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Category Archives: labor
A Time of Monsters: The New Nadir and the Crisis of the Black Worker
We currently reside in what Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci called “A Time of Monsters.” Exacerbated by the catastrophic COVID-19 pandemic, the Black working classes continue to struggle under what Black Studies scholar Sundiata Cha-Jua has dubbed “the New Nadir.” For … Continue reading
43 total views, 4 views today
Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Economy, labor, Labor/Economics, Politics
Tagged Black workers, economic inequality, economic racism, new nadir, underemployment
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March Issue Front Cover
WOMEN”S HISTORY MONTH ISSUE 326 total views
326 total views
Posted in Front Cover, Labor, Labor militancy, Section, Women
Tagged Labor, organizing, women
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Union Women on the Move
Hopeful signs of a labor resurgence are everywhere. Despite another decline in the unionized percentage of the labor force and the stalemate in efforts at labor law reform, new frontiers in union organizing have emerged, strikes are on the upswing, … Continue reading
256 total views, 2 views today
Posted in Economy, Labor, Labor militancy, Women, Worker Health and Safety
Tagged Labor, labor history, organizing, women
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I Love My Job, But . . .
The University of Illinois is part of the US land-grant university system. Each state has a land-grant university that operates a Cooperative Extension Service, which provides non-formal education to agricultural producers and communities in each county in Illinois. I work … Continue reading
618 total views, 1 views today
Posted in Labor, Labor/Economics, Section, social services, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Tagged Labor, UIUC
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It’s Not a Labor Shortage, It’s a Workers’ Rights Shortage
The Great Uprising, the Great Resignation, even the unofficial General Strike: analysts and pundits—left, right and center—speak of mounting worker unrest in the US in awestruck terms. What these labels certainly do capture is the expansive scale of this unrest … Continue reading
969 total views, 2 views today
Posted in labor, Labor militancy, Labor/Economics
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On the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis: Our Farmworkers Face Heat’s Deadly Dangers
Heat kills, and it kills farmworkers with distressing regularity. The list of the dead includes migrants like 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez in the grape fields of California; 38-year-old Francisco Perez working in a tree nursery outside Portland; Miguel Angel … Continue reading
511 total views
Posted in Farmworkers, Immigrants, Labor, Worker Health and Safety
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Anarchism and the American Labor Movement
Anarchists, proponents of “anti-authoritarian socialism,” seek to abolish the state and capitalism. Anarchism replaces authoritarian governance and private ownership of resources with federations of self-managed industries and communities in which those affected by decisions participate in making them directly in … Continue reading
Posted in Anarchism, Anarcho-syndicalism, Labor, Labor/Economics, union solidarity
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What Can we Learn from The Amazon Union Vote in Bessemer, Alabama?
During the past year, as the pandemic reshaped our daily lives, the media has paid more attention to work and workers than it has in a long time. The pandemic has shone a spotlight on the deep inequalities that persist … Continue reading
Posted in Labor, Labor/Economics
Comments Off on What Can we Learn from The Amazon Union Vote in Bessemer, Alabama?
Remembering: Anne Feeney
She carried a business card that read: “Performer, Producer, Hellraiser.” And that is who Anne Feeney was throughout her time as a traveling troubadour on behalf of social justice. Born July 1, 1951 just outside of Pittsburgh into an Irish-American … Continue reading
The University and its Workers during the Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has affected universities all over the country and the world. Different institutions have chosen different approaches, from keeping all courses online and discouraging students from returning (Smith College, Harvard University, etc.) to a full opening of residential … Continue reading
Posted in COVID pandemic, health, Labor, Labor/Economics, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Disruptive Shift Changes for UIUC Custodial Staff
Jenni Walkup is a public anthropology MA student at American University who lives in Champaign. She works in education and writes about movements and social change. She’s very good at Bananagrams. In August, 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of … Continue reading
Posted in COVID-19, labor, Labor/Economics, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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SEIU Statement Regarding the Changes in the Building Services Department at UIUC
The University decided in mid-spring that it would reopen for the 2020 fall semester, a decision that would require drastic, “emergency” changes in our department and to the working conditions of SEIU members. Management didn’t notify union leadership until July … Continue reading
Posted in COVID-19, labor, Labor/Economics, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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The Migrants of India Before and During the Covid-19 Crisis
The global COVID-19 pandemic claims to spare no race, religion, or social class. Yet over and over we see marginalized and vulnerable communities struggling to get the care and shelter they need during this crisis. India, like numerous other countries, … Continue reading
World Labor Hour Farewell
The airshifters at WRFU 104.5 FM are sad to announce that the end of one of our most beloved programs, the World Labor Hour, is drawing near. Hosted by David Johnson, Bill Gorrell, and Gus Wood, the World Labor Hour … Continue reading
618 total views, 2 views today
Posted in labor
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The Pandemic and Pro Wrestling
In the November, 2019 Public i, I wrote about one of the earliest gig economies: professional wrestling. There, independent pro wrestler David Starr discussed the incredibly imbalanced power dynamics of the corporate wrestling scene in America. While watching corporations and … Continue reading
603 total views, 2 views today
Posted in Labor, Labor/Economics, Sports
Tagged COVID-19, Pro Wrestling
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GEO Drive to Survive Rally
The Public i has received this press release from the Graduate Employees’ Organization. We have published it in its entirety below. ———————————————————————————————————- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 30, 2020 CONTACT: Owen MacDonald 913-944-2676 ojmacdonald@gmail.com GRADUATE WORKERS’ DRIVE TO SURVIVE MAY DAY … Continue reading
734 total views, 1 views today
Posted in Healthcare, labor, Labor
Tagged GEO, healthcare, Labor
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Fighting for the Soul of Public Education
The administration of the University of California, Santa Cruz announced on Friday, February 28 that it would fire fifty-four graduate instructors who are on strike at the University. The announcement comes as the latest move in a nation-wide wave of … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Labor, Labor/Economics
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An Early Gig Economy: Pro Wrestling
By now, almost everybody knows that professional wrestling is a “worked” sport—requiring wrestlers to advance storylines, choreograph matches and implement predetermined outcomes set by the industry’s bookers and writers. Yet the in-ring entertainment provided by these men and women can … Continue reading
Strike Averted! Workers of SEIU Local 73 Ratify Contract with University Administration
From November of 2018 until August, 2019, the workers of Service Employees International Union Local 73 were negotiating a new contract with the UIUC administration. In July, members of the local overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike. Formal notice of … Continue reading
Posted in labor, University of Illinois
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May Day Rally 2019
This is the text of a speech given at the GEO May 1 rally on the UIUC Main Quad. Thanks to the GEO for having me. Not just because May Day is truly and historically a celebration of anarchist labor … Continue reading