This report documents the disproportionate number of Blacks holding low-wage, dead-end jobs, and assesses responses to this crisis from activist organizations nationwide. The author reviews the wide range of activities of Black-oriented non-profits, generally, and the geared towards work and employment issues, specifically. The author notes the lack of programs directly targeting the transformation of bad jobs, and discusses reasons for this state of affairs. The report weighs the effectiveness of race-based organizing, and discusses collective action strategies to combat the problem of bad jobs.

Chronicle of the difficulties faced by young student-workers, illustrating the burdens of the work-school balance, and the funneling of such workers into highly exploitative, low-wage service jobs. The authors argue that traditional solutions emphasizing upward mobility through education are inadequate, and call for actions directed toward the improvement of worker conditions. The article concludes with fronts for future organizing.

In 1996, the Canadian Labour Congress adopted a resolution that called for youth to become a central outreach and organizing priority for all union affiliates. This article explores what led up to the CLC resolution, what has happened in the years since, and what lessons the Canadian labor movement’s youth project has for the labor movement here in the United States.

Article examines recent struggles to unionize the state’s homecare workers and collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions. The authors survey campaigns in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Alameda counties, noting the obstacles to success and highlighting future issues of concern. The authors find a strategy of worker organization, policy intervention, and coalition building as the key to success in all cases.

A survey of multi-stakeholder coalitions on today’s progressive landscape. The authors explain “social dialogue” as formal partnerships between labor, employers, and government in shaping social and economic policy. Finding this to be largely absent in the US, the authors examine various cases of labor in alliance with management alone, and with other social actors. Case studies are culled from across the nation, and range from local to national to international action.

Article details the activities and leadership structure of three Los Angeles-based Mexican “hometown associations” (HTAs)—organizations linking together immigrants from the same point of origin through (primarily) social and cultural activities in the new area, and projects for the betterment of the hometown. The authors describe the social and philanthropic activities common to most HTAs, while also noting major differences between organizations. A key point of investigation is the political involvement of the HTAs studied, and the potential for these organizations to emerge as progressive forces in immigrant rights and social justice battles. Finding reluctance on the part of many HTA leaders and members to move beyond culturally oriented activities, the authors explore internal conflicts over increased political activism, and offer possible reasons for the general lack of political involvement.