Domain 01 of 06
Labor
How work is priced, organized, and disciplined — and who decides. The concepts a worker needs to see the arrangement they are standing inside.
The Wage Relation
Four entriesThe gap between what your labor produces and what you are paid — where profit actually comes from.
02The Wage FloorWhy one strong union contract lifts the pay of workers who never signed it.
03Wage TheftUnpaid overtime, stolen tips, off-the-clock work — the largest category of theft in the country, rarely prosecuted.
04The Productivity–Pay GapOutput per worker kept climbing; paychecks stopped following around 1973. Where the difference went.
Organizing & Its Enemies
Six entriesHow workers negotiate as one instead of one at a time. The mechanism everything else defends or attacks.
06Right-to-Work LawsLaws that ban the union shop — sold as a worker’s freedom, built to drain the money a union needs to function.
07Union DensityThe share of workers under a contract — and why the number quietly sets regional wages.
08The StrikeThe collective withdrawal of labor: the one form of leverage capital cannot replace overnight.
09Duty of Fair RepresentationWhy a union must serve workers who pay it nothing — the obligation right-to-work is built to exploit.
10Captive-Audience MeetingsThe mandatory anti-union meeting, on the clock, that you can be fired for walking out of.
The Shape of Work
Four entriesThe American default: fired for any reason, or no reason, at any time.
12Worker MisclassificationCalling an employee a “contractor” to strip away every protection employment is supposed to carry.
13The Reserve Army of LaborWhy a little unemployment is useful to capital: it keeps the people who have jobs compliant.
14Social ReproductionThe unpaid work of raising, feeding, and caring for people that all paid work quietly depends on.
The gap between what your labor produces and what you are paid.
Why one strong contract lifts the pay of workers who never signed it.
The largest category of theft in the country, rarely prosecuted.
Output kept climbing; paychecks stopped following in 1973.
How workers negotiate as one instead of one at a time.
Banning the union shop — sold as freedom, built to defund unions.
The share of workers under a contract, and why it sets wages.
The withdrawal of labor — leverage capital cannot replace overnight.
Why a union must serve workers who pay it nothing.
The mandatory anti-union meeting you can be fired for leaving.
The American default: fired for any reason, or none, anytime.
Calling an employee a “contractor” to strip every protection.
Why a little unemployment keeps the employed compliant.
The unpaid care work all paid work quietly depends on.