How did the COVID pandemic affect America’s workers—especially those deemed “essential” who often were poorly paid, nonunionized, lacked meaningful benefits, and were required to continue working while most other workers stayed home? How did these workers respond to the health risks they encountered on the job, and how did their struggle for labor justice transform—at least for a while—political discourse and consciousness in America? Jamie McCallum and Mark Williams explore these and other issues in this episode of New Frontiers.

SHOW NOTES:

For more information on this and other podcasts go to the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs at Middlebury College website https://www.middlebury.edu/office/rohatyn

Essential by Jamie K. McCallum (Basic Books Nov 2022)

Music Credits

• Forte by Ketsa - Summer with Sound Album
• Soul Zone by Ketsa - Light Rising Album

Produced by Mark Williams and Margaret DeFoor. Edited by Jonah Roberts (Middlebury ’23) and Margaret DeFoor.