Category Archives: Labor and Community Activism

Envisioning a 21st-Century Worker-Centered Social Compact

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Working-Class Perspectives

On June 2-3, 2022, my colleagues at Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor & the Working Poor will host the next installment in a series of convenings, webinars, and discussions we inaugurated in April 2021, inviting a wide range of … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Issues, Joseph A. McCartin, Labor and Community Activism, The Working Class and the Economy, Working-Class Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A Movement Moment and a Real NLRB

Posted on May 9, 2022 by Working-Class Perspectives

Finally, it’s a new morning for workers in America.   For at least a brief time, while the Biden administration is alive, even if unwell, and the Supreme Court has not yet brought the darkness and ended our parade, opportunity is … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Issues, Labor and Community Activism, Understanding Class, Wade Rathke | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

We Told You So: On Trade, the Working Class Was Right

Posted on March 28, 2022 by Christopher R Martin

It seems impolite to say “we told you so,” but the working class and labor unions were so unjustly maligned more than two decades ago—when they fought the push to expand unfettered global trade—that it seems more than fair to … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher R. Martin, Contributors, Issues, Labor and Community Activism, The Working Class and the Economy | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Why There’s More Labor Media Coverage 

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Working-Class Perspectives

It seems like workers and their unions are in the news more than ever lately.  Starbucks baristas, Amazon warehouse workers, John Deere strikers, and even New York Times tech workers, who just unionized, have all starred in the recent swell … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Labor and Community Activism, Lane Windham | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

The Power of Recognizing Higher Ed Faculty as Working-Class

Posted on February 21, 2022 by Working-Class Perspectives

Just over 20 years ago, Michael Zweig published The Working Class Majority: America’s Best Kept Secret. At that year’s How Class Works conference at SUNY Stony Brook, academics from history, political science, labor and industrial relations, and other fields debated … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and Education, Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Labor and Community Activism | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Building Back Better?

Posted on November 29, 2021 by Working-Class Perspectives

As we await U.S. Senate action on President Biden’s Build Back Better plan, it is worth reflecting on what the past few tumultuous months have meant for U.S. workers.  Much has happened in the short time since the summer drew … Continue reading →

Posted in Issues, Joseph A. McCartin, Labor and Community Activism, The Working Class and the Economy, Work | 5 Comments

The Unanswered Question about the Future of US Labor Unions

Posted on September 6, 2021 by Working-Class Perspectives

Within six months the two men who have led the AFL-CIO for more than twenty-five years, John J. Sweeney and Richard Trumka, have passed away.  In reflecting on Trumka’s sudden passing and the likely transition of leadership within the dominant … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Issues, Labor and Community Activism, Wade Rathke | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Downward Path We’ve Trod: Reflections on an Ominous Anniversary

Posted on August 2, 2021 by Working-Class Perspectives

This week marks the 40th anniversary of an illegal strike by the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) that was decisively broken by President Ronald Reagan.  That strike began on August 3, 1981, when more than 12,000 air traffic controllers … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Issues, Joseph A. McCartin, Labor and Community Activism | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Amazon and the Southern Key

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Working-Class Perspectives

Though expected, the union defeat at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama fulfillment center was a gut punch to the labor movement not only in the United States, but globally.  Amazon workers in other countries had expressed solidarity with Bessemer through direct action, … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Issues, Labor and Community Activism, Wade Rathke | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Southern Black Women Are Key to Alabama Amazon Union Drive

Posted on March 22, 2021 by Working-Class Perspectives

Global capitalism may have met its match. Southern African-American women are challenging Amazon in Bessemer, Alabama, and it’s unclear who will be the victor.  Eighty-five percent of the Amazon warehouse workers who are voting on whether to form a union … Continue reading →

Posted in Class at the Intersections, Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues, Labor and Community Activism | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment