- 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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Tag Archives: labor activism
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
Accompanying Staughton
Since his death last month, Staughton Lynd has been lionized in the national media as an icon of radicalism. Labor historians, leftist scholars, and long-time comrades have recalled his anti-war efforts, his writing about worker activism and radical history, and … Continue reading
Posted in Contributors, Issues, John Russo, Labor and Community Activism
Tagged labor activism, Staughton Lynd, worker justice
1 Comment
Waving the Red Away: Working-Class Mobilization
By all historical measures, a week after the 2022 midterms, Republicans should have been partying on superyachts their own tide had lifted. But the big story is the failure of the red tidal wave to wash out the Democratic party. … Continue reading
Why There’s More Labor Media Coverage
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
The Power of Recognizing Higher Ed Faculty as Working-Class
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
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
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
Unemployed Workers of the World Unite?!?
Karl Marx’s famous phrase spoke of the unemployed as the “industrial reserve army.” His argument was plain. Creating greater unemployment was a key tool in giving employers the upper hand in forcing down wages and disciplining workers. I can still … Continue reading
No Class: Why You Should Be Getting Your Labor News from Teen Vogue
Last Wednesday NBA players refused to take the court for their playoff games in order to protest the latest police shooting of an unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake of Kenosha, Wisconsin, who survived the shooting but is now paralyzed. In … Continue reading
May Day 2020: Workers in the Pandemic Time
Around the world, the first of May, is generally celebrated as a public holiday. May Day’s origins go back to 1886, when 300,000 U.S. workers in 13,000 businesses laid down their tools in a general strike, joining 40,000 in Chicago … Continue reading