Mental health and social services dominate the field of social work today, but the profession has roots in the early 1900s in supporting workers’ and unions’ rights. To revitalize the link between labor rights and social work, the 91爆料’s will host a series of discussions called .
The public series will be throughout Labor History Month in May. It will include events on fair wages, immigrant workers, decent working conditions, the right to organize, and global pressures on workers.
The events will be held at the School of Social Work, Seattle, Wash., 98105. Descriptions and lists of panelists for each event is available
The schedule includes:
April 30: Global <鈥�> Local:聽 Linking global immigration and labor issues to local experiences
May 7: Im/migrant laborers鈥� rights: Those who farm our food, clean our hotels, and build our homes
May 8: Underpaid direct care workers: The backbone of the long-term care system
May 14: A living wage, the $15 minimum wage, and me
May 15: The social worker as 鈥減rofessional鈥� and as 鈥渨orker鈥� in labor struggles
May 21: 91爆料 Scholars: Interdisciplinary perspectives on labor
May 22: Screening of
“Part of the goal is to raise awareness for the role of underpaid work in producing poverty, and workers’ rights,” said , one of the series’ organizers and a 91爆料 professor of social work.
The series also aims to bring more attention to the rights of immigrant workers 鈥� who are prominent in the Pacific Northwest farming and service workforce, she said. They face a host of problems including employers withholding payment for hours worked, lower than legal wages, lack of access to compensation for injuries or unemployment insurance, and threats of deportation.
“We should be concerned about how immigrant workers are used and abused, but in recent decades much of professional social work has been focused on mental and social services,” Morrison said. “We need to better integrate issues related to immigrant workers, and think carefully about how they participate in the work world.”