Workday Minnesota (https://workdayminnesota.org/category/essay/)
Overall I found When Workers Shot Back to be a careful study of the relationship workers and capital and the resulting reconfiguration of the state’s role in our lives. I would recommend the book for anyone interested in learning more about the history and nuances of the working-class struggle.
How well is the American economy working for working people?
EPI researcher Daniel Costa reflect on the state of labor and the exploitation of immigrant workers in the United States.
What grew from this conversation reminds us that workers are the experts of their own experience and craft, and therefore should shape their workplace.
The word “stripper” does not define me. The work I do does not determine whether or not I will be treated as someone’s daughter, or sister, or mother. I am these things regardless of what I do, and that can never be forgotten.
Indeed, the long history of sexual use regulation in Minneapolis demonstrates a preoccupation with morality and real estate. What we haven’t seen enough of are regulations that focus on the workers themselves and attempt to address labor issues like workplace conditions, fair wages, and workers’ health and well-being. Regulation and reality clearly don’t line up, at least not from a labor perspective. Individuals in positions of power would do well to listen to those for whom erotic dancing is a career and who are most directly affected by adult entertainment ordinances.
