Labor Notes

Protesters kneeling on the pavement as police walk behind them

Protesters bundled up in parkas and holding up a large banner sign over yellow barriers.

Faith leaders standing together wearing colorful patterned scarves

protesters kneeling

Scenes of civil disobedience outside the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, where protesters, including religious readers, blocked the road on a statewide day of “no work (except for emergency services), no school, and no shopping” on January 23. Photos by @lfelizleon.bsky.social

Labor Notes organizers and pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and @nataschaelena.bsky.social joined picket lines this month and share what they've been hearing from striking nurses. Listen on the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Podbean: labornotespodcast.podbean.com 5/5

Many of them have described facing severe violence on the job, especially in emergency rooms, where they risk being punched so hard it knocks out their teeth, or having heavy objects thrown at them by patients frustrated by overcrowding and overly long wait times 4/5

Nurses are holding the line to defend their hard-fought wins on safe staffing ratios, to demand safety on the job, and to keep mgmt from imposing A.I. in a way that overrides or replaces the judgment of human medical professionals 3/5

Some 15,000 nurses, members of @nynurses.bsky.social, are headed toward week three of an open-ended strike against three hospital systems—the Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and New York Presbyterian hospitals 2/5

A graphic featuring a photo of nurses on strike, with the title, "NYC's Largest Nurse Strike In Decades." Cut out photos of pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann are superimposed in the foreground.

🎙️New on the Labor Notes Pod: “We desperately want to be at the bedside taking care of our patients, that’s why we chose this profession. Our patients become our families, our co-workers become our families—this is more than just a job to us.” labornotespodcast.podbean.com/e/15000-nurs... 1/5

Maybe a General Strike Isn’t So Impossible Now [This article is part of a Labor Notes roundtable series: How Can Unions Defend Worker Power Against Trump 2.0? We will be publishing more contributions here and in our magazine in the months ahead. C...

This piece, by @inthesetimes.com executive director @alexhan.bsky.social is part of the Labor Notes Roundtable Series: How Can Unions Defend Worker Power Under Trump 2.0? labornotes.org/2025/12/mayb... 4/4

The progress we make is not linear, but happens in moments of upheaval and upsurge. Our task isn’t to create the perfect strategy for the masses to follow. It is to use the lessons of the past to set the table for the fights of the future." 3/4

In the history of this country, worker movements have been the critical central driver toward justice and equality. But workers have always faced daunting odds against powerful opponents with the ability to disorganize and disorient us..." 2/4

"The structures that exist now—our unions and other organized groups that are fighting for immigrant justice, tenant rights, and a fair economy, as scattered and weak as they may be—are the vehicles we have to organize a fightback..." 🧵 1/4

The three-year contract also lets cashiers choose to sit while they work, establishes just cause discipline and a grievance procedure, and maintains employer-provided health insurance for workers who work at least 24 hours a week 5/5

New hires will start at a minimum of $19, which will rise with annual cost-of-living adjustments 4/5

The union won major raises. The lowest-paid members will see an immediate raise of 16.5 percent. More than 95 percent of members will make more than $20 an hour, with the median wage rising to $23.37 3/5

The contract covers 850 workers at the 10 stores in Portland, Oregon, that have joined the New Seasons Labor Union. The chain has 22 stores in Portland and Vancouver, Washington 2/5

Portland Grocery Workers Score Big First Contract Win Workers at the upscale grocery chain New Seasons have won a first contract, after more than three years of organizing. The contract covers 850 workers at the 10 stores in Portland, Oregon, that have j...

Workers at the upscale grocery chain New Seasons have won a first contract, after more than three years of organizing labornotes.org/2026/01/port... 1/5

Will ICE Ignite a Mass Strike in Minnesota? Minnesota appears to be in gear for a mass uprising. Unions, community organizations, faith leaders, and small businesses there are calling for a statewide day of “no work (except for emergency servic...

The issue features Luis's January cover story on union members organizing against ICE raids and building toward a statewide day of action of "No work. No School. No Shopping" in Minnesota on Friday, January 23.

Read it online: labornotes.org/2026/01/will... 2/2

Special Spanish-language edition of Labor Notes featuring Labor Notes Organizer Luis's cover story on union members organizing against ICE raids and building toward a statewide day of action of "No work. No School. No Shopping" in Minnesota on Friday, 1/23.

A special Spanish-language edition of Labor Notes is making the rounds in Minneapolis this weekend, where @lfelizleon.bsky.social is on the ground 🧵1/2

Spanish edition translation and design credit: @nataschaelena.bsky.social ✨

Will ICE Ignite a Mass Strike in Minnesota? Minnesota appears to be in gear for a mass uprising. Unions, community organizations, faith leaders, and small businesses there are calling for a statewide day of “no work (except for emergency servic...

“The attack on immigrants is not new, but the intensity we are seeing is just extreme, and so many more people are stepping up right now to meet the moment,” said Jason Rodney, a Minneapolis public school teacher. @lfelizleon.bsky.social reports
labornotes.org/2026/01/will...

Tonight (Thursday, Jan 22), 7 p.m. Eastern. There's still time to sign up! labornotes.org/events/2026/...

Under the banner “ICE Out of MN: Day of Truth and Freedom,” organizers and workers are demanding ICE leave Minnesota, for the officer who killed Renee Good to be held accountable, for no additional federal funding for ICE, and for businesses to cut ties with the federal agency

How Vets in Labor Have Joined the Fight Against Trump The U.S. is home to 17 million military veterans. About 1.3 million of them currently work in union jobs, with women and people of color making up the fastest-growing cohorts. Veterans are more likely...

“We’ve seen peaceful protestors met with riot gear, and we’ve heard the threats to deploy active-duty Marines against American citizens. Using the military to silence dissent isn't strength, it’s tyranny.” labornotes.org/2026/01/how-...

“The attack on immigrants is not new, but the intensity we are seeing is just extreme, and so many more people are stepping up right now to meet the moment,” said Jason Rodney, an assistant special education teacher at Anishinabe Academy in Minneapolis Public Schools.

Under siege, Minnesotans are leaning on organizations at work and in their neighborhoods to end the terror.

labornotes.org/2026/01/will...

Fifteen Thousand New York City Nurses Strike Fifteen thousand nurses across 10 campuses in New York City’s three biggest hospital systems are on an open-ended strike. It’s the city’s largest nurse strike in decades. Picket lines stretched for bl...

“We need the safe staffing. We need to feel safe in the workplace. We need our benefits so we can take care of our patients. This right here is us saying we need what we need to take care of this community.” labornotes.org/2026/01/fift...

Stewards' Workshop: Holding Effective Meetings This workshop is intended for stewards and elected officers who work closely with stewards. Please register only if this applies to you. Chances are that we've all been to a bad meeting. One person ta...

Stewards' Workshop, Thursday, January 22: Meetings can be a way for shop stewards to bring their co-workers together to build strength in their fight against the boss—when they're run effectively

Learn how to run meetings that bring members in: labornotes.org/events/2026/...

Will ICE Ignite a Mass Strike in Minnesota? Minnesota appears to be in gear for a mass uprising. Unions, community organizations, faith leaders, and small businesses there are calling for a statewide day of “no work (except for emergency servic...

“It’s time for every Minnesotan who loves this state and the notion of truth and freedom to raise their voices and deepen their solidarity for neighbors and coworkers living under this federal occupation,” said @mplsunions.bsky.social president Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou labornotes.org/2026/01/will...

Workers organizing in Minneapolis in a new era of violent repression are defending freedoms that matter to all of us everywhere. We can take up the fight with them.

Here's a solidarity toolkit: www.iceoutnowmn.com
Join community briefings: bit.ly/mnbriefing 5/5

She added that what Dr. King meant was that it would take all of us to push forward the struggle for freedom. “He was deputizing all of us to take up the fight for freedom,” she said. “And that’s what we have to do now.” 4/5

“The question is not, ‘If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?’ but, ‘If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?’” she quoted from King’s famous speech 3/5

She drew from the final speech that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered in support of striking sanitation workers before he was killed in 1968 2/5

Ahead of the statewide day of action in Minnesota on Friday, January 23, (no work, no school, no shopping), @flyingwithsara.bsky.social, international president of the @afacwa.org, described the current moment in Minneapolis as a political landmark similar to Memphis in the 1960s 🧵1/5