Jane Slaughter

Despite pressure from Teamsters officials and YRC management, Chicago dock workers rejected a $1.16 per hour wage cut for a third time yesterday. City drivers voted no for the second time.

Thirty thousand more soldiers to Afghanistan, not enough dollars for jobs. President Obama announced both within three days, and labor activists are asking, “What’s wrong with this picture?”

A Massachusetts local union president called it early: “I’ve never seen this much anger at the Democrats from union people. It’s worse than NAFTA," said Jeff Crosby, from a General Electric factory near Boston.

Still smarting from the beating they took in the media when GM and Chrysler went bankrupt two years ago, auto workers are adamant that they earn every penny. They challenge critics to try working the assembly line for just one day.

Detroit hit the Trifecta yesterday when the city's "emergency manager," backed by the governor, put the city in bankruptcy.

Since 1979, Labor Notes has been home to the troublemaking wing of the labor movement. The pages of our magazine are filled with the stories of workers who are working to transform their unions, to take on the boss, to fight for racial justice. We believe that working people’s best bet is on ourselves. That’s why our trainings, and national conference, focus on connecting workers to one another across unions and industries and provide rank-and-file organizers with the tools they need to get the…

How was Labor Notes #1, from February 1979, different from Labor Notes #500, the issue we just sent to the printer? There’s the obvious: Eight pages instead of 16 Yellow paper instead of white A subscription price of $5 a year instead of $30 No photos, no bylines A staff of two, cheek by jowl in a tiny Detroit cubbyhole, rather than a staff of seven full-timers spread across four states Every single article in issue #1 is about blue-collar workers: miners, steelworkers, auto workers, Teamsters, telephone workers, chemical workers, shipbuilders.

For the first time in 30 years, Teamsters at the Marathon oil refinery in Detroit are on strike. Close to 300 workers walked out September 4. Welders, firefighters, and heavy equipment operators in the union are demanding a raise that keeps up with cost of living, along with better hours. Above all, refinery Teamsters are trying to win a guarantee against outsourcing and to strengthen their union for the future.