AFSCME - Dissent Magazine

The Teacher Strike: Conditions for Success

Leo Casey ▪ December 2, 2020

The teacher insurgency of the last decade is a welcome sign of the revival of the strike. But strikes are just one part of a broader strategy to build the power of labor.

Family Child-Care Providers Unionize in California

Michelle Chen ▪ August 11, 2020

Rosa Carreño hopes her new union will lead to more support from the state. “The parents can’t go to work if they don’t have a safe place for their children to stay.”

The Return of the Labor Question

Harold Meyerson ▪ Summer 2020

Absent a sufficient level of density to carry the swing states, unions are seeking to turn out not just their own members but sympathetic communities as well.

“Injury to All” at Rutgers University

Sarah Jaffe ▪ June 22, 2020

A coalition of unions representing 20,000 workers is organizing to reject the university’s austerity response to the pandemic.

The Union Drive at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Sarah Jaffe ▪ June 15, 2020

“Amplifying our concerns about going back to work,” says museum educator Sarah Shaw, “is also a way of amplifying the concerns of other frontline workers.”

Minnesota Senate Denies School Support Staff Job Security

Michelle Chen ▪ May 21, 2020

A new state bill aimed to protect the jobs of hourly school employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But language protecting those workers was rejected by the Senate.

Belabored Podcast #136: Countdown to Janus, with Andy Stettner

Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen ▪ October 6, 2017

Janus v. AFSCME is the Supreme Court case labor has been dreading. Andrew Stettner of the Century Foundation joins us to talk what it means for workers and unions.

Bargaining for the Common Good

Joseph A. McCartin ▪ Spring 2016

From Los Angeles to Minneapolis to Washington, D.C., workers are finding new approaches to bargaining for a greater good, aligning their demands with those of their community allies.