Jane Slaughter

Update August 6, 2013: The Department of Defense reduced the number of furlough days for 650,000 civilian employees from 11 to six. AFGE President David Cox credited AFGE activists who had flooded the White House and congressional offices with stories of personal hardship and said that Pentagon officials had admitted the furloughs were unnecessary.

“Weekday frequent flyers”—that is, business travelers—must have felt drunk with power in April, when Congress rushed to fix the inconvenience caused by air traffic controller furloughs.

More than a century after workers fought for the eight-hour day on May Day, the fight for decent hours continues. Join today's marches for immigrant rights!

The company’s tight control of drivers makes them nearly as regimented as workers on an assembly line.

The most clear-cut victories along the Walmart supply chain—though small in absolute terms—have been in warehouses, which is not surprising, because warehouses are a chokepoint in Walmart’s sophisticated logistics operations.

The $2.2 trillion in goods that enters the U.S. from abroad each year must pass quickly through the hands of logistics workers—dockworkers, port truckers, railroad workers, truck drivers, and warehouse workers—before ending up in stores. A work stoppage at any point blocks the flow of not just iPhones and pajamas but also profits.