Friday, March 25th, Geddes Hall Coffee House, 5-6pm
Topic: Catholicism and the Service Economy

Facilitator: Gavin Moulton (graduate student in History)

Resources:

• “Union-Busting in the Name of God,” The Nation, Apr. 13, 2020
• “Catholics, Colleges and Collective Bargaining,” The Spectator, Feb. 16, 2022
• “Pope to ILO: ‘Urgent need for economic reform and protection of all workers’,” Vatican News, June 17, 2021
• “What does Catholic Social Teaching say about the economy? It’s more complicated than you think.,” America, Mar. 22, 2019
• “Just Wages for the Workforce: Why Health Care Should Lead the Way,” Health Progress, Spring 2022

Friday, February 25th, 5:00-6:00pm, Geddes Hall Coffee House
Topic: Black Labor in the COVID-19 Economy (cosponsored by the Department of Africana Studies and the Initiative on Race & Resilience)

Facilitators: Alyssa Lee (AMST ’23) and Ava Downey (HIST & ECON ’24)

Resources:

“The Economic Fallout of the Coronavirus for People of Color,” Center for American Progress, Apr. 14, 2020
“Stephen Pitts interviews April Verrett, president of SEIU 2015, a union of 400,000 long-term caregivers in California,” Black Work Talk [podcast], Jan. 12, 2022
“In Bessemer and the South, Black Workers Hold the Key,” The American Prospect, Feb. 18, 2022
“New report finds workers of color have been especially hard hit by manufacturing job losses associated with globalization,” Economic Policy Institute, Jan. 31, 2022
“Why are Black Women Missing from Corporate Leadership?,” The Sadie Collective, Nov. 11, 2020
“Student Debt Cancellation is a Racial Justice Issue,” Institute for Policy Studies, Jan. 13, 2022

Friday, January 28 2022, 5:00–6:00 p.m.
Topic: Baristas of the Nation, Unite! The Prospects for Unionization at Starbucks (and elsewhere)

Facilitator: Judy Benchaar

Resources:

• “What the first Starbucks union means for workers everywhere,” Vox, Dec. 9, 2021 and attached podcast
• “Will the Starbucks union victories ignite organizing across the country? The Hill, Jan. 17, 2022
• “Letter to Starbucks partners: Our path forward after Buffalo union vote,” Starbucks, Dec. 20, 2021
• Starbucks Workers United, Twitter feed, updated regularly
• “Taking On Starbucks, Inspired by Bernie Sanders,” New York Times, Jan. 17, 2022
• “Starbucks Union Vote in Buffalo Energizes Labor Leaders” Wall Street Journal, Dec. 10, 2021

Friday, December 3, 2021, 5:00–6:00 p.m.

Topic: Labor & Community Development

Facilitators: Cate Prather (Economics ’22) & Dan Graff (Director, Higgins Labor Program)

Resources:

• New York Times article on Amazon in a Central Kentucky town, and another on Ford’s plan to build electric vehicle factories in KY and TN
• Article from the Federal Reserve of Minneapolis on Wal-Mart
• Anthony Flaccavento article on his plan for a more community-oriented environment
• Mayor Pete’s South Bend revitalization article
• Facebook page on Invision Hazard, a downtown development group in Eastern Kentucky

Friday, November 5, 2021, 5:00-6:00 p.m

Topic: “Striketober”: What’s Happening at the American Workplace?

Facilitators: Aidan Creeron (ECON/HIST ’23) and Dan Graff, Director, Higgins Labor Program

Resources:

• “American workers are fed up,” Ryan Cooper, The Week (10/16/21)
• “Welcome to Striketober,” Sarah Jones, New York/Intelligencer (10/14/21)
• “Opinion: The ‘Great Resignation’ and ‘Striketober’ are Sending a Message,” Nicole Hemmer, CNN (10/29/21)
• “Viewpoint: Beneath Striketober Fanfare, The Lower Frequencies of Class Struggle,” Luis Feliz Leon and Maximillian Alvarez, Labor Notes (10/29/21)
•  “Is This a Strike Wave?,” Nelson Lichtenstein, Dissent, (10/25/21)
• “Workplace strikes are surging. Here’s why they won’t stop anytime soon.,” Jacob Bogage and Alyssa Fowers, Washington Post (10/31/21)

Friday, October 1, 2021, 5:00–6:00 p.m.

Topic: Labor Law Reform

Facilitators: Alyssa Lee (AMST ’23) & Robert Caruso (POLS & Global Affairs ’22)

Resources:

• “Why workers need the Protecting the Right to Organize Act,” EPI, Feb. 9, 2021
• “PRO Act Undermines Employee Choice,” CEI, Aug. 19, 2019
• “Anatomy of an Anti-Union Meeting,” The American Prospect,  Aug. 2, 2021
• “Why U.S. labor laws need to be revamped,” The Harvard Gazette, Jan. 23, 2020
• “Right-to-work is Bad for Workers (with Shane Larson),” Pitchfork Economics, Sep. 24, 2021
• “California Farmworkers Union fights to vote by mail in union elections,” High Country News, Sep. 21, 2021
• “The Message from the Amazon Union Defeat in Alabama Is Clear: Keep Organizing,” In These Times, Apr. 9, 2021
• “How to Halt Labor’s Slow Death,” The New Republic, Feb. 16, 2018

Friday, September 3, 2021 | 5:00–6:00 p.m. 

Topic: What’s happening in the world of work? 

Facilitator: Dan Graff, Director, Higgins Labor Program