Millennials Flock to Join Labor Unions | The Excruciating Loneliness of Losing Your Kid to College

From nonprofits to digital newsrooms, Silicon Valley cafeterias to Hollywood writers’ rooms, unions are cropping up in unlikely places.

Mark Medina and his coworker John Szalay had spoken about their working conditions before — how hard it was to live on such low wages, the meager benefits they received and the lack of respect they felt on the job at Burgerville. But their conversation one chilly May 2016 evening in Portland, Oregon, was different. Sitting on a bench in their matching black shirts during a 10-minute break, Medina openly brought up the U-word for the first time.

Two years later, in April 2018, the BVWU became America’s only formally recognized fast-food union — the first successful one in nearly four decades, after a brief campaign in 1981 at a single Burger King in Detroit.

Today, unions are popping up in all kinds of workplaces, even those with no history of traditional organizing, and millennial-aged workers are leading growth in overall union membership.

The U.S. only needs to look at its own history to see how it can grow without large taxes and a bloated government.

How large should the government be?

Many Americans side with Henry David Thoreau’s maxim: “That government governs best that governs least.” They agree with Sam Houston’s advice to “govern wisely and as little as possible.” Critics of big government are not anarchists demanding no government — just as a diet is not a wish to disappear. Cancer doctors are not “anti-cell”; they fight cells that grow so rapidly they threaten a person’s life.

Yet, we have now lived with heavy-handed government at the national, state and local levels for so long that we might wonder if limited government would work. Would it keep us safe?

It takes a whole year to create Brazil’s biggest show, and its “schools” make for great weekend parties.

Carnival gives Rio de Janeiro its party reputation. Yet this carefree week of extravagant floats and skintight leotards stems from a year’s worth of effort behind the scenes — work that’s done by dozens of groups whose membership is based on who you know and whose followers are as fiercely loyal as supporters of a sports team.

“Throughout the year, we don’t stop,” says Alex Coutinho. He’s a choreographer of the samba dancers at Paraíso do Tuiuti samba school. Rio has more than 100 samba schools — more like entertainment companies that do social projects than schools — yet all eyes are on the top 14 (known as the Special Group). When Carnival arrives, they each have just 75 minutes to parade in front of 40 judges in the outdoor show area known as the Sambadrome. Whoever does it best is crowned the winner of Carnival.