Michelle Chen is a contributing writer at In These Times and The Nation, a contributing editor at Dissent and a co-producer of the “Belabored” podcast. She studies history at the CUNY Graduate Center. She tweets at @meeshellchen.
Labor
This Amazon Grocery Runner Has Risked Her Job to Fight for Better Safety Measures
Courtenay Brown knows she could be on the streets if she loses her job at an Amazon Fresh unit. She’s speaking out about scant Covid-19 safety measures and lack of workplace benefits anyway.
Michelle Chen and Molly Crabapple
Labor
Amazon Expects Its Employees to Operate Like Fast-Moving Machines. This Amazon Picker Is Fighting Back.
Inspired by his father and grandfather, Sean Carlisle is organizing to win stronger safety measures for his fellow workers.
Michelle Chen and Molly Crabapple
Labor
The Amazon Delivery Service Worker Who’d Finally Seen Enough
As a driver for an Amazon subcontractor, Frank Chavez encountered unsanitary conditions—including bottles of his coworkers’ urine. Now he’s standing up for his rights.
Michelle Chen and Molly Crabapple
Labor
Meet the Warehouse Worker Who Took On Amazon Over Inhumane Conditions and Harassment
Hibaq Mohamed organized her community in a fight against Amazon, protesting working conditions at a fulfillment center with one of the highest rates of injury.
Michelle Chen and Molly Crabapple
Viewpoint
How to Save the Restaurant Workforce From Being Casualties of The Covid-19 Crisis
In an interview, One Fair Wage President Saru Jayaraman explains that the post-Covid future offers two possible directions for restaurant workers—dignity or poverty.
Michelle Chen
Feature
Workers Fight for Their Lives
The spontaneous rebellion of low-wage workers exposed to Covid-19.
Michelle Chen
Labor
Bosses Are Charged with Breaking the Law in Over 40% of Union Campaigns
Michelle Chen
Labor
Hey, Uber and Lyft: Gig Work Is Work. California Just Said So.
Michelle Chen
Feature
Fearing Trump’s New Crackdown, Immigrants Are Already Forgoing Food Stamps
The Trump administration’s new “public charge” rule is having its intended effect: collective punishment of immigrant communities.
Michelle Chen
Labor
Hong Kong Protesters and Militant Chinese Workers Point the Way to a New Kind of Internationalism
Michelle Chen
Labor
“Hardhats vs. Hippies”: How the Media Misrepresents the Debate Over the Green New Deal
Michelle Chen
Labor
6 Years After Rana Plaza Collapse, an Accord to Improve Bangladesh’s Worker Safety Is in Jeopardy
Michelle Chen
Labor
Labor Unrest Is Erupting on Honduran Plantations—And Rattling the Global Supply Chain
Michelle Chen
Labor
This Is How We Can Defend Migrants Coming to the Border
Michelle Chen
Feature
The Rallying Cry of a Nationwide Movement: “Chinga la Migra” (F*ck Border Patrol)
Amid the horror of family separation, a grassroots network spearheaded by Mijente is launching a national tour of resistance.
Michelle Chen
Labor
Rotten and Rat-Infested: The Appalling Food and Healthcare Conditions Facing Inmates in U.S. Prisons
Michelle Chen
Labor
The Oklahoma Teachers’ Strike Is a Mutiny Against Austerity
Michelle Chen
Labor
These Teachers Refuse to Be Weaponized
Michelle Chen
Feature
Why We Must Not Look Away From Trump’s Attacks on Salvadoran Immigrants
While his inflammatory rhetoric dominates the news, Trump is upending the lives of 200,000 Salvadoran migrants and refugees.
Michelle Chen
Feature
What Will It Take To Stop Trump’s Muslim Ban?
Movements are gearing up for the fight ahead.
Michelle Chen
Labor
Farmworkers Say “Us Too,” Demanding Freedom From Sexual Violence
Michelle Chen
Feature
The Twisted Logic Behind the GOP’s Latest Assault on Abortion Rights
You can't exercise your reproductive rights if you don’t know you are pregnant.
Michelle Chen
Feature
Sexual Violence Is a Workplace Crisis. The Solution Is Organizing.
Revolution doesn't sound like a whisper campaign.
Michelle Chen
Feature
Muslim Ban 3.0 Is Here. And So Is the Anti-Racist Resistance.
Communities under siege are planning a mass mobilization on October 18.
Michelle Chen
Feature
DACA Was Won By a Vibrant Movement of Immigrant Youth. Now, That Movement Will Rally to Defend It.
By ending the DACA program, Trump is awakening the same nationwide movement that won the protections for young immigrants in the first place.
Michelle Chen
Feature
Locking Kids in Jail for Misbehavior Isn’t Just Unfair—It’s Abuse
Banal adolescent misbehavior is too often labeled a serious crime.
Michelle Chen
Labor
The Philippine Labor Movement Is Beginning to Turn Against Authoritarian Rule
Michelle Chen
Feature
Unpredictable and Brutal ICE Raids Are Allowing Trump to Rule by Fear
Protections for immigrant communities were already meager. Now, safeguards are being scrapped as the Trump administration escalates nationwide sweeps.
Michelle Chen
Labor
This May Day, Don’t Go to Work, Take to the Streets and Strike
Michelle Chen
Feature
From Cities to Campuses: The New Sanctuary Movement for Trump’s America
Activists are rallying to protect immigrants in their communities, one campus at a time.
Michelle Chen
Labor
Trump Vows to Disrupt Trade—Progressives Need to Push Him in the Right Direction
Michelle Chen
Feature
Yale Worker Who Shattered Racist Window: ‘People are Tired of Being Victims’
Corey Menafee tells In These Times what brought him to the breaking point.
Michelle Chen
Labor
Can Labor Learn from Silicon Valley?
Michelle Chen
Labor
The Story Behind the Immigrant Workers in Bernie Sanders’ Stirring New Ad Lauding Worker Organizing
Michelle Chen
Feature
Are Open Borders the Solution to the Refugee Crisis?
Activists and experts debate who really benefits from opening borders: migrants or corporations
Michelle Chen
Feature
Laundromat Workers Air New York’s Dirty Laundry in Performance Piece
A new film/performance spotlights the often-invisible workers who fold the clothes, maintain the machines and know your secrets.
Michelle Chen
Feature
Phillip Agnew, Dream Defender
Meet the new generation of civil rights leaders.
Michelle Chen
Feature
Feminist Dick Jokes: The New Mainstream?
Comic Hari Kondabolu thinks social justice and change and equality don't have to be deadly serious.
Michelle Chen
Feature
The Immigration Movement’s Left Turn
Advocates are moving away from the "pathway-to-citizenship" compromise—and are demanding a moratorium on deportations.
Michelle Chen
Feature
Community Colleges’ Failing Grade
Institutions have to fix their socioeconomic divisions before they can truly help students in need.
Michelle Chen
Labor
Industry Attacks on ‘Scaffold Law’ Put Construction Workers on Shaky Ground
Michelle Chen
Labor
California Farmworkers Often Forced To Live in Squalor, Says Report
Michelle Chen
Labor
Sex Workers Have Labor Rights Just Like Any Other Employee, Confirms NZ Court
Michelle Chen
Labor
The Actual Brazil World Cup Scandal Isn’t About Thongs
Michelle Chen
Labor
China’s Militant Workers Embrace Collective Action
Michelle Chen
Feature
China’s Green Movement
Environmentalists cut through the smog of state repression.
Michelle Chen
Labor
The U.S. Military’s Assault on Overseas Labor Rights
Michelle Chen
Feature
Return to Lender
A scheme to save the U.S. postal service by turning post offices into community banks.
Michelle Chen
Announcing In These Times’ New Agreement with the National Writers Union
Freelance contributors are essential to the quality and success of In These Times and independent media, and this agreement is one way to demonstrate their value to our publication and our commitment to transparency.
For more information about the National Writers Union, visit nwu.org.
Read the full agreement, which reaffirms a floor for the rates of our freelance editorial content, as well as our current rates (which are higher) and submissions guidelines below.