FW: urban labor
Einat Manoff
Hi Group,
My colleague Cindy Gorn is teaching a seminar on Labor next semester. Excuse me for the shameful promotion; but if interested in these topics - I know you won’t want to miss this and her brilliance!!
See below for course description
Urban Labor
course number: 403.12
Best,
Einat
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This course will cover a variety of topics in urban labor over the course of one semester. The overall goal of the course is to understand current labor relations in New York, through the lens of everyday workers. The course will use an analysis of capitalism that focuses on the value form of labor, to understand the changing composition of capitalism as it relates to workers and struggles over and against exploitation. The course will specifically examine the changing relations of workers to New York City over the last fifty years, with a specific focus on how workers organization has changed the physical landscape of the city, and the experiences of working people in New York. The course will also demystify labor unions/organized labor, labor law, and unorganized labor. Often times trying to learn about labor is an “alphabet soup”, and in this course we will break down different organizations and their historical trajectories through real life experiences. The course will be divided into units, and each unit will feature theoretical or historical concepts, and a corresponding concrete example. The course will also feature field trips and guest speakers, and will be discussion based.
Course Outline:
This course will look at the following themes in labor, divided into thirds, with each sub theme lasting 1-2 weeks. By examining these themes, we will work to understand how our everyday experiences in the city—construction, shopping, transportation—are all effected by labor. Each sub-theme will feature an example to make the theory and history concrete:
First third of the course will be on labor history
1) Industrial production in the city: early gender and race relations
2) Development of labor law: no strike clauses, new forms of contracts
3) Labor and the 1970’s financial crisis in New York
Second third of the course will be on New York City Labor Unions
1) New York and the AFL-CIO
2) The rise of SEIU and UNITE HERE
3) The IWW
4) “Illegal” workers: undocumented immigrants and the workplace
The final section of the course will focus on contemporary labor struggles. We will follow recent and ongoing workplace struggles, and have presentations from representatives of organized and organizing labor.
The course readings will be distributed via Blackboard and will feature a mix of news articles, books, and book chapters, and academic articles. Students will learn how to synthesize information from different sources, and how to read critically.
Additionally, students will be required to do a “unit assignment” at the end of each of the three sections, where they write a 5 page paper, and present to the class. Each student will be required to present on 2 out of 3 of the papers. This work, in addition to in class writing assignments, and class participation, will make up the evaluation of the course.