Hating On American Workers
Top Story: Who hates unions?
Union-busting is having a moment.
The Trump Administration, Project 2025, and lots of Republican state legislators —some on your beats — are working overtime to disempower workers and leave them with limited ability to negotiate.
The decline of unions is bad for democracy.
It hurts families.
It weakens the middle class.
It’s not good for the communities you cover.
Tips for Covering Anti-Union Activity on Your Beat
Name names. Let people know about the larger forces and biggest players funding — and orchestrating —the anti-union movement.
Avoid repeating propaganda. Bad-faith arguments designed to create ill-will against workers who advocate for themselves is a PR tool used by union-busters. Don’t be a mouthpiece for PR execs.
Understand what’s at stake. Union busters like to candy-coat their intentions. But a push for increased profits drives union-busting. Follow the money.
Try to avoid the term Right-to-Work. It's misleading and dishonest, designed to spread the idea that unions do the opposite of what unions do: give workers more freedom.
Tell stories about people fighting back.
Also In The News
We’re Watching
Norma Rae - A 1979 classic about a working mother who sought to unionize her co-workers in a North Carolina cotton mill.
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Our Staff
Executive Editor Kyle Spencer
Guest Editor Chloe Taft
Our Board of Advisors
Alex Aronson, executive director of Court Accountability
David Armiak, research director for the Center for Media and Democracy
Connor Gibson, founder of Grassrootbeer Investigations
Maurice Cunningham, retired associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and author of Dark Money and The Politics of School Privatization.
Isaac Kamola, associate professor of political science at Trinity College, founder of Faculty First Responders and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
Nancy MacLean, William H. Chafe distinguished professor of history and public policy at Duke University and author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America
Ralph Wilson, founder of the Corporate Genome Project and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
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