Labor Studies Division Summer 2021 Newsletter Jacqueline Zalewski, Chair Todd Vachon, Vice Chair Melanie Borstad, Newsletter Editor A WORD FROM THE CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR Hello Labor Studies Division members! We hope this newsletter finds you healthy and hopeful. It has been an event-filled year for the nation and for labor as we have negotiated both front-line and remote work in the Pandemic. Especially poignant to the work of our Division, our nation has also experienced a slight increase in the rate of unionization in 2020 and notable new unionization victories in culture industries like museums. Since the cancellation of the SSSP annual meeting in 2020, Labor Studies Division members have been busy shaping some excellent sessions for the planned Virtual Conference in August 2021. Current labor organizing and the history of the labor movement are well represented in sessions on Chicago Labor (organized by current SSSP president and Division member Corey Dolgon), Confronting Compounding Crises at the Intersection of Social, Economic, and Environmental Inequalities Today (organized by current Division Vice-Chair Todd E. Vachon and Division member Alexis Econie), and Reflections and Lessons on the 10th Anniversary of the Wisconsin Uprising (organized by Division member Emily H.A. Yen). Work, labor power, inequality, and movements for greater equity are featured in sessions on Gender and Work (organized by Division member Tracy L. Vargas), Disability and the Future of Work (organized by Kate Caldwell), Labor and the Global Economy (organized by Division member Mel Borstad), and The Growth of the Non-standard Workforce and Job Precarity (organized by Division Chair Jacqueline M. Zalewski). Please see detailed information, paper participants, presiders and discussants for each virtual session below and mark your calendar! Labor Studies sessions begin Wednesday, August 4, and continue through Saturday, August 7. Please also mark your calendar for our Labor Studies Division Business Meeting on July 7 @ 3 pm EST! The zoom meeting link is below. With your participation, we can develop a great set of Labor Studies sessions for next year’s SSSP Annual Meeting In-person in[ZJM1] Los Angeles and continue to build a vibrant community of labor scholars who can see SSSP as an intellectual home for our important work. https://wcupa.zoom.us/j/93806076095?pwd=R1VGYmFqSzNiVzh3QVNWUnNsbU9Sdz09 Password: SSSP-LS The Labor Studies Division also held its Graduate Student Competition for the Braverman Award. The Braverman Award Committee—including Tracy L. Vargas (chair), Eli Revelle Yano Wilson, and Anthony Huaqui—received three excellent submissions from graduate students. They included: * Amanda J. Brockman (Honorable Mention), Vanderbilt University, “Framing Relative Deprivation: An Analysis of the Role of Social Comparison in Contemporary Teacher Protest Strikes” * Hanna Grace Goldberg (Winner), The City University of New York, “The Two-Employer Problem: Strategic Dilemmas at the Heart of the Tipped Wage Debate” * Yixia Cai, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Economic Instability and Child Protection: Evidence from State Administrative Data” The Committee selected Hanna Grace Goldberg as the winner of the Braverman Student Paper Competition—congratulations Hanna! She will receive a plague commemorating the Braverman Award and a cash prize. Many thanks to the Braverman Award Committee for your important service to the Labor Studies Division! Since our Fall Labor Studies Division Newsletter, our members were busy developing and publishing their research. Please see Division members’ announcements regarding publications and job changes below. The Labor Studies Division also ran elections for Chair and Vice Chair in early spring 2021. Thank you to all who nominated themselves for these important Division leadership roles! We are very pleased to announce the incoming Chair and Vice Chair of Labor Studies Division: Todd E. Vachon and Emily H.A. Yen! They will begin their two-year appointments as Chair and Vice Chair of the Labor Studies Division in August 2021. Related to the spring Labor Studies Division election, I, Jacqueline M. Zalewski, will be rolling off as Division Chair during the SSSP Annual Meeting in August. Thank you very much for supporting her efforts in the administration of the Division’s work over the past two years. Finally, as of June 2021, the Labor Studies Division has 95 members. This represents a 25% decrease in Division membership from one year ago. We encourage our members to promote the Division’s important work and recruit new and old members into it. Thank you, in advance, for your help in doing so. We hope to see you at our business meeting on July 7 and one[ZJM2] or more of the Labor Studies Division sessions this August at the SSSP Annual Meeting! Sincerely, Jacqueline M. Zalewski and Todd E. Vachon > Chang, Andy Scott. 2021. "Selling a Resume and Buying a Job: Stratification of Gender and Occupation by States and Brokers in International Migration from Indonesia.” Social Problems. Advance article. > George Gonos, Dale Dannefer and Jielu Lin, “Age-Differentiated vs. Age-Integrated: Neoliberal Policy and the Future of the Life Course” Journal of Elder Policy 1:2 (Spring 2021).  > Levitt, L. (2021). Restricting/sharing knowledge: The moral economy of sex workers’ information sharing practices. Spectator 41 (1).  > Levitt, L. (2021). Sex work/gig work: A feminist analysis of precarious domina labor in the gig economy.” In B. Dolber, C. Kumanyika, M. Rodino-colocino, and T. Wolfson (Eds.), The gig economy: Workers and media in the age of convergence (pp. 58-71). Routledge. > Vachon, Todd E., Mijin Cha, Dimitris Stevis, and Vivian Price. 2021. “Workers and Communities in Transition: Report of the Just Transition Listening Project.” https://www.labor4sustainability.org/jtlp-2021/ > Vachon, Todd E. 2021. "The American middle class is dead — The PRO Act would resuscitate it." The Hill, March 15. https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/labor/543326-the-american-middle-class-is-dead-the-pro-act-would-resuscitate-it > Wallace, Michael, Vachon, Todd E., and Allen Hyde. (forthcoming) “Two Roads Diverged: Legal Context and Changing Levels of Private and Public Sector Union Density in the U.S. States.” Economic and Industrial Democracy.  Change of Jobs: Todd E. Vachon has accepted the position of Director of the Labor Education Action Research Network (LEARN) in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University, starting July 1, 2021 at the rank of Assistant Professor of Practice.  2021 ANNUAL CONFERENCE LABOR STUDIES DIVISION-SPONSORED SESSIONS Remote Thanks to the organizers for their work developing their call for proposals. Session titles, organizers, and times included:[ZJM3] Date: Wednesday, August 4 Time: 9:30 AM - 11:15 AM Session 003: Gender and Work Sponsors: Gender & Labor Studies Organizer & Presider: Tracy L. Vargas, University of North Carolina at Pembroke Description: This regular paper session is dedicated to the debate and analysis of gender relations, the organization of gender, and the gendering of organizations within the broad context of work. Papers examine the relationship between gender and labor by covering a wide range of work-related topics. Each paper engages in the advancement of examining gendered power relations and identities in the study of work and organization by exploring issues of inclusion and exclusion. Papers: “Black Women Lawyers and the Inclusion Tax in the Time of Covid-19 and Racial Upheaval,” Tsedale M. Melaku, The Graduate Center, CUNY “Framing Relative Deprivation: An Analysis of the Role of Social Comparison in Contemporary Teacher Protest Strikes,” Amanda J. Brockman, Vanderbilt University, Honorable Mention in the Labor Studies Division’s Student Paper Competition “Love of Money: Rewards of Care for India’s Women Community Health Workers,” Vrinda Marwah, The University of Texas at Austin, Winner of the Global Division’s Student Paper Competition “Navigating Work Following Sexual Assault: Survivors’ Experiences of Workplace Disclosure and Institutional Response,” Katherine Lorenz, California State University, Northridge, Erin O'Callaghan and Veronica Shepp, University of Illinois at Chicago “The Impact of Affirmative Action Ban on Earnings for Racial Minority Women,” Tiffanie Vo and Amanda Catherine Ferraro, University of Oklahoma Date: Wednesday, August 4 Time: 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM Session 021: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Disability and the Future of Work in a Post-Pandemic Economy Sponsors: Disability & Labor Studies Organizer: Kate Caldwell, University of Illinois at Chicago Presider/Discussant: Litany Esguerra, University of Illinois at Chicago Description: The pandemic has made an indelible impact on the world's economy, one that is disproportionately affecting the disability community. This panel features diverse perspectives on disability employment to bring the past, present, and future into critical conversation to address the question: What is the future of work for people with disabilities in a post-pandemic economy? Papers: “Challenging the Concept of ‘What is a Reasonable Accommodation’ Going Forward,” Robin Jones, University of Illinois at Chicago “Disability Innovation, Leadership & the Promise of Entrepreneurship,” Kate Caldwell, University of Illinois at Chicago “Disclosing Disability: Factors and Implications Associated with Disclosure in the Legal Profession,” Fitore Hyseni, Syracuse University “Flexibility or Insecurity? Disability and Health in the Gig Economy,” Katherine Hill, The University of Texas at Austin “The Paradox of Remote Work: Leveling the Playing Field for the Disability Community and Posing Access Challenges,” Emily Ladau, Words I Wheel By Date: Thursday, August 5 Time: 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM Session 051: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Labor and the Global Economy Sponsors: Global & Labor Studies Organizer: Mel Borstad, California State University, Los Angeles Presider/Discussant: Jacqueline M. Zalewski, West Chester University of Pennsylvania Description: Global networks of raw materials acquisition, manufacturing, and distribution create the landscape for competitive markets in modernity. Shifts in political and economic world power affect workers participation and autonomy in global supply chain. Limited supply of product and increased demand during a time of global pandemic have moved firms towards finding alternative practices. Recent tensions in free trade agreements contribute to this precarious employment throughout core, semi-periphery, and periphery nations amongst periods of decreased trade volumes. How have changes in consumer and corporate demands shaped a new international division of labor? How has economic growth in semi-periphery nations produced new markets in periphery nations? Have there been improvements or declines in transnational corporations’ labor practices? What are ways in which organizations or nations are either upholding better standards or combating unjust labor practices? Papers in this session should aim to approach the topic of global supply chains from the perspective of the laborer and/or the impact macro-level decision-making has upon labor market outcomes. A broad investigation of global economic relations and employment conditions both domestic and international are also welcome in this paper session. Research conducted in the interaction of labor and globalization is multi-faceted and complex, allowing a rich discussion to generate from the inclusion of a wide array of levels of analysis and theoretical frameworks. Papers: “Amazon: The Face of 21st Century Capitalism and Impact on Global Labor,” Spencer Louis Potiker and David A. Smith, University of California, Irvine, Elizabeth A. Sowers, California State University Channel Islands and Paul S. Ciccantell, Western Michigan University “Diversity and Demand: The Racial Logic of Labor at the World Columbian Exposition of 1893,” Jay Junyoung Park, Independent Scholar “Remaking Regimes of Labor Migration: A Multiscalar Analysis of Guestwork Governance and Social Reproduction in Thailand,” Pei Palmgren, University of California, Los Angeles “Self/Other Relationships after an Auto Plant Closing,” Anne Statham, University of Southern Indiana and Paul Greider, Florida SouthWestern State College “When Undocumented Workers are White: The Labor Market for Home Healthcare Workers in Chicago in the Late 20th Century,” Mary Patrice Erdmans and Polina Ermoshkina, Case Western Reserve University “Workplace Mass Shootings in the United States: Thymotic Energy and the Neoliberal Condition,” Fernando M. Perez and Luigi Esposito, Barry University Date: Friday, August 6 Time: 11:30 AM - 1:15 PM Session 071: Confronting Compounding Crises: The Intersection of Social, Economic, and Environmental Inequalities in the 21st Century Sponsors: Environment and Technology & Labor Studies Organizers: Todd Vachon, Rutgers University & Alexis Econie, University of Wisconsin Presider: Eli Revelle Yano Wilson, University of New Mexico Discussant: Alexis Econie, University of Wisconsin Description: Working people in the US and around the world have been confronting compounding crises of social, economic, and environmental inequality. These crises often intersect and reinforce one another as is the case with struggles to decarbonize the economy and create green jobs. Legal definitions of employment and other labor market institutions also serve to create barriers to creating desperately needed good jobs. Papers in this panel are drawn from diverse theoretical and methodological vantage points to consider these contemporary compounding crises. Papers: “‘I Would Hire You, But’: Finding Employment after Wrongful Incarceration,” Michelle L. Estes, Oklahoma State University “Skin in the Game: The Struggle over Climate Protection within the U.S. Labor Movement,” Todd Vachon, Rutgers University “The Spatial Challenges for Just Transitions and Green Jobs,” Erik Kojola, Texas Christian University “The Two-Employer Problem: Strategic Dilemmas at the Heart of the Tipped Wage Debate,” Hanna Goldberg, The Graduate Center, CUNY, Winner of the Labor Studies Division’s Student Paper Competition Date: Friday, August 6 Time: 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM Session 079: Precarity: The Growth of the Non-standard Workforce, the Social Consequences, Workforce, and Organizational Responses Sponsor: Labor Studies Organizer & Presider: Jacqueline M. Zalewski, West Chester University of Pennsylvania Discussant: Jackie Krasas, Lehigh University Description: Paper one describes the ongoing conversion of gig workers to temp agency workers (“permatemps”) that allows companies to disclaim legal and financial accountability to direct employees. Paper two examines the correspondence of firms’ technologies investments over time on the growing wage inequality and underemployment in the food service and retail workforces. Paper three describes how the habitus of two low-status groups employed in precarious jobs—with differing educational backgrounds—helps shape peoples’ identity work strategies. Paper four shows how organizations like the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) are challenging the spread of contingent jobs in higher education by requesting that contingent faculty salaries be added to the ranking formula for US colleges and universities by US News & World Report. Papers: “Gig Work to Permatemp: How Different Precarious Work Arrangements are Interrelated,” George Gonos, Florida International University “Self Service Technology and the Future of Customer Service Work: Using Investment in Technology to Predict Underemployment,” Mel Borstad, California State University, Los Angeles “Making Bad Jobs Worthwhile: How Educational Trajectories Shape Low-status Workers’ Identity Work Strategies,” Yingjian Liang, Indiana University “The Natural History of an SSSP Resolution,” Gillian Niebrugge-Brantley, The George Washington University Date: Saturday, August 7 Time: 9:30 AM - 11:15 AM Session 101: Chicago Labor: From Whose Broad Shoulders Shall We Rise? Sponsors: Labor Studies & Program Committee Organizer: Corey Dolgon, Stonehill College Presider: Jessica Cook-Qurayshi, DePaul University Labor Education Center Description: Chicago has long been a bellwether for America’s labor movement. The Industrial Workers of the World (1905) and The American Railway Union (1894) were both founded in Chicago, while the Haymarket Affair in 1886 gave birth to the International Day of the Worker/Labor Day. While Labor Union membership has dropped precipitously in the last 50 years, successful teachers’ strikes, and organizing among health care workers and those employed in the informal economy promise a change in labors’ fortunes. And once more, Chicago is on the cutting edge of such change. This session, led by Jessica Cook-Qurayshi (Director of the DePaul University Labor Education Center) will bring together local organizers in industries such as health care, nursing homes, education, temporary staffing, and the informal sector. Join us for an exciting and inspiring discussion of the labor movement’s future and the search of One Big Union. Panelists: To be Announced, Planting Justice To be Announced, Chicago Teachers Union To be Announced, Chicago Workers Collaborative To be Announced, Equity And Transformation Date: Saturday, August 7 Time: 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM THEMATIC Session 115: Reflections and Lessons from the 10th Anniversary of the Wisconsin Uprising Sponsor: Labor Studies Organizer & Presider: Emily H.A. Yen, University of Virginia Discussant: Alexandra Holmstrom-Smith, Democratic Socialists of America Description: In commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Wisconsin Uprising, panelists will reflect on this historic event and its impact on the labor movement over the past decade. The Wisconsin Uprising of 2011 was one of the most massive sustained collective actions to have taken place in the United States and has had enduring impacts on the labor movement. Papers: “Teacher Mobilization after the Uprising,” Amanda Pullum, California State University, Monterey Bay “The Wisconsin Uprising and the Maple Spring: A Comparative Perspective on the Early 2010’s Mass Revolt,” Shannon Ikebe, University of California, Berkeley “The Wisconsin Uprising of 2011,” Matthew Kearney, Independent Scholar “Wisconsin 2011 and the Myth of the Spontaneous Uprising,” Ben Manski, George Mason University Labor Studies Division Business Meeting July 7th @3pm EST https://wcupa.zoom.us/j/93806076095?pwd=R1VGYmFqSzNiVzh3QVNWUnNsbU9Sdz09 Password: SSSP-LS PLEASE SEND US YOUR UPDATES FOR THE NEXT NEWSLETTER. WE LOVE RECOGNIZING OUR MEMBERS’ ACHIEVEMENTS! [ZJM1]In-person [ZJM2](add…our business meeting on July 7) [ZJM3]This isn’t the most current list of session descriptions, days and times, and names of presiders/discussants. Can you please change these? I’ve also attached the doc that Michele Koontz sent us. THANK YOU! 5