The Small Midwestern Cities That Could Play a Pivotal Role in This Year’s Elections
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For all the talk about big-city Democrats and rural Republicans, it's the voters in overlooked places like Sandusky, #Ohio, and Racine, #Wisconsin, who could decide everything from key congressional races to the presidency.

propub.li/48mLrOJ

#News #Midwest #Election2024 #Vote #WorkingClass #Industry #Economy #Labor

Small Midwestern Cities Could Be Key to 2024 Elections

For all the talk about big-city Democrats and rural Republicans, it’s the voters in overlooked places like Sandusky, Ohio, and Racine, Wisconsin, who could decide everything from key congressional races to the presidency.

^ProPublica

When Frances Perkins was a little girl, she asked her parents why nice people could be poor. Her father told her not to worry about those things, and that poor people were poor because they were lazy and drank.

Eventually, she went to Mount Holyoke College, and majored in physics. In her final semester, she took a class in American economic history and toured the mills along the Connecticut River to see working conditions. She was horrified.

Eventually, instead of teaching until she married, she earned a masters degree in social work from Columbia University. In 1910, Perkins became Executive Secretary of the New York City Consumers League.

She campaigned for sanitary regulations for bakeries, fire protection for factories, and legislation to limit the working hours for women and children in factories to 54 hours per week. She worked mainly in New York State’s capital, Albany. Here, she made friends with politicians, and learned how to lobby.

On March 25th, 1911, Frances was having tea with friends when they heard fire engines. They ran to see what was happening, and witnessed one of the worst workplace disasters in US history. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was devastating, killing 146 people, mostly young women and girls.

Frances watched as fire escapes collapsed and fireman ladders couldn’t reach the women trapped by the flames. She watched 47 workers leap to their deaths from the 8th and 9th floors.

Poignantly, just a year before these same women and girls had fought for and won the 54 hour work week and other benefits that Frances had championed.

These women weren’t just tragic victims, they were heroes of the labor force. Frances at that moment resolved to make sure their deaths meant something.

A committee to study reforms in safety in factories was formed, and Perkins became the secretary. The group took on not only fire safety, but all other health issues they could think of. Perkins, by that time a respected expert witness, helped draft the most comprehensive set of laws regarding workplace health and safety in the country. Other states started copying New York’s new laws to protect workers.

Perkins continued to work in New York for decades, until she was asked by President Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 to serve as Secretary of Labor. She told him only if he agreed with her goals: 40-hour work week, minimum wage, unemployment and worker’s compensation, abolition of child labor, federal aid to the states for unemployment, Social Security, a revitalized federal employment service, and universal health insurance. He agreed. Similar to what she had worked for in New York, her successes became the New Deal, and changed the country and its workers forever.

So while you may not know her name, you certainly know her legacy.

- Via: People You May Not Know, But Probably Should #labour #labor

When self-described capitalists don’t actually seem to know what capitalism actually is.

#capitalism #capitalists #workers #unions #labor #markets #scarcity #shortage #WorkersShortage #economics

"The LA-based Pilipino Workers Center has helped Filipinos win wage theft cases against abusive employers. It has also secured a $35 million budget for education and outreach programs that empower domestic workers, including caregivers, nannies and house cleaners."

msn.com/en-us/money/companies/…

#labor #aapi #aanhpi #wagetheft

Megacorp execs were interviewed about the #WGA strike & were quoted saying their goal was to "break the WGA," and to drag things out "until #union members start losing their apartments and homes"

After corporate counsel reminded the execs of *labor laws*, an update was released saying that actually the execs did not want to make workers homeless in retaliation for exercising labor rights because that would violate #labor laws so its all a big misunderstanding

deadline.com/2023/07/writers-s…

#introduction

I'm Allison, a freelance copyeditor (and sometimes writer & artist) hoping to connect with international comrades who share my enthusiasm for speculative fiction, mountains, disability justice, and ecosocialism.

We might get along if

- you're still wearing PPE,
- you have a favorite plant (bonus points if you wear it as a tattoo),
- you like The Expanse despite its being on Amazon, and/or
- Bernie 2016 broke your heart.

Hope to meet a lot of new folks soon. Glad to be here!

P.S. I'm also going to keep an eye out for

#art
#ecosocialism
#energy
#ethics
#labor
#landback
#mountains
#novels
#organizing
#solarpunk
#walking
#wildfire
#wildflowers

I never did an #introduction!

Hi, I'm Max. I live in #NYC and do #journalism at PCMag where I cover #infosec, #security, and #privacy. I also write reviews of #VPN and professionally complain about #capitalism. I'm the Unit Chair of the ZDCG #union and moonlight as a #labor organizer. If you want to learn about how to unionize your workplace, plz DM me. I play #banjo badly and think about #medieval literature. I'm spending too much money on #fountainpens.