Does Homeland Security’s Tough New Screening Process Put Asylum Seekers at Risk? Does Homeland Security’s Tough New Screening Process Put Asylum Seekers at Risk?
A heightened credible fear standard would particularly impact immigrants who are detained at the border and subjected to “expedited removal."
Jun 3, 2014 / Blog / Michelle Chen
How Local Governments Are Using Their Purchasing Power to End Sweatshop Labor How Local Governments Are Using Their Purchasing Power to End Sweatshop Labor
With the government's leverage as both a consumer and a steward of the public trust, the public sector can hold the line against the fashion industry’s race to the bottom
May 30, 2014 / Blog / Michelle Chen
Can New York City’s Welfare System Be Saved? Can New York City’s Welfare System Be Saved?
By forcing people on welfare to trade personal dignity for social entitlements, the system seeks to shrink public spending at an unconscionable moral cost.
May 29, 2014 / Blog / Michelle Chen
Activists Invade the Guggenheim: Holding US Institutions Accountable for Labor Abuses in Abu Dhabi Activists Invade the Guggenheim: Holding US Institutions Accountable for Labor Abuses in Abu Dhabi
The disruption at the Guggenheim was just a visual articulation of global, grassroots demands rising outside the museum walls.
May 26, 2014 / Blog / Michelle Chen
Colleges Are Buying Stuff They Can’t Afford and Making Students Pay For It Colleges Are Buying Stuff They Can’t Afford and Making Students Pay For It
Colleges borrowing great sums from students are focusing on prettying and branding the campus to reflect the commodification of the “college experience,” a vicious cycl...
May 23, 2014 / Blog / Michelle Chen
How Teachers Are Fighting to Change One of the Most Segregated School Districts in the Country How Teachers Are Fighting to Change One of the Most Segregated School Districts in the Country
“They’ve lost before they even walked into that room,” said a Brooklyn English teacher. “They’re already telling themselves, ‘I can’t,&rsq...
May 21, 2014 / Blog / Michelle Chen
Turkey’s Deadly Mining Disaster Reveals Just How Little Was Done to Prevent It Turkey’s Deadly Mining Disaster Reveals Just How Little Was Done to Prevent It
Will the death of over 300 miners spark a revolution against Prime Minister Erdogan’s government?
May 19, 2014 / Blog / Michelle Chen
The Fast-Food Worker Movement Has Gone Global The Fast-Food Worker Movement Has Gone Global
In a show of international solidarity, scores of fast food workers in about thirty countries walked off the job to push for improved working conditions and higher wages.
May 16, 2014 / Blog / Michelle Chen
Entertainment Companies Get $1.5 Billion in Tax Breaks Each Year—Yet They’re Offshoring Musicians’ Jobs Entertainment Companies Get $1.5 Billion in Tax Breaks Each Year—Yet They’re Offshoring Musicians’ Jobs
Currently, 39 states and Puerto Rico subsidize the entertainment business to the tune of about $1.5 billion. Yet many of these agreements lack concrete mandates to direct how compa...
May 14, 2014 / Blog / Michelle Chen
NYU Just Dropped Its Contract With JanSport—Why Is That a Victory for Global Labor Rights? NYU Just Dropped Its Contract With JanSport—Why Is That a Victory for Global Labor Rights?
New York University’s Student Labor Action Movement got the the administration to finally act responsibility when doing business with the global fashion industry.
May 12, 2014 / Blog / Michelle Chen