Labor Notes
@labornotes.bsky.social
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Putting the movement back in the labor movement since 1979. linktr.ee/labornotes
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In the October issue: Wells Fargo Workers Push to Bring a Union to the Banking Industry; A New Caucus Powers Up in the IBEW; and more

A $30 annual subscription gets you 11 issues each year!

Subscribe by Tuesday, October 14, to get the November issue labornotes.org/subscribe
Three copies of the October issue of the Labor Notes magazine fanned out across a bright purple background. The headline of the cover story reads "Wells Fargo Workers Push to Bring A Union to the Banking Industry."
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Young people, families and ordinary citizens joined members of unions and civic organizations in the river of people filling the streets of Italy’s capital. “We wanted to liberate Palestine, and instead Palestine is liberating us,” read one brilliant sign. labornotes.org/2025/10/mill...
Millions of Italians Join General Strike for Gaza
More than 2 million people filled public squares across Italy on October 3 during a one-day general strike in support of the people of Gaza and against the ongoing genocide there. The strike, called b...
labornotes.org
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"Today’s politicized firings present a new challenge for union stewards because each case becomes public, playing out on social media and on the national stage. Nonetheless, the same principles hold," writes author and retired organizer Bill Barry labornotes.org/2025/09/how-...
How to Defend Members from Politicized Firings
Can a worker be fired simply for expressing an opinion that the boss or a political group finds objectionable? These days online attackers often campaign to pressure employers to fire workers for poli...
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"One worker told me, 'In most other developed nations, they have unionized financial service sectors. It's about time we catch up.'"-our editor Dan DiMaggio on today's Labor Notes Pod on Wells Fargo workers organizing the first union at a major U.S. bank labornotespodcast.podbean.com/e/wells-farg...
Title card for the Labor Notes Podcast. Our hosts Natascha Elena Uhlmann and Danielle Smith are featured in cut out photos on the left and right sides of the image, respectively, with the Labor Notes troublemakers slingshot logo between them. The background is blue and the text and slingshot are white.
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The Italian General Confederation of Labour, Italy’s largest labor confederation, called a general strike for October 3 “in defense of the Global Sumud Flotilla, constitutional values, to stop the genocide, and in support of the people of Gaza.” labornotes.org/2025/10/mill...
Millions of Italians Join General Strike for Gaza
More than 2 million people filled public squares across Italy on October 3 during a one-day general strike in support of the people of Gaza and against the ongoing genocide there. The strike, called b...
labornotes.org
labornotes.bsky.social
“Among our members—Republican, Democrat, independent, young, old, Black, white, every part of the country—over 90% say that these four issues are their top issues,” said Shawn Fain. “It's not the border. It's not bathrooms. It's not religious beliefs. It's the four core issues.”
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Over two million people across Italy walked out this month in a one-day strike over the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The strike, called by the Italian General Confederation of Labour and grassroots unions, drew workers, students and several other groups labornotes.org/2025/10/mill...
Millions of Italians Join General Strike for Gaza
More than 2 million people filled public squares across Italy on October 3 during a one-day general strike in support of the people of Gaza and against the ongoing genocide there. The strike, called b...
labornotes.org
labornotes.bsky.social
"The labor movement has been in decline in the past several decades for many reasons, but we have roadmaps to rebuild that power, deepen democracy within our unions, and build fighting class-struggle institutions of the whole working class." [email protected]

Visit May2028.org
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🎙️New on the Labor Notes Pod: Explore the new Labor Notes resource May2028.org, which has materials like templates for contract alignment resolutions, and guides for getting workers together in your area to build more democratic organizing spaces labornotespodcast.podbean.com/e/may-2028-c... 1/2
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"I conducted an informal survey of more than 30 Teamsters collective bargaining agreements and found that the 2025 wage scale is lower than the 'real wage' in 2020 for many of them," writes Richard de Vries, a retired Teamsters Local 705 union rep labornotes.org/2025/10/bigg...
The Biggest Bargaining Mistake Unions Are Making in 2025
When unions get ready for bargaining, we tend to look at the wage scale in our existing contract and think something like, “Let’s open with a proposal for a 5 percent raise every year, and maybe event...
labornotes.org
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"Workers took a stand in new ways, strengthening our relationships and faith in our ability to fight and win. And we made significant strides, including $2-an-hour raises, union orientation for new hires, and protections for our immigrant co-workers." labornotes.org/blogs/2025/1...
River Valley Co-op Workers Opened up Bargaining—and Won Big
River Valley Co-op is a consumer-owned cooperative grocery store with two locations in Western Massachusetts. We have been unionized with Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1459 for the last dec...
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You can sign on to Fain's call at UAW’s May Day website: may1.uaw.org

Labor Notes has some resources to help you get started at May2028.org
A graphic with a blue background and a faded out picture of UAW workers holding up large signs. The bold text in the foreground is a quote by UAW president Shawn Fain that reads: "If we’re going to truly take on the billionaire class and rebuild the economy so that it starts to work for the benefit of the many and not the few, then it’s important that we not only strike, but that we strike together."
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@uaw.org president Shawn Fain laid out four priorities for a workers’ political program

✅Fair wages
✅Health care
✅Retirement
✅Winning back our time

...and a strategy to fight for those essential needs: building toward a mass strike in May 2028

labornotes.org/2025/10/labo... 1/2
Labor Needs an Independent Political Program, Says UAW’s Fain
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain recently laid out four priorities he says should form the nucleus of a workers’ political program. And he said that a broad strike in May 2028 is one way to fi...
labornotes.org
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"The error that many bargaining teams make is not reviewing the cost of living each of the previous five years. Because of extreme inflation during the last five years, minimum increases of as much as 10 percent may be needed to restore purchasing power." labornotes.org/2025/10/bigg...
The Biggest Bargaining Mistake Unions Are Making in 2025
When unions get ready for bargaining, we tend to look at the wage scale in our existing contract and think something like, “Let’s open with a proposal for a 5 percent raise every year, and maybe event...
labornotes.org
Reposted by Labor Notes
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If there’s ever been a time when unprecedented collective action was needed, it’s now. Join the call: www.May2028.org
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"You can’t just speak a mass strike into existence. You have to get your coworkers on board and align your union contract—not just at one workplace but at a national scale. That takes time, and having a date to aim for can help us move in the same direction."
[email protected]
labornotes.bsky.social
🎙️New on the Labor Notes Pod: Explore the new Labor Notes resource May2028.org, which has materials like templates for contract alignment resolutions, and guides for getting workers together in your area to build more democratic organizing spaces labornotespodcast.podbean.com/e/may-2028-c... 1/2
labornotes.bsky.social
🗓️Online Workshop, Tuesday Oct. 21, 7 p.m. Eastern: What To Do When Your Union Breaks Your Heart

Organize with your coworkers and union members to build more democracy in your union and to make it responsive and accountable to its members!

Sign up: labornotes.org/events/2025/...
Workshop: What To Do When Your Union Breaks Your Heart
Cartoon by Mary Matthews, drawingdailyusa.com If you’re a union member, unfortunately the chances are good that you’ve had your heart broken at least once by one of your own leaders. Whether you tried...
labornotes.org
labornotes.bsky.social
🗓️Online Workshop, Tuesday Oct. 21, 7.30 p.m. Eastern: What To Do When Your Union Breaks Your Heart

Organize with your coworkers and union members to build more democracy in your union and to make it responsive and accountable to its members!

Sign up: labornotes.org/events/2025/...
Workshop: What To Do When Your Union Breaks Your Heart
Cartoon by Mary Matthews, drawingdailyusa.com If you’re a union member, unfortunately the chances are good that you’ve had your heart broken at least once by one of your own leaders. Whether you tried...
labornotes.org
labornotes.bsky.social
If there’s ever been a time when unprecedented collective action was needed, it’s now. Join the call: www.May2028.org
labornotes.bsky.social
The NC AFL-CIO will create a May Day Committee to plan a May Day 2028 mass action in coalition with other labor and community groups. “Imagine what kind of leverage we could have if we stood in solidarity,” said UAW Local 3520 president Jon Greene. labornotes.org/blogs/2025/1...
North Carolina AFL-CIO Convention Backs May Day 2028 Plans
The North Carolina AFL-CIO passed a resolution at its September convention backing the call from the United Auto Workers for mass action on May 1, 2028. The resolution directs the state AFL-CIO to cre...
labornotes.org