unions

Wish they had done it when he was still there, but better late than never.

They haven't gotten it all figured out yet, but sounds like the Teamsters will be running things at least to start out with.

I come from a place where "Union" might as well have been a slap in your grandmother's face up until recently.

Quite frankly, it's the only thing that's happened in the past few years that's given me any real indication that things might be ok after all. I'm pretty excited for the guys.

They get into the perverse ways that our pensions & 401(k)s work against our working class interests.

Steve’s guest is Michael McCarthy, author of ‘The Master’s Tools: How Finance Wrecked Democracy and a Radical Plan to Rebuild It.’ They explore McCarthy’s analysis of financialization as a deliberate class project to dismantle working-class power and exacerbate inequality.

They look at the historical shift from a robust Social Security system to a privatized, financialized pension system as well as the rise of neoliberal policies post-1970s, facilitated by monetary policy changes (anybody remember the gold standard?) The conversation goes into the failure of both traditional and direct democracies to serve the working class.

The episode also weaves through MMT perspectives and the impact of government policies. They touch on the potential of public banking and democratizing finance to empower the working class as well as the challenges of implementing these ideas.

Michael A. McCarthy is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Community Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His book Dismantling Solidarity: Capitalist Politics and American Pensions since the New Deal was awarded the Paul Sweezy Book Award as well as an honorable mention for the Labor and Labor Movements Book Award. His most recent book is The Master’s Tools: How Finance Wrecked Democracy (And a Radical Plan to Rebuild It). Mike has written for the Boston Review, The Guardian, Jacobin, Noema, and the Washington Post.

https://www.mk.co.kr/en/society/11275392

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/27419929

In this Citations Needed News Brief interview, we're joined by Rutgers professor Eric Blanc to discuss his new book "We Are The Union," and lay out how any meaningful resistance to Trump and Trumpism has to be grounded in a growing, strong, confrontational labor movement.

Episode details: https://www.patreon.com/posts/124715493

March 12, 2025

"The ALU statement sets a good example of how the labor movement needs to treat immigrant workers: as fellow workers, as brothers and sisters.

This question has become urgent as the Trump administration has escalated raids, arrests, and deportations of immigrants under the guise of expelling “foreign criminals” from the United States. "

By Mark Satinoff
March 6, 2025

“The election results today are a result of Amazon’s willingness to break the law and use its enormous wealth to try and break our movement,” said a statement by the #CAUSE leadership following the vote. “We will continue organizing. This is only the beginning.”

“In the weeks leading up to the vote #Amazon threw its full weight and power into its union-busting arsenal of intimidation and lies,” Mary Hill, known affectionately by many workers as Ma Mary, told World-Outlook in a phone interview. Hill is a co-founder and vice president of CAUSE. “Amazon flew in union busters from all over the country, at least 30 of them. They were all over the place, like roaches. They get paid $3,000/day plus expenses.”

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:kkteoxwif4ia4ltayria4ops/post/3lkbbfz43dk2o

https://www.voxweb.nl/en/professors-in-open-letter-join-the-strike-for-the-future-of-democracy