Labor - Dissent Magazine

Dirty Laundry: An Investigation

Annie Hylton ▪ Summer 2017

Hidden from the public and overlooked by regulators, immigrant workers in the laundry industry face a litany of hazards and abuse. Our six-month investigation reveals the extent of their exploitation.

Belabored Podcast #133: Laboring Against Privatization, with Joseph A. McCartin

Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen ▪ August 25, 2017

Joseph McCartin joins us to talk about the history of public worker unionism, the legacy of PATCO, and how today’s workers can build power across the workforce.

Belabored Podcast #132: What Happened in Mississippi? with Chris Brooks

Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen ▪ August 11, 2017

Last week, in a highly anticipated union election, workers at a Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi voted against unionizing with the UAW. Chris Brooks from Labor Notes joins us to talk about the result.

Belabored Podcast #131: A Crisis of Care, with June Barrett and Saba Waheed

Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen ▪ July 14, 2017

Home care is one of the most rapidly growing fields in the country, but workers and care recipients will be under threat if Trump slashes Medicaid. We talk about what’s at stake in the healthcare reform fight.

Thanks to Trump, Workers May Soon Lose the Right to Bring Class-Action Lawsuits

Andrew Strom ▪ July 11, 2017

In our legal system, there are only two things that corporations fear: jury trials and class-action lawsuits. The Supreme Court is poised to help them do away with both, in one fell swoop.

Belabored Podcast #130: Retail Warriors

Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen ▪ July 2, 2017

In this special episode on the retail industry, organizers and workers from around the country talk about their fights to win fair wages and scheduling.

What Happened to Workers’ Ed?

Andrew Elrod ▪ Spring 2017

As organized labor searches for a viable strategy to endure and grow, its limited footholds in American higher education are coming loose.

Belabored Podcast #127: Rebellion in the Streets

Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen ▪ May 6, 2017

Five organizers talk about this year’s May Day, which saw immigrant workers taking to the streets around the country.

Brazil on Strike

Lucas Iberico Lozada ▪ May 1, 2017

In the face of a far-reaching austerity package being imposed by an unelected government, more than 1 million Brazilian workers took the streets Friday for the country’s first general strike in decades.

How the Ivy League Collaborates with Donald Trump

Nelson Lichtenstein ▪ April 25, 2017

Top university officials at Columbia and Yale have found in Trump an ally in their longstanding efforts to resist graduate employees’ efforts to unionize.

Belabored Podcast #126: Voices from the Rust Belt, with Chuck Jones

Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen ▪ April 21, 2017

Trump’s promises notwithstanding, many factory workers in the Rust Belt are just as frustrated after the election as they were before. Sarah Jaffe speaks to three labor organizers in Indiana to understand why.

Belabored Podcast #125: Striking to Live in the Age of Trump

Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen ▪ April 7, 2017

Organizers and participants in three recent strikes—the Yemeni bodega strike, the taxi workers’ strike at JFK airport, and last year’s Verizon strike—discuss labor under Trump.