Labor Archives - Toward Freedom

Covid 19 and The Desperate Lives of India’s Sugarcane Workers

Sanket Jain February 21, 2021 Sanket Jain

Devabai Valvi used to sharpen her sickle every month. That changed when the pandemic swept through India. For the first time, she had to abandon her sickle and watch with dismay as agricultural workers like herself were forced to to be idle. On March 23rd, 2020, when India reported 618 COVID cases, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi hastily declared a lockdown – curbing the movement of 1.3 billion people. Sixty eight days later, when the lockdown was lifted, India had already registered 189,273 COVID cases, and today, nine months later, it has surpassed 10 million cases and reported over 155,000 deaths. India now has the highest number of COVID cases after the United States.

Unionization + Decriminalization + Feminist Education = The Red Feminist Horizon

Ava Caradonna February 21, 2020 Ava Caradonna

Sex work decriminalization and unionization must happen simultaneously so that the changes benefit sex workers and not just bosses.

Canada Two-Faced on Mexico Labor Standards

Chris Ramsaroop December 18, 2019 Chris Ramsaroop

Politicians and trade negotiators alike would like us to forget that migrant agricultural workers are subjected to substandard labor protections in Canada.

This Labor Day, We Need Real Plans to Build Worker Power

Finn Collom September 1, 2019 Finn Collom

This Labor Day, it’s time this country had a real conversation about building power for the working class.

How Working-Class Movements Are Moving Beyond the Confines of Capitalism

Celina della Croce July 3, 2019 Celina della Croce

The challenges posed by global capital require creativity in their solutions. We must rebuild the imagination of the working class and combat the capitalist narrative that has made it easier for us to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.

It’s Time for $15 and a Union

Negin Owliaei April 16, 2019 Negin Owliaei

It’s been less than a decade since a few hundred fast-food employees walked off the job to demand a $15 wage and a union. Now, they’re a global movement that’s fundamentally changed the conversation on the rights of low-wage workers.