Sharing like a capitalist

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The sharing economy has received lots of media adoration over the last couple of years. A closer look reveals a more troubling truth. There are various types of companies in this new economy, but the ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft provide a useful example. In a recent article, Avi Asher-Schapiro details the effects of this model on the workers. Continue Reading

Brotherhood Inc: Between troubled pasts and brighter future, a little coffee

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Sidiq Abdullah has been involved in Brotherhood Inc. since it first opened its doors on Dec. 15, 2011. He is now the sales manager for the organization’s coffee business, but he remembers his days of making cold calls without much fondness.“‘How many times have I told you guys I don’t want it!’” he mimicked an angry voice on the other end of a phone line.Brotherhood Inc. is a nonprofit organization that employs 15 African American men between the ages of 16 and 24. Members of the program have criminal pasts or come from poverty and gangs.Brotherhood provides them with classes, employment and a safe place to spend their time. The heart of the program is inside a University Avenue storefront, where sparsely furnished rooms are painted striking red and the air is laced with the rich scent of Brotherhood Brew coffee.Located in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Continue Reading

In the interest of whom?

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September is the time I miss teaching the most. It is the time when hope reigns, or at least makes itself felt. It is the time when students vow to try harder, teachers bring summer ideas for their classrooms, stay until after their own family’s dinner hour to set up something new. Some years this feeling continues until June, with parents who help out, families who pitch in and a good principal. It will never be perfect. It will never be precise. Teaching is an art, learned the way all arts are learned through trial and error, instincts honed over time, and with practice. I have been reading Mike Rose’s book The Mind At Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker. I see similarities in our struggles as classroom teachers and aides with those who work in service professions: waiting tables, clerking in an office, serving as a receptionist, or delivering packages. In many ways teachers do all those things, and at times, do them simultaneously. In addition to organizing a classroom, we teach thirty to forty human beings, many times in five different classes each day. By the afternoon we have seen between one hundred and fifty to two hundred students. We have guided them to their desks, laughed with them while standing by their chairs as they devise a marvelous question, picked up books for them at the library, kept track of their work and participation. In some classrooms we play music to welcome them, in others we are at the door, shaking hands, commenting on new hairstyles, a great game the night before, a fine essay written for college admissions. After they have left we have sat at our desks grading papers. Continue Reading

The long history of blaming teachers

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The paradox of teaching is that it’s seen as noble, missionary work when it isn’t the refuge of the lazy and incompetent. We see this in how teachers are portrayed in movies—especially movies about teaching —as well as in the rhetoric pervading all sides of our current reform debates. But has it always been this way? Continue Reading

The hands that feed us: Workers at the Minnesota State Fair

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Every year crowds of people head to the Minnesota State Fair, thinking about the food they’ll eat, the rides they’ll take and the people they’ll watch. But how often do we notice the people who make this whole thing happen? From the people who make and serve us the food, to the ride operators, to the folks who clean up after us — who’s working behind the scenes at the fair? This photo essay is just a start in telling the story of the many people who work behind the scenes to give us the Minnesota State Fair. Continue Reading

CTUL’s Merle Payne talks organizing the “unorganizable”

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At 40 years old, Merle Payne is soft-spoken with a trim beard and unassuming nature. He is the co-director of Centro de Trabajodores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL), an organization “where workers build power to lead the struggle for fair wages, better working conditions, basic respect, and a voice in our workplaces.” CTUL made national headlines recently by winning a Responsible Contractor Policy with Target that will be implemented for new cleaning contracts at their stores in the metro area.

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