Labor Notes

June 14, 2012 - Perseverance paid off for the Farm Labor Organizing Committee in North Carolina as Reynolds finally agreed to meet with the union to discuss tobacco pickers' abysmal work conditions.

May 30, 2012 - A lawsuit charges the Florida-based corporation that operates Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Longhorn Steakhouse, Capital Grille and other restaurants with stealing wages and firing black workers because of their race.

May 3, 2012 - Workers who helped organize the union at the Smithfield Foods slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, N.C. tell the story of how African American, white, and Mexican immigrant workers were able to find common ground despite the company's attempts to use racial division and immigration enforcement to defeat them.

March 30, 2012 - As Florida's tomato pickers turn their attention to grocery chains, they're training farmworkers to form committees and stand up for themselves on the job -- and reporting notable success.

March 6, 2012 - Corporations including Texas-based American Airlines and Hostess are turning to bankruptcy courts not because they can't pay their bills but because those courts allow them to negotiate with a hammer. While the options for unions aren't great, a few have shown that aggressive workplace mobilizing can beat back some of the worst.

February 15, 2012 - Efforts to organize the jobless are underway in Atlanta and other communities across the U.S., but they face challenges -- including people's resistance to identifying as unemployed.

November 11, 2011 - U.S. unions are bitterly split on whether an oil pipeline should be built between Canada and Texas. The conflict has hamstrung the Blue-Green Alliance, which unifies union and environmental efforts, as transit unions argue labor must look beyond its own interests.