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New Labor Forum Highlights: July 25th, 2016

The New Labor Forum has launched a bi-weekly newsletter on current topics in labor, curated by the some of the most insightful scholars and activists in the labor world today. Check out some highlights from the latest edition below.

Special Issue on the DNC & Philadelphia

The DNC has begun! New Labor Forum is pleased to offer our readers – and all those currently in Philadelphia or paying attention to events there – a collection of resources on the labor movement and related organizing taking place in the city of Brotherly Love. We’ve highlighted some of the events connected to the convention and collected a couple of resources for finding additional events as well.

We have quick updates on three worker struggles: the recent victory of baggage handlers at the Philadelphia Airport, the latest in the local cab drivers versus Uber saga, and an upcoming vote for academic staff of Pennsylvania State University.

We also wanted to draw your attention to a few grassroots organizations in Philadelphia that we find inspiring, and somehow unique: The Philadelphia Unemployment Project, Decarcerate PA, Media Mobilizing Project, and Philly Socialists. They won’t be generating headlines at the DNC – but are worth knowing about for anyone interested in what makes the city special.

We close out this #DNCinPhilly newsletter with a list of local twitter accounts to follow the action in real-time.

Contents:

  1. Events During the DNC in Philly This Week 
  2. Current Labor Actions in Philly Labor Struggles in Philly: Airports, Cab Drivers & University Professors
  3. Philadelphia Organizations You Should Know About 
  4. Best Local Twitter Accounts to Follow During the DNC 

Photo by Peter Miller via flickr (CC-BY-NC-ND)

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New Labor Forum Highlights: June 27th, 2016

The New Labor Forum has launched a bi-weekly newsletter on current topics in labor, curated by the some of the most insightful scholars and activists in the labor world today. Check out some highlights from the latest edition below.

With this newsletter, we offer commentary and labor news on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s blockbuster musical, Hamilton. Haven’t seen it? Odds are most of you haven’t, but that won’t stop anyone from having an opinion of Miranda’s lyrical prowess and its ‘true’ political meaning. We’ll begin with a clip of Miranda performing Hamilton Mixtape at the White House back in 2009, when the show was still being written.

Donatella Galella and James McMaster both offer critiques that capture a central dilemma: while Hamilton exalts the working-class origins and anti-slavery sympathies of its central character, it also elides Hamilton’s anti-democratic views and Wall Street founding role and furthers the immigration myth of a lone hero overcoming all odds by his exceptionalism and hard work. It was recently announced that the cast of Hamilton will host a special show for the Clinton campaign, as part of a commitment to fighting Republican nominee Donald Trump. It’s ironic, since Trump could likely stand behind most of the political messages present in the musical. Since we thought it would be of particular interest to our subscribers, we’re also including an article from the New York Times by Michael Paulson about recent labor negotiations between the show’s producers and the cast over profit sharing.

Finally, we include a review by Sherry Linkon of two recent plays with working-class characters and conflict at their center: Lynn Nottage’s Sweat and Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew Both plays depict‘tenuousness of solidarity, the persistence of divisions around race and class, and the injuries of economic insecurity’, and serve as a reminder that workers and their experiences matter.

Contents:

  1. Video: Lin-Manuel Miranda Performs at the White House Poetry Jam
  2. Racializing the American Revolution Review of the Broadway Musical Hamilton/ Donatella Galella
  3. Why Hamilton is Not the Revolution You Think it is/ James McMaster
  4. ‘Hamilton’ Producers and Actors Reach Deal on Sharing Profits/ Michael Paulson, NYT
  5. Review of 2 plays: Lynn Nottage’s Sweat and Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew/ Sherry Linkon

Photo by Joe Shlabotnik via flickr (CC-BY-NC-SA)

Home, International Program for Labor, Climate and Environment, New Labor Forum

New Labor Forum Highlights: June 13th, 2016

The New Labor Forum has launched a bi-weekly newsletter on current topics in labor, curated by the some of the most insightful scholars and activists in the labor world today. Check out some highlights from the latest edition below.

As of this writing, the the Presidential Primary season is in effect over; we know that Hillary Clinton will be the nominee and that she will face Donald Trump in the general. But the fascination with the Bernie Sanders campaign continues, as detailed by Bob Master, Political Director for Region 1 of the Communication Workers of America, writing about the lessons the labor movement can learn.

To discuss the future prospects of the movement inspired by the Sanders campaign, thousands of unionists and progressives will gather in Chicago this weekend at The People’s Summit. The Murphy Institute’s Sean Sweeney will be speaking on energy democracy and climate justice, and New Labor Forum’s Charles Lenchner will be moderating a panel on the future of democratic socialism.

Other progressives, most notably Senator Elizabeth Warren, are now attempting to make the case for Hillary Clinton to Sanders supporters. We include here such an argument by The Nation’s David Cole in defense of Clinton’s incrementalism.

Finally, Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times offers a detailed analysis of what Sanders hopes to achieve by staying in the race.

Contents:

  1. Bernie Sanders, Labor, Ideology and the Future of American Politics by Bob Master
  2. The People’s Summit by Charles Lenchner
  3. The Progressive Case for Hillary Clinton’s Incrementalism by David Cole
  4. Isn’t the Primary Over? Why Bernie Sanders Won’t Quit, by Nicholas Confessore

Photo by Gage Skidmore via flickr (CC-BY-SA)