Portside

Jonathan Rosenblum lives in Seattle, Washington, and is a member of UAW 1981/National Writers Union. He is the author of Beyond $15: Immigrant Workers, Faith Activists, and the Revival of the Labor Movement (Beacon Press, 2017). More about him can be found at jonathanrosenblum.org. The interview was counducted by Yuri Lobunov, editor-in-chief of socialistalternative.ru, where this interview was published in Russian.

Many women aren’t surprised by the accusations that dominate news headlines. What’s new is that we are openly recognizing and naming the hidden dangers that women have long navigated at work wordlessly and alone. The question is whether women will be able to turn their solidarity into an inclusive movement that can transform the workplace.

In an election concluded in November, contingent faculty at Fordham University have voted overwhelmingly to form a union and bargain collectively.

"Workers who work in the gig economy are making money but missing out on other standard benefits of having jobs: health care primarily but also paid sick leave and worker's compensation," says Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. "It's essentially the Tinder economy. When a temp worker is done with his or her shift, the boss swipes left and claims to have no further obligation."

The status quo is both undemocratic and morally repugnant. The only long-term alternative is to take control of our economy — and the moral imperative is to do so as soon as possible. Here is a plan to do that.

The blue-collar hellscape Tesla, Blue Apron and Amazon have wrought is what laissez-faire, startup-styled late capitalism looks like.

and Invested in Black-Owned Businesses After the Hurricane. Communities of color turned to each other to make it through the disaster. Months later, they’re doing the same to rebuild.

The hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who found themselves under Israeli military control in 1967 quickly became a source of blue-collar labour for the Israeli economy, performing jobs that few Israelis were willing to do, for far less money and far fewer legal protections.

Workers at the artisanal shop in the Flatiron District of New York City voted last week to join Teamsters Local 553 — joining some 4,000 other Teamster members in an array of industries from trucking to dairy production.

We need to confront the workplace hierarchy directly. That means unions and labor organizing. It means demands for more democratic workplaces, and established institutions and practices for dealing with sexual harassment.