Steve Early

Steve Early is a longtime labor journalist and author of Save Our Unions: Dispatches from a Movement in Distress (Monthly Review Press, 2013), The Civil Wars in U.S. Labor (Haymarket Books, 2011) and Embedded With Organized Labor (MRP, 2009)

Articles by Steve Early

The Chevron Way: Big Oil’s Vacation From East Bay Politics Won’t Last Long

Posted November 21, 2016 by Steve Early

In the two election cycles prior to 2016, the global energy giant Chevron spent more than $4 million on city council or mayoral races in Richmond, CA. Big Oil’s independent expenditures were so large two years ago that they drew
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Should Greens Go Local?

Posted November 10, 2016 by Steve Early

As Kermit the Frog, America’s most famous Muppet, says: “it’s not easy being green.” Preliminary results of the Green Party’s latest national campaign confirm the reality of his observation. The Party’s much-touted goal was getting 5% of the vote on
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With Rent Control on Ballot…Will Richmond Voters Feel The After-Bern?

Posted October 20, 2016 by Steve Early

In June, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wound up his presidential primary campaign by urging his supporters to run for office themselves. About 20,000 volunteered to do so–in this election cycle or future ones. And, since then, the Sanders-inspired organization known
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Citizen Activism, Before & After the Sanders Campaign

Posted June 14, 2016 by Steve Early

As the 2016 primary season ends and Bernie Sanders backers look beyond next month’s Democratic convention in Philadelphia, many who’ve “felt the Bern” have their eye on local politics. Hundreds, if not thousands, will be heeding the call of Minnesota
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“Nat Bates For Mayor:” A Richmond Pol’s Last Hurrah With Major Funding From Chevron

Posted March 29, 2016 by Steve Early

The city of Richmond’s next municipal voting is less than eight months away. But memories of our last election—one of the most expensive in history– remain fresh in the minds of many participants. For Refinery Town residents whose recollections are
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The Bernie Bookshelf: Can “Feeling the Bern” Benefit All Political Outsiders?

Posted January 26, 2016 by Steve Early

For those “feeling the Bern,” this is not the moment to throw another log on the fire, curl up on your couch, and immerse yourself in books about the most popular brand to emerge from Vermont since Ben & Jerry’s.
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Winning Hearts And Minds For Labor in Hoosier-Land

Posted June 15, 2015 by Steve Early

In recent years, Indiana has become a “red state” disaster area for labor, one of several in the Midwest. The hostile environment for public employee unions, created there by a Republican governor more than a decade ago, has now enveloped
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Why Labor Should Give Sanders Strong Primary Election Support

Posted May 27, 2015 by Steve Early

When I first met Brooklyn-born Bernie Sanders, he was a pretty marginal figure in his adopted state of Vermont. It was 1976 and he was running, unsuccessfully and for the fourth time, as a candidate of the Liberty Union Party
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