David O’Connell has a PhD in social science from Kassel University and is a member of the United Service Workers Union (Ver.di) in Germany.
In the 2024 election, US Catholics voted in large numbers for Donald Trump. It’s far from inevitable that Catholics find their home on the Right — the church has long promoted radically egalitarian ideas about wealth redistribution and empowering workers.
Faced with job losses, oil workers in Trinidad and Tobago put forward a plan for worker ownership. Their fight shows how workers in fossil fuel industries can play a central role in reorienting production to social need.
Germany’s employment model is under attack, as mass closures and cost-cutting businesses make once-stable engineering jobs ever more precarious. Some trade unionists have turned to worker buyouts as a means of saving jobs — a move that hands workers more control of their situation, but also brings dangers of its own.
In postwar Germany, a cooperative run by trade unionists created Europe’s largest housing company. Building over 400,000 homes, “Neue Heimat” showed we don’t have to live on the terms dictated by landlords — we can take control for ourselves.