SEIU Joins AFL-CIO to 'Unleash a New Era of Worker Power' as Trump 2.0 Looms

By Jake Johnson

CEOs and billionaires want nothing more than to see workers divided, but we're standing here today with greater solidarity than ever," said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler.

The 2-million-member-strong Service Employees International Union announced Wednesday that it is joining the AFL-CIO, bolstering the ranks of the largest labor federation in the United States as unions prepare to fight the incoming Trump administration.

"CEOs and billionaires want nothing more than to see workers divided, but we're standing here today with greater solidarity than ever to reach the 60 million Americans who say they'd join a union tomorrow if the laws allowed and to unrig our labor laws to guarantee every worker in America the basic right to organize on the job," AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said in a statement.

Panel discusses ongoing impact of fines and fees on marginalized Alabamians

By Ralph Chapoco

Criminal justice reform advocates discussed  the impact of fines and fees on marginalized Alabamians, as well as possible solutions, at a panel discussion this month.

Alabama lawmakers in recent years have enacted dozens of fines and fees, many through local bills, that increase the cost of going through the criminal justice system or in getting a license plate for a motor vehicle. While some fees go to victim restitution, others are levied to pay for basic operations of the court system. Most fall disproportionately on those least able to pay.

Biden Commutes 37 Death Penalty Sentences — Critics Call for More

By Chris Walker, Truthout

President Joe Biden has granted commutations to most of the people currently facing a federal death penalty sentence, granting the largest number of single-day death row clemencies in U.S. history. 

“This historic clemency action builds on the President’s record of criminal justice reform,” a fact sheet from the White House read, adding that Biden “has issued more commutations at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same point in their first terms.”

'No Contract, No Coffee': Starbucks Workers Launch Five Days of Strikes

By Jake Johnson

Starbucks Workers United accused the company of "backtracking on our promised path forward" and failing to present a "serious economic proposal" to unionized baristas.

Starbucks workers launched five days of escalating strikes across the United States on Friday, accusing the coffee giant of reneging on its commitment to engage in productive bargaining talks with the union that now represents more than 11,000 baristas at over 500 stores nationwide.

The walkouts will start in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle on Friday before expanding "coast to coast" amid the holiday rush, Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) said in a statement announcing the strikes.

Workers launch largest strike against Amazon in US history

By Natalia Marques

Amazon workers across the country hit the picket line in an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike to demand union recognition and contract negotiations

Before the sun rose at 6 am on Thursday, December 19, thousands of Amazon workers in facilities across the United States launched the largest strike against the multi-billion dollar corporation in US history. Workers, organized with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, are continuing to hold down the picket line well into the afternoon (at the time of publication), in some cases braving arrests and police repression of their labor activity.