change without rebuilding the labor movement is a fool’s errand. That’s why the union victories at Starbucks and Amazon are so promising: the current uptick in labor militancy could become a transformational upsurge.
Amazon Is Playing Dirty to Stop a Second Warehouse From Unionizing
In a massive victory, Amazon workers recently won a union at a warehouse in New York. So now the company is trying every trick in the union-busting playbook to throttle worker organizing at a second facility.
Amazon Workers at Three Delivery Stations Just Staged a Walkout
Last week, workers at three of Amazon’s last-mile delivery centers in New York and Maryland walked off the job to demand better pay and working conditions. It’s the latest action by Amazonians United, a group organizing Amazon workers across the US and Canada.
To Get the Legislation It Wants, Uber Is Enlisting Unions in a Charm Offensive
Both Uber and a Teamsters local are backing a new Washington State bill that would give rideshare drivers new benefits — while codifying their status as independent contractors rather than employees.
Mexican GM Autoworkers Have Elected an Independent Union
In a landslide victory, workers at the largest GM plant in Mexico just voted out their corrupt union, known for employer-friendly “protection contracts,” for an independent one.
2,000 Washington Carpenters Are on Strike
After rejecting a contract proposal from union leadership, 2,000 Washington carpenters walked off the job.
The Lead Organizer for the Amazon Union Drive Has No Regrets
In an interview, the lead organizer for the Amazon union campaign in Bessemer says that the drive has built momentum to unionize Amazon despite the defeat — and that “Bezos had better not get too cocky, because them folks are pretty fired up.”
In New York, Calls to Tax the Superrich Are Gaining Ground
The richest 5 percent have gotten unfathomably richer this year. With post–COVID-19 austerity on the horizon, a campaign to tax the rich in New York State is gaining momentum.
Uber and Lyft Drivers’ Fight Against Independent Contractor Status Isn’t Going Away
Amid the pandemic, Uber and Lyft drivers are more precarious than ever. Even as the companies dodge court rulings, the battle for drivers to be legally classified as employees is growing.
Calls to Defund the Police Are Joining the Demand to Cancel Rent
The combination of rising property values and billowing police budgets have transformed New York City since the 1970s. Now, movements to defund the police are coalescing with calls to cancel rent.