All 375 articles by Michelle Chen

• 22 May 13

• Working

  A Budget That Tightens Belts by Emptying Stomachs

  A time-honored tactic of conservative lawmakers is to “starve the beast”by defunding government programs. In... MORE »

• 21 May 13

• Working

  Farmworkers Fight Wendy’s, the ‘Last Holdout’ on Fair Food

  While rain pattered gently on the concrete steps of Manhattan’s Union Square last Saturday, a group... MORE »

• 15 May 13

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  A More Democratic Foxconn? No One Told the Workers

  With a workforce of more than one million, the electronics giant Foxconn has enough workers in its Chinese... MORE »

• 10 May 13

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  As Death Toll in Bangladesh Collapse Climbs Past 1,000, Another Factory Fire Claims 8 Lives

  Bodies continue to pile up at Rana Plaza, once a powerhouse of Bangladesh’s garment industry, where... MORE »

• 03 May 13

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  That Unemployment Form Might Violate Your Civil Rights

  If you think being jobless is tough, try applying for unemployment benefits. In Florida, simply filling out the... MORE »

• 27 Apr 13

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  Farmworkers Dig Into the New ‘Blue Card’ Plan

  Last week, immigrants’ rights groups finally got the papers they’ve been waiting for, an 844-page... MORE »

• 26 Apr 13

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  Factory Collapse in Bangladesh Exposes Cracks in the System

  There are few ways to make a decent living in Bangladesh, but there are many ways to die... MORE »

• 20 Apr 13

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  Bangladeshi Activists Bring Fight to Wal-Mart’s Doorstep

  Wal-Mart’s business model runs on the art of delusion. Clean aisles and bright decor insulate customers... MORE »

• 17 Apr 13

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  Cutting the Budget, Bleeding Us Dry

  If you feel like that recovery we keep hearing about hasn’t quite trickled down to your... MORE »

• 15 Apr 13

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  Domestic Workers Sow a New Global Movement

  In Argentina and Brazil, a sector of workers that has long labored invisibly is moving out of the... MORE »

• 03 Apr 13

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  A New Door for Guestworkers?

  The perennial impasse in the immigration debate between labor and business seems to be fading as a group... MORE »

• 30 Mar 13

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  Women Unionists of the Arab Spring Battle Two Foes: Sexism and Neoliberalism

  This year's World Social Forum, a transnational gathering of social activists, took place in Tunis, a... MORE »

• 28 Mar 13

• Working

  How ‘This American Life’ Got Disability Wrong

  A dramatic investigation aired this week by This American Life raised concerns... MORE »

• 28 Mar 13

• Uprising

  An ‘Undocumentary’ Maker Speaks Out

  As a documentary filmmaker, Josh Davis gets very close to his subjects. But in his stirring film series... more »

• 25 Mar 13

• Working

  Is Gender Justice Getting Shafted in Immigration Reform?

  The politics of immigration touch upon major faultlines in American society: not just the legal boundary between citizen... MORE »

• 21 Mar 13

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  How the Poultry Industry is Grinding Up Workers’ Health and Rights

  Walk through any supermarket poultry section and you can marvel at the wonders of the modern food processing... MORE »

• 15 Mar 13

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  Cambodian Workers Wrest Justice from Wal-Mart and H&M Supplier

  After workers across the U.S. staged mini-strikes at Wal-Marts this winter, a small crowd of Cambodian garment... MORE »

• 14 Mar 13

• Working

  Bus Strike Exposes Social Divides in Singapore

  A spontaneous strike in November, the first in 26 years, shook up the tight social order of Singapore. As... MORE »

• 11 Mar 13

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  Corporate-Approved State Bills Kick Low-Wage Workers While They’re Down

  President Obama called for a modest raise in the federal minimum wage to $9 in his State of the... MORE »

• 06 Mar 13

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  Day Laborers Defend Their Right to Public Space in Court

  Looking to hire someone for a little landscaping work or a construction job? There might be a local... MORE »

• 04 Mar 13

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  New York Wants to Boost Food Manufacturing, but Will Communities get a Raw Deal?

  Under the reign of New York City’s billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the New York City Economic... MORE »

• 28 Feb 13

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  All Work and No Pay: Recognizing Women’s Unpaid Labor in the Global South

  Imagine being asked to work seven days a week, for free, without breaks or even a thank you.... MORE »

• 25 Feb 13

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  Locked Out of Jobs, Formerly Incarcerated Struggle to Reintegrate

  Thanks to our harsh criminal justice policies and anti-drug laws, an extraordinary number of Americans will spend some... MORE »

• 21 Feb 13

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  Obama’s Universal Preschool Plan: As Good as It Sounds?

  Of all the mildly liberal, media-genic proposals that peppered President Barack Obama’s state of the... MORE »

• 18 Feb 13

• Features

  Immigration Reform Would Boost Business, Undermine Rights

  As D.C. politicians quibble over immigration reform, their plans all make the same big mistakes. MORE »

• 14 Feb 13

• Working

  Beneath the ‘Fair Trade’ Label, Union-Busting Lurks

  Since the 1990s, an unprecedented--but sometimes uneasy--alliance of activists and industry has tried to braid together business and... MORE »

• 11 Feb 13

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  Can We Trust Foxconn’s New ‘Democratic’ Chinese Factories?

  A few years ago, the multinational tech manufacturer Foxconn, a brand previously vaunted as a symbol of China... MORE »

• 09 Feb 13

• Features

  The Woman Who’s Changing the Definition of ‘Foodie’

  ROC’s Saru Jayaraman is doing for ethical eating what Michael Pollan did for slow food. MORE »

• 06 Feb 13

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  Imagining a ‘Just Recovery’ from Superstorm Sandy

  Three months have passed since Hurricane Sandy battered New York and trashed the New Jersey coastline, and she... MORE »

• 31 Jan 13

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  Cambodian Workers Wait for Wages in the Street, Shaming H&M and Wal-Mart

  The women of the Kingsland clothing factory in Phnom Penh have been losing sleep over their jobs. It... MORE »

• 25 Jan 13

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  Reluctant to Hire the Unemployed? Too Bad, Says NYC

  How do you get a job without experience? How do you get experience without a job? And so... MORE »

• 24 Jan 13

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  Pension Panic Fueled by Anti-Worker Politics?

  It’s a common refrain in local papers: State faces pension funding crisis! Retiree benefits out of... MORE »

• 24 Jan 13

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  Qatar Launches Into 2022 World Cup on Backs of Abused Migrants

  Qatar sits like an oasis of hypertrophic capitalism amid a landscape barren in all respects except for its... MORE »

• 18 Jan 13

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  Aid Groups Fight Anti-Prostitution ‘Oath’ on Free Speech Grounds

  One of the few bright spots in the global response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been ... MORE »

• 17 Jan 13

• Working

  Migrant Workers Can’t Win In Xenophobic Greece

  Across Europe, the economic crisis is driving communities to deep desperation, and the people who were always at... MORE »

• 04 Jan 13

• Features

  Guns and Drugs

  We can curb gun violence by ending the War on Drugs. MORE »

• 22 Dec 12

• Working

  Flammable Material: How Garment Workers Can Respond to the Tazreen Factory Fire

  In a fashion industry where trends change by the minute, the lives of the workers who make the... MORE »

• 19 Dec 12

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  Despite Exemptions, Police and Firefighters Show Labor Solidarity in Michigan Right-to-Work Battle

  Michigan’s new right-to-work law has has struck a savage blow to America’s labor movement... MORE »

• 14 Dec 12

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  Toxic Train Wreck Exposes Weakness in Federal Chemical Policy

  In late November, while other parts of New Jersey were recovering from the superstorm, the quiet town of... MORE »

• 13 Dec 12

• Working

  The Young and the Disconnected

  A first paycheck has traditionally been seen as a rite of passage, but these days, that paycheck is... MORE »

• 06 Dec 12

• Uprising

  At ‘Urban Uprising’ Conference, Activists Reimagine the City Post-Sandy

  Disaster has a way of concentrating the mind. And Gotham has always had its share of it: whether... more »

• 03 Dec 12

• Working

  China Labor Watchdogs Expose Dark Side of Global Toy Empire

  Despite the occasional factory fire or sweatshop media expose, American consumers have largely inured themselves to the status... MORE »

• 02 Dec 12

• Features

  Foodies Get Wobbly

  Food supply chain workers adopt the IWW's radical actions to fight abusive employers. MORE »

• 28 Nov 12

• Working

  Bangladesh Factory Fire: Workers Burn, Walmart Ducks Responsibility

  Perhaps the images no longer have the power to shock. Charred bodies and wailing families appear in the... MORE »

• 21 Nov 12

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  Immigrant Supply-Chain Labor Struggles Galvanize Walmart Activism

  On Black Friday, as Walmart workers across the country stand up against the retail giant’s labor... MORE »

• 19 Nov 12

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  Coal Communities at the Pivot of Dirty Industries and Clean Energy

  To environmentalists, King Coal is headed for ruin, and the country’s old, dirty coal-powered plants symbolize... MORE »

• 14 Nov 12

• Working

  Post-Sandy Relief Workers Toil in Tough Labor Conditions

  More than two weeks after Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, residents of storm-battered communities from Coney Island... MORE »

• 12 Nov 12

• Working

  Civil Rights Orgs File Complaint Over New York’s High Stakes Tests

  Every year, New York City middle-schoolers subject themselves to a grueling academic ritual that could make or break... MORE »

• 07 Nov 12

• Working

  Bulls-Hit Ranch Labor Scandal Ensnared Florida Homeless

  They called it “The Bullpen.” Farm workers were roped in from the street by recruiters and... MORE »

• 01 Nov 12

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  In Sandy’s Wake, New York’s Landscape of Inequity Revealed

  The shock of Sandy is still rippling across the northeastern United States. But in the microcosm of New... MORE »