Labor

U.S. workers are rethinking their relationship to work in the Covid era. Students explore why many Americans are quitting their jobs, or striking for better pay and more respect.

Students discuss the historical role of unions in the U.S. - and how a younger generation of workers is seeking to build unions that address their needs.

Los Angeles teachers and their allies won a strike demanding improved public education in LA. Students explore the background, strategy, demands, and impact of the strike with a quiz, reading, and discussion.

In this simulation, students play the role of striking teachers in order to explore the reasons and strategies behind recent teacher strikes.

What made 30,000 teachers in Los Angeles decide to go out on strike? In this lesson, students read short quotes from the news to better understand the issues at stake, and discuss the issues from their own perspective as students. 

Is labor on the ropes? In this lesson students learn about and discuss how unions reduce inequality, labor’s losses in recent decades, and the current signs of a resurgence. 

Students learn about and discuss the remarkable success of an organization of farmworkers that is fighting abuse and demanding dignity on the job. The activity includes two short videos, discussion, and a reading.

After a short quiz about current Fight for 15 movement, students read about and discuss U.S. labor's struggles — and historic strikes — through history.  

With Republicans gaining control of all three branches of the federal government, unions are under increasing attack. For students, this raises some pertinent questions: What are unions? Why are they important? And how will the attack on unions affect working people in our country?  

In this brief activity, students take a quick quiz about vacation policies and practices in the U.S. and other countries, analyze a chart comparing vacation policies, and discuss what they think about U.S. vacation policies.