Portside

Chris Brooks of Labor Notes interviews Susan Williams, an educator who has worked at the Highlander Center for 28 years about popular education, organizing and movement history. Popular education is "based on the belief that people can do more than they think they can."

The union defeat at a South Carolina Boeing plant was devastating, but it wasn't inevitable. Labor can still organize the South.

The strike meeting reflects growing tension between the union and Volkswagen, despite its carefully cultivated image as a pro-worker company.

As their membership and resources have continued to dwindle, unions are trying to figure out how best to respond to the current moment. With a Trump inauguration fast approaching and the Republicans taking control of the Supreme Court, the United States Congress, a majority of governorships, and over two-thirds of state legislatures, this choice has become even more urgent than it already was.

Tennessee’s infamous anti-union union is fading away for lack of members. Will Volkswagen’s rationale for keeping out a real union crumble with it?

Tennessee, Volkswagen, and the Future of Labor