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A Seat at the Table – Update Part 3
This is the third in a series that updates and extends John McKerley’s essay in the current issue of Labor: Studies in Working Class History, which is freely available for three months, thanks to Duke University Press. The first post is here. I thought it was an important contribution given the uptick of graduate student, faculty and undergraduate organizing. –ed.
This week’s post comes from Jacob Schneyer, who, after leaving Grinnell and the UGSDW, went on to work as an organizer with SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana.
Looking back [on the 2018 interview], I don’t think I was wrong that UGSDW’s formation was unique and unlikely to be replicated elsewhere, but I did underestimate how successful other independent and student unions could be. I think one reason for that might be the number of resources available now about the basic hard skills of organizing – I’m thinking of Jane McAlevey’s “Strike School” [described by McAlevey on as “an online training and networking program for organizers around the world”], and the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee [a partnership between the Democratic Socialists of America and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America], for example. Not having experienced organizers to help with those basics was a real challenge for us being independent.
On another note, I remember that we were baffled back then that large international unions weren’t enthusiastically putting resources into student worker organizing. That’s begun to change, especially for graduate students, but I think the continued success of UGSDW and other undergrad unions shows there’s still so much room for growth.Recent Posts
Janine Giordano Drake on her new book, The Gospel of Church
The 2022-23 Upsurge of Union Organizing and Strikes in Higher Education
William D. Riddell On the Waves of Empire: U.S. Imperialism and Merchant Sailors, 1872-1924
Michael Pierce Testifies about the Origin of Right to Work
Kevin Kenny on his new book, The Problem of Immigration in a Slaveholding Republic
COVID-19 and Authoritarian Populism
The Making and Breaking of a Popular Front: The Case of the National Negro Congress
Labor and Public Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy
Francis Ryan: Memories of the Labor of School Crossing Guards
Jake S. Friedman on The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War and Animation’s Golden Age
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William D. Riddell On the Waves of Empire :U.S. Imperialism and Merchant Sailors, 1872-1924
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What Would You Like to See in the Journal, Labor?
Register for this zoom event Join Julie Greene, Shennette Garrett-Scott, Jessie Wilkerson, and Vanessa May for a discussion on April 20 at 7 pm EDT, via Zoom. They’ll be ready to share their vision for the journal, and offer advice on the review process. They are eager to hear your thoughts… Read more →
Kim Scipes & Jeff Schuhrke An Exchange
We received the following post from Kim Scipes, objecting to Jeff Schuhrke’s essay about the AFL-CIO’s foreign policy, posted November 22. Schuhrke’s reply to Scipes follows. -ed… Read more →