posts and bio
Rosemary Feurer
Rosemary Feurer is editor of Labor Online, author of Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900-1950 and Against Labor, co-edited with Chad Pearson. She is completing The Illinois Mine Wars.
The pundits always seem to miss the politics of capitalism in their effort to explain inequality.
It looks like a new book by Peter Lindert and Jeffrey Williamson, Unequal Gains: American Growth and Inequality Since 1700, is gaining traction among the punditry class, following last year’s nod to Thomas Piketty’s Capital.
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For years now I’ve been showing students and friends the polls that show an increasingly favorable view of socialism especially among low income, young African-American and Hispanic youth.
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The waning days of April have a little recognized convergence, inviting us to think about connections between workers issues and environmental concerns.
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Today we launch the teachers/public sector toolkit, a set of resources that we hope will contribute to dialog on teacher and public sector unionism. We are asking for help in disseminating and adding to this toolkit, which is accessible under teaching resources.
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Growing Apart is one of the most valuable tools for teaching about labor and inequality that I have seen in recent years. It’s a one-stop place for all the great graphs and charts to show the rise in inequality, the rise of right-to-work states, the declining value of the minimum wage versus the rise in executive pay at the top.This
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The Chicago Teachers Union’s (CTU) recent decision to boycott Illinois Standards Achievement Tests, its efforts to fight privatization of education and school closures, and its attempt to break free from business-as-usual politics harkens back to a rich and largely hidden history.
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In the aftermath of the UAW loss in the Volkswagen union election in Tennessee, declarations of “A Titanic Defeat” echo across the blogosphere. The glum analysis reinforces the notion that labor is chronically a victim of conservative workers views and Republican machinations.
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I often hear from trade unionists who stop at Mother Jones’ gravesite and monument in Mount Olive, Ill., (just off Highway 55, about an hour north of St. Louis) and are moved by the experience. For example, during the struggle of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union against Hostess Brands in late 2012, someone left a Twinkie on Mother Jones’ grave with a note, “Mother Jones, we need you now!”
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