Struggle for Fair Wages in the Service Industry

The rise of the labor movement in the US constitutes one of the brightest spots on the political horizon. Auto workers were joined by academic workers, actors, writers, hotel workers, UPS teamsters won without striking, and union drives have hit Amazon, Starbucks, universities and other sectors. Are these union drives and strikes opening a new period, igniting a newly energized working class?

Live from the Progressive Central conference held in Chicago before the Democratic National Convention, Jacobin Radio features an all-women panel of labor leaders and champions celebrating "Organized Labor on the Rise: the 2020s and Beyond." This panel, introduced by Alan Minsky and Hartsell Gray of Progressive Democrats of America, opens with Nina Turner on overcoming racism in the labor movement, followed by Saru Jayaraman from One Fair Wage and UC Berkeley’s Food Labor Research Center, Sara Nelson, President of CWA’s flight attendants union, and Stacey Davis Gates, President of the Chicago Teachers Union.

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.