LABOR CAFÉ SESSIONS 2017–18

Friday | August 31, 2018 | 5–6 PM | Geddes Hall Coffeehouse
Topic: “Scratch your Labor Day itch by discussing what’s on your mind about the world of work”​
Facilitator: Dan Graff, Director, Higgins Labor Program

Friday | April 20, 2018 | 5–6 PM | Geddes Hall Coffeehouse
Topic: “Teacher Strikes! Red States! What Gives?”​
Facilitator: Dan Graff, Director, Higgins Labor Program

Resources:

• Conor Sen, “Teacher Strikes Show That Workers Have Newfound Power,” Bloomberg, Apr. 6, 2018
• Bryce Covert, “Oklahoma Teachers Strike for a 4th Day to Protest Rock-Bottom Education Funding,” The Nation, Apr. 5, 2018
• John Bowden, “1 in 5 Americans has attended a protest or rally since 2016,” The Hill, Apr. 6, 2018
• Joy Pullman, “Fire all Striking Teachers and Send Their Paychecks to Students’ Parents,” The Federalist, April 11, 2018
• Robert Samuelson, “The Deeper Cause Behind the School Strikes: Teachers are competing with the elderly,” The Washington Post, April 8, 2018

Friday | April 6, 2018 | 5–6 PM | Geddes Hall Coffeehouse
Topic: “Trade, Tariffs, and Tweets: Talking about Jobs and the Politics of Jobs”​
Facilitator: Dan Graff, Director, Higgins Labor Program

Resources: 

• Jeffrey Bergstrand, “Why free trade is critical … and so are global trade partnerships,” South Bend Tribune, May 07, 2016
• Daniel McCarthy, “The Case for Trump’s Tariffs and ‘America First’ Economics,” New York Times, Mar. 8, 2018
• Paul Krugman, “Paul Krugman Explains Trade and Tariffs,” New York Times, Mar. 15, 2018
• “Trump’s China Tariffs (editorial),” Wall Street Journal, Mar. 22, 2018
• Ana Swanson, “‘It’s Factory North America,’ but Trump Could Hobble It,” New York Times, Mar. 30, 2018
• Michael Martina, “Senator Warren, in Beijing, Says U.S. Is Waking Up to Chinese Abuses,” Reuters, Apr. 1, 2018
• Robert Leonard, “Will Trump Crash the Farm Economy?,” New York Times, Apr. 1, 2018
• Leo Gerard, “A Pro-Union Case for Steel Tariffs,” Working In These Times, Apr. 2, 2018 

Friday | February 23, 2018 | 5–6 PM | Geddes Hall, McNeill Library (first floor, center of building)
Topic: Dreamers and the Labor Question
Facilitator: Juan Constantino​, Development Coordinator, La Casa de Amistad 

Resources:

• “‘This is my home.’ Students in South Bend see their futures at stake in DACA debate,” by Joseph Dits, South Bend Tribune, Feb. 11, 2018
• “‘Bad Dudes’: Immigrants, Illegality And Human Rights,” by Julie Greene, Huffpost, Feb. 25, 2017
• “Their lives were transformed by DACA. Here’s what will happen if it disappears,” by Maria Sacchetti, Washington Post, Sep. 4, 2017
• “Ending DACA is a Win for American Workers,” by Spencer Morrison, American Greatness, Sep. 5, 2017
• “FACT CHECK: Are DACA Recipients Stealing Jobs Away From Other Americans?,” by Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR,  Sep. 6, 2017
• “Standing With Immigrants in Nebraska,” by Julie Greene, Dissent, Summer 2017

Friday | February 9, 2018 | 5–6 PM | Snite Museum of Art
Topic: Money Worries (a temporary art exhibit)

Facilitator: Anna Scartz ’20

Resources:

• See details about the exhibit here!

Friday | January 19, 2018 | 5–6 PM | Geddes Hall, McNeill Library (first floor, center of building)
Topic: The #MeToo Movement at Work
Facilitator: Dan Graff, Director, Higgins Labor Program

Resources:

• “The Unsexy Truth About Harassment,” by Melissa Gira Grant, NYR Daily (at New York Review of Books), Dec. 7, 2017
• “#MeToo Solidarity,” by Lane Windham, LaborOnline, Dec. 6, 2017 
• “Kick Against the Pricks,” by Laura Kipnis, New York Review of Books, Dec. 21, 2017
• “Publicly, We Say #MeToo. Privately, We Have Misgivings,” by Daphne Merkin, New York Times, Jan. 5, 2018 
• “The #MeToo Movement Isn’t About Women’s Frailty. It’s About Women’s Labor,” by Sara L. Maurer, Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 7, 2018
• “What #MeToo Can Teach the Labor Movement,” by Jane McAlevey, Working In These Times, Dec. 27, 2017
• “At the Golden Globes, Stars and Their Activist Guests Talk About Why They Fight,” by Valeriya Safronova, New York Times, Jan. 7, 2018

Friday | October 27, 2017 | 5–6 PM | Geddes Coffee House 
Topic: A Labor Question Grab Bag:
Taking a Knee in the NFL, Promoting Universal Home Care in Maine, Protecting Undocumented Construction Workers in Post-Hurricane Texas, Debating Parental Leave in California, Hosting National Manufacturing Day, and Speeding Up the Poultry Processing Line
Facilitator: Dan Graff, Director, Higgins Labor Program

Resources:

• “N.F.L. Players May Have an Ally in Their Protests: Labor Law,” by Noam Scheiber, The New York Times, Oct. 12, 2017
• “Taxing the Wealthy to Pay for Universal Home Care,” by Sarah Anderson, Inequality.org, Oct. 13, 2017
• “Post-hurricane rebuilding will be done by undocumented workers — and they need protection,” by Saket Soni, The Los Angeles Times, Oct. 12, 2017
• “Parental leave expands for California workers so they can bond with their newborns,” by Margot Roosevelt, The Orange County Register, Oct. 12, 2017
• “American factories could prosper if they find enough skilled workers,” The Economist, Oct. 12, 2017
• “Chicken Safety: Factory Workers Already Slaughter 140 Per Minute—New Law Could Make This Dangerously Faster,” by Dana Dovey, Newsweek, Oct. 16, 2017

Friday | October 6, 2017 | 5–6 PM | Snite Museum of Art
Topic: ​”For All These Rights We’ve Just Begun to Fight”: Ben Shahn and the Art of Resistance​
Facilitators: Bridget Hoyt (Curator of Education, Snite Museum of Art) & Dan Graff (Director, Higgins Labor Program)

Resources:

• Exhibit information

Friday | September 15, 2017 | 5–6 PM | Geddes Coffee House 
Topic: Working at Walmart: The Labor Question and the Behemoth from Bentonville
F​acilitators: Students from Notre Dame Students for Worker Justice

​Resources: 

• “How to Think About Walmart,” The Atlantic, Apr. 11, 2017
• “Walmart Workers to Executives: We Can’t Pay Our Bills,” The Street, Jun. 3, 2017
• “What happened when Walmart left,” The Guardian, Jul. 9, 2017
• “Across China, Walmart Faces Labor Unrest as Authorities Stand Aside,” New York Times, Nov. 17, 2016
• “Walmart CEO’s Hypocrisy on Trump,” The American Conservative, Aug. 18, 2017
• “Walmart seeks a patent for a futuristic floating warehouse,” Food Dive, Aug. 21, 2017
• “On Labor Day, Why Aren’t We Talking About the Impact of Amazon?,” Mediaite, Sep. 4, 2017

Friday | August 25, 2017 | 5–6 PM | Geddes Coffee House 
Topic: What’s Happening in the World of Work? Bring your questions, experiences, and ideas! 
Facilitator: Dan Graff, Director, Higgins Labor Program