Labor Archives - Page 12 of 17

Danish Brewers Fight for Right to Drink Beer on the Job

Benjamin Dangl April 12, 2010 Benjamin Dangl

At Carlsberg Brewery

For over a century workers at Denmark's Carlsberg brewery have been allowed to drink free beer on the job throughout the workday. After the management ended that policy on April 1st, hundreds of workers went on strike. "We've actually stopped working because Carlsberg's management violated the bargaining agreement by making a policy change without our input," Carlsberg union representative Dennis Onsvig told the Copenhagen Post.

Beer Battles: Workers in Belgium Take on Brewing Giant

Benjamin Dangl February 4, 2010 Benjamin Dangl

Brewery Workers at Road Blockade*

For two weeks in January Belgian brewery workers blocked roads, set fire to beer crates, kidnapped managers and handed out free beer as part of their tactics against job cuts proposed by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer. The company announced the cuts in spite of profits of $1.55 billion in the third quarter of 2009. "This is the ugly face of capitalism," Roger Van Vlasselaer, the leader of a major Belgian union said.

The Violence of Work: New Book Brings Work Out of the Shadows

Micah Uetricht February 3, 2010 Micah Uetricht

It's 6:00 PM and you've just arrived home from work. Stomach growling and body exhausted, you dial your favorite restaurant and order a chicken Caesar salad, delivery; at the door, you exchange pleasantries with the deliverer and pay. The only thought you might give to those who made your meal possible is one of annoyance-the chicken is overdone, or the cook forgot the croutons. But what about the farm worker who cut and picked the lettuce your overcooked meat now lies on, despite his aching back and throbbing hands?

How Tech Giants Outsource Labor on American Soil

John Lasker December 23, 2009 John Lasker

Bill Gates

Like a lot of American corporations that made mind-boggling profits over the last few decades, the Microsoft, IBM and Cisco technology companies have abandoned their own citizen workforce to exploit foreign workers. But this isn't happening in some far off sweat shop, this outsourcing is happening right on American soil. In this case, corporate power, channeled through high-paid lobbyists and fat campaign contributions, strong-armed elected officials into passing laws that surreptitiously squash the labor rights of both US citizens and foreign workers alike.

Unpredictable Futures: Stories From Worker-Run Factories in Argentina

Benjamin Dangl November 24, 2009 Benjamin Dangl

Following the social upheaval in Argentina in 2001-2002 a book was published in Spanish that a lot of activists and independent journalists in the country began trying to get their hands on. It wasn't in all of the bookstores, but news about it traveled like wildfire. Now the legendary book, Sin Patron: Stories From Argentina's Worker-Run Factories, is translated and available to the English-speaking world.

Anti-Capitalism Goes Mainstream: New Film Opens Space for Radical Debate

Alex Knight October 22, 2009 Alex Knight

Capitalism: A Love Story, which opened in 962 theaters earlier this month, is Michael Moore's most ambitious work yet - taking aim at the root cause behind the injustices he's exposed in his other films over the last 20 years. This time capitalism itself is the culprit to be maligned in Moore's trademark docu-tragi-comic style. And by using the platform of a major motion picture to make a direct assault at the root of the problem, Moore has created space in the political mainstream for a radical conversation (radical meaning "going to the root").