Portside

Amazon has announced it is acquiring One Medical, a private equity–backed primary care provider that generates most of its revenue from a for-profit Medicare program. It’s a terrifying sign of Amazon’s continued expansion and the privatization of Medicare.

In 1877, one million workers went on strike and fought police and federal troops in cities across America. The monikers “Great Upheaval” and “Great Railroad Strike” undersell what verged on a second Civil War — this time pitting labor against capital.

Ghana initiated talks with the International Monetary Fund to seek a bailout amid a major economic crisis. The Socialist Movement of Ghana and trade unions reject this, arguing it will do nothing to alleviate the economy's structural problems.

On July 7, 97% of Guttmacher employees voted in favor of unionizing. Within hours, a worker and key organizer of the union effort was fired.

Freight train drivers who direct 20 billion tons of goods per year have threatened to walk off the job.

Profits are booming and corporations are raising prices, but instead of regulating corporations, the Federal Reserve is using its powers to create a recession and raise unemployment. Workers will suffer.

Over the past decade, a low-wage workforce that chases solar installation projects from state to state for meager wages has proliferated around the country.

This article is part of Countervailing Power, a joint series by The American Prospect and The Forge that explores the ways organizers can use public policy to build mass membership organizations to countervail oligarchic power. The series was developed in collaboration with the Working Families Party, the Action Lab, and Social and Economic Justice Leaders.

The railroads and their unions have been embroiled in a contract dispute since January 2020, with wages and health care benefits being major sticking points. Unless the White House acts, either party is free to exercise “self-help” options — including a strike that could occur as early as 12:01 a.m. next Monday.

Global labor leaders weigh in on the myriad ways the right is threatening organizing efforts. If we want to fight the global pandemic of right-wing extremism, w need to learn from each other, and operate with international solidarity.