Work Stoppage

PREVIEW - Organizing Amazon in Kentucky: An Interview

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.

We were very lucky to be joined this week by Matt, a worker-organizer at Amazon’s SDF1 facility in Campbellsville, Kentucky working to organize his facility with the ALU.  Matt explains the challenges of organizing in a rural area where Amazon more or less runs like a company town. We discuss the differences in worker consciousness you encounter when working to organize at Amazon, the different tactics that they’ve used, and how they’ve worked to explain the importance of unions in fighting against exploitation. We also discuss the ways that Amazon has retaliated against Matt and other organizers for their work, including calling the local sheriff on organizers. Finally, we talk a bit about how people can get involved if they're interested in helping organize Amazon, whether it's by becoming a salt, or donating to one of the groups already organizing on the ground.

We encourage our listeners to donate to the SDF1 organizing committee’s solidarity fund: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/fundraising/b524f63e-8261-41dc-b593-b775eb35c3f3

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Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Ep 112 – Squire Solidarity

We start this week with some rapid fire follow-ups with workers organizing at Apple, Trader Joe’s and Amazon. Then we discuss the end (for now) of the national strike in Ecuador, what was won, and where it goes from here. Next we check in on the Case New Holland strike, which is going international as UK Case workers have also gone on strike.  Also this week, knights, squires, and falcon-handlers are organizing into a guild at Medieval Times to fight for safer, fairer work conditions.  Airlines took massive bailouts early in the pandemic, then slashed staff and lobbied against covid protections, and now the whole air travel system in this country is messed up.  Workers installing solar fields are doing incredibly important work towards a renewable energy future in the US, but face some of the most atrocious work conditions in the country due to the temporary, contract nature of the work. Finally, as usual, we check in on the Starbucks Workers United campaign, where the company’s illegal retaliation continues, but the union has grown to over 5000 workers strong.

Chicago Starbucks Strike Fund: https://t.co/h7XVJQD7FF 

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Ep 111 – All Aboard The Strike Train

We start this week’s episode with a discussion of how unions can play a major role in fighting for workers’ right to reproductive healthcare in the wake of the Supreme Court gutting abortion rights. Then we start the episode proper with a follow-up with the Indiana University grad workers, where despite winning overwhelming support from faculty, the administration is digging in and refusing to recognize the union. Then we have some on the ground labor reporting from Dan, who discusses a local strike of Teamsters at DHL in Pawtucket, RI, where workers are fighting for healthcare and a living wage. Next, over 4000 workers in one of the largest platinum mines in the world in South Africa have gone on strike to protest horrible wages paid to contract workers.  Also this week, workers in Maine filed for the first union in the country at a Chipotle and are fighting against understaffing and overwork leading to unsanitary conditions. Train drivers in New Jersey delivered a master class in a well-timed industrial action when they staged a sickout the Friday evening of Juneteenth weekend in protest of not receiving holiday pay. The big story this week is obviously the massive rail strike in England, where 40,000 workers shut down the rails for three days to protest the government’s plan to slash thousands of jobs, destroy pensions, and enforce a pay cut during record inflation. Finally, as usual, we close with our update on the Starbucks Workers United movement as it continues to rack up wins.

No Contract, No Coffee Pledge to Support Starbucks Workers: https://crm.broadstripes.com/ctf/SJID0H

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Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Shop Floor Discussion 5 PREVIEW – Microsoft Union Neutrality Agreement

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.

On June 2, Microsoft announced that it planned to shift its position on how it relates to unions, rather than pursuing scorched earth union busting campaigns like Amazon and Starbucks, it would embrace “neutrality”.  While it’s possible this is just cover to try and smooth the approval of Microsoft’s $70B acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it presents some big questions for unionists.  We know our interests are directly opposed to the bosses, and they will never tolerate militant unions that fight for what the workers deserve, so how should we approach this sort of “neutrality”? We decided this was a topic a bit too long winded to squeeze into the middle of a regular episode, and so this Shop Floor Discussion is dedicated to trying to hammer out how unions should react to these sorts of “olive branches” from companies. 

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Ep 110 – AppleCORE Wins at the Apple Store

Filled with renewed energy from watching some of the amazing panels and speeches at this weekend’s Labor Notes conference, it’s another episode of Work Stoppage.  We start with several follow-ups, first in South Korea, where truckers won their strike and secured an agreement to extend minimum wage protections. Also this week, XPO Logistics truckers at the Port of Los Angeles finally won their NLRB hearing and have been reclassified employees rather than independent contractors and will now have a union election. The Massachusetts Supreme Court struck down a proposed Prop 22 clone this week, in a good move for gig workers in the state. In big news this week, we finally have our first unionized Apple store, as the workers of Towson, Maryland won their election by a 2:1 margin to organize with the Machinists.  Retaliation against ALU organizers continued this week with yet another being fired, the same week as the hearing to determine whether the JFK8 election will be upheld got underway in Arizona. 1450 researchers at the University of Washington voted overwhelmingly to unionize with the UAW after the University refused voluntary recognition last December.  For our big story this week, a massive national strike has been underway in Ecuador as Indigenous groups are leading huge swaths of the working class in protest of the right wing government. Finally, as usually, we close out with a look at the many Starbucks wins this week, even as the company continues its failing scorched earth campaign of union busting. 

ALU Hearing Zoom Link: https://www.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJIsdeCqrTouHO9YNidbEDeTe2Ea38X-NqU 
Passcode: 968885

No Contract, No Coffee Pledge to Support Starbucks Workers: https://crm.broadstripes.com/ctf/SJID0H

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Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Ep 109 – Without Workers, Nothing Moves

It’s shaping up to be a hot labor summer out there, we’ve got union busting, we’ve got strikes, we’ve got unions working together on this week’s episode of Work Stoppage.  First we check in on the union drive at Trader Joe’s in Massachusetts, where the company has started its union busting campaign by violating the Button Clause of the NLRA.  Next, we got exciting news this week as Workers United and CWA announced they will be working together on their efforts to unionize Apple Retail stores, starting in NYC.  Truck drivers in South Korea have been on strike for the last week and have paralyzed commerce across the country as they seek fair minimum wages for all truckers.  In LA, workers at the Genwa Korean BBQ chain signed their first contract after a five year organizing drive.  Intelligentsia Coffee workers are joining the union coffee ranks in Chicago, as they have filed for union representation with the IBEW.  Dollar General workers have been fighting back against the atrocious conditions at their stores with protests, walkouts, and mass resignations.  Finally, we check in with the non-stop momentum of the Starbucks Workers United campaign, now pushing 150 unionized stores.

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Overtime Episode 17 PREVIEW - AFL-CIA Pt 2 - El Golpe

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.

As we discussed in our first episode of this series, there’s a long, sordid history of collaboration between the upper leadership of the AFL-CIO and the US National Security State, specifically the CIA.  Over several decades during the Cold War, through the American Institution for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), the CIA used US labor to infiltrate, subvert, and destroy independent labor movements in numerous countries around the world. We continue the discussion of that history in this episode, largely drawn from the new book El Golpe: US Labor, The CIA, and The Coup at Ford in Mexico by Rob McKenzie.  The collusion between the AFL-CIO and the CIA continued all the way up through the 90s, and in this episode we cover how that relationship led to the involvement of the CIA in violently crushing a nascent rank and file labor movement at Ford in Mexico in 1990.  The history of this collaboration is dark, but understanding it is vital to building a revived, transparent, worker-led labor movement in this country that will learn from the class collaborationist mistakes of the past.

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Ep 108 – Synthesizer Solidarity

Another jam packed episode of Work Stoppage this week, as we start with a check in on workers at Amy’s Kitchen, where a second plant has started a union drive. We also follow up on the Case New Holland strike where 2000 UAW workers remain on strike as the company refuses to bring a fair offer to the table.  Amazon has continued their campaign of harassment of organizers, and new documents released this week show the details behind how they discipline workers. There’s also a new independent union drive at Amazon, this one in North Carolina, that deserves all our support. Also this week, Seattle passed a first of its kind minimum wage law for gig workers to prevent companies from evading labor regulations.  We may be on the verge of the biggest national rail strike in England in nearly a century, with 40,000 workers voting to authorize a strike in the coming weeks. Workers at Moog in North Carolina are unionizing with the IBEW due to the company paying poverty wages while workers assemble synthesizers that cost more than they make in a month.  Finally, we catch up on the Starbucks Workers United movement, which has just set up a $1 million strike fund to help workers fight the company’s vicious union busting campaign.

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Ep 107 - 100 Unionized Starbucks!

Unfortunately, we’ve got a few setbacks to start the episode this week. First, we follow up with the USW workers at Chevron’s refinery in Richmond, CA, where workers have narrowly approved a new contract that doesn’t meet the main goals their two month long strike set out for. Next, we talk about workers at the unionizing Apple store in Atlanta being forced to withdraw their election petition due to union busting. Also this week, workers at Great Lakes Coffee in Detroit have been on strike for recognition of their union for three months, and rather than recognize it and reopen a profitable location, the owners decided to close the store. Workers with Amazonians United held a walkout this past week in Chicago to demand the reinstatement of a recently fired Black worker who had faced racial discrimination on the job. 600 Planned Parenthood workers in six states have filed to unionize with the SEIU, and hopefully we don’t see a repeat of the organizations 2017-18 union busting. Workers at America’s Test Kitchen in Boston are unionizing because for many, they spend all day making recipes they could never afford to eat. Finally, we close out with our Starbucks Workers United update, as many workers struck or walked out over Memorial Day weekend, and the movement crossed the 100 union store threshold.

Leesburg Strike Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/leesburgbaristas

Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Overtime Episode 16 PREVIEW - Why Rank and File? - Pt 2

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.

On the first episode of the series, we talked about the reasons why rank and file unionism, running your union in a democratic fashion, is so important to rebuilding the labor movement.  On our second episode, we dig into a few historical examples of rank and file organizing which demonstrate the power of these organizing methods.  First, we start out by discussing the history of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers, the UE.  The UE was started back in the 30s as a democratic union, and despite facing fierce attacks from business unionists and the US state, they have stayed true to their organizing methods for over 80 years.  Then, we discuss the history of the One Member, One Vote campaign, which was the result of decades of struggle for more democracy within the UAW.  Finally, we discuss a couple other real world examples of how rank and file methods can build real power on the jobsite and sum up with how these methods can be the foundation for a revival of the US labor movement as a base for a class conscious movement.  In the final part of the series, we will discuss a few more major examples of rank and file organizing from the Chicago Teachers Union and the Industrial Workers of the World.

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Ep 106 – The Law Won’t Save Us, Solidarity Will

Labor never stops, and neither does labor news.  We start this week’s show with a couple quick follow ups on the status of the Hudson Workers United and Target Workers Unite campaigns.  Then, in great news, we discuss this week’s victorious union election at Raven Software, where testers have formed the first recognized union in a major video game studio. We also cover the union busting campaign at Apple retail stores where workers are organizing with the CWA.  Workers at a Refresco bottling plant in New Jersey have had to win TWO union elections to get their union with the UE recognized due to a insane legal technicality, but now hope their determination will inspire others.  30,000 workers in South Africa’s gold mines have been on strike for three months as the company refuses to budge on a raise of $63 a year.  As the war in Ukraine continues, companies and politicians in the country have used it as an opportunity to strip workers of many of their labor rights, while putting no controls on capitalists reaping superprofits from the increased exploitation.  Finally, we wrap up with our weekly update on the many actions and union elections in the Starbucks Workers United movement.

If you like the show, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage.  We couldn’t do the show without your support, and patrons get access to evergreen Overtime episodes and periodic Shop Floor Discussion episodes on current issues too long to cover in our regular episodes.

Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX

Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.

Ep 105 – Flaming Hot Lambos

We start this week’s episode of Work Stoppage following up on several stories we’ve previously covered.  First, the Indiana Grad Students have suspended their strike for the summer after winning overwhelming faculty support for recognition of their union.  Next, educators in Brookline held a one day strike on Monday after negotiations stalled, winning their first new contract in three years.  Also this week, the protests and mass resignations at BNSF have had an impact, forcing the company to alter their draconian attendance policy.  Independent union SINTTIA reached a tentative agreement on their first contract to represent workers at GM Silao and won big wage gains.  The crisis in Sri Lanka entered a new phase last week, with protestors forcing the Prime Minister to resign.  Target Workers filed for union representation with the IWW in Virginia last week, bringing their many years long struggle into a new stage.  Workers at Trader Joe’s also announced their union drive last week, yet another “progressive” company whose actions during the pandemic exposed them as the same as any other capitalist enterprise.  Finally, we run through the most recent series of union election wins by the inspiring Starbucks Workers United movement.

If you like the show, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage.  We couldn’t do the show without your support, and patrons get access to evergreen Overtime episodes and periodic Shop Floor Discussion episodes on current issues too long to cover in our regular episodes.

Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX

Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.

Shop Floor Discussion 4 - Starbucks May 2022 PREVIEW

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.

We’ve tried to cover all the news coming in from the Starbucks Workers United movement on the regular show every week, but this week there was just so much news we had to give it its own episode. We start out covering Howard Schultz committing a ULP on an earnings call by threatening to withhold benefits from unionizing employees. We also cover a recent study showing just how much extra profit Starbucks has raked in during the pandemic, and how little has made it to workers. The NLRB finally responded to Starbucks’ massive illegal union busting campaign this week, filing a flurry of complaints against the company for violations of the NLRA. These suits demand the rehiring of several of the worker organizers that Starbucks has fired in retaliation for unionizing, as well as changes to captive audience meetings and even changes to the Starbucks employee handbook. In weirder news, Oscar nominated actor James Cromwell glued himself to a counter at an NYC Starbucks as part of a PETA protest. Finally, we wrap up with a roundup of the results of the 14 union elections since our last episode.

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Ep 104 - Cops Have Always Been Strikebreakers

There’s so much to cover this week we had to pull Starbucks out for its own episode, watch for that in the patron feed later this week. We start by following up with the striking Chevron workers in Richmond, CA, where the oil conglomerate has hired local cops to act as strikebreakers. After a few more quick-hit follow up stories, we discuss a strike at Case New Holland in Wisconsin and Iowa, where 1000 members of the UAW have hit the picket lines to fight a two tier system. In Amazon news this week, the company’s newly announced abortion benefit leaves out the workers who need it most, the NLRB files a massive complaint arguing captive audience meetings are illegal, and Chris Smalls testifies on Capitol Hill. Boston teachers have been fighting for a new contract for months and have turned to creative tactics since they are banned from striking. The Connecticut state legislature banned companies from holding captive audience meetings in the state this week, and bus drivers in DC won major wage gains after just 3 days on strike.

Case New Holland Workers Strike Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-striking-uaw-local-807-cnh-workers

If you like the show, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage. We couldn’t do the show without your support, and patrons get access to evergreen Overtime episodes and periodic Shop Floor Discussion episodes on current issues too long to cover in our regular episodes.

Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX

Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.

Ep 103 – Organize the Fruit Stands

We start this week’s episode of Work Stoppage with some tough news, as the organizing drive at the LDJ5 facility by the ALU was defeated 62%-38% in their election.  The same week, OSHA refused to do anything to Amazon after they murdered six of their workers in last year’s tornado, while at the same time Amazon has now dropped any covid protections for their workers.  Meanwhile, Delta is feeling the heat from the ongoing organizing efforts among their flight attendants, announcing new benefits to try and head off the surging union support.  We also discuss the continuing fight for independent unions in Mexico, where another auto parts plant has voted to throw out the old company union and replace it with a worker led one.  Canadian chain Freshii’s has been testing a pilot program where they replace their cashiers with remote workers in the Global South in order to evade Canadian labor law and profit from superexploitation.  A general strike paralyzed Sri Lanka last week as workers demand the resignation of the current government, which has responded to their economic crisis by slashing state services.  Workers at a store in Atlanta have filed for the first NLRB election by Apple workers, with several more stores across the country hot on their heels.  Finally, the Starbucks victories don’t stop rolling in and it’s getting hard to keep track when there have been over 20 elections since our last episode.

If you like the show, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage.  We couldn’t do the show without your support, and patrons get access to evergreen Overtime episodes and periodic Shop Floor Discussion episodes on current issues too long to cover in our regular episodes.

Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX

Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.

Overtime Episode 15 PREVIEW - Why Rank and File? - Pt 1

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.

We’ve talked about the importance of unions being organized and run in a “rank-and-file” manner a million times on the show, but we hadn’t really had a good opportunity to sit down and layout exactly what that means.  On this episode, we discuss what exactly rank-and-file unionism is, what it is not, and why it’s so vital if we want to build effective organizations that will fight for the working class.  We go through counter examples of Consumer Co-ops, ESOPs, and the methodology used for many bureaucratically run unions here in the US, Business Unionism.  We finish off by discussing a short guide to rank-and-file organizing used by communists during the Depression, Organizing Methods in the Steel Industry by William Z Foster, and how that methodology is still relevant today.  On part two of this series, we will discuss several examples of rank and file unionism in practice in more detail.

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UNLOCKED - Shop Floor Discussion 3 - Amazon Labor Union

For International Workers' Day, we decided to unlock our recent patron episode on the organizing methods of the Amazon Labor Union since it's a discussion on such an important, ongoing organizing campaign.  Happy May Day Comrades!

Original Description:

On April 1, the Amazon Labor Union won one of the most historic labor victories in the US in decades.  Despite the enormous difference in resources, the ALU was able to defeat one of the richest, most anti-union corporations in the world.  This is such a momentous development, we thought it would be important to try and learn as much as possible from their incredible work.  So in this Shop Floor Discussion, we discuss the ways that the ALU’s campaign differed from traditional union organizing campaigns.  We go over their commitment to worker-led, rank-and-file organizing, the way they embraced the diversity of the JFK8 workforce and made it a strength, how they used every tactic possible to get their messaging out, and how their adaptability and willingness to go beyond the scope of traditional tactics helped them succeed. While there’s no single blueprint that can be copied from one workplace to another, there’s a lot that the ALU’s success can teach us about how to successfully organizing in today’s harsh labor environment.  If we want to revive the US labor movement, we would be wise to learn from this amazing upset.

Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX

Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.

Ep 102 – Unionized Coffee Shrines

We start this week’s episode following up with Verizon workers, where the company seems to be taking a page from Starbucks’ union busting as they have illegally fired a worker at a store in Washington for organizing.  Then we catch up with the striking Finnish healthcare workers, who have ended their strike and are threatening mass resignations in response to threats from the government to make healthcare worker strikes illegal.  Also in healthcare, workers staged 24 hour strikes at a nursing home in Saugus, Massachusetts and at healthcare facilities across Northern California last week decrying low wages and unsafe staffing levels.  The ALU held a major rally this weekend to bring out support for the workers at the LDJ5 sorting facility who will vote on whether to unionize this week.  Teachers in Richmond, Virginia have voted overwhelmingly to unionize for the first time in over 40 years, after a change in law allowing collective bargaining for public workers.  University of Chicago Illinois grad students went on strike for the past week to protest poverty wages and lack of protections against discrimination and sexual misconduct.  Finally, another week, another huge slate of wins for the Starbucks Workers United movement.  This week saw 8 more locations unionized, including the Seattle Roastery, a huge hub just 2.5 miles from Starbucks corporate HQ.

If you like the show, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage.  We couldn’t do the show without your support, and patrons get access to evergreen Overtime episodes and periodic Shop Floor Discussion episodes on current issues too long to cover in our regular episodes.

Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX

Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.

Ep 101 – Retail Rising

We start this week following up on the effort to unionize in immigration law by the brave organizers of Hudson Workers United, whose fight has now dragged on for over a year.  Next we check in with the ALU, where the focus has turned to the LDJ5 sorting center’s upcoming election, and Amazon has cranked up the union busting.  In our weekly look at the Starbucks Workers United movement, we discuss strikes protesting the company’s retaliation against its employees in North Carolina and Seattle.  Meanwhile, the union is 7-1 in NLRB elections over the last week.  Indiana grad student workers have gone on strike to demand recognition of their union, and have seen solidarity from undergrads and faculty.  Theater is not an industry we have covered much, but there have been a few signs that the surge in labor organizing may be spreading there as well.  Finally, workers have won union recognition at two Verizon retail stores in Washington, and we discuss the potential impact of the energy from Amazon and Starbucks workers spreading to retail.

Fired Starbucks Worker Gofundme:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/fundraiser-for-hannah-a-fired-sbwu-organizer

Indiana Grad Students Strike Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/igwcue-strike-fund-spring-2022

If you like the show, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage.  We couldn’t do the show without your support, and patrons get access to evergreen Overtime episodes and periodic Shop Floor Discussion episodes on current issues too long to cover in our regular episodes.

Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX

Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.

Shop Floor Discussion 3 PREVIEW – Amazon Labor Union: Lessons Learned from JFK8

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.

On April 1, the Amazon Labor Union won one of the most historic labor victories in the US in decades.  Despite the enormous difference in resources, the ALU was able to defeat one of the richest, most anti-union corporations in the world.  This is such a momentous development, we thought it would be important to try and learn as much as possible from their incredible work.  So in this Shop Floor Discussion, we discuss the ways that the ALU’s campaign differed from traditional union organizing campaigns.  We go over their commitment to worker-led, rank-and-file organizing, the way they embraced the diversity of the JFK8 workforce and made it a strength, how they used every tactic possible to get their messaging out, and how their adaptability and willingness to go beyond the scope of traditional tactics helped them succeed. While there’s no single blueprint that can be copied from one workplace to another, there’s a lot that the ALU’s success can teach us about how to successfully organizing in today’s harsh labor environment.  If we want to revive the US labor movement, we would be wise to learn from this amazing upset.

Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX

Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.