The UAW Bet on Abdul El-Sayed and Won
The United Auto Workers backed Abdul El-Sayed in a close Senate primary, then mobilized members across Michigan. Its sights are set on the next fight with the Big Three.
354 Article(s) by: Alex N. Press
Alex N. Press is a labor reporter whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Jacobin, and The Nation. She lives in New York City.
Dattner’s Architects Say They Want a Union
Employees at Dattner Architects, the firm behind some of New York City’s most distinctive public buildings, from subway stations to sanitation facilities, are organizing with the International Association of Machinists and seeking a card-check neutrality agreement.
Reckoning With the Failures of Tech Worker Organizing
Two organizers who helped build the tech worker movement ask why its victories proved so difficult to turn into lasting power.
Who Monitors the UAW’s Federal Monitor?
Shawn Fain’s reform administration in the United Auto Workers now finds itself locked in conflict with a federal anti-corruption monitor who Fain says is overstepping his bounds —including in opposing the union’s stance against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The Customer Is Always Watching
Employers have long put customers to work watching and judging workers. With the development of technology like Ray-Ban Meta glasses, now customers have new surveillance tools of their own.
Kate Bronfenbrenner, the Union Organizer’s Scholar
Kate Bronfenbrenner, who retired this year from Cornell University, has studied how workers win unions, how employers stop them, and how organizers can learn from one another for four decades. Her findings have changed how unions think about organizing.
Amazon Is Spending Big Against NYC’s Delivery Protection Act
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is backing the Delivery Protection Act, a piece of local legislation which would require Amazon to directly employ their drivers. It could open a lane for drivers to unionize — and is thus seen as an existential threat by Amazon.
Claire Valdez Plans to Take the Labor Movement to Washington
Claire Valdez argues that worker power is built through organizing unions on the shop floor. Days after winning New York’s 7th District Democratic primary, she returned to the labor fights she says elected office should serve.
Zohran Mamdani’s City Hall Wants to Build Tenant Unions
A new New York City initiative, led by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Office of Mass Engagement, will send volunteer organizers into neglected buildings to help tenants organize, testing the role government can play in building collective working-class power.
The Invisible Heart of Modern Life Is the Garbage Worker
The backbreaking toil of the sanitation worker is the work that makes all of human civilization possible.
Who Monitors the UAW’s Federal Monitor?
Shawn Fain’s reform administration in the United Auto Workers now finds itself locked in conflict with a federal anti-corruption monitor that Fain says is overstepping his bounds — including in opposing the union’s stance against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
No Illusions and No Retreat for Union Militants at Labor Notes
Nearly 5,000 workers packed Labor Notes’ biennial conference outside Chicago last week. The mood was sober, the challenges immense, and the appetite for organizing as large as ever.
The Long, Grueling Strike at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital
Nurses at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc, Michigan, have been on strike for more than eight months over staffing levels and return-to-work protections. The dispute is one of the longest nurse walkouts in recent US history.
Amy Goodman and Democracy Now! vs. Mainstream Media
The new documentary Steal This Story, Please! shows how Amy Goodman helped build Democracy Now! into an independent outlet with a mass audience. We spoke to Goodman and director Tia Lessin about the film and challenging corporate media today.
Barbara Kopple on Her Labor Documentary Masterpieces
Barbara Kopple’s films Harlan County USA and American Dream captured labor struggle as it was happening: on picket lines, inside unions, and under pressure. Decades later, both remain some of the finest labor documentaries ever made.
Workers at Cocktail Bar Attaboy Are Unionizing
Staff at famed New York cocktail bar Attaboy are forming an independent union in a notoriously hard-to-organize industry.
New York Is Closing In on Amazon’s Shady Delivery System
Amazon has long exploited subcontracting to avoid taking responsibility for its delivery drivers. A bill introduced by socialist New York City Councilor Tiffany Cabán would force the e-commerce giant to directly employ its drivers.
Hasan Piker Talks Donald Trump, ICE, and the Democrats
Streamer Hasan Piker is one of the most watched political commentators in the US, with nearly 5 million followers combined on YouTube and Twitch. We spoke with him about how he became a socialist as well as the state of the GOP and the Democratic Party.
Thousands of Colorado Meatpacking Workers Are on Strike
A strike in Colorado shows what happens when thousands of workers confront one of the most concentrated industries in the American economy.
When Protesters Shut Down the World Trade Organization
The new documentary WTO/99 reconstructs the 1999 protests against a global neoliberal trade order, the violent police repression, and the hope for a different world that found vibrant expression on the streets of Seattle.