Essential : How the Pandemic Transformed the Long Fight for Worker Justice

Jamie K McCallum

ISBN 10: 1541619919 / ISBN 13: 9781541619913

Published by Basic Books Nov 2022, 2022

About this Item

Neuware - How essential workers fight for better jobs during the pandemic revolutionized US labor politicsThroughout the coronavirus pandemic, essential workers lashed out against low wages, long hours, and safety risks, attracting a level of support unseen in decades. This explosion of labor unrest seemed sudden to many. But Essential reveals that American workers had simmered in discontent long before their anger boiled over.Decades of austerity, sociologist Jamie K. McCallum shows, have left frontline workers vulnerable to employer abuse, lacking government protections, and increasingly furious. Through firsthand research conducted as the pandemic unfolded, McCallum traces the evolution of workers militancy, showing how their struggles for safer workplaces, better pay and health care, and the right to unionize have benefitted all Americans and spurred a radical new phase of the labor movement. This is essential reading for understanding the past, present, and future of the working class.

Seller Inventory # 9781541619913

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Essential : How the Pandemic Transformed the Long Fight for Worker Justice
• Publisher: Basic Books Nov 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1541619919
• ISBN 13: 9781541619913
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 238W x 158H x 30D millimeters 238 millimeters width by 158 millimeters height by 30 millimeters depth
• Weight: 518 grams

About this title

Synopsis

How essential workers’ fight for better jobs during the pandemic revolutionized US labor politics 

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, essential workers lashed out against low wages, long hours, and safety risks, attracting a level of support unseen in decades. This explosion of labor unrest seemed sudden to many. But Essential reveals that American workers had simmered in discontent long before their anger boiled over.  

Decades of austerity, sociologist Jamie K. McCallum shows, have left frontline workers vulnerable to employer abuse, lacking government protections, and increasingly furious. Through firsthand research conducted as the pandemic unfolded, McCallum traces the evolution of workers’ militancy, showing how their struggles for safer workplaces, better pay and health care, and the right to unionize have benefitted all Americans and spurred a radical new phase of the labor movement. This is essential reading for understanding the past, present, and future of the working class. 

About the Author

Jamie K. McCallum is professor of sociology at Middlebury College. He is the author of Worked Over and Global Unions, Local Power, which won the American Sociological Association’s prize for the best book on labor. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Mother Jones, Dissent, and Jacobin. He lives in Weybridge, Vermont.