Tag Archives: labor
The COVID-19 Crisis Points the Way Toward a Better Texas
Once the virus passes, there's no reason to let the powerful return peacefully to business as usual.
The time has come for progressives to exploit a crisis for political gain. As the novel coronavirus sweeps across America, it isn’t tanking an otherwise...Read More
With Paid Leave Policies, Texas Cities Tried to Prepare for Coronavirus
Too many Texas workers can’t stay home when they’re sick. Two years ago, a movement tried to change that.
As the coronavirus spread across the nation late last week, U.S. Senator John Cornyn had some simple advice: “If you’re sick, stay home.” Easy, right? T...Read More
Off the Texas Gulf Coast, Tugboat Crews Are Stuck on Their Boats Without Pay
Bouchard Transportation, a massive shipping firm, hasn’t paid docking fees or worker salaries, leading to a rare quandary in U.S. waters.
They haven’t drawn a paycheck in months. Some haven’t set foot on dry land since January. But at least 10 crew members stuck aboard three tugboats near the ...Read More
In Amarillo, Copper Workers’ Strike Enters Fourth Month with No End in Sight
Laborers in the Republican-dominated Texas Panhandle find themselves in a protracted fight with one of the world’s largest copper producers.
It’s a February evening in the Texas Panhandle, and it’s cold as hell. Five men stand on the shoulder of Highway 136 northeast of Amarillo, huddled around a...Read More
‘Almost Akin to a Political Coup’: Houston Teachers Fight Back Against State Takeover of HISD
In a last-ditch effort to stop a state takeover of Texas’ largest school district, the Houston teachers union is suing the state for disenfranchising voters of color.
The fight over the future of Houston’s public school system escalated this week when the local teachers union joined a federal voting rights lawsuit against t...Read More
Short Story Contest Finalist: ‘The Prize’
In this dreamlike tale, a struggling poet sabotages the contest he’s judging.
Fernando A. Flores, guest judge for our 2019 short story contest, says his favorite stories are those that “take some kind of risk, strive for something great...Read More
What the UAW Strike Looks Like, From Deep in the Heart of Anti-Union Texas
GM autoworkers from the Arlington plant, one of the company’s most profitable, are part of the largest strike against a U.S. business since 2007.
The sprawling General Motors Assembly Plant in Arlington, Texas, is a long way from Detroit and the Rust Belt, where both the modern American auto industry and ...Read More
Remembering Sister Christine Stephens, the Organizers’ Organizer
Stephens began her career as a community organizer in San Antonio, Houston, the Valley, and Dallas and later supervised IAF organizing across Texas and the Southwest.
On the evening of July 25, about 400 people packed a large chapel at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio for the wake for Sister Christine Stephens. ...Read More
Texas Workers Are Dying on the Job at Alarming Rates
“Literally, we’re not holding employers liable for the lives of their workers.”
In 2017, a worker in Texas died on the job every 16 hours. They died from electrocution, asphyxiation, falls from roofs, exposure to toxins, equipment malfuncti...Read More
