This Week’s Top Hits

“Workers toiling in 35 or 40 degrees Celsius and high humidity is the return of the literal sweatshop,” says this article about the garment industry and climate change, co-written by Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute. The article cites the institute’s “Higher Ground?” report and offers solutions.

Art Wheaton, ILR director of labor studies, comments on the successes and management style of UAW President Shawn Fain.

“With any program that has revisions, it’s because you’re trying to balance timeliness with accuracy,” said Erica Groshen, ILR senior labor market advisor and former Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, about the bureau’s approach to gathering and reporting payroll data from employers.

“We’re essentially seeing the collapse of the American dream in real time,” said Kathleen Mulligan, director Labor Leadership Development Programs at ILR, analyzing the effects of wage growth and inflation on purchasing power for workers in the U.S.

George Boyer, ILR professor, analyzes the difficulty of translating a weekly wage of 15 shillings in Dickensian England to today’s U.S. dollars.

Lee Adler, ILR visiting lecturer and labor lawyer, comments on the legal implications of alleged anti-union activity at Cayuga Medical Center.