Professor of labour studies and sociology Tom Juravich of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, will give a public talk about unions, followed by a two-day strategic corporate research workshop.
The talk, “What the Public Thinks About Unions and What the Labour Movement Should Do About It,” will take place Thursday, Oct. 30, from 11:30am to 1:30pm, at S701 Ross Building, Keele campus.
In this public talk, which is part of the ongoing Global Labour Speakers Series, Juravich will use Gallop poll data from the United States, as well as polling data collected in Wisconsin during recent labour struggles in that state, to examine public attitudes towards unions and the implications for labour movement strategy.
The workshop, “Looking Inside the Corporate World: Strategic Corporate Research Workshop,” will take place Friday, Oct. 31, from 9:30am to 4:30pm, and Saturday, Nov. 1, from 9:30am to 4:30pm, at 2114 and 2116 Technology Enhanced Learning Building, Keele campus.
Sponsored by the Global Labour Research Centre and the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, this two-day workshop will be of particular interest for union and community-based and environmental activists to learn the basic tools for how to look inside the corporate world. The workshop will identify and explore public sources of information on a wide variety of firms and how to use this information to build innovative and creative campaigns. There will be plenty of hands-on experience using major databases and working collaboratively to deepen our understanding of the corporate world.
The cost of the workshop is $150 with institutional support or $50 without institutional support. All materials and lunch on both days will be included. Parking is available at an additional cost ($20 on Friday, $7 on Saturday). The deadline to register is Oct. 24. To register, visit the Global Labour Research Centre website for the registration form.
About Tom Juravich
Juravich received a PhD in sociology in 1984 from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. From 1984 to 1993, he was on the faculty of the Department of Labor Studies at Pennsylvania State University, where he directed a workers' education program in the greater Philadelphia area. He joined the UMass Labor Center in 1993, and from 1996 to 2007 served as director of the centre. In 1995 he was part of a team that founded the Union Leadership and Administration program, a limited-residency master’s program for union officers, activists and staff, serving as its director from 1995 to 2007.
His research interests include strategic corporate research and campaigns, work and the labour process, union organizing, and union and worker culture. He is author and co-author of several books, including: Chaos on the Shop Floor: A Worker's View of Quality, Productivity, and Management; Union Organizing in the Public Sector: An Analysis of State and Local Elections;
Commonwealth of Toil: Chapters in the History of Massachusetts Workers and Their Unions; Ravenswood: The Steelworkers' Victory and the Revival of American Labor; The Future of Work in Massachusetts; At the Altar of the Bottom Line: The Degradation of Work in the 21st Century; and the forthcoming Maybe I'm Not Canadian Enough: The Struggle of Racialized Workers Confronting a Factory Shut-down (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives).
For more information, visit the Global Labour Research Centre website.