I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and it seems to me that it’s worth the effort to put together a regular or semi-regular diary series (open to anyone who wants to contribute) on labor and labor-related issues here at Daily Kos. The labor movement is such an important part of the left-liberal/progressive coalition (despite the pummeling it’s taken over the past 50-60 years) that I think Daily Kos is an ideal forum to report on and discuss these matters. Follow me as I offer some incomplete thoughts on what such a series would entail.
First off, let me point out that folks like Union Review have done and continue to do good work on this sort of thing . This series isn’t intended to supplant individuals’ own diaries on labor; rather it’s intended to be one of many opportunities for Kossacks to have discussions and debates about work-related topics and their relevance to necessary political change. Second, “work-related” is intended to be a fairly expansive concept. In other words, anyone interested in these topics is invited to post a diary or comment on others’ diaries. So what would such a series as this cover? Here are some initial thoughts:
- Basic education about organized labor. IMHO, labor issues don’t get a whole lot of attention because people don’t learn much about what organized labor is and how it works. Newspapers and other journalistic institutions once had reporters who covered a labor beat, but those beats are quite rare now. Often, we learn about labor in the context of business reporting (which has expanded considerably), which can be informative, but also leaves a lot out because labor is considered incidental to the main stories that the business press covers; furthermore, business reporting can be actively hostile to organized labor. So, perhaps we could have some diaries on what trade unionism is, how a union functions, how (and why) people form unions, labor law & policy, etc.
- Labor news roundups. Other diarists do this, so I wouldn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but I think Working Kos could be a kind of clearinghouse for labor news, not only for events in the United States, but around the world.
- The changing nature of work and the relationships germane to that. Simply put, the kinds of jobs we do, where we do them, and how we do them have undergone considerable change in the past several decades. How does that impact our lives? How do we think about work today? What does this mean for the relationships we have with our employers? Do we need new models of labor organizing; if so, what are those?
- “Special” diaries. These could be things like specific case studies, broader essays on the economy that have a significant labor component, critical (in the broad sense) observations on labor and work, etc. Put another way, anything that doesn’t fit neatly into the categories I’ve proposed here or those anyone else proposes.
Last, but not least, the title of the series doesn’t have to be “Working Kos”; I thought it might be a good choice that captures best what the series would cover, but that’s not set in stone.
So, if folks have comments, please share them.