Author Profile
Kathy Wilkes
Kathy Wilkes is an award-winning labor writer and editor, and a former union organizer, co-founder, officer, negotiator, and communications director. She is based in Madison.
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“Words Can’t Articulate the Joy”: Wisconsin Workers Celebrate Scott Walker’s Defeat
As thrilling as defeat of an archenemy may be, activists here take nothing for granted. MORE
Act Locally · December 12, 2018
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“Words Can’t Articulate the Joy”: Wisconsin Workers Celebrate Scott Walker’s Defeat
Joy is the order of the day as 100 people or so congregate at the rotunda of the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison just hours after incumbent Republican Scott Walker conceded the gubernatorial... MORE
Working · November 9, 2018
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How the NFL Players’ Union Can Block the League’s New Ban on Protests
On August 26, 2016, then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the National Anthem, triggering a national debate around First Amendment rights of speech and issues of racial injustice. MORE
Working · June 1, 2018
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Red Cross Is Instructing Truckers to Draw Blood and Nurses to Load Trucks
A press release about a labor dispute at the American Red Cross (ARC) is challenging perceptions of the venerable institution and how it conducts its mobile unit blood drives. MORE
Working · December 6, 2017
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Union Rights Were the Difference Between NFL Players Kneeling for the Anthem and Bowing to Trump
At a September 22 political rally, President Donald Trump kicked off a kerfuffle by calling on the National Football League (NFL) to fire players taking a knee during the National Anthem. “Wouldn&rsquo... MORE
Working · November 7, 2017
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How UAW Won the Wisconsin Kohler Strike
"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" This exclamation of outrage gained national traction when, in the iconic 1976 movie, "Network," a "mad prophet" of the airwaves induced... MORE
Working · March 10, 2016
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Scott Walker’s Campaign Failed Because Voters Actually Don’t Want a Union Buster-in-Chief
Yesterday Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced that he was ending his campaign for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. It was a week to the day after placing all bets on his record as a... MORE
Working · September 22, 2015
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In Wisconsin, A Test Case for Right to Work
This post first appeared at Labor Notes. Three years after losing a ten-week strike over the right to collect dues, about 200 union members at Manitowoc Cranes in northeast... MORE
Working · May 19, 2015