There is no doubt that the “worker-to-worker organizing” model outlined by Eric Blanc in his new book, We Are the Union, is key to union organizing success. [...] Blanc writes, “Three things in particular define the new model: 1) Workers have a decisive say on strategy, and 2) Workers begin organizing before receiving guidance from a parent union, and/or 3) Workers train and guide other workers in organizing methods.” At times, this definition seems not only expansive but also paradoxical, encompassing everything from the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)–affiliated Burgerville campaign in the Pacific Northwest to the new leadership of the United Auto Workers (UAW), who came to power through the efforts of a reform movement within the union.

https://jacobin.com/2025/04/worker-organizing-starbucks-democracy-blanc/

open corruption part 1

https://readsludge.com/2025/04/21/trumps-top-inaugural-donor-is-poultry-company-fined-for-price-fixing-and-antitrust-violations/

open corruption part 2:

The article reveals that the Trump administration’s new tariff policy, while sweeping and publicly framed as tough on imports, includes a list of over 1,000 product exemptions—many of which appear to have been made without clear criteria or transparency. One such exempted item is PET resin, a plastic used in bottles. Its inclusion has baffled industry members since it doesn’t obviously fit into the White House’s stated exempt categories (pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, energy, etc.).

The exemption benefited Reyes Holdings, a major Coca-Cola bottler owned by politically connected billionaire donors to Republican causes. Reyes had recently hired a powerful lobbying firm with deep Trump ties, suggesting a possible influence on the exemption decision. However, there's no direct evidence linking the lobbying to the carve-out, and both Reyes and the administration declined to comment.

The process contrasts sharply with Trump’s first term, when tariff exemption requests were submitted through a public, formal procedure. Now, companies lobby behind closed doors, raising concerns among trade experts about favoritism or corruption. Other oddly exempt items include asbestos, sucralose, and cuttlebone—suggesting arbitrary decision-making or heavy political influence. Meanwhile, industries like agriculture also successfully lobbied for exemptions.

https://truthout.org/articles/politically-connected-firms-benefit-from-trump-tariff-exemptions/

open corruption 3

An analysis released Monday in the wake of new Federal Election Commission filings shows that the Trump administration has dropped or paused federal enforcement cases against at least 17 corporations that donated to the president’s inaugural fund, an indication that companies’ attempts to buy favor with the White House are already paying off.

“Apple donated $1M. Trump exempted most of Apple’s imports from tariffs,” Reich added. “Coinbase donated $1M. Trump’s SEC dropped a major lawsuit against them. See how this works?”

Bank of America, Capital One, Coinbase, DuPont, and JPMorgan are among the corporations that donated to Trump’s inauguration and subsequently had federal enforcement cases dismissed.

https://truthout.org/articles/trump-drops-or-pauses-cases-against-17-corporations-that-funded-his-inauguration/

Open corruption part 4

The Trump administration's decision to halt enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) has severely undermined the U.S.'s efforts to combat money laundering and illicit finance. The CTA, aimed at requiring companies to disclose their beneficial owners, was a major step toward closing regulatory loopholes that have long allowed criminals to hide behind anonymous shell companies. However, with the enforcement provisions effectively suspended, the law's purpose is now in jeopardy, allowing criminal actors to continue exploiting the U.S. financial system with little accountability.

https://jacobin.com/2025/04/money-laundering-corruption-financial-crime/

"I define the worker-to-worker model as one in which organizing is relatively lightly staffed, and therefore scalable, because “1) Workers have a decisive say on strategy, and 2) Workers begin organizing before receiving guidance from a parent union, and/or 3) Workers train and guide other workers in organizing methods.” Unfortunately, this cluster of attributes has been exceedingly rare from the 1950s onward, contrary to Fong’s suggestion that a staff-intensive approach was limited to the 1990s.

Even after the post-pandemic uptick, exceptionally few unions have anything resembling the rigorous worker-to-worker training and structures of the NewsGuild’s national Member Organizer Program, which trains up worker leaders in all the responsibilities that in other unions are typically carried out by staff. It would be a game changer for the labor movement if most unions began to organize like the Guild.

In order to help make that happen, my book sought to clarify the urgency of adopting a new model and to specify the practices unions could adopt, including big online organizing training programs; worker coaching of new drives; small nationwide “pods” of worker leaders to pass on encouragement and expertise; elaborate online systems for worker leaders to keep track of the organizing skills and the campaign benchmarks; and mass seeding of new drives through worker outreach, digital tools, and the distribution of materials to support self-organized drives."

"Finally, even though the idea of putting workers in the drivers’ seat is not new, I do think my case for doing so is unique. Rather than fall into a common labor-leftist trap of treating militancy as a silver bullet, or downplaying the importance of resources, experienced staff, and systematic organizing training, I argue that these need to be deployed in a way that’s scalable.

I remain unconvinced of her skepticism. Services now make up over 75 percent of the United States’ GDP, while manufacturing contributes about 10 percent. And the overwhelming majority of our workforce is also now employed in services. Don’t these economic shifts from a century ago oblige us to adjust our unionization (and electoral) strategies accordingly?"

https://jacobin.com/2025/04/blanc-response-worker-organizing-unions/

Executive Order 14026 was issued by former President Joe Biden in 2021. In addition to increasing the minimum wage rate for federal contractors, it set adjustments to account for inflation. The Department of Labor (DOL) estimated that some 327,300 workers saw their wages go up, with an average wage increase of over $5,000 a year. The 2025 rate was set to be $17.75 per hour.

A full overturning of the rule means that some federal contractors will return Obama-era wage of $13.30 an hour, but Trump could undo the minimum wage for these workers altogether, meaning that some contractors could make just $7.25 an hour in some states.

https://truthout.org/articles/trump-quietly-took-away-a-living-wage-from-thousands-of-federal-workers/

As Senior Editor Evan Ackerman notes in “Robots for Cows (and Their Humans)”, traditional dairy farming is very labor-intensive. Cows need to be milked at least twice per day to prevent discomfort. Conventional milking facilities are engineered for human efficiency, with systems like rotating carousels that bring the cows to the dairy workers.

The robotic systems that Netherlands-based Lely has been developing since the early 1990s are much more about doing things the bovine way. That includes letting the cows choose when to visit the milking robot, resulting in a happier herd and up to 10 percent more milk production.

Turns out that what’s good for the cows might be good for the humans, too. Another Lely bot deals with feeding, while yet another mops up the manure, the proximate cause of much of the slipping and sliding that can result in injuries. The robots tend to reset the cow–human relationship—it becomes less adversarial because the humans aren’t always there bossing the cows around.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/dairy-robots