By David McCall USW International President Vikki Marshall helped to connect unemployed Arizonans with food and shelter during the Reagan-era economic crisis and sometimes found herself on the phone late at night trying to talk a desperate person out of suicide. These experiences as a social worker and union activist…

By David McCall USW International President Ryan Andreas helped his union push through legislation for a national infrastructure program two years ago, realizing that historic upgrades to America’s utilities, ports and bridges portended brighter futures for him and his co-workers at Travis Pattern and Foundry. It turned out exactly as…

By David McCall USW International President Felipe Venegas wears full-body personal protective equipment — and moves carefully and methodically even on the hottest days — because he processes chemicals with the potential to ignite and explode in a heartbeat. Venegas and his co-workers at Nouryon in La Porte, Texas, put…

By David McCall USW International President The single mother, determined to provide the best for her family, poured heart and soul into her job at the Cooper Tire plant in Texarkana, Ark. Yet, Kerry Halter recalled, the woman made thousands of dollars less every year than co-workers performing the very…

By Tom Conway USW International President Silica dust at the Genesis Alkali mine in Green River, Wyo., is so thick some days that Marshal Cummings can barely see a foot in front of him. It blankets his clothes, clogs his respirator, coats his hair, blackens his mucus and lodges deep…

By Tom Conway USW International President The World War II veteran had no family by his side as he lay dying a few months ago, so Ella Wilverding and her union co-workers stepped into the role. They took turns sitting vigil with the man, talking to him, holding his hand…

By Tom Conway USW International President She only wanted a few hours at her dying mother’s bedside. But the woman’s bosses at Twin Rivers Paper in Madawaska, Maine, lacked all decency and forced her to the mill on overtime even though it was her day off. About an hour and…

By Tom Conway USW International President James Golden knew the crowbar wasn’t the right tool for the job, but it’s what the bosses provided when he needed to perform work on a piece of equipment at the Kumho tire plant in Macon, Ga. The crowbar slipped from Golden’s hand and…

By Tom Conway USW International President The grief hits Scott Campbell like a ton of bricks every time he walks into the union hall and sees the memorial to the fallen workers. Seven members of the United Steelworkers (USW) union reported for their shifts at the former Tesoro refinery in…