The labor librarian
@laborlibrarian.bsky.social
Grew up in a UFW/IWW household. Now I’m a librarian (public to academic), union thug, and general roustabout.
Anonymous because I’m not tenured yet.
Pro-Palestinian, pro-trans, anti-racist, and not fit for human consumption.
Anonymous because I’m not tenured yet.
Pro-Palestinian, pro-trans, anti-racist, and not fit for human consumption.
Pinned
It’s Labor Day weekend and that means it’s a great time to teach kids about the context of the holiday. I’ve compiled a list of books for a variety of age ranges that talk about labor and unions. Feel free to add more!
#booksky #skybrariona #libraryunions #labor #unions
#booksky #skybrariona #libraryunions #labor #unions
Reposted by The labor librarian
With Black Friday approaching, there will inevitably be well-intentioned talk that these deals are only possible because workers are denied a livable wage.
Don't buy into this. It's not low prices vs. fair pay. It's the demand for ever-higher profits and shareholder returns that forces deprivation.
Don't buy into this. It's not low prices vs. fair pay. It's the demand for ever-higher profits and shareholder returns that forces deprivation.
November 26, 2025 at 12:15 AM
With Black Friday approaching, there will inevitably be well-intentioned talk that these deals are only possible because workers are denied a livable wage.
Don't buy into this. It's not low prices vs. fair pay. It's the demand for ever-higher profits and shareholder returns that forces deprivation.
Don't buy into this. It's not low prices vs. fair pay. It's the demand for ever-higher profits and shareholder returns that forces deprivation.
Reposted by The labor librarian
Scoop: Park Service staff at 24 parks and offices are petitioning to unionize. Federal employees at a dozen including Grand Canyon filed for an election today, following staff at a dozen others including Joshua Tree who recently did same www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Parks Service Union Movement Spreads to Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree
Employees in dozens of park units are organizing to fight attempts by the Trump administration to downsize the agency.
www.bloomberg.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Scoop: Park Service staff at 24 parks and offices are petitioning to unionize. Federal employees at a dozen including Grand Canyon filed for an election today, following staff at a dozen others including Joshua Tree who recently did same www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by The labor librarian
Seattle is using stencils when neighbors go missing
November 22, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Seattle is using stencils when neighbors go missing
Reposted by The labor librarian
Really enjoying ICE finding out North Carolina is an open carry state with a stand your ground law. My current favourite genre of TikTok videos is ICE agents in full camo in the woods being hunted by North Carolinians
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Really enjoying ICE finding out North Carolina is an open carry state with a stand your ground law. My current favourite genre of TikTok videos is ICE agents in full camo in the woods being hunted by North Carolinians
Reposted by The labor librarian
Central District Friendsgiving Begins with Lease Acknowledgment of Previous Tenants: tinyurl.com/bbahuzn6
November 21, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Central District Friendsgiving Begins with Lease Acknowledgment of Previous Tenants: tinyurl.com/bbahuzn6
Reposted by The labor librarian
Do you have pictures or video of Buffalo-area immigration raids? Here's a Wiki based in Europe that is collecting evidence.
bsky.app/profile/jonc...
bsky.app/profile/jonc...
Immigration accountability advocates today unveiled a sweeping new online “Wiki” built on the ICE List project, promising a central, searchable record tying individual immigration agents to raids, vehicles, local police partners, and the legal machinery behind U.S. immigration enforcement.
NEWS: ICE List Launches Wiki to Expose Enforcement Network
The Europe-based volunteer-built database links raids, agents, vehicles, and legal structures, aiming to break the cycle of official secrecy.
migrantinsider.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Do you have pictures or video of Buffalo-area immigration raids? Here's a Wiki based in Europe that is collecting evidence.
bsky.app/profile/jonc...
bsky.app/profile/jonc...
Reposted by The labor librarian
a) these changes illustrate how the “smartness” in what’s framed as an individual smart or dumb choice (your major/grad degree) is determined by structural factors in how they’re rewarded, not their intrinsic value
b) the illustration’s especially stark when those structural factors change overnight
b) the illustration’s especially stark when those structural factors change overnight
The DoE has reclassified numerous health professional and other degrees, limiting access to federal student loan programs eligible for the higher OBBBA loan caps from thousands to a few hundred.
As ALWAYS, this is about $$.
We're about to become REALLY "great"...
shorturl.fm/xs7gY
As ALWAYS, this is about $$.
We're about to become REALLY "great"...
shorturl.fm/xs7gY
November 21, 2025 at 11:32 AM
a) these changes illustrate how the “smartness” in what’s framed as an individual smart or dumb choice (your major/grad degree) is determined by structural factors in how they’re rewarded, not their intrinsic value
b) the illustration’s especially stark when those structural factors change overnight
b) the illustration’s especially stark when those structural factors change overnight
Today the Amazon Transportation Operations Management Team drivers at the Amazon facility in Shepherdsville, KY officially requested recognition of their union, Teamsters Local 89. They are the first Amazon CDL drivers in the country to unionize.
November 21, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Today the Amazon Transportation Operations Management Team drivers at the Amazon facility in Shepherdsville, KY officially requested recognition of their union, Teamsters Local 89. They are the first Amazon CDL drivers in the country to unionize.
Reposted by The labor librarian
Four UCLA undergrads were arrested on Tuesday while exercising their right to support @afscme3299.bsky.social’s picketed strike. We demand all charges be dropped.
November 21, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Four UCLA undergrads were arrested on Tuesday while exercising their right to support @afscme3299.bsky.social’s picketed strike. We demand all charges be dropped.
Reposted by The labor librarian
actually sounding pretty fettered there, my guy
"The Barnes and Noble in York—where Fetterman was born and raised—had sold zero copies. The Barnes and Noble in Philadelphia had sold two copies. An independent store in Pittsburgh and an independent store in Philadelphia each told me they weren’t stocking Unfettered" defector.com/john-fetterm...
John Fetterman's Memoir Is As Low-Effort As His Senate Tenure | Defector
John Fetterman’s just-released memoir, Unfettered, argues that he’s turned a corner and has everything under control. Fetterman was a “stubborn asshole” (his words), he was clinically depressed, he wa...
defector.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:31 AM
actually sounding pretty fettered there, my guy
Fully broke the intake nurse at my doctor’s office today because when she asked “are you sexually active?” I answered “well technically yeah but I also live here.”
November 20, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Fully broke the intake nurse at my doctor’s office today because when she asked “are you sexually active?” I answered “well technically yeah but I also live here.”
Reposted by The labor librarian
Because they are forced to hide who they are publicly, I refuse to do so voluntarily.
I will be proud and loud about being trans every day for the rest of my life, because I do so not only for myself. I do so for every trans and gender nonconforming person who doesn't have the privilege of choice.
I will be proud and loud about being trans every day for the rest of my life, because I do so not only for myself. I do so for every trans and gender nonconforming person who doesn't have the privilege of choice.
November 20, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Because they are forced to hide who they are publicly, I refuse to do so voluntarily.
I will be proud and loud about being trans every day for the rest of my life, because I do so not only for myself. I do so for every trans and gender nonconforming person who doesn't have the privilege of choice.
I will be proud and loud about being trans every day for the rest of my life, because I do so not only for myself. I do so for every trans and gender nonconforming person who doesn't have the privilege of choice.
Reposted by The labor librarian
The winner of the 2025 National Book Award for Nonfiction is ‘One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This’ by Omar El Akkad. #NBAwards
November 20, 2025 at 2:35 AM
The winner of the 2025 National Book Award for Nonfiction is ‘One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This’ by Omar El Akkad. #NBAwards
Reposted by The labor librarian
Nothing like negotiating a union contract will make you realize your employer hates you and wouldn't care if you and your family died
November 20, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Nothing like negotiating a union contract will make you realize your employer hates you and wouldn't care if you and your family died
Reposted by The labor librarian
Lol
The House has voted unanimously to repeal the provisions in the shutdown package which allow GOP Senators to sue the federal government and get as much as $1 million in damages - because the feds looked at their phone records in the Jan. 6 investigation.
November 20, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Lol
Reposted by The labor librarian
if trump is as susceptible as people say (he is) then for one brief shining moment immediately after this meeting concludes and before he talks to anyone else donald trump will be a communist too
Trump says he’s meeting with “communist” Mamdani at the White House on Friday
November 20, 2025 at 1:36 AM
if trump is as susceptible as people say (he is) then for one brief shining moment immediately after this meeting concludes and before he talks to anyone else donald trump will be a communist too
Reposted by The labor librarian
The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.
![Excerpt from a BBC article: ""We usually work, 10, 11 or 12 hours a day," says a 49-year-old woman from Jiangxi unwilling to give her name. "On Sundays we work around three hours less."
She is in an alleyway, where a dozen people are huddled around a row of bulletin boards.
They are reading the job ads on the board, while examining the stitching on a pair of chinos draped over it.
This is Shein's supply chain. The factories are contracted to make clothes on order - some small, some big. If the chinos are a hit, orders will ramp up and so must production. Factories then hire temporary workers to meet the demand their permanent staff cannot fulfil.
The migrant worker from Jiangxi is looking for a short-term contract - and the chinos are an option.
"We earn so little. The cost of living is now so high," she says, adding that she hopes to make enough to send back to her two children who are living with their grandparents.
"We get paid per piece," she explains. "It depends how difficult the item is. Something simple like a t-shirt is one-two yuan [less than a dollar] per piece and I can make around a dozen in an hour.""](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ks3gpa6ftoyaq7hmf6c4qx4c/bafkreiber7g4o5pujmzmjjzsp5dkz7blfexburuwjispfpv6dki7akjb7a@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 12:07 AM
The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.
Tenured Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren living every faculty member’s dream of publicly destroying your shitty university president.
"If he had so little ability to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein even after all that was publicly known about Epstein's sex offenses involving underage girls, then Summers cannot… teach a generation of students at Harvard or anywhere else." - @warren.senate.gov
www.cnn.com/2025/11/17/p...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/17/p...
November 20, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Tenured Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren living every faculty member’s dream of publicly destroying your shitty university president.
Reposted by The labor librarian
do AI adopters in libraries understand that refusing/protesting a system is diff. than blaming individuals affected by a system?
when they claim refusal of AI is “not helpful,” what i hear is that they aren’t making a connection between their labor as information workers to data workers in Kenya
when they claim refusal of AI is “not helpful,” what i hear is that they aren’t making a connection between their labor as information workers to data workers in Kenya
November 19, 2025 at 10:48 PM
do AI adopters in libraries understand that refusing/protesting a system is diff. than blaming individuals affected by a system?
when they claim refusal of AI is “not helpful,” what i hear is that they aren’t making a connection between their labor as information workers to data workers in Kenya
when they claim refusal of AI is “not helpful,” what i hear is that they aren’t making a connection between their labor as information workers to data workers in Kenya
Reposted by The labor librarian
#OtD 19 Nov 1915 Joe Hill, Swedish-American @IWW union member and songwriter was executed by firing squad for a murder he did not commit. In his final letter he wrote: "don't waste any time in mourning. Organize." Learn more in this book: shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/...
November 19, 2025 at 7:10 PM
#OtD 19 Nov 1915 Joe Hill, Swedish-American @IWW union member and songwriter was executed by firing squad for a murder he did not commit. In his final letter he wrote: "don't waste any time in mourning. Organize." Learn more in this book: shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/...
Reposted by The labor librarian
Jesus to his disciples:
Idk why a bunch of libs started following me but I’m an anarchist and you will not have a good time here.
November 19, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Jesus to his disciples:
Reposted by The labor librarian
Somewhere in the multiverse there is a Warren Presidency, and I wish I could verse-jump to it. #everythingfeministeverywhereallatonce
"If he had so little ability to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein even after all that was publicly known about Epstein's sex offenses involving underage girls, then Summers cannot… teach a generation of students at Harvard or anywhere else." - @warren.senate.gov
www.cnn.com/2025/11/17/p...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/17/p...
November 18, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Somewhere in the multiverse there is a Warren Presidency, and I wish I could verse-jump to it. #everythingfeministeverywhereallatonce
My post that went semi-viral yesterday made me realize that we librarians do not do a good job educating the public on just how much of our time, energy, and focus has to do with maintaining patron anonymity and protecting your identity, data, and borrowing history.
November 19, 2025 at 12:21 AM
My post that went semi-viral yesterday made me realize that we librarians do not do a good job educating the public on just how much of our time, energy, and focus has to do with maintaining patron anonymity and protecting your identity, data, and borrowing history.
Reposted by The labor librarian
NEW: a contractor is paying random people $300 to physically track immigrants for ICE. They're given addresses, vehicles, told to monitor the target. That information then goes back up to ICE. These are not licensed private investigators; members of the public
www.404media.co/contractor-p...
www.404media.co/contractor-p...
Contractor Paying Random People $300 to Physically Track Immigrants for ICE
“The more I listened to it, the more I’m like, something doesn’t sound right,” a person who was briefed on the pilot plans told 404 Media.
www.404media.co
November 18, 2025 at 4:10 PM
NEW: a contractor is paying random people $300 to physically track immigrants for ICE. They're given addresses, vehicles, told to monitor the target. That information then goes back up to ICE. These are not licensed private investigators; members of the public
www.404media.co/contractor-p...
www.404media.co/contractor-p...