Superbarrio: The People’s Superhero
Defender of the poor tenants and evictor of the voracious landlords, a masked lucha libre wrestler rose from the ruins of Mexico City’s 1985 earthquake.
The Hobo College of Hobohemia
Vagrancy laws targeted hobos at a time when there were few jobs for them. They responded by forming a union and helping to create Chicago’s Hobo College.
How “Measured Militancy” Empowered California’s Fieldworkers
When Mexican-American fieldworkers' strikes didn't net results, César Chávez led the Ventura County Community Service Organization in alternate tactics.
The Bisbee Deportations
According to one scholar, the 1917 deportation in Bisbee, AZ wasn't "about labor relations or race or gender: it was about all of them."
The Teachers’ Union Boomerang
Today's teacher's strikes in places like Oklahoma and West Virginia are the result of labor battles back in 2010, and the declining presence of unions across the economy generally.
When Jimmy Hoffa Vanished, He Took Union Strength With Him
The July 30, 1975, disappearance of labor leader Jimmy Hoffa sparked public fascination because he was an important cog in the nation's economy.
When did May Day Turn Into an Immigrants’ Rights Day?
May Day has traditionally focused on labor and working class issues. Immigration and immigrant labor adds a new dimension to the holiday.
Why Grad Students Unionize
The graduate student union movement is a fight by low-paid workers to get more money and better benefits.
The Black Panthers’ Unlikely Ally
Cesar Chavez's non-violent United Farm Workers and the militant Black Panthers aligned politically throughout the 60s and 70s.
The Checkered History of Colleges, Unions, and Scabs
In the early twentieth-century, some aristocratic college men were eager to prove their masculinity by working as strikebreakers.