Truthout
Economy & Labor
![Coal Workers Union Pickets Outside BlackRock Investors In New York City](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/08/GettyImages-1351311938-400x300.jpg)
AL Coal Miners Must Pay $13 Million in Damages for Strike, Biden’s NLRB Rules
About 1,000 miners have been on strike against Warrior Met since April 2021, resisting brutal working conditions.
![A little boy with a shaved head is looking out of the window with chemotherapy in the foreground.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/08/GettyImages-696274730-400x300.jpg)
Medically Vulnerable Families Among Those Hit Hardest by Soaring Inflation
Inflation is particularly detrimental to the health of low-income patients.
![Signs are displayed outside of Starbucks Coffee in Brookline, Massachusetts, on August 12, 2022.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/08/2022_0819-starbucks-400x300.jpg)
Judge Orders Starbucks to Reinstate 7 Fired Pro-Union Workers in Memphis
The ruling is a major win for the union, which had rallied against the firing of the “Memphis Seven.”
![Nurses gather in front of Maine Medical Center to demand increased protections in their work environments. The rally was one of many National Nurses United (NNU) events across the country on January 13, 2022.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/08/2022_0819-nurses-protest-400x300.jpg)
Maine Nurses Vote to Keep Their Union Despite Right-Wing Push to Decertify It
In a landslide 1,108-to-387 vote, the nurses voted to remain unionized, affirming the results of their 2021 election.
![A sign that reads '45 million borrowers who can vote are waiting 4 action' is carried by a person at a Cancel Student Debt rally.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/08/2022_0818-student-debt-400x300.jpg)
Debt Activists Are Planning to Strike If Biden Doesn’t Extend Payment Pause
Fifty debtors over 50 years old are planning to hold a debt strike. Together, their loans are worth over $6 million.
![Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference in Washington, D.C., on July 27, 2022.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/08/2022_0818-jerome-powell-400x300.jpg)
Fed Meeting Minutes Show the Bank May Unleash Mass Unemployment, Economists Say
Continued interest rate hikes “risk a recession throwing millions out of work,” a pair of experts warned.
![Workers rally in support of unionization in front of the Amazon LDJ-5 warehouse on Staten Island in New York on April 24, 2022.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/08/2022_0817-amazon-unions-400x300.jpg)
Amazon Warehouse Workers in Albany File Petition to Unionize
If workers are successful, they could form the company’s second-ever union.
![Workers raise their fists while holding a banner reading "ON STRIKE; STARBUCKS WORKERS UNITED"](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/08/2022_0817-union-workers-400x300.jpg)
After Starbucks Fires Union Leader, Workers Strike for His Reinstatement
The firing of the longtime employee was a breaking point for many whose frustration with the company had been building.
![A Social Security card sits alongside checks from the U.S. Treasury](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/08/2022_0816-social-security-400x300.jpg)
Poll Finds 3 in 4 Voters Want to Expand Social Security by Taxing the Rich
Republicans are angling to cut Social Security, threatening seniors with poverty or unretirement.
![British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosts a reception for the winners of the Points of Light Award at Downing Street on August 9, 2022, in London, England.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/08/2022_0816-boris-johnson--400x300.jpg)
Britain’s Economic Unraveling May Be Boris Johnson’s Real Legacy
The combination of Brexit, the aftereffects of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine has left the British economy weak.