Not gotten much notice, but many contract votes have gone down in flames at big, long-unionized employers. It’s the result of rising expectations among workers & when it happens, unions have a choice: go big & fight harder or double down on the status quo. jacobin.com/2026/08/unio...

What to Do When Your Union Contract Is Voted Down

The answer to union contracts being voted down is not for organizers to lower workers’ expectations. It’s to seize that vote as an opportunity to organize those expectations into collective power.

jacobin.com

This is my magnum opus on how a union contract being voted down can become an opportunity for unions to approach bargaining differently — and win a lot more as a result.

Jacobin@jacobinmag.bsky.social · 3w ago

The answer to union contracts being voted down is not for organizers to lower workers’ expectations. It’s to seize that vote as an opportunity to organize those expectations into collective power.

The power of organized people just beat the power of organized money. This should be a wake up to the Dems. Fighting to spend our taxes on providing education, healthcare and housing to people here rather than endless wars that rain bombs and bullets overseas is good politics.

UAW > AIPAC

Michigan Gov. Whitmer’s approval rating dropped 17 points since endorsing Hailey Stevens for Congress. It is incredible to see how hard the tide is turning against war mongering corporate Democrats. Michigan is going to show how candidates like Stevens are an albatross to Dems

open.substack.com/pub/thenatio... Insanity continues

The War on the UAW

The United Auto Workers called for a ceasefire in Gaza. The union’s federal monitor didn’t like it—and now he’s investigating Shawn Fain, just weeks before union elections.

open.substack.com

Shawn Fain has broken his silence on the federal monitor’s investigations. Now he and union leadership are alleging that the monitor is overreaching because of a personal political vendetta over the the union's call for a ceasefire in Gaza. https://bit.ly/4hzTwGt

The War on the UAW

The United Auto Workers called for a ceasefire in Gaza. The union’s federal monitor didn’t like it—and now he’s investigating Shawn Fain, just weeks before union elections.

bit.ly

The upcoming election at UAW will be a referendum on members’ faith in the reform movement that has promised to make their union more democratic and more militant: https://bit.ly/4hzTwGt

The War on the UAW

The United Auto Workers called for a ceasefire in Gaza. The union’s federal monitor didn’t like it—and now he’s investigating Shawn Fain, just weeks before union elections.

bit.ly

Apparently, the courts and the monitor forget that the UAW and all other unions are political and have always been. They have a right to hold and espouse political views. Fain is right to remind that the UAW was also against apartheid & was on the side of the allies in WW2. Protect our #Unions

The War on the UAW

The United Auto Workers called for a ceasefire in Gaza. The union’s federal monitor didn’t like it—and now he’s investigating Shawn Fain, just weeks before union elections.

thenation.com

it is stunning to me that there isn't more uniform anger at the situation with UAW across the labor movement, because it doesn't matter whose damn side you're on, the notion that a government appointed bureaucrat can run your labor union is an existential threat to free and democratic unions

Drop Site: recording of convo between federally appointed monitor Neil Barofsky & UAW President Fain not only proves Barofsky was trying to influence the union’s political positions, but contradicts how Barofsky later characterized the convo to the UAW Board www.dropsitenews.com/p/uaw-shawn-...

Chris Brooks@chactivist.bsky.social · last mo.

Detroit News reporting that federally appointed monitor Neil Barofsky called UAW President Shawn Fain to share his personal view that describing Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide crossed the line and was anti-Semitic. Clear abuse of authority. www.detroitnews.com/story/busine...

Every so often, one of the most infamously abusive men in the American labor movement gets one of his shitty blog posts picked up and the whisper network gets called back into service. Do not engage with Payday Report.

Detroit News obtained a recording of a call between Shawn Fain and Neil Barofsky, the federal monitor, in which Barofsky criticizes UAW's statement calling for a ceasefire and, among other things, tells Fain to read an NYT column by Bret Stephens.

Phone call audio sheds new light on tension between UAW's Fain, monitor | Exclusive

UAW President Shawn Fain has pointed to the 2023 phone call as evidence that Barofsky has a "political grudge" against him and is abusing his power.

detroitnews.com

Detroit News reporting that federally appointed monitor Neil Barofsky called UAW President Shawn Fain to share his personal view that describing Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide crossed the line and was anti-Semitic. Clear abuse of authority. www.detroitnews.com/story/busine...

Phone call audio sheds new light on tension between UAW's Fain, monitor | Exclusive

UAW President Shawn Fain has pointed to the 2023 phone call as evidence that Barofsky has a "political grudge" against him and is abusing his power.

detroitnews.com

Interested in learning more about the writing our staff publishes? Sign up for the Center for Work and Democracy’s monthly newsletter on our website today! cwd.asu.edu/about

Extremely gratifying to see all the hard work of rebuilding the UAW into a militant, member-led union over the past few years being not just cheered on, but significantly deepened and expanded by rank-and-file leaders from across the country.

Labor Notes@labornotes.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Delegates to the @uaw.org constitutional convention affirmed the aggressive direction the union has taken under President Shawn Fain, who took office in 2023 and immediately set the 400,000-member union on a new path, illustrated in bold campaigns like the Big 3 Strike (link in 🧵)

An excellent piece on the AFL’s highly suspect claim that the ranks of unions have grown by over a million workers since 2022. We need more honesty and less cheer leading. More serious strategy and less empty pageantry.

C.M. Lewis 🦬⚔️@thehousered.bsky.social · 3mo ago

i wrote a thing about the AFL-CIO's claim to have organized a million workers ahead of schedule h/t to @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social, who was one of those that called BS on the goal when it was set in 2022 thehousered.substack.com/p/are-the-wo...

“Employers are not choosing workplace control over the maximization of profits, but seeking to maintain workplace control as the means for maximizing profits” – Vivek Chibber

Jacobin@jacobinmag.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if workers can act with clarity, unity, and strategy.

Back in my day of Starbucks unionism, the company developed and deployed to all managers an anti-union training called "Creating the Environment"— a huge unreported cost @chactivist.bsky.social is spot on that measures of union-busting expenses are major under estimates jacobin.com/2026/05/unio...

The Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You Think

A new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if w...

jacobin.com

Highly recommend this exchange on political strategy and climate change by @matthuber.bsky.social — It sharply contrasts socialist strategy-rooted in working-class organization as the key to moving beyond a carbon economy-w/ the issue-focused coalition politics of liberal environmental NGOs

Matt Huber@matthuber.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Another response to critics of the NYT piece (this time in @jacobinmag.bsky.social). jacobin.com/2026/05/clim...

"At least $8 billion annually" gets spent on "internal anti-union infrastructure". "Employers are not confused or irrational. They are acting like a class of people who understand exactly what is at stake." jacobin.com/2026/05/unio... via @chactivist.bsky.social & @jacobinmag.bsky.social

The Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You Think

A new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if w...

jacobin.com

The chant “When we fight, we win” can hide the daunting fact that employers spend billions a year to maintain robust anti-union infrastructures. To build and maintain the unity of action required to beat it, workers need clarity of purpose, which in turn requires honesty on how stacked the deck is.

Chris Brooks@chactivist.bsky.social · 3mo ago

My latest piece for @jacobinmag.bsky.social takes a deep look into how much employers spend on union busting, why they’re willing to spend so much to keep workers from having a voice at work, and how honesty, clarity, and unity are key to winning. jacobin.com/2026/05/unio...

My latest. It’s a deep dive into the real cost of unions busting - which possibly runs into the hundreds of billions annually - and why employers are willing to go so far and spend so much to keep workers from having a voice on the job.

Jacobin@jacobinmag.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if workers can act with clarity, unity, and strategy.

America’s top corporate execs are paying enormous piles of billions to maintain internal anti-union operations designed to suppress organizing before it spreads and then intervene once workers start in motion. #labor @chactivist.bsky.social @jacobinmag.bsky.social

The Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You Think

A new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if…

jacobin.com

The employer class has constructed a command-and-control management structure to maximize profits in a cutthroat market.

Jacobin@jacobinmag.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if workers can act with clarity, unity, and strategy.

My latest piece for @jacobinmag.bsky.social takes a deep look into how much employers spend on union busting, why they’re willing to spend so much to keep workers from having a voice at work, and how honesty, clarity, and unity are key to winning. jacobin.com/2026/05/unio...

The Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You Think

A new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if w...

jacobin.com

Solidarity with comrade Claude andonlabs.com/blog/andon-fm

Happy May Day! Jacobin is offering $1 digital and $10 print subscriptions today, their biggest sale of the year, don’t sleep on it: jacobin.com/subscribe/?type=personal&level=standard-digital&code=MAYDAY2026X

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Happy May Day friends! Really excited to be publishing this interview with outgoing Mass Teachers Association President Max Page on International Workers Day. jacobin.com/2026/05/page...

How Massachusetts Teachers Transformed Their Union

Outgoing Massachusetts Teachers Association president Max Page reflects on a decade of rank-and-file reformers turning a cautious, staff-driven union into a militant, member-led force by striking, win...

jacobin.com

🚨LABOR PODCAST CONTENT🚨 What can we learn from the UAW’s efforts to organize in higer ed and manufacturing? @micahuetricht.bsky.social and I talked to @chactivist.bsky.social for @cunyslu.bsky.social’s Reinventing Solidarity to find out on.soundcloud.com/GGU59U6ge3LS...

Episode 67 - How Can Workers Win?

What can the UAW’s efforts to scale up new organizing efforts teach the rest of the labor movement? Former UAW chief of staff Chris Brooks shares his reflections on organizing in higher education and

soundcloud.com