“Striking Back,” the national series I edited at Capital & Main, covered worker organizing from mid-2023 to the end of 2025. In every story, we sought to connect the excess of contemporary business to the lived reality on the ground where people meet it first: Their jobs. Herewith, a selection of stories that did just that.
New Orleans reporter Jesse Baum brought us five stories on workers organizing at a Hattiesburg, MS call center for Maximus, Inc. Her work, which for me marked a welcome focus on my roots in corporate accountability reporting, helped push the Biden Administration to rebid Maximus’s $7bn contract over the company’s unfair labor practices in mid-2024. Maximus filed suit, and when Donald Trump won election that fall, the Biden Administration quietly dropped the case. We covered that, too, with Jesse penning an intimate profile of Anna Flemings, one of the Black women pushing for a union, who opened up about what it meant to her to fight.
You can read all of Jesse’s beautiful work on Maximus below:
October 23, 2023
Why Is the Biden Administration Giving a Multibillion-Dollar Contract to a Low-Road Employer?
Workers cite low wages and disrespect at work; union alleges illegal union-busting.
March 14, 2024
I’m Not Gonna Let Up Until We See Changes
Health care exchange workers say the Biden administration should force their employer to provide good jobs.
June 11, 2024
After Multiple Strikes, the Biden Administration Forces an Employer to Apply Again for Its Multibillion Dollar Contract
A new contract that requires “labor harmony” could be a model to empower millions who work for federal contractors nationwide.
June 11, 2024
Call Center Workers Continue Union Push After Biden Administration Drops Fight
Officials withdrew a rebid of a $6.6 billion contract requiring “labor harmony” 25 days after the $5 billion corporation holding it filed suit.
March 5, 2025
The Southern Women Handling 1-800-MEDICARE Calls Still Want a Union
Federal call center workers continue their fight after the Biden administration dialed back support for it.
I’m proud to report that the series took honorable mention in the 2023 SABEW awards for a series of 5 pieces from three wonderful reporters: Venessa Wong (who wrote 2 pieces on how extreme heat and unaffordable housing are driving workers to organize for better jobs); Christopher Salazar (via Anthony Victoria, who wrote about Amazon workers organizing in the Inland Empire), and Gabriel Thompson (who covered both privatized hospice workers and Starbucks baristas).
September 29, 2023
Union-Busting With a Smile: Is Trader Joe’s the Next Starbucks?
By Gabriel Thompson
October 5, 2023
Extreme Heat Is Turning Up the Temperature on Workers — And Employers
From Waffle House to Dollar General to Burger King, record heat is spurring workers to organize.
By Venessa Wong
October 31, 2023
As Hospices Privatize, Bay Area Workers Want a Union
They say “metrics for productivity” are driving care for the dying. Nov. 3 union vote marks growing labor organizing as end-of-life care becomes a for-profit industry.
By Gabriel Thompson
November 3, 2023
Bay Area Hospice Workers Vote to Unionize
The Hospice East Bay vote shows growing unionization at end-of-life care.
By Gabriel Thompson
November 21, 2023
Is Affordable Housing a New Worker’s Right?
With housing costs out of reach, workers from Brooklyn to Minneapolis to Los Angeles are demanding solutions.
By Venessa Wong
December 22, 2023
How Amazon Workers Got a Raise Before a Union
Two Christmas rushes ago, workers at this Amazon air cargo hub started to win improvements at work by relying on each other.
By Christopher Salazar
Some of our strongest recurring coverage looked at industry consolidation from the bottom up, where companies’ market power could be traced directly to poorer working conditions–and workers know it. Jesse Baum in New Orleans, Ethan Bakuli in Detroit, and Kalena Tomave in Pittsburgh held this topic down.
August 14, 2025
Pennsylvania Nurses Get Union Election Despite Trump’s Delays at Labor Board
Contentious campaign prompted local officials to collect union-busting reports. Voting starts August 19.
By Kalena Thomhave
June 23, 2025
Nurses Run Up Against Labor Board Stalled By Trump
Pennsylvania’s largest hospital joins rise in employers citing federal changes to fight unionization.
By Kalena Thomhave
May 14, 2025
Is Trump Bad for Nurses?
In their third walkout, New Orleans nurses face a drawn-out contract fight. Observers say the president’s policies aren’t helping.
By Jesse Baum
January 23, 2025
35,000 Michigan Home Care Workers Double Down on Union Effort
They won status as state employees to get union rights. Now they’re fighting for an election and better jobs.
By Ethan Bakuli
December 13, 2024
These Nurses Got a Union — But Say They Can’t Get a Contract Without a Strike
Six hundred New Orleans nurses join a national surge in pre-contract strikes.
By Jesse Baum
October 11, 2024
Michigan’s Gov. Whitmer Clears Path to Union for 35,000 Care Workers
With home care in the national spotlight, state declares Medicaid home care workers public employees and expands training.
By Ethan Bakuli
September 23, 2024
Michigan Lawmakers Could Help 35,000 Care Workers Form Statewide Union
Two bills could improve home care jobs — and join a trend of voters and lawmakers reversing anti-union legislation.
By Ethan Bakuli
February 9, 2024
New Orleans Nurses Fight for a New Union as Hospitals Merge and Revenues Soar
Concerns over working conditions and patient care amidst hospital consolidation drove Louisiana’s largest union victory since 1993.
By Jesse Baum
