On the Job: The Untold Story of Americas Work Centers and the New Fight for Wages, Dignity, and Health

(Hardback)

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The inspiring story of worker centers that are cropping up across the country and leading the fight for today's workers

For over 60 million people, work in America has been a story of declining wages, insecurity, and unsafe conditions, especially amid the coronavirus epidemic. This new and troubling reality has galvanized media and policymakers, but all the while a different and little-known story of rebirth and struggle has percolated just below the surface.

On the Job is the first account of a new kind of labor movement, one that is happening locally, quietly, and among our country's most vulnerablebut essentialworkers. Noted public health expert Celeste Monforton and award-winning journalist Jane M. Von Bergen crisscrossed the country, speaking with workers of all backgrounds and uncovering the stories of hundreds of new, worker-led organizations (often simply called worker centers) that have successfully achieved higher wages, safer working conditions and on-the-job dignity for their members.

On the Job describes ordinary people finding their voice and challenging power: from housekeepers in Chicago and Houston; to poultry workers in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Springdale, Arkansas; and construction workers across the state of Texas. An inspiring book for dark times, On the Job reveals that labor activism is actually alive and growingand holds the key to a different future for all working people.

Reviews

Praise for On the Job:
The authors lucidly explain the issues facing low-wage workers, and vividly sketch the activists behind these campaigns. This timely and well-documented account offers hope for the future of the American labor movement.
Publishers Weekly

Readers interested in labor politics, labor relations, and related activism, as well as the impact of COVID-19 on labor, will glean much inspiration and insight into how workers have mobilized and advocated for higher wages, safer working conditions, and respect and dignity, even during the midst of a global pandemic.
Booklist

These are not your parents labor unionsan excellent introduction to a burgeoning and necessary movement.
Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Celeste Monforton is director of the Beyond OSHA Project and lecturer at Texas State University. A sought-after national media commentator, she lives in San Marcos, Texas.
Jane M. Von Bergen is an award-winning reporter who covered labor for more than half of her thirty-five years at the Philadelphia Inquirer. She lives in Philadelphia.