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Subscribe to Working-Class Perspectives - Working-Class Perspectives offers weekly commentaries on current issues related to working-class people and communities. Contributors discuss a variety of issues, from what class means to how it intersects with race and gender to how class is shaping American politics. We welcome relevant comments of 500 words or less.
For questions or comments about this blog, e-mail Sherry Linkon. For assistance with news stories about working-class politics and culture, call or e-mail John Russo, 330-207-8085. Categories
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The State of the Working Class
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Category Archives: Labor and Community Activism
The Unanswered Question about the Future of US Labor Unions
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 AFL-CIO, labor organizing, labor unions
1 Comment
The Downward Path We’ve Trod: Reflections on an Ominous Anniversary
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 labor activism, labor unions, PATCO strike
2 Comments
Amazon and the Southern Key
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 Amazon, labor movement, NLRB, Southern unions
3 Comments
Southern Black Women Are Key to Alabama Amazon Union Drive
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
Workers, Climate Change, and Useless Stereotypes
As the Biden administration pivots the US from eliminating to increasing social and economic programs, certain priorities are coming forward. The pandemic is at the front of the line, followed closely by Biden’s “other priorities,” among the most notable being, as … Continue reading
Water from a Rock: Joe Biden and Working-Class Catholicism
Much hangs in the balance in these difficult days. The survival of our fragile, still relatively young multiracial democracy is menaced by a tsunami of disinformation and increasingly aggressive white supremacists who are abetted by allies in media and politics. … Continue reading
Will 2021 Bring Positive Change for Working-Class People?
During 2020, Working-Class Perspectives touched on many COVID-related topics and showed how working-class people around the world were being disproportionately affected for a variety of reasons. Contributors showed how the pandemic brought to light the impacts of our reliance on … Continue reading
Beyond Economic Populism
Predictably, politicos and commentators spent much of 2020 debating why working-class voters supported Trump and how the Democrats could win them back. Although we’ve occasionally contributed to these conversations, we’re also getting tired of them. They tend to envision “the … Continue reading
The “Other America”: The Poverty and Peril of Domestic Workers
America is mired in a crisis of unprecedented scope and depth. The disruption of the pandemic is draining for all of us, but for many, its consequences are dire. For the millions of people who’ve had little or no work … Continue reading
Undelivered: The DeJoy Scandal and Democracy in the Balance
In this turbulent moment, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy aptly symbolizes the precarious state of both our democracy and the workers on whose shoulder its future rests. Last week, a Washington Post team uncovered seven former employees of New Breed Logistics … Continue reading
