New year, new stories
What should we cover in 2025?
Howdy friends!
It’s been a while since Up With the Workers has been in your inbox. What a year 2024 was! If you’re a newer subscriber—welcome! This newsletter is from Workday Magazine, a publication of the Labor Education Service. We’re based in Minnesota and we cover labor news in Minnesota and Midwest states, along with national and international issues that affect workers, like climate change and U.S. militarism.
If you’ve been a subscriber, thank you! We’ve learned a lot about worker power and the labor movement this year. Right now, as workers have been taking collective action against some of the most powerful corporations during the holiday season and ahead of an incoming federal administration set on being hostile to workers and worker protections, we expect a lot of changes ahead. Please let us know what you want to see from us in 2025! But for now, some expression of gratitude for the work we were able to do in 2024.
Before we recap, here’s some information about an upcoming class on January 15 from 3-4:30pm with Workday Magazine editor Sarah Lazare and SEIU Local 26.
Subcontracted workers are some of the most highly exploited workers in our society, a reality that is enabled by a matrix of laws and structures that keep them isolated and vulnerable. We will look at secretive—and widespread—contractual provisions that are frequently used to keep these workers down, and we’ll examine how workers are fighting back.
This class might interest you if:
You're a temp or contracted worker, or you organize alongside such workers.
You're a union researcher who wants to learn more about contracts in childcare, building management, and temp agency fields.
You're a member of a union that is trying to organize contracted workers.
This class is online. You can register here, and there is also a free option.
Thank you for another year of covering worker stories.
It is a privilege and an honor to be covering workers and their stories and struggles. Check out some of the stories we found most impactful from 2024.
Over the summer, Isa and Amie worked on the Greater Minnesota Worker Listening Project, a profile series on union and non-union workers in Greater Minnesota and other rural communities. We profiled seven workers and organizers that live and work outside of the Twin Cities Metro area.
Other notables from Amie include Minnesota’s labor spring in March when thousands of union members and a broad coalition of community groups banded together to demand better contracts, quality schools, housing and a livable planet: Across Industries, Minnesota Workers Are Harnessing Their Collective Power (co-published with In These Times). Also, a review of Sarah Jaffe’s new book, From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire.
Sarah investigated how private equity firms are taking over a vital sign language service for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing—and then using their market dominance to bust unions and erode the quality of services. She also wrote about a bold call by some leaders in the U.S. labor movement, including the United Auto Workers and the Chicago Teachers Union, for mass coordinated contract expirations on May Day, 2028, which could set the groundwork for simultaneous strikes. And she wrote a series of articles about the UAW fight in Belvidere, Illinois to use the power of a union to save their idled Stellantis plant.
More 2024 labor coverage
Workday Magazine collaborated with Unicorn Riot on a video story commemorating the 90th anniversary picnic of the 1934 truckers’ strike in Minneapolis.
State of the U.S. Unions 2024 from Eric Dirnbach
Union president explains the existential threat Trump poses to organized labor—and how we fight back from The Real News Podcast
Rideshare drivers say they’re still waiting for a pay bump after new Minnesota law goes into effect from Sahan Journal
Labor unions are making unprecedented calls for a ceasefire in Gaza from Prism
A HUGE thank you…
…to our readers who read and share our stories. We always want to hear from you, whether it’s your appreciation, feedback, or story ideas.
…to our sources, the workers and organizers who spent time in conversation with us, answering our questions, connecting us with others, and sharing information with us. We couldn’t do this work without you!
…to the publishing partners who we’ve co-published stories with: In These Times, The Real News, The Nation, The American Prospect, and Truthout.
Shout out to the Movement Media Alliance, a new coalition of grassroots-aligned, social justice-driven journalism organizations.
More highlights from 2024
Attending the Labor Notes conference in Chicago! Isa moderated a panel and we got to meet so many folks and learn about labor history.
Our favorite local labor historian Peter Rachleff wrote about the new mural in the North Loop memorializing the Minneapolis Teamsters Truckers strike of 1934.
Thank you for reading. Up, up with liberation!