Special issue of Labor Studies Journal in conjunction with the 2013 United Association for Labor Education conference in Toronto Canada, April 16-20, 2013. The Labor Studies Journal invites paper proposals on the theme of labor confronting austerity.
Austerity measures aimed at undermining the economic, political, and social supports for building and sustaining working-class power have become a trademark of governments at all levels and of all political stripes. The current era of austerity, characterized by jobs cuts, pension clawbacks, privatizations, cuts to health benefits, reduced education funding, attacks on the prevailing wage, the negotiation of two-tier wage agreements, and the introduction of right-to-work laws, are having, and will continue to have, profound consequences for working people and their unions in both the private and public sectors. State-led attacks on labor have been facilitated by the fragmentation of labor movements, declines in union density, and the demobilization of the working class.
However, the rollback of labor rights, and the undermining of workers’ social rights more generally, has not gone uncontested. From occupations to demonstrations, and legal action to political action, resistance to austerity measures exists in many different strategic forms. We welcome papers that explain, examine, and interrogate labor’s strategic approach to confronting austerity.
Appropriate topics include but are not limited to the following:
- Strategic responses to attacks on labor rights in the public sector
– Private sector union responses to austerity measures
– The role of worker education in confronting austerity
– Union-community alliances in defense of public services
– Comparative or international cases studies of union and/or working-class resistance to austerity
Papers submitted will be considered for presentation at the United Association for Labor Education Conference to be held in Toronto, Canada, April 16-20, 2013. Papers accepted and presented at the conference will then be eligible to undergo a peer review process for possible publication in a special conference issue of Labor Studies Journal.
Please send electronic copies of 1000 word manuscript proposals by November 2, 2012 to the guest editors listed below. Full-length manuscripts are expected by the time of the conference in April 2013. Manuscripts will be peer reviewed following the conference.
Professor Stephanie Ross
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Professor Larry Savage
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Photo: Ontario Federation of Labour
