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Home, Murphy News, Urban Studies

Murphy Prof. Michael Fortner Publishes New Book on Politics of Punishment

Assistant Professor Michael Fortner, Academic Director of Urban Studies at the Murphy Institute, has a new book available for preorder on Amazon.

Black Silent Majority: The Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment will be formally released on September 7, 2015. As described on Amazon, “Black Silent Majority uncovers the role African Americans played in creating today’s system of mass incarceration… Fortner traces how many blacks in New York came to believe that the rehabilitation-focused liberal policies of the 1960s had failed. Faced with economic malaise and rising rates of addiction and crime, they blamed addicts and pushers. By 1973, the outcry from grassroots activists and civic leaders in Harlem calling for drastic measures presented Rockefeller with a welcome opportunity to crack down on crime and boost his political career. New York became the first state to mandate long prison sentences for selling or possessing narcotics.”

Photo by Kate Ter Haar via flickr (CC-BY).

Faculty Writing, Home, Labor Studies

Prof. Stephanie Luce Explores the Higher Wages Movement

By Michael Murphy

On April 15, protesters in New York City and across the United States engaged in a coordinated demonstration to highlight the problem of low wages for workers in the fast-food industry. This issue has resonated with workers who have seen their pay diverge in real terms from the cost of living. The “Fight for $15 on 4/15” protests brought workers together with allies in the community and organized labor in what has become a dynamic social movement. Yet the origins of this stark decline in purchasing power for workers can be found several decades ago. Why has this social movement for change emerged in recent years to place higher wages on the local and national political agenda?

In the forthcoming Spring 2015 issue of New Labor Forum, Murphy Institute Professor of Labor Studies Stephanie Luce explores the origins and influence of this movement. Continue reading Prof. Stephanie Luce Explores the Higher Wages Movement →

Home, Labor Studies, Murphy News

Happy May Day — and Happy Birthday!

It’s May Day again — that’s International Workers’ Day, for those not in the know. Here in NYC, the Guggenheim’s been occupied, Free University’s been liberating education from the university-industrial complex,  the Immigrant Workers Justice Tour has marched through Manhattan and at 5pm, we’ll be Shutting It Down for Freddie Gray, starting at Union Square. (For more on today’s events — of which there are many — check out the calendar at 99pickets.org.)

Here at Murphy, we celebrate May Day as the yearly commemoration of those who have fought for a better life for the working class — while continuing to wage our struggle.

This year’s May Day marks yet another milestone: the one-year anniversary of this blog.  Continue reading Happy May Day — and Happy Birthday! →

Home, International Program for Labor, Climate and Environment

10 Ideas to Rethink in Light of Climate Change

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By Laura McClure

I have a feeling that our children and grandchildren will look back on this as the era of mass denial — a strange period when almost everybody in the U.S. knew that catastrophic climate change was upon us, but for some weird reason, just went about their lives pretending it wasn’t. It’s a kind of insanity, because by our inaction, we’re creating a world of trouble for ourselves and those who will come after.

A quick review of the facts: scientists tell us that climate change is proceeding more quickly than they had predicted, and that human civilization is in danger. (If you think I’m exaggerating, please see the latest report by the International Panel on Climate Change.) There is no quick fix in the works. Continue reading 10 Ideas to Rethink in Light of Climate Change →

Home, Labor Studies

Summer Graduate Class: Queering Labor

The Labor Studies Program invites you to enroll in our summer graduate class: Queering Labor

June 8 to July 24, T&Th, 6:15-8:45pm

Facilitated by Colin Patrick Ashley

Queering Labor will address the role of economic structures and the question of labor in relationship to sexual identities and sexual desire.  This course will cover the impact of societal divisions of labor and modes of production on the emergence of sexual identity categories. In doing so, we will look at capitalism as an economic system that changed both family structure and urban ways of being and enacting desire. This course will also address the spaces of intersection between the LGBTQ liberation movement and various struggles for economic justice and labor rights.  Special concentration will be placed on how LGBTQ individuals experience the workplace including the multiple forms of inequality they face.  Specifically we will cover the forms of precarity faced by the most marginal members of the LGBTQ community.  Students will analyze how unions have historically addressed the issue of sexual identity and sexual desire as well as theorize the future possibilities of increasing LGBTQ rights alongside economic rights and labor justice.  For information about registration, please contact Irene.Garcia-Mathes@cuny.edu
Colin Patrick Ashley is a PhD candidate in the Sociology Program at the Graduate Center of CUNY and is a member of the Africana Studies, Women’s Studies, and LGBT/Queer Studies Certificate/Concentration programs. As well as being a student leader he is also a community activist and organizer. His research interests include race, sexuality, queer theory, affect, aesthetics, and space. His dissertation examines the relationship between spatial production (its affects, aesthetics, and neoliberal conflicts) and conceptualizations of communal identity for queer youth of color.

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News Round-Up

President Obama announces that a January drone strike killed 2 hostages, another black man dies in police custody, and the DEA chief announces she’ll be stepping down, inviting optimism amongst those fighting to end the so-called War on Drugs. And in labor and community news…

  • NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration released OneNYC, an update to predecessor Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s sustainability and resilience plan, PlaNYC. De Blasio’s additions claim to account for poverty and income inequality.
  • On a related note,over at Labor Press, James Parrott explains the recent growth in wages in NYC — but cautions that most of the increases are going to those who are already relatively well-compensated.
  • The Machinists union has withdrawn a petition to hold a union vote to organize Boeing workers in South Carolina due to what it’s calling “a toxic atmosphere and political interference” — including two organizers being held at gunpoint. (via KomoNews)
  • In an instance of nationwide backlash against Putin’s economic policies, wildcat strikes took hold across Russia this past week. (via NYTimes)
  • The  Illinois Tollway board just did away with a 20-year-old agreement requiring contractors “to use union workers on construction projects in exchange for assurances against strikes, slowdowns or walkouts.” (via Chicago Tribune)
  • In an article by Nathan Schneider over at the Nation highlighting the battle over unpredictable scheduling and insufficient hours, the Retail Action Project’s efforts get some attention.
  • Getting amped for May Day next week? CultureStrike, in partnership with Mobilize the Immigrant Vote (MIV), has released an art-making kit to help you make “stencils, banners and other art projects for your future events, marches and actions.” Check it out.
  • We’ve got a screening of The Hand That Feeds coming up on May 8th. Join us!

Photo via flickr (CC-BY-NC-ND).