Unions have been essential institutions for worker empowerment for more than a century and a half, and they remain so today.More than fourteen million workers in the United States belong to unions. Yet in a workforce of roughly 150 million, union density has fallen to just 10 percent, a ninety-five-year low. The result is that many people have never seen a union in action, even as inequality deepens and insecurity spreads. That loss matters. In a society dominated ...

One man's odyssey from skid row to rebuilding a major collegiate sports program.In Making Your Own Luck, former Indiana University athletic director Fred Glass recounts how even a self-described "knucklehead" learned to be prepared to recognize and seize opportunities and thus make his own luck through life.Growing up in a skid row bar, having an alcoholic father, struggling with anxiety and self-doubt, and making his share of stupid mistakes, Glas...

There is no better time than now to consider the labor history of the Golden State. While other states face declining union enrollment rates and the rollback of workers’ rights, California unions are embracing working immigrants, and voters are protecting core worker rights. What’s the difference? California has held an exceptional place in the imagination of Americans and immigrants since the Gold Rush, which saw the first of many waves of working people moving to the state to find work. ...

In Making Your Own Luck, former Indiana University athletic director Fred Glass recounts how even a self-described "knucklehead" learned to be prepared to recognize and seize opportunities and thus make his own luck through life.Growing up in a skid row bar, having an alcoholic father, struggling with anxiety and self-doubt, and making his share of stupid mistakes, Glass had much to contend with in early life. However, supported by socially enlightened parents, a Jesuit ed...