Authors Jane Von Bergen & Celeste Monforton discusses her new book "On the Job: The Untold Story of America’s Work Centers and the New Fight for Wages, Dignity, and Health”
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The inspiring story of worker centers that are cropping up across the country and leading the fight for today's workers
For over 60 million people, work in America has been a story of declining wages, insecurity, and unsafe conditions, especially amid the coronavirus epidemic. This new and troubling reality has galvanized media and policymakers, but all the while a different and little-known story of rebirth and struggle has percolated just below the surface.
On the Job is the first account of a new kind of labor movement, one that is happening locally, quietly, and among our country's most vulnerable―but essential―workers. Noted public health expert Celeste Monforton and award-winning journalist Jane M. Von Bergen crisscrossed the country, speaking with workers of all backgrounds and uncovering the stories of hundreds of new, worker-led organizations (often simply called worker centers) that have successfully achieved higher wages, safer working conditions and on-the-job dignity for their members.
On the Job describes ordinary people finding their voice and challenging power: from housekeepers in Chicago and Houston; to poultry workers in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Springdale, Arkansas; and construction workers across the state of Texas. An inspiring book for dark times, On the Job reveals that labor activism is actually alive and growing―and holds the key to a different future for all working people.
Jane M. Von Bergen is an award-winning journalist who covered labor for more than half of her 35 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer. A graduate of Temple University, she was editor-in-chief of the Temple News, the college's student daily, before going on to be editor-in-chief of the Center City Welcomat (later the Philadelphia Weekly) and a feature writer at the North Penn Reporter in Lansdale. In addition to writing, Von Bergen teaches at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and at the District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund. A longtime member of Summit Presbyterian Church and Weavers Way Co-op, she lives in East Mt. Airy with her husband, I. George Bilyk, a photographer and sculptor. They have two grown sons, Joey and Michael Bilyk.