Successful union campaigns could raise wages, reduce poverty, and spread democracy in the former Confederacy.
by Tom Conway, Inequality.org
Workers at Blue Bird Corporation in Fort Valley, Georgia, launched a union drive to secure better wages, work-life balance, and a voice on the job.
The company resisted them. History defied them. Geography worked against them.
But they stood together, believed in themselves, and achieved a historic victory that’s reverberating throughout the South.
About 1,400 workers at the electric bus manufacturer voted overwhelmingly this spring to join the United Steelworkers (USW), reflecting the rise of collective power in a part of the country where bosses and right-wing politicians long contrived to foil it.
“It’s just time for a change,” explained Rinardo Cooper, a member of USW Local 572 and a paper machine operator at Graphic Packaging in Macon, Georgia.
Recent Posts
Workers Are Leaving the Trump Coalition
Take Action Now New survey data show that many of Donald Trump’s 2024 working-class voters are already wavering. But most aren’t turning to Democrats…
The Billionaires’ War
Take Action Now The ultrawealthy put Trump in power but other people will pay the priceBy Paul Krugman, Substack It becomes clearer with each…
The Quiet Way Trump Has Made Life Easier For Polluters
Take Action Now It’s not just about environmental rollbacks: Trump and Lee Zeldin have presided over a striking decline in the EPA enforcing existing…
Coalition Demands Schumer, Jeffries Step Down Over Failure to Fight ‘War-Crazed’ Trump
Take Action Now “Schumer and Jeffries have shown that they cannot be trusted to prevent more wars, more threats of wars, or the transfer of another…