Author Archives: Working-Class Perspectives

Representing Post-Industrial Communities in Culture

I grew up on Merseyside in the 1980s and 90s, when this region around Liverpool found itself on the extreme end of the UK’s wave of industrial decline in that period. This had a profound effect on my working-class family … Continue reading

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues, Working-Class Culture | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Time Is Not On Our Side

Time is suddenly news.  How little we have, how much we want, and what we do with it for work or whatever.  Is this good news for workers?  Maybe for some, but probably just the same ol’, same ol’ for … Continue reading

Posted in Contributors, Issues, The Working Class and the Economy, Wade Rathke, Work | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Class Ceilings

Most of us have stopped believing in the myth of the meritocracy. The myth promises that the ablest or most intelligent or hardest working get ahead of the rest.  Most everyone realizes this is not true, yet we continue to … Continue reading

Posted in Allison L. Hurst, Class and Education, Contributors, Issues, The Working Class and the Economy, Understanding Class | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Governor DeWine: It’s Never Too Late to Do the Right Thing for Ohio’s Workers

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, the time is always right to do the right thing. In a case where formerly unemployed Ohioans are seeking the reinstatement of pandemic benefits, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has the opportunity to prove he … Continue reading

Posted in Contributors, Issues, Marc Dann, The Working Class and the Economy | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Labor Spring 2023: Making Campuses Platforms for Labor Renewal

Everywhere you look this spring, you’ll find evidence that campuses are becoming sites of labor organizing and struggle.  In recent months, faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago staged recently a successful week-long strike, adjunct faculty at the New … Continue reading

Posted in Contributors, Issues, Joseph A. McCartin, Labor and Community Activism | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Why Veterans in Labor Should Not Be Ignored

Even in the era of identity politics, one category of identity has largely been ignored: what UK journalist Joe Glenton calls “veteranhood.”19 million former soldiers — most of them working class — share a strong sense of personal identity as … Continue reading

Posted in Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues, Labor and Community Activism | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Fair Time Legislation Is Achievable, Not Just for Rail Workers But for Everyone

Even as President Biden signed legislation imposing a contract without paid sick leave on 115,000 rail workers, he made it clear that the fight for paid leave — not just for rail workers but for everyone — wasn’t over. As … Continue reading

Posted in Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues, Labor and Community Activism, The Working Class and the Economy, Work | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Meeting Labor’s Moment

In my thirty years in the labor movement, I’ve never seen a moment quite like this one. We’re living through a pivotal moment for America’s working class and for the future of U.S. labor, but it’s more than that. This … Continue reading

Posted in Contributors, Issues, Labor and Community Activism, Lane Windham | Tagged | 2 Comments

Which Side Are You On? Four Facts and Two Promising Prescriptions for Dampening Inflation

As mine owners and their goons terrorized striking miners and their families during the Harlan County Coal wars in 1931, Florence Reece penned the iconic labor song, “Which Side Are You On.” It pleads for unity and collective resistance. As … Continue reading

Posted in Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues, The Working Class and the Economy, Understanding Class | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Deadbeat Creditors and Other Tales of Moral Hazard

Some twenty years ago, three years out of law school, my partner and I attended a friend’s wedding in New Jersey.  Both of us had racked up a lot of debt and were struggling to find permanent jobs in NYC.  … Continue reading

Posted in Allison L. Hurst, Class and Education, Contributors, Issues, The Working Class and the Economy | Tagged , | 2 Comments