Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Journalist and Union Member Steve Mellon Reframes the Art of Labor Organizing: a Seven with Sue (+1) Q&A

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The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh Won Their Three Year Strike

I grew up in a union town, of course. My father and other relatives were union men. I understand the importance of a union in the labor and economic ecosystem. While they are as inherently flawed as any other tool of capitalism, unions are necessary to dismantle capitalism in the long run and to protect […]

The (Red Cup) Rebellion – Starbucks Workers Strike in Pittsburgh and Beyond

So don’t go to Starbucks. They went on strike today and it is open-ended. Don’t go to Starbucks. Don’t buy Starbucks stuff. The open-ended strike begins with 65 stores across 40+ cities and comes after six months of Starbucks refusing to offer new proposals to address workers’ demands for better staffing, higher pay, and resolution […]

How to we measure the labor of the unpaid workforce?

Eat'nPark

I miss breakfast. My wife and I had a tradition on Monday holidays to go out to breakfast. Sometimes it was Eat n’ Park, sometimes Waffles Inc. It was our joint appreciation of the rest we had earned thanks to the labor advocates around the nation. And it was a small, but simple tradition that […]

Support Striking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Workers

I feel the loss of the Post-Gazette quite keenly, but I am hopeful that the tenacity of the union will hold things together and allow us to resume having a world class paper in a world class City. It is especially sad on this anniversary of the Tree of Life Shooting to see the people […]

How Starbucks Helped Me Endure the Pandemic. Until Now.

I used to smirk at people who sat in line, engines idling, for long periods of time at a local Starbucks. I could park, go in, place my order, use the bathroom, collect my order, and walk out while they sat there just waiting. My wife and I spent a lot of time at Starbucks. […]

Are the Pittsburgh Penguins Two Steps Above the Crack’d Egg or Just Regular Greedy Rich White Men?

Pittsburgh Penguins PPP

I must admit – I was shocked when I first read that the Pittsburgh Penguins (hockey franchise) accepted a $4.8 million loan from from the federal program set up to help small businesses weather the pandemic, I thought it was a hoax. I mean, they are the Penguins – the good rich mostly white dudes. […]

Pgh Media Outlets Lift Up White, Cis Voices and Allies to Examine SCOTUS LGBTQ Ruling, Disregard Black Voices

I am deeply dismayed that most of the regional media coverage of yesterday’s stunning civil rights win for the LGBTQ community has centered white cisgender and heterosexual folx. I don’t understand how these journalists could have been so deeply embedded in recent events without questioning why all the ‘deciders’ are white cisgender folx? Or incorporating […]

Q&A with a 30-year Employee of a Grocery Store

Groceries

I feel like my company is doing the best they can and listening to our concerns and adjusting to help us. I feel customers are not. Many of us who have worked retail and/or grocery retail in the past have some appreciation for what our neighbors in those jobs are experiencing, or perhaps more accurately, […]

The Persad Staff Union Q&A

The overworked, underpaid staff who have repeatedly resisted the board and consistently shown that have zero faith in their board leadership. They’ve posted open letters to the board. They have demands. They organized a door decorating contest to demonstrate their cohesion. They value and respect their current Executive Director, Carlos Torres, and seem to believe […]