Elana Levin

this year in labor on the DMIblog

The DMIblog is on a mission to let everyone know the Labor Movement's leading role in the creation of the middle class. We want everyone to know that, as Paul Krugman pointed out in the NY Times, one of the main reasons that American workers are doing so poorly today is the result of a quarter century's worth of government policies have systematically reduced workers' bargaining power (i.e. policies that are anti-union).

In honor of the central role that organized labor has played in building the progressive movement and building the middle class, I'm celebrating Labor Day on the DMIblog by poring through the DMIblog back catalog in search of our best labor posts this year.

From the frontlines of the fight to get NYU to recognize its Graduate Assistants' right to organize, Liza Duggan wrote "Who's Afraid of John Sweeney?"

During the Transit Strike, Amy Traub wondered how Governor Pataki managed to evade responsibility for the actions of a public authority that he controls in "MTA Disrespects Us All, Governor Dodges Accountability." Meanwhile I tried to explain the phenomenon I call "Union Envy."

DMI's Workers' Rights Fellow Adrianne Shropshire reflects on Race and the Politics of the Transit Strike, treading where few pundits dared to go.

DMI Fellow Andrew Friedman tells the story of how community organizations and labor unions can unite to win union contracts for immigrant workers that desperately need them.

Adrianne Shropshire asks why the Bush Administration wants to encourage unions in Iraq while he aims to destroy them in America.

Companies are refusing to keep their promises to their employees. I wonder what ever happened to the Social Contract.

Andrea Batista Schlesinger connects the immigration debate to flawed labor policies that fail to protect workplace rights of Americans AND immigrants alike. She makes the case for the "shared economic interest in progressive immigration policy, and the shared danger in the creation of a permanent underclass of exploited immigrant workers."

Amy Traub explains why "Immigration enforcement May Be Hazardous to Your Health" - and why labor rights enforcement for all is key. Following up on why protecting the workplace rights of immigrants is central to raising the wages of American workers, Amy looks at a breaking labor story from the New Orleans rebuilding effort and why, despite what some immigrant bashers claim, "Guest Workers Get Screwed". An intrepid group of undocumented workers are suing for their workplace rights in a move that would help all workers, legal and not.

Adrianne Shropshire dissects and dispels Nicholas Kristof's massively flawed assertion that sweatshops are good for the 3rd world poor because heck, they're jobs. Yeah, this guy has a column in the NY Times - now you know why much of the best writing on labor has been left to the bloggers and not pundits.

Fighting against flawed logic like Kristof's, Adrianne takes on the supporters of Big Box Stores who think that offering meager paying jobs to poor communities is the best we should expect. (Adrianne also explains Chicago's new living wage ordinance.)

And on the promising note of Chicago's living wage ordinance I'm wishing you all a great Labor Day (and remember the reason for the season).

Elana Levin: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 10:27 PM, Sep 03, 2006 in Blog Stroll | Labor
Permalink | Email to Friend