Worker’s Almanac

Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. Around 100 workers at Cargill Corn Milling in Cedar Rapids are officially on strike.   The three-year contract between Cargill—with corn milling and soybean processing plants in the city—and workers unionized with Teamsters Local 238 expired at midnight Tuesday.   But workers didn’t vote to…

Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. I heard from two workers being sued by an Iowa company over a noncompete agreement they say is unfairly keeping them from finding other jobs.   Seneca Companies was started in 1972 by Chris Risewick, who sold petroleum equipment. Over the decades, the Des Moines-based…

Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. Eight Iowans were killed on this day 23 years ago in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Read their stories from Notes on Iowa.   Did you watch the debate last night? (Watching clips on social media counts!) Tell me your thoughts, and I’ll run them in…

Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. Monday was Labor Day in the US, and Iowa Federation of Labor President Charlie Wishman came out swinging against inequality in his Labor Day message:   “Labor Day is for you, but as we reach the end of the summer of 2024, it feels like…

Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. This Monday is Labor Day, but only in the US and Canada (where it’s Labour Day). And, since this is the Worker’s Almanac, it’s more than a day off for us!   Most other countries celebrate International Workers’ Day, or May Day, on May 1…

Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. The heads of several unions spoke on Monday, the first night of the Democratic National Convention, which continues through tomorrow in Chicago.   Showing up to praise the Biden-Harris administration, and denounce how Trump treated working Americans, were: Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, an…

Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. Yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate—arguably a progressive pick, given the laws Walz has signed as governor that have propelled Minnesota into an escape state for many of Iowa’s more liberal-minded folks.   But picking Walz also…

The newsletter for Iowa’s working class Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday: July 24, 2024. Unless you were falling out of a coconut tree since Sunday, you already heard the news that President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, instead. (Democrats will officially decide…

The newsletter for Iowa’s working class Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday: July 17, 2024. A second Starbucks has officially unionized in Iowa—and two workers I spoke with say they were almost the first.   Eighteen workers at the Starbucks store on East 53rd Street in Davenport filed with the National Labor Relations Board…

The newsletter for Iowa’s working class Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday: July 10, 2024. You probably heard about the very public bankruptcy of Iowa City’s *other* hospital, Mercy Iowa City.   You may have also heard that the hospital and around 1,000 jobs were saved when University of Iowa Health Care (UIHC) agreed…