Interns and Residents Are Unionizing at a Rapid Clip
SEIU’s Committee of Interns and Residents won six NLRB elections in January 2025 involving 250 or more people. This string of victories has become somewhat commonplace for a rapidly growing union.
48 Articles by: Benjamin Y. Fong
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Benjamin Y. Fong is associate director of the Center for Work and Democracy at Arizona State University. He has a Substack focusing on labor and logistics called On the Seams.
A Labor Movement Beyond the NLRA?
With the National Labor Relations Act now in the crosshairs of the Right, organized labor needs to confront an uncomfortable truth: even at its best, this framework has severe limitations. It’s time to explore alternatives.
Amazon’s Retribution in Quebec Should Be a Wake-Up Call
In response to a successful unionization effort at a warehouse in Quebec, Amazon is shuttering its operations in the entire province. Its punitive behavior demonstrates that traditional organizing methods won’t work on the corporate behemoth.
‘Tis the Season to Organize Amazon
During peak season, when Amazon’s holiday rush hits maximum velocity, the company’s finely tuned machine becomes surprisingly fragile. For workers seeking to organize, the high-stakes holiday months may be their strongest opportunity to exert leverage.
Blue-Collar Workers Deserve Six-Figure Salaries Too
The recent longshore workers’ strike provoked pearl-clutching in the media about runaway salaries. But the notion of six-figure pay for blue-collar workers becomes less scandalous when we compare worker pay and purchasing power today to those in 1960.
The Port Strike Called the Shipping Companies’ Bluff
When East and Gulf Coast longshoremen went on strike last week, their employers claimed to be unable to afford their wage demands. In truth, the shipping industry has seen unparalleled profits in recent years. The strike made them change their tune.
Operation Dixie Failed but Pushed Racial Equality Forward
The famous Operation Dixie campaign to unionize the South in the 1940s was mostly unsuccessful. Still, it left a positive mark on American society. It’s even possible that the civil rights movement wouldn’t have staged the March on Washington without it.
There Is No Such Thing as Spontaneous Worker Organizing
The 1930s saw the biggest labor upsurge in US history. Just like today, there was economic discontent and a general pro-labor atmosphere. But labor didn’t just passively benefit. Instead, it saw its opportunity to act, building unions for the long haul.
Unions Need Both Democracy and Strong Leadership
A common view of the two major US labor federations of the 20th century is that the AFL was top-down while the CIO was bottom-up. In truth, the CIO’s success was owed to a potent mix of rank-and-file militancy and strategic leadership.
How San Francisco Longshoremen Made Their Union a Powerhouse
When they started strategically resisting the bosses’ divisive tactics, meeting racism with solidarity, San Francisco longshoremen went “from wharf rats to the lords of the docks.”
Workers Want Unions. Labor Movement Ingenuity Can Provide.
In the 1930s, labor unions were in bad shape. An imaginative new labor organization called the Congress of Industrial Organizations swept in and made them powerful and relevant. Now unions are in bad shape again, and the CIO’s history points the way out.
Meatpacking Workers’ Solidarity on the Killing Floor
In the 1930s and ’40s, meatpacking employers used racial hiring policies as “strike insurance,” strategically fostering racism to discourage unionization. The Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee organized across racial lines and proved them wrong.
The Radical History of the United Electrical Workers
The United Electrical Workers emerged in the 1930s as a democratic union with an independent fighting spirit. It represented the promise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations — until it split from the CIO in an atmosphere of anti-communist red-baiting.
The Art of the Green New Deal
Jobs to Move America is pioneering an innovative labor strategy that turns public investments in green infrastructure and manufacturing into opportunities for union organizing and better working conditions.
From the Docks to the Killing Floors
Episode 6 of Organize the Unorganized takes a deep dive into several CIO union powerhouses, including the United Electrical Workers, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and others in textile and meatpacking industries.
Steel and the Soul of Capitalism
Episode 5 of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO tells the story of the Little Steel strike of 1937 and the brutal context of steel organizing in the US. It was a tragic failure and a major turning point for the CIO.
The CIO’s Culture of Unity
Episode 4 of Organize the Unorganized examines three key factors behind the CIO’s success: a robust commitment to collective bargaining, a canny application of militant tactics, and the “culture of unity” that made successful political action possible.
Power at the Point of Production
From iconic strikes at Goodyear to the battle against GM, episode 3 of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO tells the story of transformational victories in rubber, auto, and steel that put the militant CIO on the map.
Industrial Workers Get Organized
Episode 2 of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO explores the institutional formation of the CIO and the key personalities who would become the organization’s early leaders, John L. Lewis and Sidney Hillman.
A New Giant of Labor Emerges
Episode 1 of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO explores key developments that led to the CIO’s founding: the split with the AFL, the broken promises of welfare capitalism, the National Industrial Recovery Act, and the mass strikes of 1934.