Working Mass

Working-class life, culture & politics, New England & beyond. Reader-supported journalism. Support with a subscription, from $5/mo. Link below👇

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

Boston union workers speaking out against ICE.

Fear divides workers. Solidarity makes us strong.
When working people stand together, we have power.

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

Republished from @NewLaborForum in advance of the UAW Convention, a deep look into the UAW's ranks and debates:

https://t.co/3ucq55uotc

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

"Nurses are the ones who keep us alive. This is part of an ongoing war on the working class."

Nurses at Baystate Franklin have been struggling with poor nurse-to-patient ratios, leading to the drive to a potential strike.
https://t.co/KJnGN4Zh8S

[Only In Boston @OnlyInBOS]

A strike could be coming to one of Massachusetts' most iconic movie theaters.

The Coolidge Corner Theatre Union says workers voted 67% to reject the theater's "last and final" contract offer and will now set a strike date unless negotiations continue.

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

In an opinion today, Siobhan McDonough argues:

"Our city’s residents overwhelmingly oppose the oppressive U.S. blockade of Cuba... with Congress non-responsive, that duty falls to the representative Cambridge City Council."

https://t.co/8sSdXnZedB

[Jacobin @jacobin]

On this day 81 years ago, Nazi Germany formally surrendered and the world declared victory over fascism.

To commemorate V-E Day, here's a thread of our work exploring the often-ignored history of the communist-led struggles against fascism in Europe 🧵

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

@hgsuuaw strikes as other Harvard unions have so far chosen other strategies despite contract alignment, but anger on and off campus towards @Harvard is growing.

A university focused entirely on attacks from above increasingly faces dissent from below.

https://t.co/XV194x8OJI

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

@hgsuuaw strikes as other Harvard unions have so far chosen other strategies despite contract alignment, but anger on and off campus towards @Harvard is growing.

A university focused entirely on attacks from above increasingly faces dissent from below.

https://t.co/XV194x8OJI

[On the Line @laborontheline]

Stadium and hotel workers with @unitehere are demanding ICE OUT of LA during the World Cup, threatening to strike and shut down the games if they have to.

[Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) @organizeworkers]

How to protect your job from AI overreach in the workplace

This guide explains the AI issues facing workers and how they can organize for a voice in how it's implemented at work.

Link in 🧵

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

"You start to think of yourself as a number. The perception of how the administration treats us is just as a number in this work: a producer of outputs. People are still passionate about the work."

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

Somerville and its new mayor @jake4somerville face a test from organized labor as the city’s executive sits across from a burgeoning municipal workers’ union: Somerville Workers United (SWU) – @AFSCME93:

https://t.co/0QqwfWkK7m

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

Somerville non-union city workers have seen their job descriptions slowly divorced from requested responsibilities and compensation.

Meanwhile, compensation for non-union workers became less and less clear.

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

55% of Americans now feel that their financial situation is worsening — a higher level than during the Great Recession and the pandemic, according to Gallup.

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

"I was on the phone with my steward when he found out that we got a new contract. We were both working a 12-hour that day, but finding out that we got the same contract... killed any morale... they took 700 days to negotiate to give us the same thing we said no to."

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

The fight shows an upsurge in letter carrier rank-and-file organizing locally – but why? What brings rank-and-file postal workers together amidst a bad contract, tensions within the union over its bargaining process, and hostile federal government?

https://t.co/n5Qby3RMiH

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

No Steven Cheung she didn’t do a good job:

- Fired DoL civil servants who protected workers.
- Rule change to let 401ks be invested in private equity and crypto (??).
- Reported to have been drunk at work and harassing staffers.

Meanwhile 100 workers are killed at work a week.

[Steven Cheung @StevenCheung47]

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector. She has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives.

Keith Sonderling will take on the role of Acting Secretary of Labor.

[David Dayen @ddayen]

Union Now is a new organization that will provide material resources for union organizing in what amounts to a national strike fund, writes @whitneycwimbish. Delta, Starbucks, and Amazon are among the first targets, says @FlyingWithSara.
https://t.co/h92ofCf4C1

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

https://t.co/CdmLlXaIjd

[𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗦𝗔 🌹 @WorcDSA]

As we approach 5 years since the historic strike at St. Vincent’s hospital, hundreds of MNA nurses across 5 hospitals launched info pickets to demand fair contracts from UMass!🪧

Tons of DSAers walked the line with nurses, and we joined all 5 pickets across Central Mass!

🧵1/3

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

Safer staffing levels and working conditions, fair wages, and limits to shift rotations are top concerns for MNA members which UMass has yet to address at the bargaining table.
https://t.co/PIgo4Q7fB6

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

The bargaining unit at University has been offered annual wage increases as low as 1% by management.

Since 2022, when many MNA nurses ratified their last contract with UMass hospitals, electric bills in Massachusetts have increased by about 30%.

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

Adding to the urgency organizers feel around the 2026 contract fight is a widely-held feeling that the recently settled 2025 contract was ‘too little, too late’ for many.... The final vote tally: 63,680 no votes to 26,304 in favor.

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

The fight shows an upsurge in letter carrier rank-and-file organizing locally – but why? What brings rank-and-file postal workers together amidst a bad contract, tensions within the union over its bargaining process, and hostile federal government?

https://t.co/n5Qby3RMiH

[Working Mass @dsaworkingmass]

"I was on the phone with my steward when he found out that we got a new contract. We were both working a 12-hour that day, but finding out that we got the same contract... killed any morale... they took 700 days to negotiate to give us the same thing we said no to."