Selected Works

Resident Mortality and Worker Infection Rates from COVID-19 Lower in Union than Nursing Homes in the United States, 2020-21

with Adam Dean, Simeon Kimmel, Atheendar Venkataramani

Health Affairs | 2022

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing home residents have accounted for roughly one of every six COVID-19 deaths in the United States. Nursing homes have also been very dangerous places for workers, with more than one million nursing home workers testing positive for COVID-19 as of April 2022. Labor unions may play an important role in improving workplace safety, with potential benefits for both nursing home workers and residents. We examined whether unions for nursing home staff were associated with lower resident COVID-19 mortality rates and worker COVID-19 infection rates compared with rates in nonunion nursing homes, using proprietary data on nursing home–level union status from the Service Employees International Union for all forty-eight continental US states from June 8, 2020, through March 21, 2021. Using negative binomial regression and adjusting for potential confounders, we found that unions were associated with 10.8 percent lower resident COVID-19 mortality rates, as well as 6.8 percent lower worker COVID-19 infection rates. Substantive results were similar, although sometimes smaller and less precisely estimated, in sensitivity analyses.

School Districts Were More Likely to Adopt Mask Mandates Where Teachers Were Unionized

with Adam Dean, Simeon Kimmel, Atheendar Venkataramani

Health Affairs | 2021

During the COVID-19 pandemic, safely reopening schools has been one of the most pressing public health challenges in the United States. At the beginning of the 2020–21 school year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly encouraged schools to require mask wearing. Although teachers unions frequently supported such policies, the adoption of mask mandates was uneven. We examined whether teachers unions were associated with mask mandates, using proprietary data on school district–level unionization and mask mandates from the Iowa State Education Association, the state’s main teachers union. We found that a 1-standard-deviation increase in the teachers’ unionization rate was associated with a 12.5 percent relative increase in the probability that a school district adopted a mask mandate. These findings, which are robust to multiple specification checks, help illuminate an important mechanism by which labor unions have informed safety policies in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stanley Aronowitz Knew That Freedom Begins Where Work Ends

Jacobin | August 18, 2021

Stanley Aronowitz died this week at 88. He hated work, loved life, and brought his overflowing, exuberant approach to social problems to picket lines, classrooms, and vacation. A fighting left needs more people like him.

Remote Controlled Workers

The American Prospect | February 24, 2021

The pandemic has allowed companies to expand an old practice of spying on workers. That’s a problem for their privacy and their power.

The Tyranny of Work

Aeon | January 28, 2021

Jobs have become, for so many, a relentless, unsatisfying toil. Why then does the work ethic still hold so much sway?

COVID-19 is a Referendum on the Value of Work

The Globe and Mail | September 13, 2020

The Portland Military Policing Model Isn’t the Beginning of a Trend — It’s the Culmination of One

with Jenna Latour-Nichols

Jacobin | July 27, 2020

In Portland, federal agents have been snatching up protesters while hyper-militarized police crack down on demonstrators. It’s a frightening display of state repression — one with roots in the attacks on the anti-corporate globalization movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

This Labor Day, Let’s Remember Labor’s Forgotten Fight—Shorter Hours and Control Over Work Time

In These Times | September 7, 2020

We’re working more for less. Instead, we should fight to work less for more.

The Battle of Seattle at 20

The American Prospect | November 11, 2019

The legendary protests of the World Trade Organization in 1999 can serve as a model for a deeply needed labor/environmental coalition for climate justice.

They Made Money Off Our Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Jacobin | September 9, 2019

After 2009, GM used its $10.3 billion bailout to slash labor costs and undercut the union. Now, it’s cut off health care for tens of thousands of striking workers. But GM’s greed is only pushing strikers to fight harder than ever.

All Ideas Are Political

Jacobin | February 10, 2019

As socialists, we believe that all ideas are political. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t subject our claims to rigorous, empirical scrutiny.

Getting the Common Goods

Jacobin | August 11, 2018

The North Carolina teachers strike was the result of years of grassroots organizing. And they're not done yet.

There’s No Trick

Jacobin | January 22, 2018

Unions will have to go back to the fundamentals of labor organizing if they want to survive national right to work.

The New Global Labour Studies: A Critical Review

with Marissa Brookes

Global Labour Journal | September 30, 2017

The past two decades have seen a dramatic upsurge in sustained, cross-border labour activism, or labour transnationalism. Scattered across multiple disciplines and subfields, a new field of inquiry – the new global labour studies (NGLS) – has emerged as scholars seek to comprehend the causes and consequences of twenty-first-century labour transnationalism. This multi-disciplinary approach has provided a platform from which to analyse an emerging phenomenon. We assess relevant strands of this emerging field that focus on: a) new theories of labour power and corporate vulnerability, and b) worker agency and organising strategy. While these areas have produced robust findings, we argue that developing a more complete understanding of labour transnationalism and its outcomes will require scholars to produce a more explicit critique of mainstream political economy, sociology, political science and labour studies.

Reflecting on Global Unions, Local Power

Journal of World-Systems Research | November 1, 2017

Viewpoint: Trump’s Trade Reforms Will Not Increase U.S. Wages

with Adam Dean

Labor Notes | February 9, 2017

Trump's rhetoric against NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership seems to echo labor’s longstanding criticisms of these so-called free-trade deals. But does that mean his trade policies will benefit workers?

The Base is Not Enough: Labor Organizing Under Trump Means Civil Disobedience and Bridge-Building

Toward Freedom | November 30, 2016

Before Europe Lets Uber Run Wild, It Should Consider What It Did to US Workers

Yes! | October 07, 2016

Why Colin Kaepernick is Winning

with Jack McCallum

Dissent | September 23, 2016

The Right Place for the Left: The World Social Forum in Montreal

with Sarah Stroup

openDemocracy | September 20, 2016

In August 2016, the World Social Forum brought global justice activists to Montreal, the first time it was ever held in the global North. But this reorientation of the movement fell far short of its goals.

The World Social Forum – a.k.a. the ‘anti-Davos’ – just concluded. Here’s what happened.

with Sarah Stroup

The Washington Post | August 18, 2016

The 12th edition of the anti-globalization conference is being held for the first time in a G7 nation to try to bridge a North-South divide.

Implementing Global Framework Agreements: The Limits of Social Partnership

with Michael Fichter

July 14, 2015

Global framework agreements, negotiated between representatives of trans- national corporations and trade unions, are a form of private regulation of labour relations on a global scale. Conceived and promoted by the global union federations, their numbers have increased considerably over the past two decades. However, as empirical research has shown, their record of implementation has been poor. We attribute this to them having been negotiated within the limits of a labour-management relationship based on ‘social partnership’. This highly institutionalized setting of dialogue contrasts markedly with the widespread incidence of contested labour relations in subsidiaries of transnational corporations and in particular throughout their global production networks. Yet, workers and their unions at such sites, where global framework agreements are most needed, have mostly not been involved in their negotiation. Instead of relying on ‘social partnership’, we argue for unions to embrace a ‘conflict partnership’ approach, one that recognizes and addresses the tension between dialogue and conflict in labour relations. To highlight our arguments, we present two contrasting case studies from the service sector.

Global Unions, Local Power: A New Spirit for Labor?

Work in Progress | March 26, 2015

Supporting Dissent Versus Being Dissent

with Steven Toff

Labor Administration in Uncertain Times | 2013

NLRB Rule Changes Ensure Workers’ Right to Vote

The Hill | December 2, 2011

Trade Union Renewal and Labor Transnationalism in South Africa: The Case of Satawu

Journal of Labor and Society | June 8, 2011

This article links labor transnationalism with local union revitalization. Through an in-depth case study, it describes the renewal of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union as a result of its participation in a global union campaign. This effort first expanded formal rights for workers through the establishment of an International Framework Agreement, which then promoted deeper mobilization from below. I conclude that global unionism can inspire local renewal processes, and that strategies which guarantee the formal rights of workers are effective when used in tandem with local mobilization-based strategies.

No Borders, No Boundaries: Labor Faces the Challenges of Globalism

Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society | June 2011

Export Processing Zones: Comparative Data from China, Honduras, Nicaragua, and South Africa

International Labor Office | March 2011

This paper compares the experiences of export processing zones (EPZ) in four countries: China, South Africa, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Broadly speaking, the report covers issues regarding the impact of EPZs on national economies, the legal regulation of labour and the social protection of workers, the state of social dialogue, the impact of the global economic crisis, and an assessment of similar enterprises within and outside EPZs. Through comparison, the report is able to assess the particular outcomes about EPZs in different national contexts.

Organizing the “Unorganized”: Varieties of Transnational Trade Union Collaboration and Social Dialogue in Two Indian Cities

Journal of Workplace Rights | 2010-2011

This article argues that local contexts are critical determinants of successful global unionism. It presents findings from ethnographic research on trans- national union cooperation in two major Indian cities: Bangalore and Kolkata. The main findings suggest an apparent contradiction between the perceived nature of global unionism as a standardizing practice and the degree to which local actors and conditions influence the outcomes of transnational campaigns. The article explains the variation in the ways that actors in each city relate to the larger campaign based on historical, cultural, and social circumstances.

Culture of Poverty: Don’t Call it a Comeback!

with Marnie Brady and Kathleen Dunn

Formations | 2010

Commentary on the comeback of "culture of poverty" framework.