unions

July 2, 2015 - Fifteen years ago, the case of the Charleston Five brought international attention to the struggles of black workers in the South. The South Carolina dock workers have continued to be a vital community force, including serving as a meeting ground for the local Black Lives Matter movement.

June 12, 2015 - An employee at a Sonic Drive-In in North Carolina, Anna Swauger traveled to Detroit last week for the second annual Fast Food Worker Convention. She writes about her experience — and why she believes the movement she helps lead will win.

May 7, 2015 - There's a growing national movement to end the discriminatory practice of requiring job applicants to check off a box if they have a criminal record. Last month, Virginia became the most recent state to "Ban the Box."

March 23, 2015 - In its bid to become the world's largest auto manufacturer, VW is trying to out-Toyota Toyota. Its Chattanooga plant provides a window into the state of the art of brutal productivity-maximizing "lean management" schemes.

February 20, 2015 - This week Walmart announced it would boost starting wages for employees to $10 an hour by next February. Some view the modest increase as a victory for workers' organizing efforts -- but others see it as an attempt to deflect the growing movement for a more substantial wage hike.

February 5, 2015 - While unions in the South have followed the national trend of declining membership, they have also made recent gains in the region. Meanwhile, demographic changes are underway that offer more hope for labor organizing.

November 13, 2014 - Joe Burns' latest book examines the wave of wildcat strikes that swept the U.S. during the 1960s and '70s -- involving unlikely actors like sanitation workers in Memphis, police in New Orleans, and teachers in Florida -- and how they reshaped the labor movement.