“As a sophomore at Northeastern University in Boston, I knew little about the labor movement. However, I was passionate about social justice and knew that we could make our world a better place by simply believing we could and doing the work to organize our communities. It wasn’t until I participated in AFSCME’s Union Scholars Program that I developed a fundamental love for and dedication to uplifting workers' rights. The Union Scholars program is an immersive, paid internship for students of color who want to learn about union organizing and become part of the labor movement.”

“If you’re one of the people who’s been following the Warrior Met Coal strike over the past 23 months, it’s almost certain that you’ve heard the name Haeden Wright. The 35-year-old mother of two is a teacher, an activist, an elected official, a coal miner’s daughter and a boss’s worst nightmare. She’s a vocal presence on social media, has given countless interviews, and has participated in panels and other public events in an effort to direct attention to the strike.”

“Queer and trans workers have long been at the frontlines of solidarity, bridging identities and social movements. In this moving webinar, held online on March 22, we heard powerful highlights from LGBTQIA+ labor history (some illustrated in comics), and heard from workers organizing unions today at Howard Brown Health and Google about how they're building people power against capitalism—and why organizing your workplace is the best way to make friends in your thirties!”

“During this event, worker advocates, forward thinkers, and movement leaders imagined new systems of worker supports, protections, and power for those excluded from existing benefits and social protections, including independent contractors, temp workers, and workers in the arts. Participants expressed support for widespread adoption of guaranteed income and cash transfer programs that would help all people, including independent contractors and other excluded workers who do not have a strong safety net.”

“Ninety years ago this May, eighteen-year-old food worker Carrie Smith marched onto the shop floor of a nut processing factory in St Louis and initiated one of the most successful labor actions of the Great Depression. ‘The heavy stuff is here,’ Smith said, observing the urgency and decisiveness of the moment upon them. ‘Get your hats and let’s go.’”

“Watch Burnes Center senior fellow Seth Harris interview Andy Levin, former U.S. representative for Michigan’s 9th congressional district and current distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, as they discuss Levin's history as a union organizer, labor law reform, his home state, and more.”

“Listen to Burnes Center senior fellow Seth Harris interview Andy Levin, former U.S. representative for Michigan’s 9th congressional district and current distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, as they discuss Levin's history as a union organizer, labor law reform, his home state, and more.”

"Watch the Burnes Center for Social Change's Seth Harris in conversation with Tony Clark, Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), as they discuss the minor league organizing success, baseball players as workers, the importance of unions in baseball, and more."

"Listen to the Burnes Center for Social Change's Seth Harris in conversation with Tony Clark, Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), as they discuss the minor league organizing success, baseball players as workers, the importance of unions in baseball, and more."

“As a longtime labor organizer, scholar, and writer, Jane McAlevey has repeatedly articulated how mass numbers of workers can organize, negotiate, strike, and change the world. In an extended interview with Jacobin, McAlevey reflects on her life and work.”

“Watch the Burnes Center for Social Change's Seth Harris in conversation with Daniel Ratner, partner at Levy Ratner, as they discuss the incredible story of the Battle of Bronxville, Ratner's history as a union organizer, some of the biggest cases in labor now, and more.”

“Listen to the Burnes Center for Social Change's Seth Harris in conversation with Daniel Ratner, partner at Levy Ratner, as they discuss the incredible story of the Battle of Bronxville, Ratner's history as a union organizer, some of the biggest cases in labor now, and more.”

"Two weeks in, the writers strike already has at least one icon—and she’s not a writer. Lindsay Dougherty is a Teamster boss who heads up Los Angeles’s Local 399 and is director of the Teamsters Motion Picture Division, among other jobs. She got screenwriters’ attention when she appeared, along with other entertainment industry union heads, at the first big WGA members’ meeting after the strike was called against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the association that represents film and television studios. Standing on the stage of the Shrine Auditorium, she told the crowd that the Teamster trucks that are so crucial to production would not cross picket lines. And she sent a raucous message that rang out through Hollywood: “What I’d like to say to the studios is: If you want to fuck around, you’re gonna find out.” 

“Until losing a leadership fight in 1995, Mr. Donahue was among the most feared and courted labor power brokers in Washington in an era before union clout in politics began to wane. He was only briefly the top figure at the AFL-CIO, but he was often the main envoy representing its dozens of unions and more than 12 million members from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s.”

“Revisiting Nickel and Dimed, Dancing in the Streets, and many more of the late author’s groundbreaking books.”

“Throughout our nation’s history, women have frequently been influential leaders in the fight for workers’ rights.  Women have been pioneers of workplace safety, fair wage advocates, and labor organizers have helped to uplift and improve conditions for all workers. In honor of Women’s History Month, here are eleven inspiring quotes from women labor leaders.”

“This Women’s History Month, we’re profiling leaders who are making women’s history across the labor movement today.”

“Viewed at a distance, the gathering on Friday, May 26, in downtown Los Angeles looked familiar. Union members hoisted signs, chanted messages of solidarity as they walked city blocks. Finally they arrived at their destination, the massive convention center, where the state’s Democratic Party was staging its annual meeting…A dozen unions were represented, according to those who attended, and they cut across various kinds of work in L.A., from those who cook and clean rooms to those who create and deliver Hollywood productions. Their common thread: finding a way to continue to both work and live here. It could be a summer-long theme…The unions involved in the event collectively represent about 200,000 members, part of an estimated 800,000 union-represented workers in Los Angeles County alone. At least 100,000 of those are on contracts that expire this summer, said Minato, whose union has about 100 separate contracts up for renegotiation.”

“Watch Burnes Center Senior Fellow Seth Harris in conversation with John O'Malley, Legislative Coordinator for the Communications Workers of America Local 1180, as they discuss his history organizing in the workplace, the legislative goals of local 1180, organizing not-for-profit workers, and much more.”

“For months, Rizzo had clocked in before dawn convinced that the company where she had worked for nearly eight years was determined to fire her. And Rizzo thought she knew why: She was one of 49 baristas from across Buffalo who sent a letter to the company’s chief executive in August 2021 informing him that they were seeking to form a union.”

“In the 1970s, New York City was rescued by a collaboration of union leaders and money men. Could such an alliance happen today?”

“This June also marks the 80th anniversary of a remarkable strike at the giant R.J. Reynolds tobacco plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which established Local 22 of the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers (FTA). One of those strikers, a sharecropper’s daughter named Moranda Smith, would be elected to the national union’s executive committee three and a half years later, making her the first Black woman in the national leadership of a U.S. union.”

“In recent years, the media has turned its attention to the stories of ordinary working people. Farmworkers and grocery clerks who risked their lives to care for us and keep us fed during the height of the pandemic were briefly celebrated and deemed ‘essential.’ Tales of their bravery were followed by headlines about the great resignation, as many quit their jobs or retired early. Of course, work has always been with us. It’s older than poetry, even, and central to who we are as a people and a country…Despite the losses, labor remains at the center of the story of who we are as a country — including through slavery, farming and assembly lines. And today the headlines are about unionization — and the thwarting of these efforts — in previously unorganized places like Starbucks coffee shops and Amazon warehouses. The ‘singing’ continues.”

“Early in Barack Obama’s recent Netflix documentary series about American jobs, viewers meet a housekeeper at the Pierre Hotel in New York named Elba…I will admit that I was surprised: Elba earns about $4,000 a month, or roughly $50,000 a year. While modest, that income still allows for something approaching a middle-class lifestyle, especially when combined with the income her husband, Francisco, makes at his job in the Pierre Hotel’s cafeteria…Many other service workers earn far less. Full-time Starbucks baristas in New York City often earn less than $35,000 a year, while many Walmart employees make even less. Across New York City, the median household income is about $75,000 — which is less than Elba and Francisco make. How is it that they earn a living wage while so many other Americans do not? The biggest part of the answer is that Elba belongs to a labor union.”

“In Hollywood, the cool kids have joined the picket line. I mean no offense, as a writer, to the screenwriters who have been on strike against film and TV studios for over two months. But writers know the score. We’re the words, not the faces. The cleverest picket sign joke is no match for the attention-focusing power of Margot Robbie or Matt Damon…But for all the focus that a few boldface names will get in this strike, I invite you to consider a term that has come up a lot in the current negotiations: ‘Background actors.’...You and I may be the protagonists of our own narratives, but in the grand scheme most of us are background players. We face the same risk — that every time a technological or cultural shift happens, companies will rewrite the terms of employment to their advantage, citing financial pressures while paying their top executives tens and hundreds of millions.”

“During the pandemic, 28% of Black workers were classified as “essential,” doing the work of caring for others that put them and their families at great risk. In Professor Blair LM Kelley’s new book, Black Folk — The Roots of the Black Working Class, Kelley tells the story of her own working-class ancestors, stretching back into the 19th century, who also did the essential work of our economy.”

“The striking miners were 10,000 strong on the first day of September 1921 as they charged up the slope of Blair Mountain, propelled by a radical faith in the American dream. According to an Associated Press reporter who crouched behind a log and watched through field glasses, each time they pressed forward, a ‘veritable wall’ of machine gun fire drove them back. As the barrage echoed through the hollows, reminding some of the action they had just seen in the forests of France, the advancing miners soon heard a different sound: deeper, earthshaking explosions. From biplanes above, tear gas, explosive powder and metal bolts rained down. ‘My God,’ screamed one miner fighting his way up Crooked Creek Gap. ‘They’re bombing us!’ …The miners were fighting for the right to unionize, and to end the reviled ‘mine guard system,’ a private force of armed guards who brutally enforced the company’s control in the coal fields. Unless the mine guard system was removed, John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America, had warned, ‘the dove of peace’ would ‘never make permanent abode in this stricken territory.’”

“As a sophomore at Northeastern University in Boston, I knew little about the labor movement. However, I was passionate about social justice and knew that we could make our world a better place by simply believing we could and doing the work to organize our communities. It wasn’t until I participated in AFSCME’s Union Scholars Program that I developed a fundamental love for and dedication to uplifting workers' rights. The Union Scholars program is an immersive, paid internship for students of color who want to learn about union organizing and become part of the labor movement.”

“If you’re one of the people who’s been following the Warrior Met Coal strike over the past 23 months, it’s almost certain that you’ve heard the name Haeden Wright. The 35-year-old mother of two is a teacher, an activist, an elected official, a coal miner’s daughter and a boss’s worst nightmare. She’s a vocal presence on social media, has given countless interviews, and has participated in panels and other public events in an effort to direct attention to the strike.”

“Workers in the US are getting record-breaking wage hikes this year thanks to strategic strikes and stunning contract wins. The result is a boost in middle-income wages and a shift in the balance of power between companies and their employees. Even before the United Auto Workers reached historic contract deals with carmakers, unions across the country had already won their members 6.6% raises on average in 2023 — the biggest bump in more than three decades, according to an analysis by Bloomberg Law.”

“During the Seattle General Strike of 1919, the Boilermakers played a crucial role as one of the participating unions. Labor unrest soaked the nation during and after World War I but the government and commerce wouldn’t raise pay for war-worn workers. The general strike of 1919 was the first general strike of any size in U.S. history. The objective was to demonstrate massive yet peaceful solidarity to change the tenor and balance of labor relations. And it all started at the shipyard.”

“At the end of his life, his resume included titles, such as chief economist of the AFL-CIO, economics professor, and former chair of the Howard University economics department. His research was frequently published in The Review of Black Political Economy, covering topics such as occupational segregation, the returns to HBCU graduation, and the impact public policies like affirmative action and welfare reform have on economic inequality…In honor of Bill’s legacy, the following are personal reflections from Larry Mishel and Valerie Wilson—two people who witnessed, learned, and benefited from that commitment throughout his career.”

“Recent strikes by the United Auto Workers have likewise been examples of multiracial class power winning historic gains. Predominantly Black, unionized health care workers at Kaiser Permanente just led that sector’s largest strike. The Black-led labor struggle cohering and expanding indicates potential for another hard break toward progress.”

“Jack Walker is a union man. He drives a garbage truck in Memphis, where his route can take him barreling past shotgun-style houses along the Mississippi River and down the narrow alleyways near the Lorraine Motel, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. He is aware, always, of how his union protections are tied to Dr. King’s death and that of another man: his father.”

“In Writing the Wrongs: Eva Valesh and the Rise of Labor Journalism, historian Elizabeth Faue examines how Valesh challenged gender norms in both journalism and the labor movement. She worked alongside women and girls and reported on the conditions and culture. Workers were inspired to participate in strikes after her reporting.”

“Ai-jen Poo, a labor organizer and president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, has been shining the spotlight on the crisis of care in the United States for almost three decades. She advocates for some of the nation’s lowest paid workers — those who tend to our children, the elderly and the disabled.”

“Shannon Wait, an organizer with Alphabet Workers Union-CWA (AWU-CWA), recently spoke with Power at Work Blog writer Dane Gambrell. Their conversation covers the work AWU-CWA is doing to protect workers from risks posed by AI and the importance of unionizing the tech industry. They also discuss Shannon’s experience winning an unfair labor practice dispute against Google after being illegally suspended by the company in 2021.”

“My wife and I recently watched Rustin, a biopic about the late civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. The movie was produced, in part, by Michelle and Barack Obama’s Higher Ground Media. It is well worth the two-hour investment, despite its flaws, especially for those of us who spend our time thinking about workers and worker power. Colman Domingo’s portrayal of the title character should be enough on its own to make the movie required viewing, but it was the reminder of the labor movement’s leadership contributions to the 1963 March on Washington --- in particular, the roles of A. Phillip Randolph and Cleve Robinson --- that jumped off the screen at me.”

“Kevin Moore, a social studies teacher at George Washington High School in Chicago’s South Side, has a futuristic vision for the city’s public school buildings, one with links to the past but very much rooted in the climate change present. In an era of record-breaking heat waves, Moore sees the city’s ancient school buildings — some of which were built in the early 1900s — retrofitted with new zero-emission heating and cooling systems. He imagines those buildings, which also function as community spaces, with solar panels and gardens on their rooftops. He wants to connect those greener buildings to the neighborhood and the city with environmentally friendly public transportation. A Chicago Teachers Union member, Moore’s vision is part of the union’s new campaign, Green New Deal for Chicago Public Schools. The newly launched endeavor, which the union is working on with the student-led Sunrise Movement, aims to remake the city’s aging school infrastructure both for the era of climate crisis and the new green economy.” 

“In 2022, Amazon workers at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island became the first in the US to win a union election. The new documentary Union gives a compelling glimpse behind the scenes of the victory — and the challenges that have come since.”

“In October 2023, John See worked his last day at the Labor Education Service (LES) after a 39 year tenure…Workday Magazine interviewed John See shortly before his retirement about the changes he’s seen over the past four decades in the Minnesota labor movement, in both media and technology, and his advice to those who wish to continue this legacy of democratizing media and technology and devotion to the working-class struggle at the intersection of media and history.”

“Listen to Burnes Center Senior Fellow Seth Harris’s conversation about worker power, the labor movement, social justice, and podcasting with Jamala Rogers and Bianca Cunningham, co-hosts of Convergence Magazine's Black Work Talk, and Adam Keller and Jacob Morrison, co-hosts of The Valley Labor Report.”

“The mines of the Mesabi Iron Range gleam red under the light covering of snow that remains after a historically warm winter in northern Minnesota. Hibbing, a mining town of around 16 thousand people, bustles with industry. And in any town with working people, you’ll find the working people who make all other industries possible: the childcare workers….[Amanda] Maass spoke with Workday Magazine about her experiences living and working in greater Minnesota, the shift to a more rural life, and what she wants to see changed for childcare workers and the families they take care of.“

“AFSCME members in Minnesota showed that when working people show up and stand together, politicians listen. Around 500 members of AFSCME Council 5 rallied at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul earlier this month for a massive Day on the Hill lobby day. They were welcomed by Gov. Tim Walz, Secretary of State Steve Simon, State Auditor Julie Blaha, and Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy.”

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Emily Matthews, striking photographer and Treasurer of the Post-Gazette Branch of the Pittsburgh Newspaper Guild, and Natalie Duleba, striking designer and union member, to discuss what their contract demands are, their experiences after 18 months on the picket line, and how they are keeping their union siblings motivated. Tune in to hear about how union members have been supporting one another throughout the strike, recent developments in the strike, including a possible National Labor Relations Board  injunction against the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and the importance of protections and benefits for workers in industries like journalism that have been disrupted and where workers face a great deal of uncertainty.”

“United Farm Workers (UFW) President Teresa Romero was among 19 Americans who were honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Biden at the White House on Friday. The award is the nation’s highest civilian honor and is presented “to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors,” the White House said.”

“In the early months of 2020, queer Starbucks baristas brewed a plan to challenge their low wages and workplace discrimination. I first learned about the campaign while attending a national LGBTQ+ advocacy meeting where a group of these workers previewed their organizing agenda. Sitting in a dim hotel conference room, I listened to the baristas share their experiences, which mixed episodes of humiliation and financial hardship—a trans worker’s “dead name” (pre-transition name) that reappeared on each week’s work calendar; a work calendar that never listed one worker’s name (dead or chosen) enough times to keep their name on an apartment lease. Many of the workers shared their disillusionment with a company that had portrayed itself as corporate  America’s trans rights vanguardist. In fact, Starbucks had just released its #whatsyourname advertising campaign, which featured trans and gender-diverse customers asking to have their chosen names scribbled onto coffee cups. Challenging the company’s rosy narrative, UNITE HERE issued press releases in February 2020 documenting Starbucks baristas’ complaints of discrimination, low wages, and too few hours.”

“Mary Kay Henry had one big success and one big disappointment in her 14 years as president of the Service Employees International Union, which is one of the biggest and most politically powerful in the United States. Henry, who chose not to run for re-election and stepped down on Monday, spearheaded the successful campaign to raise wages to $15 an hour or more for many of America’s lowest-paid workers, particularly in fast food and home care. “Since 2012, more than 26 million workers have won higher pay to the tune of $150 billion,” nearly half of them workers of color, the National Employment Law Project said in a tribute to Henry after she announced she would not seek re-election.”

“Amazon STL8 fulfillment center worker Wendy Taylor recently stood with U.S. Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) to introduce the Warehouse Worker Protection Act. The measure, if passed, would protect all warehouse workers, drivers, subcontractors, and “temp” workers by requiring quota transparency, limiting surveillance, and securing worker rights to organize. The federal bill builds on statewide legislation that workers have fought to pass in New York, California, and Minnesota and is the result of years of worker organizing at the Amazon STL8 warehouse in St. Peters, Missouri.”

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by the hosts of two fascinating labor radio shows to discuss why labor podcasting is important and a few current labor issues. Tune into his conversation with Lynn Fields, host of the Resolved Labor Podcast, and Mark Gevaart, host of My Labor Radio, about what inspired their shows, the UAW's recent loss in Alabama, and why so many cultural workers are organizing at this moment.”

“The gray-haired woman in the broad purple-bedecked bonnet raised her fist in the street of Mt. Olive, Ill. ‘Who among ya is brave enough to stand in solidarity with me?’ she shouted in a broad Irish accent. ‘Ya want a living wage, and health insurance and a pension? How ya gonna get it? The union!’ Mother Jones is portrayed at local events by re-enactor Loretta Williams, who always stays in character as she portrays the 19th century Labor leader memorialized by the Mother Jones Museum and the festival in her honor every May.”

“In this special Pride Month blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Jerame Davis, President of Pride At Work, Evette Avery, Southeast Regional Director of Teamsters' LGBTQ+ Caucus, and Jared Reece, Co-President of SEIU's Lavender Caucus, to discuss the state of the world for LGBTQ+ workers. Watch now to hear about why the labor and LGBTQ+ communities intersect, how labor can resist attacks on LGBTQ+ workers, and what union caucuses and other organizations can do to support LGBTQ+ workers.”

“In a time when women’s roles were often confined to the home, a group of determined women stepped out of the shadows to make their mark on history. The award-winning book, We Kept Our Towns Going: The Gossard Girls of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, documents six decades (1920-1976) when rural women supported their families, sustained downtown male-dominated businesses, and stuck up for their rights on the picket line.”

“A unique figure within a unique generation of activists, Frank Emspak (born June 21, 1943 and died June 14, 2024) spent his final days as he always lived: offering inspiration and strategic advice to those around him. In this case, it was to his hospital caregivers who are currently grappling with a hard-pressed union struggle. He had a lot of useful things to say—which is to say he was himself to the end. His contributions to the labor movement, civil rights, and the struggle for peace will long be remembered.”

“The past year and a half, let alone the past four years, have been busy for grocery store workers in Minnesota, especially union members who have been in contract negotiations. Thousands of metro-area UFCW Local 663 members at UNFI Cub Foods, Lunds & Byerlys, Kowalski’s Markets, and Seward Community Co-op voted to authorize unfair labor practice (ULP) strikes, and reached tentative agreements (TA) that members voted to approve. Workers took actions, from voting to authorize strikes and marching on the boss to flyering outside stores. In many cases, in the eleventh hour before going on strike, employers gave into workers’ demands.”

“No protest to simply register discontent, no preaching to the choir, no fool’s errand organizing campaigns: Jane McAlevey was deadly serious about smart, effective strategy for the working class, and demanded organizers around her be the same.”

“History is often viewed as linear – “A” happens and “B” follows, on to its conclusion. The human story is never a straight line, with doubts, diversions and breakthroughs radically altering people’s efforts. This is especially true of labor history; there are many false starts, failures and sometimes triumphs as workers seek change and power.”

“Dina Velasquez Escalante is a poultry worker in southwest Minnesota. She spends her workdays inspecting the chicken millions of Americans eat every day. She looks for tumors, stray bones and organs, and removes bile. After six years of hard work and cultivating expertise on almost every position on the line, she’s now in the laboratory testing samples of poultry to ensure the highest quality.”

“I became NPR’s labor and workplace correspondent in the spring of 2021, shortly after labor organizers lost their bid to unionize an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala. The tally was not even close. Workers voted more than 2 to 1 against forming a union. Little did I know then that the labor movement was about to surge. By the end of the year, the first Starbucks stores in Buffalo, N.Y., voted to unionize, setting off a years-long confrontation that made it all the way to the Supreme Court. The following spring Amazon workers on Staten Island voted to unionize. It’s been nonstop for me ever since, trying to keep up with new organizing efforts and the many labor disputes that have arisen, a number of them leading to strikes.”

“When employees at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island voted to unionize in 2022, the result was seen as a major victory for organized labor. A year earlier, the documentarians Brett Story (“The Hottest August”) and Stephen Maing (“Crime + Punishment”) got on the ground with the workers and the organizers; in their engrossing new film, “Union,” they show how the vote’s outcome was hardly assured.”

“To someone not completely enmeshed in the state of the entertainment business, the documentary Union might seem like it has the trappings of an attractive nonfiction sales title: a dramatic story arc culminating in a history-making news event, close access to key players, a charismatic central character, glowing reviews and a premiere at a prestigious film festival.”

“Trisha Calvarese was a speech writer at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Washington, D.C. when she received a phone call from her mom telling Trisha that she had terminal cancer and did not have long to live. Her mom had been taking care of her dad who also had end-stage cancer. With both parents terminally ill, Trisha needed to drop everything to be with them in her hometown of Highlands Ranch, Colorado. She was a member of AFGE Local 3403, so her fellow union members pulled together and donated their leave so she could spend the last few months with her parents and provide end-of-life care.”

“While running for U.S. Senate in Nebraska, working class candidate Dan Osborn characterized the Senate as “a country club of millionaires that work for billionaires.” In November, he almost crashed their party. Osborn, a 49-year old former local union president who helped lead a multi-state strike against Kellogg’s cereal company, was recruited by railroad workers to challenge two-term incumbent Senator Deb Fischer, a Republican. Rail is a major industry in Nebraska, and Fischer had voted to break the 2022 national railroad strike. She also opposed the Railway Safety Act.”