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United Auto Workers strike would hit the Upper Midwest hard

Sep 11, 2023
Contracts with Ford, GM and Stellantis all end at the end of Thursday, and the president of the United Auto Workers union has made clear that members are prepared to strike.
Some United Auto Workers members in Detroit gathered after the city's Labor Day parade in early September.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

How Labor Day has changed — and not changed — in its 140-year history

Sep 4, 2023
The first Labor Day parade took place in 1882. Historian Allyson Brantley says there are notable parallels between that moment and today.
A member of the sheet metal workers union walks in a 2022 Labor Day parade in Wilmington, California. Parades have been a mainstay of Labor Day celebrations since the 1880s.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

UPS reaches contract with 340,000 unionized workers, averting potentially calamitous strike

Jul 25, 2023
The Teamsters called the tentative agreement “historic” and “overwhelmingly lucrative.” It includes, among other benefits, higher wages and air conditioning in delivery trucks.
Above, UPS workers at a Teamsters rally on July 19. A deal reached Tuesday by Teamsters and UPS was key to averting a nationwide strike.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

What happens if UPS workers go on strike?

Jul 10, 2023
The last time UPS workers went on strike was 1997. It lasted 15 days, and cost $850 million. 
UPS and its workers union just ended another round of negotiations with no deal, and their contract expires July 31.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Writers strike means this costume coordinator's job has to wrap, for now

May 25, 2023
"It is eerily similar to a regular production wrap," says Kenya Morgan. "Only, as I coined it last week, this is the rehearsal wrap."
Kenya Morgan worked as a costume coordinator on "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."
Christian Thompson/Disneyland Resort via Getty Images

Deadline looms for potentially "perilous" nationwide rail strike

Nov 28, 2022
The effects of a work stoppage could be felt as soon as Dec. 5. Many in the private sector are looking to Congress for a solution.
A rail strike could affect energy, wastewater treatment and much more. "Rail companies have been pushed to get those better profit margins, better performance on Wall Street, and .... are trying to use as little equipment and staff as possible," says Rachel Premack of FreightWaves.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Why University of California's graduate workers are striking

Nov 16, 2022
Some 48,000 teaching assistants, tutors and researchers in the U of C system want higher pay and benefits that offset California's high cost of living. How did things get this way?
Mario Tama/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Freight railroad union rejects contract, renewing possibility of a strike

Oct 11, 2022
Working conditions are a major sticking point, particularly draconian schedules, for members of the third-largest railroad union.
By industry estimates, overall costs of a strike could reach $2 billion a day.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Can't pay won't pay: Brits join civil disobedience campaign over soaring energy prices

Aug 23, 2022
A new movement aims to persuade 1 million households to refuse to pay skyrocketing bills, driven by imbalance in natural gas supplies.
A natural gas processing plant and terminals in England. The average UK household energy bill has rocketed by over 200% in the past year, with more increases looming.
Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Soaring UK inflation tops 9%, fuels labor unrest

Jun 23, 2022
The Ukraine war and the impacts of the pandemic sparked a global spike in prices. Britain is grappling with the domestic consequences.
Workers marched through London last weekend, demanding pay raises to match inflation.
Stephen Beard/Marketplace