Working to Death: Alienated Labor Under Capitalism

Working to Death

WORKING US TO DEATH: ALIENATED LABOR UNDER CAPITALISM

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

6:30-9:30 PM

Westside Peace Center

3916 Sepulveda Blvd., near Venice Blvd. (free parking in rear)

Suite 101-102, press #22 at door to get into building

Culver City (LA area)

 

SPEAKERS:

Stephan Hammel, Marxist musicologist

Kevin Anderson, author of Marx at the Margins

Mansoor M., Iranian computer engineer and cultural worker

 

Since the 19th century, capitalism has radically transformed work, making the worker, in Marx’s language, a mere “appendage to the machine.”  This deepened under 20th century assembly lines and has been extended globally today, as seen in places like China or Bangladesh.  In recent years, alienated labor has begun to spread from the factory floor into white collar and professional work in the U.S. and other developed countries. All of this is fueled by fear in a system wherein ever-larger sectors of the population face permanent unemployment and precarity.

Suggested readings:

Recent New York Times article on Amazon (white collar and professional workers) http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html?_r=0

New York Times article on suicides of Apple workers in China from 2012 (factory workers) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html

Marx: Alienated (Estranged) Labor essay from 1844: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/labour.htm

Marx: Fetishism section from Capital https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm#S4

Sponsored by the West Coast Chapter, International Marxist-Humanist Organization

More information: arise@internationalmarxisthumanist.org

http://www.internationalmarxisthumanist.org/

Here is URL for meeting for Facebook, Twitter, etc.: http://www.internationalmarxisthumanist.org/events/los-angeles-working-us-to-death-alienated-labor-under-capitalism

Join our Facebook page: “International Marxist-Humanist Organization” https://www.facebook.com/groups/imhorg/

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‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

Reframing Labour and Workers’ Resistance for the 21st Century

Labour

REFRAMING LABOUR AND WORKERS’ RESISTANCE FOR THE 21st CENTURY

Call for Papers

Working USA special issue

Issue Editors:

Maurizio Atzeni, Loughborough University, UK; m.atzeni@lboro.ac.uk

Immanuel Ness, Brooklyn College, CUNY, New York City; manny.ness@gmail.com

Interpretations of global labour in the age of neoliberal capitalism urgently demands robust and critical historical and comparative analysis. For decades, research on labour collective organisation has focused almost exclusively on workers collectively employed on a stable basis in industrial settings or in the public sector, defended by collective bargaining, represented by trade unions and inserted within relatively stable systems of industrial relations. This view however it has always failed to take into account the transformative potentialities of that vast, rich and meaningful array of ‘precarious’ work experiences and relations that allow the production and re-production of capital as a whole.

Women’s labour in the sphere of social reproduction, low-waged workers who work outside conventional work as subcontractors in global production chains or in the informal economy of the global cities or as crowd workers in the digital economy, migrant workers whose exploited work often lays at the margin of legality, new groups of dispossessed people forced into the labour market, are categories of workers traditionally excluded and neglected by the labour relations literature as labourers; often considered unproductive, unregulated, and thus unrepresentable. Considering the speed of development and intensity of integration of global capitalist processes and the political turn to neoliberalism, which have brought about new (or refreshed old) paradigms to increase workers’ productivity and profits, absent has been the signal importance of these ‘invisible’, precarious workers, today representing not just the vast majority of workers in the global South but also increasingly shaping the social landscape of cities across the world.

Broadening research on this underworld of precarious and not represented workers is important to understand one fundamental dimension of the process of capital accumulation in the global age but it also helps to address deep theoretical concerns, put in evidence by heterodox Marxist currents across the social sciences, originating from the use of narrow conceptions about work and workers:

• The conventional notion of the working class, based on the industrial, waged worker, has been questioned for not considering how different labour regimes co-exist and contribute to the development of capitalism as a system, especially women engaged in social reproduction.
• The social organisation and militancy of workers it has been reduced to workers’ resistance to official strikes organised by representative trade unions, the ‘institutionalised form of resistance’, leaving aside the rich history and tradition of workers’ self-organisation. This remains crucial today in framing precarious workers organisation and in setting possibilities for transformative agency.
• Geographically research concentrated on struggles at the workplace without considering the linkages of these with broader struggles over workers’ daily lives.

In the past 30 years, one sided views of labour has been explicitly based on the political role assigned to the industrial workers. Either from a revolutionary or a reformist perspective this particular section of the working class was considered central to any transformative politics. The advent of neoliberalism has swept away many of the elements upon which this centrality was built, leaving a tabula rasa, politically and theoretically speaking. From an empirical point of view, diversity, heterogeneity, unevenness, unpredictability characterise most workers’ struggles of the 21st century.

Against this theoretical and empirical gap in knowledge, the aim of this special issue is twofold.

It aims to offer insights on the daily lives, organization and resistance of precarious workers, intending these in broader terms, as employed in a range of different sectors, geographical and spatial landscapes, economic environments, and regulatory employment regimes.

It aims to produce new knowledge into the connections between these different workers’ struggles and the specific socio-economic, historical and productive context in which have developed.

Within these aims and considering the scope of the journal, we seek submissions from any social sciences discipline concerned with the study of workers and labour using a range of empirical and methodological analyses. The editors however would especially welcome papers that reach theoretical insights in addressing the relevance of certain groups of workers’ experiences or develop their arguments through comparative/historical analysis; focus on global cities and diverse employment regimes, workplaces and daily lives experiences; consider the experiences of workers in strategic sectors of the economy (distribution, transportation, knowledge economy); search for connections of workers struggles in different locations across the global production chain;  or offer insights on new forms of organizing and resistance

 

DUE DATE FOR ABSTRACTS OF 750-1000 WORDS: 15 September 2014

WORD LENGTH: 6000-10,000 words

DUE DATE FOR FINAL SUBMISSION: end March 2015

PUBLICATION DATE: September 2015

INCLUDE NAME, AFFILIATION

WE ENCOURAGE PHD STUDENTS AND ESTABLISHED SCHOLARS TO CONTRIBUTE

 

First published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/call-for-papers-reframing-labour-and-workers2019-resistance-for-the-21st-century

 

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski?ev=hdr_xprf

Online Publications at The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Journal of Labor Sciences

Work

JOURNAL OF LABOR SCIENCES

I would  like to divulge the table of contents of the first number of the Labor Sciences Journal, a new academic/activist journal founded by DIEESE – the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies in Brazil. The titles of the articles are below, in Portuguese and English, as well as the link to access them. It’s an excellent resource for scholars of labor in Latin America.

Cordially, Professor Dr. Sean Purdy
Departamento de História
Universidade de São Paulo

CONTENTS:

-Strikes and the gender question: a panorama of the work stoppages motivated by questions related to women between 1983 and 2011

-Apprenticeship as an instrument for the implementation of the fundamental human right to professionalization

-Gender Assymmetries In The Brazilian Labor Market: Crisis And Public Policies

-Juridical Forms of the Reduction of the Workweek in Brazil

-Labor As Seen By Social Anthropology

-Labor, industry and strategies of development

-Modern Times: a reading of labor through images

-The recent evolution of the Brazilian labor market from the perspective of the concept of the industrial reserve army

Barbara Weinstein: The Discourse of Technical Competence: Strategies of Authority and Power
in Industrializing Brazil

http://rct.dieese.org.br/rct/index.php/rct/issue/view/2/showToc

**END**

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 26th October 2013

Education Crisis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 26th OCTOBER 2013

EVENTS

FILMS FROM THE CANADIAN LABOUR INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2013
November 29
7 pm
PSAC Headquarters
233 Gilmour Street
Ottawa, ON

The Workers’ History Museum is proud to host Ottawa’s first-ever Canadian Labour International Film Festival. CLIFF gives a stage to those who seek justice on the job and dignity in their workplaces, so it is a perfect fit for our museum. This successful festival, now in its fifth year, has brought independent films about working people to cities throughout Canada. On November 29th, we’re bringing them to Ottawa.

Please join us for five films — and five perspectives — that you won’t see anywhere else. Information about the films can be found at: http://workershistorymuseum.ca/cliff2013/

Admission is $5.00. For more information or for advance tickets, please contact: treasurer@workershistorymuseum.ca

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PEOPLE UNITED – CREATING A NEW SPACE FOR COMMUNITY DIALOGUE

November 28
6 p.m.
Beit Zatoun
612 Markham St., Toronto (2 blocks west of Bathurst St., south side of Bloor St. W.)

Join other activists, advocates, and organizers:
–  Weaving connections between community groups, city-wide organizations, social justice networks, and progressive movements
–  Sharing stories from our struggles
–  Finding common ground on issues, goals, values
–  Developing the groundwork for a solidarity strategy and creating the conditions for an active solidarity alliance

Sponsored by the Toronto Community Development Institute (TCDI)
For more information about the TCDI, visit: http://www.torontocdi.ca/

We invite you to join us or work with us on our projects. For more information about how you can be a part of TCDI, email: organizing.tcdi@gmail.com or call (416) 231-5499.

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TORONTO BOOK LAUNCH: TAX IS NOT A FOUR LETTER WORD

Tuesday, November 5, 2013
6:00pm to 8:00pm
Sears Atrium, George Vari Engineering Building
245 Church Street, 3rd Floor
Toronto, ON

Join the CCPA (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) Ontario for a special book launch: Tax is Not a Four-Letter Word.

It’s time to start talking about the value of taxes in Canada. Join us for the launch of Canada’s newest book on the subject: Tax is Not a Four Letter Word.

Featuring the book’s co-editors:
– Alex Himelfarb, Glendon College Director and former Clerk of the Privy Council
– Jordan Himelfarb, Toronto Star Opinion Editor
and three of the book’s CCPA contributors:
– Jim Stanford, Ontario Advisory Board Chair
– Hugh Mackenzie, Research Associate
– Trish Hennessy, Ontario Director

We hope you can join us! Space is limited so sign up here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/8368792283

– See more at: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/offices/ontario/events/toronto-book-launch-tax-not-four-letter-word#sthash.HJZc3oSc.dpuf

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GETTING IN & STAYING IN: LABOUR MARKET CHALLENGES FACING YOUTH

Mon. Nov. 4
9:00am- 4:00pm
Toronto

Youth are experiencing unprecedented barriers to entering the workforce and are resorting to creative, and sometimes unpaid, outlets to gain meaningful experiences, network and secure stable employment.

Co-hosted by Social Planning Toronto (SPT), Toronto Workforce Innovation Group and McMaster University’s School of Labour Studies, this full day event will explore overall trends in youth unemployment in Canada and Ontario, including public policy options.

To register: Contact Mary Micallef, mmicallef@socialplanningtoronto.org, or 416-351-0095 ext. 251

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SEMINAR – COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

Saturday, November 23, 2013
1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
252 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario

Sponsored by Tools for Change

This workshop will outline the theory of community organizing and the steps and strategies involved in actively participating in an organization engaged in community organizing.

Exact campus room location given to registrants a week before the event.

Trainer: Effie Vlachoyannacos is the Managing Director of Public Interest, a social enterprise in Toronto working with communities to fuel social change and build the capacity of non-profit organizations and labour groups to do the same. With Public Interest, Effie has worked on diverse community engagement initiatives and campaigns across Toronto’s inner suburbs, with a particular focus on affordable and social housing advocacy.

For more info and to register: http://www.eventbrite.ca/org/1382386439?s=17819903

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NEWS & VIEWS

VIDEO – LET’S TALK ABOUT UNIONS: NORA LORETO’S BOOK LAUNCH AND Q&A

Nora Loreto has released a new book From Demonized to Organized: Building the New Union Movement with support from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives that serves as a call to incite union activists and supporter, debunk anti-union rhetoric and start the conversation around building a strong, community-focus union movement in Canada.

Watch the video: http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2013/10/best-net/lets-talk-about-unions-nora-loretos-book-launch-and-qa

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BRIARPATCH MAGAZINE – SNEAK PEEK AT OUR LABOUR ISSUE: THE POLITICS OF PRECARITY

In the last two decades precarious employment has doubled. The National Urban Worker Strategy, introduced on Monday in the House of Commons by MP Andrew Cash, “proposes a sweeping suite of overdue federal policies that respond to the plight of temps, freelancers, interns, part-timers and other flexworkers who flit from gig to gig, shift to shift, contract to contract, with no guarantee of income or future work, let alone access to benefits or pensions.” What promise does it hold for precarious workers? In this issue, award-winning writers Nicole Cohen and Grieg de Peuter take a critical look at the Urban Worker Strategy and the politics of precarity.

Read the full story here: http://bit.ly/1ae4EBI

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LET’S GET THIS CLASS WAR STARTED

By Chris Hedges, Common Dreams

“The rich are different from us,” F. Scott Fitzgerald is said to have remarked to Ernest Hemingway, to which Hemingway allegedly replied, “Yes, they have more money.”

The exchange, although it never actually took place, sums up a wisdom Fitzgerald had that eluded Hemingway. The rich are different. The cocoon of wealth and privilege permits the rich to turn those around them into compliant workers, hangers-on, servants, flatterers and sycophants.

Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/10/21

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HOW DOMESTIC WORKERS WON THEIR RIGHTS: FIVE BIG LESSONS

By Amy Dean, Alternet

Domestic workers have had some breakthrough wins over the past two weeks. Up until then, these workers were excluded from protections such as a guaranteed minimum wage, paid breaks, and overtime pay. On September 17, the Obama administration  announced new rules extending the Fair Labor Standards Act to include the 800,000 to 2 million home health workers—who help seniors and others with self-care tasks like taking medications, bathing, and shopping—under the federal government’s wage and hour protections.

Read more: http://www.alternet.org/activism/how-domestic-workers-won-their-rights-five-big-lessons

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VIDEO – TRADE UNION AND ‘PROGRESSIVE’ STRATEGIES: THE RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT, CAPITAL STEWARDSHIP, AND ‘PENSION FUND ACTIVISM’ MOVEMENTS

It is noteworthy that as finance has been on the ‘rise,’ some activists began to formalize anti-corporate and targeted activist campaign strategies through pension and personal investment funds. In Canada and the U.S., several faith organizations began to argue that anti-social corporate behaviour should be, in some sense, sanctioned by individual investors and ultimate owners, on the basis of social principle or humanitarian values.

These initiatives then crystallized and drew broader support with the rise of the sanctions and divestment movement directed against corporate and government support for apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.

Such initiatives have seen their labels evolving from “ethical investment,” to “socially responsible investment” (SRI), to the most recent simplified term of “responsible investment.” While many trade unions, NGOs, and activists have embraced these efforts, others have not, and a substantial differentiation on the political left has emerged. Most recently, Queen’s political economist Susanne Soederberg has produced a sharply critical analysis of these investor-activist efforts from a Marxist political economy framework. This critique follows previous analyses by CAW economists Sam Gindin and Jim Stanford, both of whom have raised serious questions about these strategies as projections of trade union or working class power. Other unions and labour organizations have embraced these strategies with enthusiasm, as is notable in the establishment of a “Committee on Workers Capital” at the international level.

Moderated by Greg Albo. Convenor: Kevin Skerrett. Presentations by:
– Susanne Soederberg (Queen’s University) – Corporate Power and Ownership in Contemporary Capitalism.
– Jim Stanford (UNIFOR) – Paper Boom.

Sponsors: Centre for Social Justice, Global Labour Research Centre (York University), Canada Research Chair in Political Economy (York University) and Socialist Project.

Watch the video: http://www.socialistproject.ca/leftstreamed/ls189.php

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ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):

Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often-undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. We develop research and teaching programs at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT) that strengthen feminist, anti-racist, labour movement, and working-class perspectives on learning and work.

Our major project is APCOL: Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning. This five-year project (2009-2013), funded by SSHRC-CURA, brings academics and activists together in a collaborative effort to evaluate how organizations approach issues and campaigns and use popular education. For more information about this project, visit http://www.apcol.ca

For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca

 

**END**

 

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Labour History Conference – Edmonton

Labour

LABOUR HISTORY CONFERENCE – EDMONTON

Labour History Conference — Edmonton, June 2014

Call for Papers

The Labour Movement has a long history of working alongside or against a wide variety of other social and political movements: from the anti-Fascist popular front to the Latin American solidarity campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s, from the women’s movement to LGBTQ movement today, from anti-nukes to environmental movements, from human rights campaigns in the 1940s and 1950s to Idle No More today. The Alberta Labour History Institute (ALHI) conference of 18-21 June, 2014, wants to investigate this past, present and future of labour’s interaction with other social movements in Canada and beyond.

ALHI seeks to share academic and people’s own histories with the broader community. It draws its members from organised labour, activist communities and the academy, and its conferences seek to build links between academic and non-academic history. Panels featuring “traditional” academic papers will be interspersed with group oral histories featuring people on-stage and in the audience telling their own stories. All of the presentations are filmed in high definition video and transcribed for archival purposes, with low-res versions uploaded onto our YouTube channel (search “Alberta Labour
History” on YouTube).

Our last conference included a concert by Maria Dunn and friends, a film festival, museum displays and keynote addresses from both historians and labour leaders. About one third of the conference participants were academics, and two thirds current and retired trade unionists and other activists. The 2014 conference will be similarly structured and seek a similar audience.

We are looking for people or groups interested in taking part in one of four categories on the theme labour’s interaction with other social movements, past, present and future. We encourage papers and presentations from any perspective, including those that may be critical of labour in the past or present.

We also encourage potential presenters to take a broad view of social movements, defining them as you like.
1)      Academic presentations of 15-20 minutes of length by students, established academics or others.
2)      Oral history participants who want to tell their own story on the theme in 10 minutes.
3)      Films up to 20 minutes in length.
4)      Museum-style displays that can be shipped to Edmonton and put up for public display during the length of the conference.
Interested presenters should send a statement of interest or abstract and brief bio or c.v. to <ALHI@labourhistory.ca> by 15 Ocotober, 2013 (to be considered for any possible travel funding) or by 15 November, 2013 for inclusion in the programme. All proposals will be peer-reviewed by a panel of academics and labour activists, and selected presenters will be informed by either the end of September or the end of November.

In the past we received grants and donations sufficient to subsidise many of our presenters. We will be fundraising again, but cannot promise support at this time

First published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/cfp-labour-history-conference-edmonton-june-2014

*****END*****

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 26th August 2013

Education Crisis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 26th AUGUST 2013

EVENTS

THINK BIG AND LET’S GET GOING: APPLYING THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH TO OUR DAILY WORK

26th Annual Health Promotion Ontario Conference

Thursday September 26, 2013
Oakham House, Ryerson University
63 Gould Street, Toronto

Speakers:
Keynote Address:  Dr Ryan Meili, MD – Upstream – Reviving Politics through a Focus on Health
Code Red Panel Discussion:
– Neil Johnston, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, McMaster University
– Suzanne Brown, MSW, Manager of Neighbourhood Development Strategies, City of Hamilton
– Steve Buist, Investigations Editor, The Hamilton Spectator
– Tom Cooper, Director, Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction
Closing Keynote: Paul Berton, Editor-in-Chief, The Hamilton Spectator – The Role of Media in Addressing the SDOH

Register now:  http://www.hpontario.com

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FREE PUBLIC CONCERT TO CELEBRATE CANADA’S NEWEST UNION – UNIFOR

Sunday, September 1
6:30pm until 11:30pm
Nathan Phillips Square
100 Queen St. West, Toronto

This year, Labour Day marks the formation of a new union – Unifor – with the coming together of the Communications Energy and Paperworkers’ union and the Canadian Auto Workers.

To celebrate we are hosting a free public concert at Nathan Phillips Square with diverse acts from all across Canada. Come see some of Canada’s greatest bands: Stars, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Les Colocs, Sister Says

19+ drink tent with beer, wine and food available for purchase. All-age food vendors in square.

For more information on Unifor visit:  http://www.newunionconvention.ca

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WORLD FESTIVAL OF YOUTH & STUDENTS TORONTO INFO MEETING

Tuesday, August 27
6pm
OISE, 252 Bloor St. West, Room 8-170
St. George Subway station, Toronto

The WFYS is the largest gathering of progressive and anti-imperialist youth and students in the world, taking place this December in Quito, Ecuador. Over 15,000 young people will unite for a week-long experience of culture, music, conferences, workshops, discussions and other meetings about peace, environmentalism, anti-imperialism, and the struggle for social progress.

This year from December 7-13th, the youth festival will be held in Quito, Ecuador with the support of the PAIX alliance as well as student, environmental, indigenous and other leftist youth, under the banner of “Youth unite against imperialism, for a world of peace, solidarity and social transformation!

You can find out more at http://www.18wfys.tumblr.com

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WORKSHOP SERIES: PENSION FUNDS, UNIONS, AND WORKING CLASS STRATEGIES

September 27-December 13
3:30pm – 6:00pm
Centre for Social Innovation, ING Room, ground level
720 Bathurst Street (one block south of Bloor), Toronto

One of the key features of the continuing deep economic crisis facing Canadian workers is the attack on long established pension and retirement benefits, which are now dismissed as a costly frill that only benefits a shrinking minority of the workforce. The defence of these benefits by trade unions is becoming more difficult and divisive – it risks appearing self-serving in a context where the older notion that private, employer-based plans might serve as a positive step toward a universal system of full coverage for all workers is no longer credible.

Workshop Coordinators:
• Convenor: Kevin Skerrett (Canadian Union of Public Employees), kevin.skerrett@gmail.com
• Greg Albo (Centre for Social Justice), albo@yorku.ca

Each of the six workshops will be held on Friday afternoons from 3:30pm – 6:00pm, every other week. (We will skip November 8th, and use November 15^th in its place)

*** We ask that those interested in attending please register and RSVP their interest to Kevin Skerrett, at kevin.skerrett@gmail.com ***

For more info: http://www.socialjustice.org/community/Pensions.pdf

This workshop is co-sponsored by the Centre for Social Justice, Global Labour Research Centre (York University), Canada Research Chair in Political Economy (York University) and Socialist Project

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EXHIBITION – THE RIGHT TO LIVE IN PEACE: 40 YEAR COMMEMORATION OF CHILE’S LOST DEMOCRACY

Friday, Sep 6 to Wednesday, Sep 11
Closing reception: Wednesday, Sep 11 @ 7 pm
Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St., Toronto
(Bloor & Bathurst)

A multimedia exhibition to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the CIA-sponsored military coup in Chile which deposed the democratic government of Salvador Allende.  The exhibition is an opportunity to reflect on this period in history which for many marked the beginning of the slide to neoliberal economy and politics and to hear voices calling for equity and justice.

Collective Alas rescues and salvages artifacts that at one point were designated subversive, and as a consequence dangerous to the military regime of Agusto Pinochet (1973-1990). Alas gathers magazines, film, newspaper articles, books, audio cassettes, vinyl, and posters that were destroyed by the military. During this period, people risked their lives to preserve these items. Poetry, music and articles were considered subversive because they denounced a dictatorial regime.  Alas’ mission is to reflect on our collective memory and work towards greater understanding, justice and human rights for all. The closing reception on September 11 will feature live musical performances.

To learn more: http://beitzatoun.org/event/exhibition-the-right-to-live-in-peace/

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NEWS & VIEWS

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT: HELP FREE TAREK AND JOHN

On Friday August 16th, Tarek Loubani, a Canadian emergency physician and John Greyson, a Canadian filmmaker and professor were arrested by Egyptian authorities. Tarek and John were on their way to Gaza — where Tarek was to work at Al Shifa Hospital, and John to explore the possibility of making a film about the work.

Days later, Tarek and John are still being held in Cairo’s Tora prison. Egyptian officials have given no clear reason for their arrest.  In fact, a recent press release by a Cairo district prosecution states that 9 foreigners, including John and Tarek, will be detained for 15 days, pending investigations.  Egypt is going through a turbulent time, and after hundreds were killed in violent clashes last week, foreigners, particularly journalists are being targeted. We need to get our friends out of there.

Family and friends are worried sick about their safety. Pressure from the Canadian government is our best hope. We must pressure our government to demand their freedom and pressure the Egyptian authorities to let them go. Thank you for your action on this urgent matter!

To find out how to help: http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/canadian-government-help-free-tarek-and-john

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ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT: ONLINE INFO

The Ottawa Network for Education (ONE) has created an excellent online resource relating to assistive technology support to enhance academic access. The website includes a number of captioned videos which are excellent. The English and French ONE Assistive Technology Support websites are highlighted below:
http://www.onfe-rope.ca/programs/assistive-technology-support
http://www.onfe-rope.ca/fr/programs/l%E2%80%99initiative-d%E2%80%99appui-aux-technologies-d%E2%80%99aide

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RANK AND FILE PODCAST WITH KYLE BUOTT

Dave Bush speaks with Kyle Buott, President of the Halifax-Dartmouth & District Labour Council, about trade unionism and worker activism. Kyle addresses the political importance of local labour councils in regional labour movement struggles and building solidarity between workplace issues and social movements.
http://rankandfile.ca/2013/08/21/rank-and-file-podcast-with-kyle-buott/

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DECENT JOBS, HOUSING, AND EDUCATION: MLK’S STILL ELUSIVE DREAM

By Michael K. Honey, History News Network

A quarter of a million people rallied “For Jobs and Freedom” at the Lincoln Monument in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963, and tens if not hundreds of thousands will do so again at this year’s fifty-year commemorations of the event.

See: http://hnn.us/articles/decent-jobs-housing-and-education-mlks-still-elusive-dream

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CLC ENDORSES CONSUMER BOYCOTT OF LABATT IMPORTS: ST. JOHN’S BREWERY WORKERS ON STRIKE SINCE APRIL

OTTAWA ― The Canadian Labour Congress has endorsed a national consumer boycott against a number of imported brands of Labatt beer and is calling on the company to return to the bargaining table.

“This is a David and Goliath struggle between about 50 local workers and the world’s largest multi-national brewing corporation trying to force its employees into a race to the bottom,” says CLC President Ken Georgetti. “Canadian workers and their unions are not going to stand idly by and allow
this to happen.”

The workers in St. John’s have been on strike since April 10. They are members of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public Employees (NAPE/NUPGE). Their employer is the Canadian division of the Anheuser-Busch InBev brewing corporation, which has after-tax profits of more than $9 billion.

The Labatt imports being targeted for boycott include Stella Artois, Becks, and Lowenbrau. The focus is on imported products in order to prevent other unionized Labatt employees in Canada from experiencing a loss of work.

In Newfoundland and Labrador people are also being urged to boycott a number of other Labatt beers, including Budweiser, Labatt Blue, Alexander Keith’s and Kokanee.

For more info: http://www.canadianlabour.ca/national/news/clc-endorses-consumer-boycott-labatt-imports-st-john-s-brewery-workers-strike-april

For a list of union-made beers: http://www.alternet.org/labor/union-beer-you-are-drinking?page=0%2C0

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TORONTO PLAZA HOTEL WORKERS’ STRIKE INTO ITS 14TH WEEK

On strike for 14 long weeks, the USW members at the Toronto Plaza Hotel know exactly what their employer thinks of them.  They know because he tells the world he thinks they are “animals”.  And apparently “animals” shouldn’t receive any benefits and aren’t entitled to union representation in the workplace.  Tell him and his financial backers he’s wrong and tell the workers you’re standing with them HERE: http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1938&src=canadamail

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ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):

Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often-undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. We develop research and teaching programs at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT) that strengthen feminist, anti-racist, labour movement, and working-class perspectives on learning and work.

Our major project is APCOL: Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning. This five-year project (2009-2013), funded by SSHRC-CURA, brings academics and activists together in a collaborative effort to evaluate how organizations approach issues and campaigns and use popular education. For more information about this project, visit http://www.apcol.ca

For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca

 

**END**

 

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Working USA: Call for Articles

Work

WORKING USA: CALL FOR ARTICLES

From: Kim Scipes: kimscipes@earthlink.net

Working USA:  The Journal of Labor and Society
Call for Papers: “Building International Labor Solidarity”

Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society will devote a thematic issue to Building International Labor Solidarity, which will be published in early 2014.  The thematic editor is Kim Scipes of Purdue University North Central who will work closely with Working USA editor, Immanuel Ness.

As new labor movements emerge in Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, we seek essays that focus on research that is designed to build international labor solidarity with these and other workers.  The editors seek in-depth, critical description and analyses of efforts motivated by the rise of workers movements that engage in transnational solidarity, as well as articles that examine imperial and global power efforts to control, guide, and circumscribe them. Historical examples must retain focus that refract on today’s problems and concerns. Paper proposals are encouraged that address labor unions and workers’ movements in the United States and beyond, but priority will be given to research across the developed-developing country divide, or among developing countries of the Global South.

Proposals for papers in the journal should be submitted by August 15, 2013, with a length of 250-500 words.  Final papers will be peer-reviewed by referees appointed by the editorial board, and should not exceed 7,500 words.  For author guidelines, go to the following website:

See: http://working-usa.org

Papers must be received by October 15, 2013.  E-mail for questions or submissions: kscipes@pnc.edu and iness@brooklyn.cuny.edu

Book Project
Concurrently, the editors of the special issue are separately publishing a collection on Building International Labor Solidarity, for which they are seeking submissions.  Contributors can submit papers to both the journal issue and the book, but they must be separate essays.  This will supplement issues addressed in the journal and go beyond them.  Each chapter can reach 10,000 words, and focus on practical, on-the-ground experiences and critical reflections on the subject.  This collection is planned as an activist-oriented project, and we are looking for accounts that address
specific issues raised in the practice of or literature about building international labor solidarity that examine the history and unfolding of events.  Again, priority will be given to work across the developed-developing country divide, or among developing countries/Global South.

Proposals for chapters in the collection should be submitted by September 15, 2013, with a length of 250-500 words.  Chapters are due by June 1, 2014, and authors should check with either editor about their proposed papers.

Immanuel Ness, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, New York, USA, Email: iness@brooklyn.cuny.edu

Kim Scipes, Purdue University North Central in Westville, Indiana, USA,
Email   kscipes@pnc.edu

 

First published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/call-for-articles-for-working-usa-building-international-labor-solidarity

**END**

 

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Work, Employment and Society – Anniversary Special Issue

Work

WORK, EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIETY – ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE

The BSA journal Work, Employment and Society has just published an Anniversary Special Issue in honour of 25 years of publishing. 

It is freely available to all readers until 31 July 2013:  http://wes.sagepub.com/content/current

 

The issue features articles from the following leaders in the field:

Reflections on work and employment into the 21st century: between equal rights, force decides, by Mark Stuart, Irena Grugulis, Jennifer Tomlinson, Chris Forde and Robert MacKenzie

Unsustainable employment portfolios, by John Buchanan, Gary Dymski, Julie Froud, Sukhdev Johal, Adam Leaver and Karel Williams

Women and recession revisited, by Jill Rubery and Anthony Rafferty

The nature of front-line service work: distinctive features and continuity in the employment relationship, by Jacques Bélanger and Paul Edwards

Postfordism as a dysfunctional accumulation regime: a comparative analysis of the USA, the UK and Germany, by Matt Vidal

Financialization and the workplace: extending and applying the disconnected capitalism thesis, by Paul Thompson

Finance versus Democracy? Theorizing finance in society, by Sylvia Walby

Work, employment and society through the lens of moral economy, by Sharon C Bolton and Knut Laaser

Ethnographic fallacies: reflections on labour studies in the era of market fundamentalism, by Michael Burawoy

Review of Scott Lash & John Urry The End of Organized Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1987, £18.00 pbk, (ISBN: 9780745600697), 248pp, Gibson Burrell, Miguel Lucio Martinez, Ian Greer Response to reviews, Scott Lash and John Urry

25 Favourite WES Articles chosen by WES readers, editors and authors

In October 2012, WES held a successful one-day conference exploring key themes for work and employment in honour of 25 years of publishing. Along with the special issue, we are happy to bring you the video from this event.  If you were not able to join us in October or would like to view the presentations again, you can access the videos here: http://wes.sagepub.com/site//video/25th.xhtml

First published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/work-employment-and-society-special-issue-free-until-31-july

**END**

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

The Politics of Workers’ Inquiry Conference

Work

THE POLITICS OF WORKERS’ INQUIRY CONFERENCE

May 2-3, 2013 @ University of Essex

http://ephemeraweb.org/conference/index.htm

Workers’ inquiry is an approach to and practice of knowledge production that seeks to understand the changing composition of labor and its potential for revolutionary social transformation. It is the practice of turning the tools of the social sciences into weapons of class struggle. Workers’ inquiry seeks to map the continuing imposition of the class relation, not as a disinterested investigation, but rather to deepen and intensify social and political antagonisms.

This conference brings together various aspects of workers’ inquiry, from its historical origins and development to contemporary mutations and adaptations of it within contemporary struggles. It will expand the terrain and form of workers’ inquiry, focusing on topics including inquiries into cultural labor and the service economy, geographies of class conflict, transformation in value production, and the limits to workers’ inquiry as a political/research method.

Presentations from:
Anna Curcio (University of Messina) 
Bianca Elzebaumer & Caterina Giuliani (Cantiere per pratiche non-affermative) 
Heidi Hasbrouck (Goldsmiths) 
Tolga Hepdincler (Bahcesehir University)
Funda Kaya (Bahcesehir University)
Asli Kayhan (Kocaeli University)
Michał Kozłowski, Janek Sowa, Kuba Szreder (Free/Slow University of Warsaw)
Alan W. Moore (ABC No Rio / Squatting Europe)
Frederick H. Pitts (University of Bath)
Kasparas Pocius (Lithuanian Culture Research Institute)
Gigi Roggero (University of Bologna)
M. Nedim Süalp (Marmara University)
Zeynep Tul Akbal Sualp (Bahcesehir University)
Jamie Woodcock (Goldsmiths)

For more information and to register send a message to conference@ephemeraweb.org.

Sponsored by ephemera and the Essex Centre for Work, Organization, and Society

 

**END**

 

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales); and at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Workshop on Femonationalism

Feminism

WORKSHOP ON FEMONATIONALISM

Amsterdam Research Center for Gender and Sexuality (ARC-GS)

Gender & Sexuality Workshop

“Femonationalism, civic integration and their discontents”

Sara R. Farris

(IAS, Princeton 2012-2013;

Sociology Department, Cambridge University, UK)

 

Discussant:

Saskia Bonjour

(LeidenUniversity, Institute for History)

 

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study of the recent ‘civic integration’ turn in Europe and its emphasis upon women’s equality. Civic integration refers to the main principle guiding the common EU agenda for the integration of third country nationals (i.e., immigrants from the Global South). It emphasizes the need for immigrants to learn the language, history and values of the European country of destination in order for them to achieve successful integration. Civic integration programs put particular emphasis on gender equality, both in terms of promoting immigrant women’s participation in the EU labor market and in terms of presenting gender equality as one of the pillars of European values. By showing how the gender mainstreaming of integration programs is concretely implemented, particularly in countries such as the Netherlands, France and Italy, this paper will address the paradoxes lying at the heart of the European agenda on integration. In particular, such paradoxes will be addressed in terms of (a) the nationalist translation of EU supranational directives and the nationalist mobilisation of gender equality, or what I call Femonationalism, which have been deployed mainly in an Islamophobic manner; (b) the contradictions of ‘emancipatory liberal feminism’ which interprets women’s emancipation as women’s wage work ‘outside the household’; (c) the role of immigrant women and reproductive labor under neoliberalism. The paper will analyze these trends by means of the conceptual tools provided by the sociology of migration, political economy and feminist theory.

 

Date: Friday, March 15

Time: 10:30-12:30

Location: Bushuis, F0.22 (Kloveniersburgwal 48)

 

The workshop is free and open to the public. Registration is not required.

First published in: http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/workshop-on-femonationalism-with-sara-r.-farris-amsterdam-15-march

**END**

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales); and at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

The Future and Practice of Decent Work

Unemployment

THE FUTURE AND PRACTICE OF DECENT WORK

International Center for Development and Decent Work, KasselUniversity, 14 – 15 February 2013

The Financial and Economic Crisis: A Decent Work Response report prepared by the International Institute for Labour Studies and the Employment Sector and Policy Integration and Statistics Department Geneva in 2009 indicates that the Decent Work Agenda should provide a policy framework to stem crises by placing employment and social protection at the heart of ‘extraordinary fiscal stimulus measures’ which can both protect vulnerable people, and reactivate investment and demand in economies.

The International Labour Organisation’s World of Work Report 2012 forecasts a global unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent in 2012, with total world unemployment rising from 196 million in 2011 to 202 million in 2012. In this context, and with the rise in austerity measures which cannot guarantee growth but which have already triggered social disruption and harm, this conference will explore the concept of decent work and search for a praxis of decent work in all countries, all contexts, and for all people.

Guy Ryder, an experienced trade unionist, was elected as the ILO’s new Director General on 28th May 2012, to take office in September, and he has stated his commitment to prioritise people and the world of work (Ryder, 2012).  In June 2012, India, Brazil and South African signed a long term Declaration of Intent in a number of areas including development and cooperation, and labour, which is explicitly designed to further the Decent Work Agenda, aiming toward creating jobs, guaranteeing rights at work, extending social protection and the promotion of social dialogue, with gender equality as a core objective. These types of initiatives indicate a continuation of the relevance of a concept that was coined by Juan Somavia, Director General 1999 – September 2012, but the global climate of strained governance continues to challenge the possibilities for decent work in developed and developing countries alike.
 
The ILO’s new Director General faces a Eurozone crisis, rising unemployment, a spate of emergency crisis-driven labour policy deregulation that has often not been passed with consent from relevant social partners, and the dramatic rise in precarity and nonstandard employment which impacts lives in all corners of the world. Several governments across the European Union, including Portugal, Spain, Hungary, and the United Kingdom, have recently passed emergency labour motions and reforms using the rationale of austerity to decentralise collective bargaining, disempower temporary workers, and increase working time for less remuneration, in many cases via Memoranda of Understanding passed in consultation and consent with the Troika (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF) (Clauwaert and Schomann, 2012). Nonetheless the ‘international consensus’ remains committed to securing ongoing decent work, and labour law is expected to provide the theatre for appropriate labour standards and rights despite labour law modernisation (Faioli, 2010).

The conference involves papers dealing with questions around the legitimation and the tripartite structure of the International Labour Organisation, questions about the world of work in the current context of global recession, issues surrounding social unrest as linked to rising unemployment, and the nature of international labour standards in this context. The concept of decent work is in crisis and this conference is a call for praxis around these issues.

Please email decentworkconference@gmail.com to express interest in attending this event. 

First published in: http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/the-future-and-praxis-of-decent-work-international-center-for-development-and-decent-work-kassel-university-14-2013-15-february-2013

**END**

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales); and at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Geographies of Labor

Global Economy

GEPGRAPHIES OF LABOR

CALL FOR PAPERS

GEOGRAPHIES OF LABOR

35th Annual North American Labor History Conference

October 24-26, 2013

Wayne State University

Detroit, Michigan

The Program Committee of the North American Labor History Conference invites proposals for sessions, papers, and roundtables on “Geographies of Labor” for our thirty-fifth annual meeting.

Over the last several centuries, transformations in technology and in economic, social, political, and cultural practices have created new spatial regimes within and across geographic boundaries.  Whether negotiating the changes around them or taking advantage of new possibilities to shape alternatives, workers have been central to remapping this emergent environment.

Inspired by the “spatial turn” in the social sciences, this conference will explore the myriad ways in which workers have interacted with a variety of geographic categories.  We welcome projects that seek to understand these interactions through a number of lenses, including, but not limited to: empire, globalization, uneven development, mobility, and migration/immigration at the transnational, national and/or local level.  We invite proposals from a wide variety of disciplines, especially history, geography, sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, and cultural studies.

Submissions of proposals for papers, panels, and roundtables should include a one paragraph abstract and a brief biographical statement per each participant by March 29, 2013 to:

Professor Francis Shor, Coordinator

North American Labor History Conference

Department of History

WayneStateUniversity

3157 FacultyAdministrationBuilding

Detroit, MI48202

Phone: 313-577-9325; Fax: 313-577-6987

Email: nalhc@wayne.edu

First published at: http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/cfp-geographies-of-labor-wayne-state-university-detroit-24-26-october

**END**

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales); and at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski