Author Profile
Mike Elk
Mike Elk wrote for In These Times and its labor blog, Working In These Times, from 2010 to 2014. He is currently a labor reporter at Politico.
Mike Elk is a Pittsburgh native and labor journalist whose investigative work has been cited on the front page of the New York Times and debated by Whoopi Goldberg and Barbara Walters on ABC’s The View. Elk won a Sidney Award for his coverage of how corporations crafted legislation to exempt prison labor from U.S. minimum wage laws. A frequent guest on MSNBC and Democracy Now!, Elk has also written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Reuters and The Nation.
He lives in Washington, D.C. but is often on the road. From the Wisconsin State Capitol to the clubhouses of Major League Baseball to the fried chicken joints of Chattanooga, Tenn., Elk has been there to get the inside scoop.
Follow him on twitter @MikeElk.
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Steve Early on Labor Reporting: ‘Unions Can Be Thin-Skinned About Criticism’
Since the 1970s, Steve Early has produced more than 300 pieces of labor journalism for publications as varied as the New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Nation, LaborNotes and In These Times.... MORE
Working · May 31, 2014
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Verizon Wireless Workers Make History in Brooklyn
Tim Dubnau, District 1 organizing coordinator for the Communications Workers of America (CWA), saw something earlier this month that he’d never witnessed before in all his years in the labor movement. On... MORE
Working · May 27, 2014
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Emails Show Sen. Corker’s Chief of Staff Coordinated with Network of Anti-UAW Union Busters
Leaked documents obtained by Nashville TV station NewsChannel 5 WVTF reveal communications between the employees of two Tennessee Republicans—Sen. Bob Corker and Gov. Bill Haslam—and a network of prominent anti-union... MORE
Working · April 1, 2014
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The Battle for Chattanooga: Southern Masculinity and the Anti-Union Campaign at Volkswagen
During the nearly two years he worked at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., Ed Hunter, 43, spent his days bent over, crawling in and out of cars on the assembly line. He believes... MORE
Working · March 13, 2014
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Former Teamster Official Pushed Anti-UAW Message on Social Media
After the United Auto Workers’ union election loss at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., last Friday, many in organized labor have pointed to outside interference as key to the union&rsquo... MORE
Working · February 21, 2014
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After Historic UAW Defeat at Tennessee Volkswagen Plant, Theories Abound
Workers and organizers cite outside interference, management collusion, union missteps, two-tier agreements and Neil Young “I am excited,” auto worker Justin King told me as he put on his cowboy boots... MORE
Working · February 15, 2014
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Corker Flip Flops Again on UAW
When it was announced last week that the UAW would be holding an election of 1,550 autoworkers at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant, Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the former mayor of Chattanooga, who had... MORE
Working · February 13, 2014
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After Outcry, White House Extends $10.10 Minimum Wage to Some Disabled Workers
Earlier this month, Working In These Times broke the news that Obama’s promise to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour for federal contractors would not apply to thousands of disabled... MORE
Working · February 12, 2014
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Tenn. Lawmakers Threaten to Block Subsidies If VW Plant Unionizes
In the run-up to a union election, workers typically run a gauntlet of threats from management, including claims that a vote to unionize will jeopardize their jobs by hurting the company’s... MORE
Working · February 11, 2014
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Department of Labor May Raise Wages for Disabled Federal Contractors, After All
Last week, In These Times broke the news that Obama’s executive order raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour for federal contractors would not apply to the thousands of disabled workers... MORE
Working · February 6, 2014