Labor Notes

In a World Cup-fueled union win, concessions workers at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles have won the right to walk off the job, should ICE pose a threat to their safety. The stadium’s 2,000 cooks, bartenders, dishwashers, servers, and attendants had a major piece of leverage this summer: eight scheduled World Cup matches. Their victory came days after a 96 percent vote to authorize a strike. Their next contract will expire at the end of April 2028, weeks before the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

Workers at PECO, the electric company for the Philadelphia region and Pennsylvania’s largest electric and natural gas utility, went on strike just after midnight on Saturday, July 4, winning a tentative agreement for the 1,500 workers just before midnight on Monday, July 6. They restored defined-benefit pensions for the 600 newer hires who had been relegated to 401(k)s, and won full medical coverage in retirement.

Applications are open once again for the Anne Feeney Hellraiser Memorial Fund, this year offering five grants of up to $1,000 for emerging artists of any discipline who create art in support of social movements for justice. Applications open today and are due by August 24. Winners will be announced on Labor Day, September 7. Past applicants are encouraged to reapply.

Two years and six strikes into bargaining—after switching law firms, cancelling negotiation sessions, firing union leaders, and allegedly backing a decertification effort—perhaps it’s dawning on University Medical Center in New Orleans that nurses don’t tire out easily. On May 1 the nurses held their sixth strike—at five days, the longest yet—and their picket lines keep growing. The was dance music blasting, spontaneous line-dancing, boiled crawfish and jambalaya.

In a time when there’s real cause for fear and despair—and when the Trump administration is pushing hard to divide us—the Labor Notes Conference June 12-14 in Chicago was an oasis of inspiration and solidarity. In every hallway you could feel the electric buzz of conversation, of strategies in the making. Labor Notes gives workers a rare chance to come together across unions, sectors, and identities.

As America turns 250, it’s easy to despair about where we're going. The Labor Notes Conference was a powerful antidote. These 4,000-plus fighters have not given up. They're still fighting. And this country is filled with courageous working people like them, who believe that a better world is possible “I didn’t hear no bell,” says Rocky Balboa, as he miraculously gets up yet again in the midst of a brutal street fight at the end of “Rocky V.” The best union activists have that underdog determination.

The federal monitor charged with rooting out “fraud, corruption, illegal behavior, dishonesty, and unethical practices” in the Auto Workers union issued a report today accusing UAW President Shawn Fain of “retaliation” against Vice President Rich Boyer. Earlier reports by Monitor Neil Barofsky had made similar claims regarding Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock.

The federal monitor charged with rooting out “fraud, corruption, illegal behavior, dishonesty, and unethical practices” in the Auto Workers union issued a report today accusing UAW President Shawn Fain of “retaliation” against Vice President Rich Boyer. Earlier reports by Monitor Neil Barofsky had made similar claims regarding Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock.

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Chanting, “We are not partners, we are workers,” hundreds of workers across Mexico who provide rides and deliveries through apps held a two-hour work stoppage on May 15 demanding fair rates, an end to unjustified deactivations, and ultimately, a collective labor agreement with app giants like Uber, Didi, and Rappi (two Uber-Eats style delivery platforms).