New Orleans The huge story by Mimi Schwartz in the New York Times Magazine section ran on June 10, 2007, almost a year ago under the banner of “Shop Stewards on Fantasy Island,” and at the time seemed to be an opening salvo in a major initiative by SEIU, as the USA’s largest union …
Category: Labor Organizing
Organizing Universals
Frankfurt Leaving India and reflecting on my most recent days in Mumbai, I was struck by some of the small, but poignant things that I found in some ways quietly moving, because they spoke to the “universals” of organizing and the work. I was struck by simple things. Watching Cheryl Deutsch and Bilip …
Creating an Employer for Mathadi Workers
Navi Mumbai Mathadi workers are the head loaders, bearers, and stackers on shipping docks and in trucks all over the country. They work in gangs of usually three workers with their grappling hook to tote and balance the sacks on their heads and in the piles on warehouses and lorries. They were usually informal …