Labor Café

Spring 2026 Gatherings

Friday, January 23 – Getting a (Decent) Job in Today’s Economy

There’s a lot of chatter in the public sphere on the current challenges facing young people, college grads, and the unemployed more generally in finding paid work in the American economy. Focus on some recent news and opinion pieces and hearing from those undergoing the job search process. Check out our Zotero group library.

Friday, February 13 – Affordability Agendas: Competing Paths Forward for the American Economy

Everyone is talking about “the affordability crisis,” from politicians, pundits, and policy advocates to anti-poverty groups, labor activists, workers, and consumers. Focusing on the facts and the arguments animating the debates on the best paths forward for the American economy. Check out our Zotero group library.

Friday, March 20 – Decarbonization & Dignity at Work: Climate, Jobs, Faith, & Moving Forward

Who benefits, and who bears the costs, of the our carbon-centric economy? Is there an inherent tension between economic development/good jobs and a healthy environment/sustainable futures? Special guest facilitators Professor Ryan Juskus, whose teaching and research centers on the social, religious, and moral dimensions of environmental and climate challenges, and his student Mallory Dam, who wrote a paper for Juskus’s class called “The Hidden Contract,” which is included in the Zotero group library.

Friday, April 24 – How Should We Memorialize Social Movements?

How do we memorialize social movements? Focus on Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and the personification of the Farm Workers’ cause. Check out our Zotero group library.

Fall 2025 Gatherings

Friday, September 12 — Labor Questions: What’s Happening at Work, in Labor Markets, and Labor Movements

In this kickoff session, we heard what faculty members are researching, how our Student Labor Fellows spent their summer, and what folks would like to discuss in future sessions: unions? AI? wages? migration? laws? public policy? trustbusting? race & gender equality?

Friday, October 31—The Gig Economy: The Future of Work?

In this session, Billy Bonnist (POLS ’26, with minors in Business & Economic History and the Hesburgh Minor in Public Service) will facilitate our discussion. Some non-required reading to get the conversation started are available as a publicly accessible Zotero group library.