ASU Center for Work and Democracy

#OtD 7 Aug 1931 workers building the Hoover Dam went on strike after 30 workers had their pay cut, demanding better conditions and a maximum 8-hour day. After a week, the strike was largely beaten but employers did agree to improve water and housing stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/7977...

YouTube video by More Perfect Union A CEO Wanted to Run Healthcare Like Taco Bell. Here’s How His Patients Are Doing

In a recent mini-doc from @moreperfectunion.bsky.social , their team dives deep into the sinister corporatization of dialysis clinics across the country.
Learn more about the dialysis system and the folks fighting to make it better here: youtu.be/08eVXNsta4M?...

Legal Aid labor dispute ends with ratified union contract — Queens Daily Eagle Over a thousand public defense attorneys ended a labor dispute with the city’s largest legal aid organization when they voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday.

"Over a thousand public defense attorneys ended a labor dispute with the city’s largest legal aid organization when they voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday."

queenseagle.com/all/2025/8/4...

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Texas data centers are projected to use 49 billion gallons of water this year, as the state faces a prolonged drought.

​“We’re not asking for legislative changes. We are asking for the hazardous material regulations that are there to provide basic protections to also apply when it comes to the oil and gas industry.”

You can preorder the latest book from our Activist-in-Residence Jonathan Rosenblum here from @orbooks.bsky.social ! 👇📘😎

A New Golden Age for Labor? Not So Fast Although there’s been an uptick in labor organizing in recent years, it hasn’t been the “resurgence” that many commentators claim it is. It’s also a markedly segmented phenomenon.

This Spring, our AD Ben Fong published a sobering analysis of the state of the labor movement in @thenation.com . You can read the article (and his candid reflections on it) through Fong’s labor and logistics blog, On the Seams. ontheseams.substack.com/p/a-new-gold...

The worst CEO-to-worker pay ratio out of ALL S&P 500 companies in 2024. WOW.

When Starbucks and CEO Brian Niccol tries to tell us they can't afford fair union contracts... remember this.

Experiments in American Unions | Andrew Yamakawa Elrod An interview with Ben Fong

In a new interview from @phenomenalworld.bsky.social , Andrew Yamakawa Elrod sits down with the CWD’s Ben Fong to discuss the state of the NLRB and how workers can organize beyond its current confines.
www.phenomenalworld.org/interviews/b...

Just How Quickly Are Warehouses Being Automated? An Interview with Beth Gutelius

In this special OTS feature from March, Ben Fong interviews Beth Gutelius, co-author of “The Future of Warehouse Work: Technological Change in the U.S. Logistics Industry,” to talk about the present and future of warehouse automation. Read it here:
ontheseams.substack.com/p/just-how-q...

Something Is Still Rotten in the City of Philadelphia Philly workers went out on strike—and came back with a deal that nobody seems to like.

After an eight-day strike, DC33 reached a tentative agreement with the city of Philadelphia last week. Tonight, we’ll find out the results of the membership vote.

I wrote about the human costs of the strike and the cruelty of the city’s response for @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/soci...

We’re Coming For You And Your Rotten System From inside Kshama Sawant's historic tenure inside Seattle City Hall comes a blueprint for 21st-century socialists, a sharp counterpoint to the dead-end inside-the-party strategies favored by The Squa...

“For political activists searching desperately to make sense of the world after the reelection of Donald Trump, the Seattle experience offers a vital framework for fighting our way out of the despairing miasma of twenty-first-century capitalism.”
orbooks.com/catalog/we-r...

🚨NEW BOOK FROM JONATHAN ROSENBLUM!🚨
In “We’re Coming For You And Your Rotten System: How Socialists Beat Amazon and Upended Big-City Politics,” the CWD AiR recounts the success story of socialist Kshama Sawant’s election to the Seattle City Council, one long-dominated by pro-business Democrats.

A Brief Primer on Target's Distribution Network The third largest employer in the country is engaged in a unique metro sortation hub buildout

Next in the hot seat: Target, the country’s third largest retailer. Read more about their distribution network in On the Seams.
ontheseams.substack.com/p/a-brief-pr...

Amazon’s Prime Sweatshop Is Nothing to Celebrate While chairman Jeff Bezos enjoys his honeymoon, Amazon workers are in line for record injuries and hospitalizations over the four-day summer sale.

“Amazon likes to say it’s all about safety, but we all know it comes second to productivity,”

In his new piece for @thenation.com , J. Rosenblum reveals the true price of Amazon Prime Week discounts: worker safety and wellbeing.
Read more here: www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Any successful union started with two co-workers talking.

You can get the pay, benefits, and respect at work that you deserve by having those conversations and organizing with your co-workers to put pressure on your boss.

United we bargain, divided we beg.

A Brief Primer on CVS’s Distribution Network The largest drug store chain + the largest pharmacy benefits manager + the third largest health insurance company + ...

In this OTS primer, learn what makes CVS a “many-headed hydra” and one of the most powerful entities in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. ontheseams.substack.com/p/a-brief-pr...

Expanding Citizen-Led Policymaking in the 21st Century This report explores opportunities and strategies for expanding ballot initiative access to more states.

You can read the full report from @maresastrano.bsky.social , @mschmitt9.bsky.social , and ‪@oscarp.bsky.social on the landscape and potential expansion of ballot initiatives (featuring a shoutout to our “Majority Rules 2025” report!) here in @newamerica.org .
www.newamerica.org/political-re...

A Case for (Responsibly) Expanding Citizen-Led Policymaking in the United States As we consider bringing ballot initiatives to more U.S. states, what can we learn from the past century of experience with direct democracy?

For @newamerica.org , @maresastrano.bsky.social explores the benefits and limitations of the ballot initiative process, arguing for an expansion of the system that would be a “step toward a more responsive, accountable, and resilient U.S. political system” www.newamerica.org/political-re...

“Citizen-initiated ballot measures have helped bridge the gap between public preferences and government policy in half the country. The logical next step is to extend that opportunity to all 50 states” - @maresastrano.bsky.social

Home Depot Updates Updates on the distribution network of the fourth largest employer in the United States

New from OTS: Home Depot’s distribution network is bigger than the authors initially thought. Read the short and sweet primer update here.
ontheseams.substack.com/p/home-depot...

Amazon Prime Heat Survey Amazon workers, share your stories of unsafe heat conditions at work. Take a photo of the temperature at your worksite on a hot day and then upload the photo to this site. (Thermometer tip: search onl...

Are you an Amazon worker with your own stories to share about poor safety conditions at work? You can submit them here in the Amazon Prime Heat Survey: amazonworkers.org/heat/

Amazon’s Prime Sweatshop Is Nothing to Celebrate While chairman Jeff Bezos enjoys his honeymoon, Amazon workers are in line for record injuries and hospitalizations over the four-day summer sale.

“Amazon likes to say it’s all about safety, but we all know it comes second to productivity,”

In his new piece for @thenation.com , J. Rosenblum reveals the true price of Amazon Prime Week discounts: worker safety and wellbeing.
Read more here: www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Today, the CWD hosted our annual staff strategy meeting to discuss plans for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Our team's got big things coming– stay tuned!

Philadelphia works because AFSCME District Council 33 does! City workers are holding the line until they get a FAIR contract with the wages and benefits they deserve. One day longer, one day stronger, no matter what it takes.

Thousands of city workers go on strike in Philadelphia, affecting trash pickup, pools and 911 calls Striking city workers are joining picket lines near Philadelphia City Hall, public libraries and other worksites as nearly 10,000 unionized employees walked off the job in search of better pay and ben...

In Philadelphia, AFSCME DC33 is on strike for a fair contract that offers the wages needed to live in the city they serve. Learn more about the strike below! apnews.com/article/phil...

We are deeply disappointed the Senate passed a dangerous budget that guts health care, slashes food aid, and raises costs for working families — just to hand billionaires more tax breaks. Now the bill goes back to the House.

Tell them: VOTE NO www.afscme.org/press/releas...

A Brief Primer on Kroger's Distribution Network The fifth largest employer in the country has a lot of brands, a lot of production plants, and a high tech fulfillment network

A new OTS article has just dropped! Ben Fong brings us "A Brief Primer on Kroger's Distribution Network." Kroger operates over 2,700+ stores and generates $147 billion dollars in sales annually, but how does its logistics work? ontheseams.substack.com/p/a-brief-pr...

The labor movement supports workers across all different types of industries. Organizing could help better your workplace, too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯