Book description
How essential workersā fight for better jobs during the pandemic revolutionized US labor politicsĀ
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, essential workers lashed out against low wages, long hours, and safety risks, attracting a level of support unseen in decades. This explosion of labor unrest seemed sudden to many. But Essential revealsā¦
Why read it?
1 author picked Essential as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Sociologist Jamie K. McCallum traces labor actions throughout the coronavirus pandemic and what they revealed about the shocking precarity and poor working conditions frontline workers faced and continue to face.
The book shows how and why the crisis sparked an uptick in labor struggles thatās helping to revitalize the American labor movement today. McCallumās voice and narrative sensibility are compelling, but what I really love about this book is that it transforms everyday working-class people from abstract category (āessential workersā) to dynamic human characters with agency and power.
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