“Labor needs to keep organizing at Amazon.” For @randwilson.bsky.social and Peter Olney, that means building workplace committees, finding ways to disrupt operations and combining worker organizing with pressure on Amazon from the outside.

What Amazon Organizers Can Learn From the Fight for 15

Organizers at Amazon can take lessons from the Fight for 15’s success at building pressure through a broad public campaign—and from its failure to really build an organization of, by, and for workers.

inthesetimes.com

Yesterday's temperature topped 105° in Fresno. "Carlos" and team were working in the watermelons. "Our team is paid piece rate. The more boxes we fill the more we make. The person closest to the truck has the hardest job so we switch off. This is exhausting work." #WeFeedYou

Federal labor rights: A sectoral guide to organizing Wondering which U.S. labor law protects your job? Learn if your sector (private, public, gig, rail, or ag) has the legal right to organize, strike, and unionize.

Federal labor rights: A sectoral guide to organizing

Wondering which U.S. labor law protects your job? Learn if your sector (private, public, gig, rail, or ag) has the legal right to organize, strike, and unionize.

workerorganizing.org

Check out Ben Fong’s excellent monthly column, “Labor & Logistics,” for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social ! 👇👇

ASU Center for Work and Democracy@cwd-asu.bsky.social · 8mo ago

The CWD’s own Ben Fong just announced a new monthly newsletter, “Labor and Logistics” for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social ! Check it out here: www.phenomenalworld.org/series/labor...

“Trump’s Australia idea will be dangerous if it becomes a substitute for Social Security. It could be useful if it becomes what America actually needs: a universal, portable, funded account layer on top of Social Security.” -CWD Senior Research Fellow, Teresa Ghilarducci

Trump’s Australia Retirement Idea Is Not Social Security Privatization

Trump’s Australia retirement idea should sit on top of Social Security, not replace it. The U.S. needs universal accounts and a funded floor.

forbes.com

What you need to know about the investigation of Shawn Fain, the upcoming elections at UAW and the backlash against the union’s support 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

Italian unions just won the first-ever workers’ rights agreement with Amazon. The deal expands parental leave rights and protects workers from being disciplined by the company based on video surveillance footage. Amazon has 19,000 workers in Italy. www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

Italian unions agree workers' rights deal with Amazon

Italian unions have signed ‌an agreement with Amazon.com covering leave, employee rights and video surveillance, the unions and the U.S. e-commerce ​giant said on Wednesday.

reuters.com

“The least costly and least distorting way to solve the entire financing gap [for Social Security] is to extend Social Security's base beyond paychecks to capital income -- capital gains, dividends, interest and pass-through business income.” –Ghilarducci for @forbes.com

Tax Capital To Fund Social Security, Whether You Like It Or Not

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Moreno back a broader Social Security tax base as 2032 benefit cuts loom, including taxes on capital gains, dividends and investment earnings.

forbes.com

🎉Our May Monthly Report 🗺️High strike activity in Illinois, a state not frequently in our "state with the most strikes" category. Up from 6 in April to 8 in May! 🏭Manufacturing well in the lead for total strikes for the third month in a row! 📖Harvard strike continued!

OUT NOW: “Renewing Labor and Winning at Amazon” Amazon’s operations are changing the very nature of work regimes, communities, and industries. They are transforming businesses and are a direct threat to unionized workers across numerous fields. What can labor do about it?

“Before asking Americans to work longer, policymakers should first confront the question... [of] whether the U.S. economy actually allows ordinary people to work longer without sacrificing their health, dignity, and retirement security.” -Teresa Ghilarducci for @forbes.com :

Germans May Retire At 70 But They Have Better Jobs And Longer Lives

Germany may raise its retirement age toward 70, but healthier workers, stronger labor institutions, and better jobs make the U.S. comparison misleading

forbes.com

In his latest “Labor and Logistics” contribution for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social, Fong analyzes the logistics models of Amazon & Costco against one another and asks, “Is it more logistically impressive to solve difficult problems or to eliminate the need to solve them in the first place?”

Benjamin Fong | The Anti-Amazon

Costco's model and the future of retail

phenomenalworld.org

Teresa Ghilarducci on gendered investment patterns: “Women may trade better once they are in the market. But many women are kept at the edge of the market by the conditions of their lives.” Read more in @forbes.com :

4 Reasons Women Appear To Be Better Investors

Women investors often trade less and earn better returns. But lower pay, debt, caregiving and household power still keep women from owning enough stock.

forbes.com

🚨 PECO STRIKE ENDS 🚨 After three days on the picket lines, PA’s IBEW 614 have declared victory in their historic strike against PECO. Members still need to ratify the new contract but the union is hailing it as a big win for wages, pensions, benefits, and more. Read their statement below:

Home care workers in New York just won a $162 million settlement for wage theft. Nearly 200,000 home health aide workers of New York’s state-funded home care program could receive payouts of $700 each. It’s one of the largest wage-theft payouts in the state’s history.

In @forbes.com , Ghilarducci highlights Italy’s “Rule of 103” retirement system. When faced with an American legacy of working until you drop, she brings forward a key question: “should retirement be determined by years alive or years worked?” www.forbes.com/sites/teresa...

Is Italy’s ‘Rule Of 103’ A Good Idea For The U.S. Retirement System?

Italy lets workers retire after 40 years on the job. That's not early retirement — it's retirement justice. America should learn from it.

forbes.com

A entire region of National Parks just unionized. About 650 workers in eight states and over 10 parks have won their union. The parks represented include: - Glacier National Park - Grand Canyon National Park - Grand Teton National Park - Rocky Mountain National Park And more.

Amazon is using AI in terrifying ways to disempower workers. We must fight back. buff.ly/PQ38IbP

Amazon Is Using AI to Disempower Workers. The US Labor Movement Must Fight Back.

Amazon is using AI in terrifying ways to disempower workers. We must fight back.

truthout.org

With major cuts to social security benefits looming in 2032, Economist and CWD Research Fellow, Teresa Ghilarducci lists a series of proposals to add revenue to social security and staunch the bleeding. Read her article here in @forbes.com : www.forbes.com/sites/teresa...

Social Security Trustees Report Warns of 22% Benefit Cut In 2032

Social Security’s 2026 Trustees Report warns benefits face a 22 percent cut in 2032. Here’s why the shortfall grew and how broadening the tax base can fix it.

forbes.com

Trump gave voters a story. Democrats gave them lists. Vague aspirations and 10-point plans don't win mandates. @rickmcgahey.bsky.social and I make the case in @projectsyndicate.bsky.social: the foundation of a winning Democratic vision is wage-led growth. prosyn.org/rlHnyOm

The Democrats Need a Story, Not More Lists

Teresa Ghilarducci & Rick McGahey argue that wage-led growth should form the foundation of a coherent vision for America.

prosyn.org

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

Ghilarducci for @projectsyndicate.bsky.social : “While 55% of Americans say their financial situation is deteriorating, the wealth of the top 1% is reaching record highs. Against this backdrop, defending billionaires from 'oppressive' taxation is politically convenient nonsense.”

The Myth of the Deserving Billionaire

Teresa Ghilarducci challenges the assumptions about rich and poor people that underlie opposition to wealth taxes.

project-syndicate.org

“...UFC Freedom 250 is a tribute to the would-be emperor gifted by capital interests angling to monopolize the fight-sport industry, in alliance with some of the richest people in the world.” Read Case’s reflections on the MMA fights at the White House: jacobin.com/2026/06/ufc-...

The Super-Elite Is Tightening Its Grip on Combat Sports

Beneath the spectacle of fighters beating each other bloody on the White House South Lawn, fight promoters, tech billionaires, and the Saudi government are working to concentrate wealth and power in f...

jacobin.com

Catch up on Ben Fong’s latest installment for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social !

ASU Center for Work and Democracy@cwd-asu.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Fong’s back for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social : “In a tight labor market in a structurally shifting [trucking] industry, that leverage is bound to have more impact today than at any point in the last few decades.” Are we prepared to take advantage? phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the...

In their latest for @projectsyndicate.bsky.social , CWD Research Fellows, Teresa Ghilarducci & Rick McGahey, discuss the “story” sold to American voters by Trump’s MAGA and challenge the Democratic party to turn away from unpopular and unsuccessful list-making to draft a narrative of their own.

The Democrats Need a Story, Not More Lists

Teresa Ghilarducci & Rick McGahey argue that wage-led growth should form the foundation of a coherent vision for America.

project-syndicate.org

Ghilarducci for @projectsyndicate.bsky.social : “While 55% of Americans say their financial situation is deteriorating, the wealth of the top 1% is reaching record highs. Against this backdrop, defending billionaires from 'oppressive' taxation is politically convenient nonsense.”

The Myth of the Deserving Billionaire

Teresa Ghilarducci challenges the assumptions about rich and poor people that underlie opposition to wealth taxes.

project-syndicate.org

“Employers everywhere are seeking to imitate the behemoth’s labor model of exploitation, job instability, and — terrifyingly — the deployment of AI technologies to discipline and disempower workers.” – Jonathan Rosenblum, CWD Visiting Scholar

Truthout@truthout.org · 2mo ago

Amazon is using AI in terrifying ways to disempower workers. We must fight back. buff.ly/PQ38IbP

OUT NOW: “Renewing Labor and Winning at Amazon” Amazon’s operations are changing the very nature of work regimes, communities, and industries. They are transforming businesses and are a direct threat to unionized workers across numerous fields. What can labor do about it?

Does your union Executive Board look like this? Nearly 300 rank-and-file healthcare workers who are directly involved in the leadership of SEIU-UHW, from budget decisions to long-term strategy. This is what a member-led workers' organization looks like!

Happy Pride from America’s unions! We’re wishing the LGBTQIA+ community a joyful and safe Pride Month. Unions are for everyone, and the labor movement will keep fighting to make sure everyone can be their true selves, on and off the job 🏳️‍🌈✊