Future of Work
This Is One of the Best Times in History to Be an Organizer
As a community organizer, I often imagine what it would have been like to march with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and win the Voting Rights Act. I always find inspiration in Dr. King’s words, especially this passage from his final book, Where Do We Go From Here? “Let...
The Union Bond
Dave Dell Isola, the son and grandson of union members, grew up grateful for the family-sustaining wages and benefits that organized labor won for working people. But he never fully grasped the might of solidarity until he and his wife, Barbara, and their two sons...
With Environmental Justice, the Devil is in the Details
Luxury development, Hawai'i coastline Photo credit: Kai Nishiki It’s invigorating to see some of our leaders finally reckon with the most abiding problem of American climate politics: that green does not always mean equitable. Many well-meaning climate policies have...
Alarm Bells: COVID-19 In Alabama's Meatpacking Plants
Photo credit: Hometown Organizing Project / cc Workers throughout Alabama are reaching out to me to sound an alarm on what they are seeing inside meatpacking plants.This piece started out as an informative piece on how and why the COVID-19 virus is spreading rapidly...
We Need A New Food System, Not Meat Industry Bailouts
Photo credit: Government Accountability Office / cc The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a spotlight on disturbing injustices in our food system—reaffirming the need for systemic change. Slaughterhouses (euphemistically called “meatpacking plants” by the meat...
Mitch McConnell’s Failure To Lead Is Moral Bankruptcy
States that spent millions of dollars fighting the coronavirus asked the federal government for help plugging huge holes in their budgets. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave them the finger instead. The Kentucky Republican said he’d rather let states go...
Scalia Is OSHA's Fox In The Henhouse
Thousands of workers across America begged the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to investigate when their employers failed to take steps to protect them from COVID-19. They reported a lack of face masks, gloves, soap and hand sanitizer. They warned...
America's Backbone Under COVID-19: Blue-Collar Workers
At the start of each shift, Eric Jarvis takes a handful of anti-bacterial wipes and sanitizes the equipment he uses at the Packaging Corp. of America mill in Valdosta, Ga. He worries about getting the coronavirus every time he leaves for work, but knows the nation...
The Leadership Hoax
American Roots workers making masks for COVID-19 frontline caregivers. Photo credit: American Roots / USW / cc. Health care workers continue to put their lives on the line, caring for patients despite critical shortages of the safety gear they need to protect...
OSHA Needs A Prescription for Safety Now
Photo credit: Airman 1st Class Collin Schmidt, U.S. Air Force, cc Kimberly Delbrune-Mitter, a cardiac nurse, cares deeply about her patients and remains steadfast in her desire to help them, even as COVID-19 spreads across America. What plagues her about the new...
