Dick Meister

Dick Meister, a freelance columnist in San Francisco, has covered labor issues for four decades as a newspaper and broadcast reporter, editor and commentator.

It's Labor's Day for Great Expectations
U.S. unions are celebrating Labor Day with unusually high expectations of success.

Cindy Sheehan Knows What We Need
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan is running for Congress on an unusually worker friendly platform.

18 Dead, More To Come
The Bush administration refuses to adopt safety regulations that would lessen the hazards that endanger construction crane operators and millions of other workers.

America's Second-Class Workers
Millions of Americans are being forced into part-time work.

Labor's Foot Soldiers
Organized labor is launching its biggest political campaign ever in hopes of playing a major role in electing Barack Obama and other labor-friendly Democrats.

A Summer of Deadly Heat
Summer's heat is posing serious dangers for the farmworkers who harvest most of our fruits and vegetables.

Workers of the World Unite!
The globalization of capital that has undermined workers everywhere finally has led to serious moves for the globalization of labor.

Working-Class Voters Demand a Fair Deal
Working-class voters are demanding a lot from political candidates.

The Disgraceful Treatment of U.S. Workers
The rotten treatment of many U.S. workers has become an international disgrace.

Labor's Choice Has To Be Obama
Barack Obama supports key issues that would greatly improve the life of American workers. John McCain opposes them.

New Targets for Tomato Pickers
The highly exploited farmworkers who pick most of the country's tomatoes have new targets in their drive for decent wages and working conditions.

Labor's Critical Election Role
Congressman Dennis Kuchinich says unions should go all-out to defeat Presidential candidate John McCain for the benefit of labor and the country in general.

The Jobless Need Help - Now!
Millions of jobless Americans badly need more of the unemployment benefits that have helped sustain them.

No Peace, No Work
Unions promise to wage major anti-war demonstrations on May Day.

Charlton Heston, Union Hero
Staunchly conservative actor Charlton Heston had once been a union leader and influential liberal.

An Honor Long Due Cesar Chavez
It's way past time to make Cesar Chavez' birthdate a national holiday.

Time to Check Those Union Cards
There's finally a realistic chance for passage of a law to give U.S. workers full union rights.

'Don't Be A Marshmallow!'
Few women are more deserving of special attention during Women's History Month than Dolores Huerta, a co-founder with Cesar Chavez of the United Farm Workers.

Unions Are Growing - Finally
The percentage of American workers belonging to unions is increasing for the first time in more than three decades.

A Union That Made Black History
The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters played a key role in the struggle of African Americans for equal rights.

"On A Good Evening, I Get Four Hours Sleep"
The loss of air traffic controllers is a main reason airlines are consistently operating behind schedule and facing serious threats to passenger safety.

Justice For Only A Penny
Burger King is trying to undermine agreements by its major competitors to improve the shameful working conditions of tomato pickers.

Tobacco's Other Victims
Few workers are more badly treated than those who harvest the deadly tobacco crop.

Second-Class Women
An ever-increasing number of highly qualified women are going into professional occupations - and encountering blatant discrimination.

Labor: Changing To Win?
U.S. unions are drawing closer together to wage major organizing and political campaigns.

Wooing Labor
Democratic presidential candidates are trying very, very hard to win union support.

Labor's Happy Day
Unions are celebrating Labor Day with great expectations for success.

Raising the Minimum Wage: Don't Stop Now!
The new federal minimum wage should be raised to at least $9.50 an hour, as labor and Democratic Party leaders are urging.

The Unfriendly Skies of George W. Bush
The Bush administration is abusing air traffic controllers and endangering the millions who rely on them for safe travel.

Injury, Death, the American Worker and George Bush
The Bush administration is failing to protect workers from the hazards that cause many of them serious injury or death.

Just A Penny More
The drive to win decent treatment for the tomato pickers who are essential to the fast-food industry is picking up steam.

It's Time We Kept Our Promise to Working Women
Working women have too long been denied the "equal pay for equal work" legally promised them.

Better Teacher Pay: The Key to Better Schools
A new survey shows how poorly we pay teachers despite their great importance.

Cesar Chavez - A National Hero
Farm union leader Cesar Chavez merits a national holiday.

Farmworkers Need More Federal Help - Now!
California farmworkers are still suffering from January's severe freeze.

Busting Unions to Protect "National Security"
Despite their importance to our security, airport screeners are unable to exercise their full civil rights.

Sick Workers & Kids Need Our Help
We badly need a law to enable workers to take time off to care for themselves or their sick kids.

The Day Seattle Stood Still
One of the rare general strikes in U.S. history brought the city of Seattle to a virtual halt in 1919.

Payback Time for Labor
Congress is finally going to take labor issues seriously.

More Poison, Says Bush
The Bush administration has made certain that millions of Americans will continue to be needlessly exposed to methyl bromide, one of the most toxic of all pesticides.

Labor & the Democrats: A Winning Combination?
U.S. unions are waging one of their most important political campaigns ever.

Censoring Labor
Although most people work for a living, the mainstream media generally ignore their working lives and attempts to improve their conditions through collective action.

Labor's Unhappy Anniversary
The decline that U.S. unions are struggling to reverse began a quarter-century ago at the hands of Ronald Reagan.

It's criminal, What Congress has Done to the Working Poor
Congress has openly violated the law that guarantees a living wage to American workers.

A Penny More for a Decent Life
We should demand that McDonald's join the drive to improve the miserable conditions of the tomato pickers whose work is vital to the country's fast-food outlets.

Thanks, Harry
Labor reporter Harry Bernstein of the Los Angeles Times was one of America's most important journalists.

Don't Bite the Hands That Feed Us
The immigration reform bills being debated in Congress would add to the great harm already being done to the country's miserably treated farmworkers.

A Film That Told It All
A once suppressed film depicting police chasing down and killing strikers and their families played a key role in winning union rights for American workers.

Want More Money? Join a Union
Union members remain the most highly compensated and otherwise best treated of American workers.

The Real May Day
May Day once marked more than the beginning of Spring.

The Massacre at Ludlow
Twenty-six men, women and children died at the hands of authorities in one of the deadliest strikes in American history.

The Ultimate Sacrifice of Cesar Chavez
Few leaders have made greater sacrifices than Cesar Chavez, who risked his very life in seeking social and economic justice for farmworkers.

UC's Quest for the Best, Brightest - and Greediest
Legislators finally are investigating the University of California officials' virtually unchecked spending of millions on each other's compensation.

Unions Continue the Work of Martin Luther King Jr.
The link between the labor and civil rights movements that Martin Luther King Jr. worked to forge is now stronger than ever.

Gene Debs, American Hero
Those seeking to improve the lives of ordinary Americans could find no greater guide than Gene Debs.

Viva La Causa!
Farmworkers are celebrating one of the most important and hopeful events in U.S. labor history.

The Terminator vs. Labor
Arnold Schwarzenegger is hoping to strike a crippling blow against the labor movement on Nov. 8.

Labor: Rising from the Dead
The current turmoil within the labor movement is a sign of strength rather than weakness.

You Will Eat, Bye and Bye
Few organizations have done more for working people than the 100-year-old IWW

Is It Labor Party Time?
A genuine Labor Party to challenge the mainstream political parties is an idea whose time may finally have come.

Extortion in California?
It's still money first, education second for the University of California's greedy administrators.

The Terminator Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out
The very special interest of Califonia's clownish governor is bashing workers.

Will Pizza Carry a Union Label?
The overworked and underpaid drivers who deliver your pizza finally have a union.

Bush's Anti-Labor Relations Board
President Bush's appointees are denying workers the basic right of unionization.

Workers Feeling the Pain of Bush's Victory
Working people have taken the first of what are sure to be many heavy post-election blows from President Bush and his allies.

Labor's Crucial Second Step
Unions are following up their failed campaign to unseat President Bush with a major drive to revitalize the labor movement politically and otherwise.

The Farmworkers' Angry Champion
Ernesto Galarza was a key leader in laying the groundwork for the emergence of the farm labor movement led by Cesar Chavez.

A Teachers' Teacher
Jim Ballard was a key leader in the drive to give full rights to American teachers.

The Farmworkers' Unlikely Ally
Few people have been more important to farmworkers in their long fight to win basic rights from growers than Lionel Steinberg - a grower.

Labor's Great Challenge
Organized labor has rarely been confronted with a greater challenge than this year's presidential election.

Schwarzenegger and Reagan: Two of a Kind
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proving to be no friend of labor.

LABOR'S ON THE MARCH ­ AT LAST
American unions are finally taking steps that hold a real promise of reversing their steady decline.

NLRB Heads Back to the 19th Century
The National Labor Relations Board actually claims that the indispensable work done by graduate student employees is not really work.

UC's On-the-make Bosses
he University of California is a prime example of the many educational institutions that have adopted the values of corporate America.

He Made the UFW Possible
Few have done more for the country's oppressed farmworkers than Al Tieburg.

Jack Hall: On the Right Side of the Fence
Jack Hall led the remarkable struggle against huge corporate interests that brought industrial democracy to Hawaii.

Decent Pay for All
Congress' refusal to raise the pitifully inadequate minimum wage has subjected millions of working Americans to lives of poverty.

"A Good, Stubborn Man"
They don't make labor leaders like Joe O'Sullivan anymore.

All Workers Are Equal--Unless They're Women
The law guarantees equality to working women, but employers don't.

A Missing Chapter in Broadcasting History
The station involved in one of public broadcasting's major events isn't talking about it.

Ronald Reagan's War on Labor
Yeah, Ronald Reagan was great - unless you happened to work for a living.

A Trailblazing Organizer's Organizer
Although virtually unknown by the general public, Fred Ross was one of the country's premier organizers, the trainer of such leaders as Cesar Chavez.

The Great Pullman Strike
It was a virtual insurrection of working people, a key event in the creation of the American labor movement.

Labor & the Media
Rotten. That's the only word to describe the media's coverage of working people and their institutions.

Elaine Chao Is No Frances Perkins
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao is not a friend of labor.

Hoffa's Last Hurrah
On film he was a hero, but in real life Jimmy Hoffa was a violent, vicious anti-hero.

An Extraordinarily Good Man
Americans rarely have had a greater champion than labor leader Walter Reuther.

FAIRY TALES ABOUT THE JOBLESS
Despite what the Bush administration pretends, unemployment remains a severe problem.

STOP WAL-MART - NOW!
The retail giant is threatening to victimize us all.

FARMWORKERS VS. GOLIATH -- AGAIN
The United Farm Workers union has resumed its decades-long battle with giant winemaker Gallo.

Bush Opts for Poison
The Bush administration is trying to increase use of the pesticide methyl bromide despite its disastrous effects on people and the environment.

BRINGING REAL DEMOCRACY TO IRAQ
U.S. occupation forces are enforcing Saddam Hussein's anti-union laws in Iraq.

Congress/ Jobless

Union Rights are Human Rights
Millions of Americans are routinely denied the fundamental right of unionization supposedly guaranteed them by law.

labor day

LABOR'S ANTI-BUSH TROOPS
Organized labor is mounting a major drive to defeat President Bush in November.

The Jobless Need More Than Band-Aids

A CHANCE TO END BARBARITY ON THE FARM
Some of the farmworker's tasks are downright torturous.

True Economic Security

Securing Birth Control Rights
Women are demanding -- and should be getting -- the right to "contraceptive equity."

CESAR CHAVEZ -- A NATIONAL HERO

High Hopes for Farmworkers

S.F. UNIONS VS. ANTI-LABOR BUILDERS

Lou Goldblatt: a remarkable, forgotten leader
Lou Goldblatt teamed with Harry Bridges to create one of the country's most important unions.

The Courage of Rose Bird
It's time we remembered one of the best friends farmworkers ever had.

Bush the Union-Buster

Bush vs. Labor

Fields of Poison

UC As Anti-Union As Ever

Here Comes Labor!

The UFW's March For Economic Justice

It's Time For Paid Family Leave

The Farmworkers' Best Chance

Yo No Quiero Taco Bell!

Wall to Wall Union

Give Teachers What They Need

Si Se Puede
The life of Cesar Chavez has profound lessons for us all.

The Legacy Of John Steinbeck
Few people have done more to try to better the conditions of America's oppressed farmworkers than author John Steinbeck.

Bush's Working-Class Lies

Gene Debs, American Hero

A Porter Who Dared Protest

Joe Hill: The Man Who Didn't Die
Joe Hill was - and remains - a true working class hero.

Too Little For Too Much

A Revolutionary, Apocalyptic Time

Truly Honoring the Victims of Sept 11

The Steelworkers' Landmark Strike

A Rare, Unheralded Champion Of American Workers

Labor's Great Opportunity

LABOR DAY: HOW IT REALLY BEGAN

LABOR'S DAY IS FOR EVERYONE

AN HONEST DAY'S PAY FOR FARMWORKERS

The Legacy of Wheatland
Few events in the long history of attempts to bring economic justice to America's farmworkers have been more important than the "Wheatland Riot" nearly a century ago.

The Remarkable Harry Bridges
No one has ever done more for those to whom he devoted his life -- "the working stiff -- that's who!" as he often declared.

Sheepherders Need Help

The Bloody Strike That Changed The Course Of Labor History

Give Braceros Their Money

Economic Justice Comes To The Campus

Solidarity Forever
Remembering Jimmy Herman

Building a 21st Century Economy

SIT DOWN! SIT DOWN!

The Day Seattle Stood Still
One of the very few general strikes in U.S. history brought the city of Seattle to a virtual halt in 1919.

Martin Luther King
A Champion of Labor

Dancing in the Rain
Anniversary of the Oakland General Strike

Injury, Death and the American Worker
The case for expanded OSHA coverage.

Equality for the Working Woman.
Pay inequity for working women.

Fairness for Doctors.
An essential Rx for doctors

Organize!
New Emphasis on organizing for American unions.

Teacher Pay
Want better schools? Raise teacher pay.

Older Workers.
Down but not out.