E.J. Jenkins vividly recalls the day his mom worked a voter registration drive at a grocery store in Gary, Ind., and followed one recalcitrant young man to his car, coaxing and cajoling him until he walked back inside and added his name to the rolls. Jenkins...
Ed Barnette long ago realized that affordable child care and paid sick leave, among other resources, would be essential to helping West Virginians build better lives and save what’s left of the middle class. He just never expected that when America was finally on the cusp...
Patrick Stock, president of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 105, wasn’t going to let anyone stop him from supporting the United Auto Workers’ strike against Deere & Co. When a court issued an injunction limiting the number of picketers at a Deere facility in Davenport, Iowa, Stock...
When Ron Brady drives through highway construction zones, he makes a point of looking for safety violations that threaten workers’ lives. He’s seen more and more of them the past few years as employers, emboldened by the weakened state of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health...
Donneta Williams and her co-workers at the Corning plant in Wilmington, N.C., hail from different backgrounds and hold diverse views. But just as they team up on the production floor to make top-quality products powering the internet, they banded together to push for a long-overdue infrastructure...
Workers at the Sibanye-Stillwater complex in Montana mine minerals used to fight cancer, produce life-saving surgical instruments and manufacture the wind turbines and solar panels essential for the clean economy. They touch so many facets of American life that Ed Lorash, president of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 11-0001, considers...
With business already strong and a national infrastructure program likely to further increase demand for its products, DuPont realized it needed a strategy to find more workers. So it did what any sensible employer would do—turned to the union for help. DuPont approached United Steelworkers (USW)...
So many people with COVID-19 sought treatment at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in recent months that the hospital triaged patients in a tent outside the facility and set up a makeshift ward in the main lobby. Many workers put in 14- and 16-hour shifts to keep the...
Keli Vereb wasn’t sure how long it would take to recover from complicated neck surgery last year, but she took comfort knowing she’d be able to focus on healing without having to worry about her job. That’s because United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2227-01 negotiated a contract...
Robert P. Ford Jr. went to a community football game on a cold fall night three years ago and wondered why so many high school students sat shivering in the stands without coats or socks. When he learned their parents couldn’t afford these basic necessities, he...