Archive: John Russo
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WCP: Should We Mourn the Loss of Industrial Jobs?
Many elite and middle-class people dismiss former industrial workers’ attachment to the memory of dirty, dangerous factory work. But as James Partick Ferns reminds us in this week’s Working-Class Perspectives, displaced workers recognize the very real problems of industrial labor.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: The Ghost Of Bisbee
[caption id="attachment_5320" align="aligncenter" width="600"] A film by writer and director Robert Greene.[/caption] Just over 100 years ago in the Arizona copper fields, 1200 striking miners were
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Working-Class Precarity: An Education
Students’ experiences can be valuable resources in the classroom, especially when we’re teaching about work and class. In this week’s Working-Class Perspectives, Tim Strangleman reflects on what happened when he asked his students to bring in videos about precarious work.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Time to Make a Deal on the Federal Minimum Wage
The federal minimum wage has been stuck at the poverty level of $7.25 per hour since 2009. In this week's Working-Class Perspective, Wade Rathke argues that workers cannot wait for a new Congress or a
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Blaming Workers Again
When GM announced in November that it planned to close five plants in the United States and Canada, many were quick to point the finger at those who will suffer the consequences: the workers. Why hadn’t they planned better? Gone to college? Moved to a different city? Voted differently? Made even more concessions with their union? In this week’s Working-Class Perspective, John Russo and Sherry Linkon explain why these ideas are wrong and why they matter.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: The Global Working Class Fights Back
2018 has seen many working-class people around the world standing up for their rights and pushing back against injustice and inequality. Some of these fights have made the mainstream news in western countries, but many have not. As we reflect on the year that is ending, let’s not forget the struggles of working-class people and the successes of collective action and solidarity. Around the world, people have had enough of corporate greed and government inaction to combat inequality.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Trouble in Paradise
The wildfires in California, protests in France, the refugee crisis, and disputes over federal land all have a common thread in climate change. Working-class people repeatedly bear the brunt of its effects, and the rich use their clout to buy and legislate their own protection at others’ expense. In this week’s Working-Class Perspective, Allison L. Hurst ruminates the class war over climate.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: ABC Sitcom The Conners: The Struggle is Real
ABC rebooted Roseanne without its namesake star after she was dismissed for a racist tweet against President Obama’s close advisor, Valerie Jarrett. In Working-Class Perspectives, Kathy M. Newman describes how The Conners successfully tackles issues that working-class families face today: struggles with addiction, health, and work.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Beyond the Caravan: Why We Must Protect Workers Covered by TPS
Leading up to the U.S. midterm elections, Republicans warned voters about a caravan of migrants traveling north from Central America. In this weeks’ Working-Class Perspective, KI’s Juan L. Belman Guerrero calls our attention to another group of immigrants who have already planted roots in the United States: hundreds of thousands of immigrants covered by Temporary Protected Status (TPS) face the threat of removal from their homes and workplaces if their immigration status is not addressed, which would harm both them and the American economy.
Categories: Our Staff, Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Is the Fever Breaking? Ground Zero Youngstown
Before the election, KI visiting scholar John Russo dubbed Youngstown, Ohio as “ground zero” for Trump’s appeals to white working-class voters. Two years later, Russo explores whether the Trump fever is starting to break in the area. In Working-Class Perspectives, he tracks how a slumping local economy, trade policy, and the politics of resentment are shaping political views in this long-time Democratic stronghold.
Category: Visiting Scholars