Author Profile
Matthew Blake
Matthew Blake is a freelance journalist based in Chicago. He has written for the Chicago Journal, Washington Monthly, Washington Independent and The Nation, among other publications.
-
Pharmacist: ‘I Always Tell My Children That I Took the Practical Route’
For three years in the early 1970s, journalist Studs Terkel gathered stories from a variety of American workers. He then compiled them into Working, an oral-history collection that went... MORE
Working · July 21, 2014
-
Actor: ‘The Roles Get Fewer and Farther Between’
For three years in the early 1970s, journalist Studs Terkel gathered stories from a variety of American workers. He then compiled them into Working, an oral-history collection that went... MORE
Working · July 14, 2014
-
Flight Attendant: ‘The Job Itself Is Almost Therapeutic’
For three years in the early 1970s, journalist Studs Terkel gathered stories from a variety of American workers. He then compiled them into Working, an oral-history collection that went... MORE
Working · July 7, 2014
-
Hairstylist: ‘It’s Like Being on a First Date All the Time’
For three years in the early 1970s, journalist Studs Terkel gathered stories from a variety of American workers. He then compiled them into Working, an oral-history collection that went... MORE
Working · June 9, 2014
-
Organic Farmer: ‘There Are a Lot of Things I Can’t Control’
For three years in the early 1970s, journalist Studs Terkel gathered stories from a variety of American workers. He then compiled them into Working, an oral-history collection that went... MORE
Working · May 14, 2014
-
Chicago Unions Divided Over Emanuel’s Move To Gut Pensions
Faced with a debt crisis eerily reminiscent of Detroit’s financial straits, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel now wants to slash retirement benefits for city workers, who have already seen their pension funds... MORE
Working · April 11, 2014
-
Will Bruce Rauner Be Scott Walker 2.0 for Illinois Unions?
Over the last few years, Republican governors in the Midwest have frequently done battle with organized labor, particularly public employee unions. In 2011, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker sharply curbed the bargaining rights of public... MORE
Working · March 5, 2014
-
U.S. Chamber of Commerce ‘Exposes’ Union Backing of Worker Centers
On Tuesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released its second report in three months on worker centers. In it, the prominent pro-business lobbying group doubles down on its claim that the centers... MORE
Working · February 27, 2014
-
The Worst Long-Term Unemployment Crisis in 80 Years
Kim Brown says that when she was laid off from her job in November 2011 doing customer service at an electric company in Chicago, she wasn’t too upset. “I thought this... MORE
Working · February 11, 2014
-
Illinois Caregivers Press Governor Quinn for a Living Wage
For the last 12 years, Tressa Wilson of Rockford, Ill. has worked full-time at a group home run by the nonprofit Milestone, Inc., caring for clients who have been diagnosed with intellectual disabilities, autism,... MORE
Working · February 5, 2014