Instructions from the Syllabus: Students will be required to write a 10-page paper on a contemporary worker justice struggle, and evaluate the strategy and tactics.
*You will work closely with your teaching assistant to identify your topic and structure your paper (students are encouraged to make connections to workers during the time of COVID-19, especially as it relates to gig-workers, undocumented workers, healthcare workers, and other frontline and essential
workers.)
Contemporary: Within the 2000s. Union density declined dramatically in the latter half of the 20th century, and so industries in the 21st century have had to adjust to anti-union sentiment. Plus the 2000s have had a resurgence of a lot of different types of organizing.
Industry(s): Any industry where its workforce is experiencing a worker justice struggle within the past 15-20 Years.
Possible questions to address:
● How would you introduce a worker justice struggle to someone who does not know about this particular issue? (Industry introduction, brief history)
● What social situations lead to the struggle? Were there racial, gender, class etc. dynamics? Did the COVID-19 pandemic play a role? Not a retelling of history, but an analysis of it.
● What were some of the power structures, strategies and tactics within the industry and the movement that led to success or failure?
● What labor strategies and/or tactics are you analyzing? Why are they important?
● What other strategies (such as the ones you learned in class) might