Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!

Longshoremen strike for better pay and to stop automation

Oct 2, 2024
About a hundred striking longshoremen marched by one of the terminals in the port of Baltimore. Some carried signs that say “machines don’t feed families.”
Longshoremen on strike at the Port of Baltimore on Oct. 1, 2024.
Stephanie Hughes for Marketplace

At issue in the longshoremen's strike: How much automation is appropriate at ports?

Oct 1, 2024
Automation at U.S. ports on the East and Gulf Coasts tends to lag behind that at the West Coast, Asian and European ports.
Around 80 longshoremen striking in the rain at the Port of Baltimore on Oct. 1. Baltimore is the farthest inland port on the east coast, and is known for importing cars, farm equipment, gypsum, and sugar.
Stephanie Hughes/Marketplace

Boeing strike will be felt throughout the aviation industry

Sep 13, 2024
This strike of more than 30,000 workers comes at a time when Boeing’s already not meeting production goals. And it will also slow the making of everything that goes inside planes, as well.
Boeing machinist union members picket outside a Boeing factory in Renton, Washington.
Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Striking hotel workers want a return to daily room cleaning

Sep 3, 2024
During the pandemic, some hotels cut back on services like housekeeping. Workers on strike say it’s time to bring them back.
Union workers for several major hotel chains are striking for better working conditions and hours.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

How song makes the union strong

Aug 12, 2024
Labor songs were sung at home, on the job and on the picket line. Let's look at the history, starting with "Harlan County, U.S.A."
Unions regularly published songbooks containing tunes to organize and build solidarity. The Industrial Workers of the World’s songbook was first published in 1909.
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections

What Google's union means for Silicon Valley

Jan 4, 2021
This union's main aim is to support employee activism, rather than negotiate a contract.
Google employees stage a walkout over sexual harassment in New York in 2018. Some employees of the giant internet company have created a union to support worker activism.
Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images

NLRB rule could make it harder for millions of workers to organize

Feb 26, 2020
It rolls back an Obama-era policy that held some corporations accountable for labor violations by subcontractors and franchisees.
The new NLRB rule could make it harder for employee's of McDonald's to organize.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Connecticut's budget gap will likely hurt social service recipients

Aug 7, 2017
Some lawmakers are eyeing the hedge fund industry as a potential piggy bank.
Barbara Deindorfer said she's concerned for her brother John's future without state services.
Harriet Jones/ for Marketplace

Union leader has hope for Erie, Pennsylvania, with or without Trump

Feb 28, 2017
Scott Slawson believes that change will have to come from the town itself.
 Scott Slawson, the union president of Local 506 of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, isn't expecting help from President Donald Trump.
Maitham Basha-Agha/Marketplace