Category Archives: labor

The Pandemic and Pro Wrestling

Posted on June 2020 by Neil Parthun

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 →

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Posted in Labor, Labor/Economics, Sports | Tagged COVID-19, Pro Wrestling | Comments Off

GEO Drive to Survive Rally

Posted on May 2020 by Nick Goodell

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 →

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Posted in Healthcare, labor, Labor | Tagged GEO, healthcare, Labor | Comments Off

Fighting for the Soul of Public Education

Posted on March 2020 by Stephanie Fortado

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 | Comments Off

An Early Gig Economy: Pro Wrestling

Posted on November 2019 by Neil Parthun

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 →

Posted in labor, Sports | Comments Off

Strike Averted! Workers of SEIU Local 73 Ratify Contract with University Administration

Posted on September 2019 by Nick Goodell

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 | Comments Off

May Day Rally 2019

Posted on June 2019 by Kristina Khan

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 →

Posted in Democracy, Economy, labor | Comments Off

It’s Not an Immigration Crisis, It’s a Global Labor Tragedy

Posted on May 2019 by Janice Jayes

An underclass of “undocumented” workers in the U.S., sweatshops in Asia, child miners in Africa, contract ironworkers in Dubai … we live in a world of globalized labor exploitation. This doesn’t just mean a world where workers in many countries … Continue reading →

Posted in labor, Refugees | Comments Off

GEO Statement Against the Proposed ICE Detention Center in Dwight, Illinois

Posted on May 2019 by GEO

February 28, 2019 We, the Graduate Employees Organization at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign IFT/AFT Local 6300 AFL-CIO, strongly condemn the proposed construction of a private prison in Dwight, Illinois. The Dwight Planning Commission met on Tuesday, February 19, 2019 … Continue reading →

Posted in labor, University of Illinois | Comments Off

The Labor Problem

Posted on May 2019 by Public i

by Eugene V. Debs – unsigned editorial in Locomotive Firemen’s Monthly Magazine, vol. 3, no. 5 (May 1879), p. 146. Whatever politicians may say to the contrary, however much they may attempt to lead the masses away from the truth, … Continue reading →

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No Time to Wait: Let’s Make a Green New Deal!

Posted on April 2019 by Patricia Simpson

As a series of intergovernmental panels and the March 15 global wave of student strikes remind us, the environmental crisis is no longer a thing of the future. It is our here and now, exacting a toll on the world’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, labor | Comments Off

Women Workers on the March: UNITE HERE Hotel Workers Strike

Posted on March 2019 by Stephanie Fortado

Currently women workers are leading the march of labor in this country. Although it is lost amid the headlines of the #MeToo movement, this movement’s call for an end to sexual harassment and assault is at its core a demand … Continue reading →

Posted in health care, labor, Women | Comments Off

Illiberal America: A Report Card

Posted on March 2019 by David Prochaska

I never thought I would live to see the U.S. turn into the illiberal, authoritarian, populist, white-nationalist country it has already increasingly become in early 2019. Illiberalism Turns Liberal Democracy on its Head “Liberal democracy” is characterized in theory by … Continue reading →

Posted in bigotry, Democracy, Elections, Justice, labor, Media, Politics, Trump | Comments Off

The Chancellor’s Massmail on Free Speech Who Is It Talking About?

Posted on June 2018 by Bruce Rosenstock

Returning from a meeting of the American Association of Universities (AAU), Chancellor Jones shared a joint statement that was crafted at the meeting in regard to free speech on campus. The statement starts out by saying that people whose views … Continue reading →

Posted in bigotry, Free Speech, Israel/Palestine, labor, University of Illinois | Comments Off

Janus v. AFSCME Council 31

Posted on May 2018 by Dan Gilbert

By Dan Gilbert Dan Gilbert teaches in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois. In a matter of weeks the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule in Janus v. American Federation of State, … Continue reading →

Posted in labor, Labor/Economics, Politics | Comments Off

Anti-Union Rauner, Koch Brothers Aim at a Nation of Wisconsins

Posted on May 2018 by Ricky Baldwin

By Ricky Baldwin Ricky Baldwin is a longtime community and union organizer who lives in Urbana. Anticipating the Janus decision discussed elsewhere in this issue, Central Illinois Jobs With Justice (JWJ) held a public discussion on February 18 in the … Continue reading →

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History Matters: Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Fight for Economic Justice

Posted on May 2018 by Stephanie Fortado

By Stephanie Fortado Dr. Stephanie Seawell Fortado is a Lecturer at the University of Illinois Labor Education Program, providing workshops and extension programming for unions and the general public on the Champaign-Urbana campus and throughout Illinois. Before joining the University, … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Economy, Justice, labor, Voices of Color | Comments Off

The Real War in Egypt: the Labor Struggle

Posted on May 2018 by Janice Jayes

By Janice Jayes If you missed the exciting Presidential election news out of Egypt this past March, don’t be too hard on yourself: also missing it were 96 million Egyptians. Yes, a few Egyptians showed up at the polls for … Continue reading →

Posted in Arab Spring, Egypt, labor | Comments Off

GloHeart, A Displaced Lullaby: A Play on Immigration Asks Questions About Language

Posted on May 2018 by Al Schneider

By Al Schneider Al Schneider is a performance maker and theater researcher currently living in Urbana. Information about their work can be found here: alanddog.co.uk. What are they doing here? Dressed in plaid, blue jeans, a ball cap, and boots, … Continue reading →

Posted in Immigration, labor | Comments Off

History Matters: Remembering Two “Dangerous” Labor Union Women

Posted on March 2018 by Stephanie Fortado

Posted in African Americans, Feminism, labor, Labor/Economics, Women, Women | Comments Off

Abused: Working Women Face Widespread Harassment and Violence

Posted on March 2018 by Patricia Simpson

By Pat Simpson Pat Simpson, Emerita Professor, Loyola University, formerly taught in the Labor Education Program, UIUC. A longtime labor and social justice activist, she is currently a member of the Chambana Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and of the … Continue reading →

Posted in labor, Labor/Economics, Sexual abuse, Women, Women | Comments Off