“Don’t be evil”: How Alphabet Workers Union Utilizes Google’s Ethical Vision and Participatory Work Practices to Build Power Resources.

By Jeonghun Kim Introduction              “Don’t be evil” was the opening and closing remarks of Google’s code of conduct until 2018.It was pronounced first by its founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin in their 2004 founders’ letter: “Don’t be evil. We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served—as shareholders and […]

Organizing in the Platform Economy: App-based Worker Struggles in Argentina

The platform or “gig” economy has an ambitious goal: the restructuring of work for tens of millions of workers throughout the world. These platforms entice workers with claims about being your own boss (Uber: “You decide when and how often you drive.”[i]), giving you the flexibility to focus on the things that are important to […]

AFL-CIO: US Labor and International Campaigns

The global organizing efforts of the AFL-CIO provide many interesting examples of international solidarity. In order to adapt to a changing economic environment, affiliates have adopted transnational organizing strategies that help workers from different countries realize their shared interests in achieving better social and economic outcomes. Additionally, the AFL-CIO’s efforts to influence global economic and […]

International Solidarity in the Formation of South Korea’s Migrant Worker Labor Movement

In the face of the rapidly changing, volatile and at times ineffectual labor movement, looking back can provide useful insight in understanding current challenges faced by both migrant and domestic workers. This case focuses on the establishment of a grassroots migrant workers movement in South Korea. This case is unique both in the history of […]

Solidarity Takes Flight: The Case of Ryanair

By Ethan Whitener In December 2017 Europe’s second-largest airline, Ryanair, announced it would recognize unions for the first time. Journalists scrambled to outwit each other, attaching their bylines to articles such as, “Ryanair to Recognize Unions Even Though Hell Hasn’t Frozen Over,” or, “Ryanair Chief Finally Armless Against Unions.” The press focused its attention on […]

Regulate, Agitate, Organize: How the CWA and its coalition partners are taking on finance capital in the US

By Chad Rosenbloom When the now infamous Wells Fargo scandal was brought to public attention back in October 2016, it wasn’t entirely clear that the groundwork for the revelations had been laid three years before with the creation of the Committee for Better Banks (CBA) under the initiative of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). […]

The Jungle: Rainforest Café workers fighting for fair wages, safe workplace in Niagara Falls

By Chris Fielder In March 2018, workers at the Rainforest Café in Niagara, Ontario, Canada voted overwhelmingly to unionize. The 77-person bargaining unit chose Workers United as their exclusive bargaining representative by a vote of 44 to 7. Almost a year later, the workers still lack a contract with the owners of the Niagara Rainforest […]

In it for the long haul—Two decades of global union solidarity at Bridgestone-Firestone

By Patrick Young Throughout the second half of the twentieth century as corporations globalized, buying and building facilities all over the world, workers and their unions struggled to keep pace by building an interconnected global labor movement. It wasn’t until the 1990s that unions in the United States began dedicating resources to building global solidarity. […]