On Our "Virtual Route 66" This Week: #RandomThoughts For the Week

Unions need to spend big to seize the day. In a moment of opportunity for workers and the labor movement, a key strategic question is whether union leaders are prepared to put at risk the more than $32 billion in assets they currently have sitting idle in union treasuries. Will organized labor decide to invest in large-scale organizing campaigns and militant strikes, or continue to invest its resources in Wall Street? Unions like the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) affiliate Workers United are demonstrating one path forward, dramatically increasing spending to support bold campaigns. For the labor movement to make the most of the current period of high favorability for unions and rising militancy, other unions will need to follow their lead. Read more

Here’s the latest... Confronted with a deepening housing affordability crisis across the country, some US legislators are turning to the successful social housing programs of countries like Austria and Singapore. We spoke to two of them, from Hawaii and California. The musician and audio engineer Steve Albini, who died this week, defended art from the music industry’s greed. Working with famous bands and indie acts alike, he fought for every artist’s right to realize their unique sound and earn a decent living. Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, Jonathan Blitzer’s book on the brutal history of US border policy, vividly describes the suffering that the US immigration system inflicts on individuals — and the reactionary politics that undergird it. Listen: Episode 6 of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO takes a deep dive into several CIO union powerhouses, including the United Electrical Workers, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and others in textile and meatpacking industries.