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Volume 61, Number 28    April 7, 2014         

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Newsmakers

Hollywood history
Associate Professor of History Dawn Mabalon discussed the lack of attention paid to Filipino farm workers in the new Cesar Chavez biopic for a March 30 article in The Stockton Record. Filipinos "were some of the most feared strikers in the country. They had absolute strike discipline. When they called a strike, everyone walked out. They held out," Mabalon said. Left out of the movie was the moment Larry Itliong, founder of the Filipino Farm Labor Union in Stockton, decided to "reverse decades of growers using divide and conquer, and unite (Filipino and Latino workers). Everyone was a hero at that moment, Chavez for saying, 'OK, we're going to take a chance and do it.' Itliong for reaching across ethnic lines."

No joke
Associate Professor and Director of Labor Studies John Logan commented for a March 31 article in The Guardian about a leaked anti-union video by Target corporation. "If you see the video in isolation, it seems comical. But in the context of power dynamics that exist in the workplace, these statements are quite effective at dissuading employees," Logan said. "Employers can fire people for no reason. We shouldn't underestimate the degree people are fearful about what the employers say."

Culture clash
An April 1 CNN Money/Fortune report on labor unrest at Amazon's distribution centers in Germany quoted Associate Professor and Director of Labor Studies John Logan. "Amazon seems to be clashing with the German employment culture, in which, of course, unions -- while not as powerful as they once were -- are significantly more powerful than those in the United States," Logan said.

 

For more media coverage of faculty, staff, students, alumni and programs, see SF State in the News.

 


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Last modified April 3, 2014 by University Communications.