Labor Café Archive 2023–24
Topic – Hot Labor Summer: Writers, Actors, Baristas, Video Game Designers, Hotel Housekeepers, Delivery Drivers, and Autoworkers on Strike
Friday, September 8, 2023, Geddes Hall, McNeill Library, 5-6 pm
Facilitator: Dan Graff, Director of the Higgins Labor Program at the Institute for Social Concerns
Some resources to get the conversation started:
- “THE HISTORIC BATTLES OF “HOT LABOR SUMMER,” The Political Scene [The New Yorker’s podcast], Jul. 27, 2023
- E. Tammy Kim, “How UPS and the Teamsters Staved Off a Strike—for Now,” The New Yorker, July 27, 2023
- Josh Eidelson, “Amazon Illegally Called Police on Employees, Restricted Union Talk, Labor Board Alleges,” Seattle Times [originally Bloomberg], Aug. 21, 2023
- Dave Jamieson, “Hotel Workers Union Calls For Convention Boycott Of Los Angeles,” HuffPost, Aug. 24, 2023
- Jonathan Weisman, “Labor Groups Target Hyundai, and Biden, Over Transition to Electric,” New York Times, Aug. 27, 2023
- Lydia Saad, “More in U.S. See Unions Strengthening and Want It That Way,” Gallup, Aug. 30, 2023
- Hamilton Nolan, “It’s Up to Unions to Make the NLRB Matter,” In These Times, Aug. 23, 2023
Topic – Hollywood on Strike: Actors, Writers, Tech, and the Future of Entertainment
Wednesday, October 11, 2023, Geddes Hall, Coffee House, 3:30-4:30 pm
Jointly sponsored by the Institute for Social Concerns and the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre with support from a Teaching Beyond the Classroom Grant from the College of Arts & Letters.
Alumni panelists:
- Liz Hynes ’17, writer for “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and council member of the Writers Guild of America, East
- Eric Ways ’18, actor and member of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
Faculty panelists:
- Dan Graff, director of the Higgins Labor Program at the Institute for Social Concerns and professor of the practice in the Department of History
- Megan Levis, assistant professor of the practice at the Institute for Social Concerns and the College of Engineering
- Pam Wojcik (moderator), department chair and Andrew V. Tackes Professor of Film, Television, and Theatre
Topic – How Much is Too Much? Profits, Paychecks, and Power in Today’s Uncertain Economy
Friday, November 10, 2023, Geddes Hall, Coffee House, 5-6 pm
Facilitator: Trista Brantley (HIST & POLS ’25)
Some resources to get the conversation started:
- Kristin Toussaint, “Special Report: Understanding out-of-control CEO pay—and why it’s a problem,” Fast Company, Sep. 12, 2023.
- Rosalyn Pelles & William J. Barber II, “Corporate Greed is a Moral Crisis. Working People Are Fighting Back.,” In These Times, Aug. 7, 2023
- Alexandra Olson, “CEOs got smaller raises. It would still take the average worker 2 lifetimes to make their annual pay,” PBS NewsHour, May 31, 2023
- David Leonhardt, “The Autoworkers’ Victories,” The New York Times, Oct. 31, 2023
- Tyler Cowen, “Why CEOs Actually Deserve Their Gazillion-Dollar Salaries,” Time, Apr. 11, 2019
- Ajay K. Mehrotra, “Windfall profit taxes have benefits. But the devil is in the details.,” The Washington Post, Oct. 24, 2022
Topic – Grab Bag of Hot Topics
Friday, December 1, 2023, Geddes Hall, Coffee House, 5-6 pm
Facilitator: Dan Graff, Director of the Higgins Labor Program at the Institute for Social Concerns
Some resources to get the conversation started are below. Should workers have …
- The Right to Quit?
- Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein, “Pay Thousands to Quit Your Job? Some Employers Say So.,” New York Times Magazine, Nov 20, 2023
- The Right to Solidarity?
- Harold Meyerson, “At Tesla, Swedish Workers Can Do What American Workers Can’t,” The American Prospect, Nov 14, 2023
- The Right to Child Care?
- Catherine Rampell, “What happened to this Wisconsin day care should concern us all,” Washington Post, Nov. 6, 2023
- The Right to Pay Equality?
- Carolina Aragao, “Gender pay gap in U.S. hasn’t changed much in two decades,” Pew Research Center, Mar. 1, 2023
- The Right to a Just Wage?
- “New California law raises minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 per hour, PBS, Sep. 28, 2023
Topic – AI, Technology, and Tomorrow’s Jobs
Friday, January 26, 2024, Geddes Hall, Coffee House, 5-6 pm
Facilitator: Jensen Enterman (ECON & Global Affairs ’24)
Some resources to get the conversation started:
Medium Outlook:
- Video: “The Big Debate about the Future of Work, Explained.(link is external)” VOX, YouTube, 13 Nov. 2017
- Khattar, Rose. “Will AI Benefit or Harm Workers?(link is external)” Center for American Progress, 24 Aug. 2023
- Ellingrud, Kweilin, et al. “Generative AI and the Future of Work in America.(link is external)” McKinsey & Company, McKinsey & Company, 26 July 2023
Positive Outlook:
- “Generative AI and the Labor Market: A Case for Techno-Optimism.(link is external)” Deloitte Insights, Deloitte, 14 Dec. 2023
- “A.I. Is Going to Disrupt the Labor Market. It Doesn’t Have to Destroy It(link is external)” The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, 14 Nov. 2023
Negative Outlook:
- Roppolo, Michael. “Elon Musk Joins Hundreds Calling for a Six-Month Pause on AI Development in an Open Letter.(link is external)” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 29 Mar. 2023
- Clark, Elijah. “Unveiling the Dark Side of Artificial Intelligence in the Job Market.(link is external)” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 5 Oct. 2023
Topic – Supply Chain Stakeholders: Who’s Responsible for Upholding the Dignity of Labor?
Friday, February 23, 2024, Geddes Hall, Coffee House, 5-6 pm
Facilitator: Patrick Murray (Program of Liberal Studies & ECON ’26)
Topic – Art and Labor: Engaging Questions of Work, Representation, and Identity at the Raclin Murphy
Friday, March 22, 2024, Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, 4-5 pm
Facilitator: Bridget Hoyt, curator of education academic programs at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art
Topic – Confronting the Racial Wealth Gap in the USA
Friday, April 19, 2024, Geddes Hall, McNeill Library, 5-6 pm
The Labor Café hosted a special session on April 19 in collaboration with the Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience. The conversation featured guest Maliq Matthew, Ph.D., a sociologist and a financial services professional.