- Winter 2022: Making Labor Work - Organizing for Power in the 21st Century
- Winter 2021: Pandemic Politics - From Lockdown to Liberation (Virtual)
- Fall 2020 with General Baker Institute: Policing Black Power - From Watts to Detroit (Virtual)
- Fall 2020: Healing Justice (Virtual)
- Winter 2020: Detroit 2020 - People, Power, & Politics
- Fall 2019: Healing Justice Workshop Series
- Winter 2019: Whose Safety? Policing Minds, Bodies, and Borders in Detroit
- Fall 2018 Workshop Series: Healing Justice as Building Cultural Resilience
- Winter 2018: From "Two Societies" to a New Society
- Fall 2017: Reclaiming the Commons
- Summer 2017: Beyond '67 - The City-Wide Citizen's Action Committee
- Winter 2017: Toward Education Justice
- Detroiters Speak Archive
Meets Wednesdays from 7-9pm
February sessions are online ONLY
March sessions are in-person at the General Baker Institute (15798 Livernois St., Detroit); livestreamed simultaneously on YouTube.
Free & open to the general public; light dinner provided before each class.
Dates: February 9, 16, 23; March 9, 16, 23, 30
UM-Ann Arbor students: Register for the class here. Free transportation provided. Note: bus will depart Ann Arbor at 6pm each week in March and return by 10pm.
Detroiters Speak returns for the Winter 2022 semester with a focus on the role of work in our lives and how workers have organized to improve their workplaces and communities. The course will begin by exploring foundational questions: What is work? Where do Detroiters work? Who are the working class? What is the labor movement and what are unions? How do workers without unions (the so-called “unorganized”) build power to improve their lot? We will hear from activists involved in contemporary organizing struggles in strategic work sectors: automotive, service/domestic, public sector, logistics/international, and more. The class will end with a workshop in which participants will develop their own organizing “toolbox” for their future experiences in the working world. Note: This class is open to the general public and may also include college students from Wayne State University, Eastern Michigan University, and other area colleges, as well as anyone else in Detroit and the metropolitan area with an interest in learning.
February 9th - Detroiters Work and Where They Do It
Speakers:
- Carolyn Baker (facilitator)
- Paul Jackson (Co-Director, East Michigan Environmental Action Council)
- David Goldberg (Associate Professor, Wayne State University, Department of African American Studies)
- Craig Regester (Acting Director and Lecturer II, University of Michigan Semester in Detroit Program)
- Noah Urban (Co-Executive Director, Data Driven Detroit)
Suggested Readings:
- General Baker speaking about work and the labor movement
- How the Coronavirus Outbreak Has – and Hasn’t – Changed the Way Americans Work
- Column: Do you appreciate your supermarket cashier? Re-reading Studs Terkel’s ‘Working’ for the pandemic
- Heart and sole: Detroiter walks 21 miles in work commute
- More jobs, salaries going up — but not for many Detroiters
- Detroit is pouring millions into jobs, but what’s the trade-off?
- UPHILL BOTH WAYS: WHERE ARE THE JOBS IN METRO DETROIT?
- Study: Wage gap widens between Black, white workers, especially in Michigan
February 16th - Making Labor Work
Speakers:
- Craig Regester (facilitator)
- Todd Wolfson (Associate Professor, Dept. of Journalism and Media Studies, Rutgers University; Coalition of Rutgers Labor Unions)
- Peter Landon (Organizer, Teamsters for a Democratic Union)
- Margaret Prescod (National Welfare Rights Union)
Suggested Readings:
- ‘Striketober’ is showing workers’ rising power – but will it lead to lasting change?
- Teamsters’ President-elect wants to organize Amazon workers
- Rutgers Unions Find Power in Coalition
- Labor Can Save Higher Education — Todd Wolfson, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
- US Labor On Strike: An Interview with Jonah Furman
- The Movement is Broadening Its Demands – Margaret Prescod
February 23rd - Organizing Beyond the Auto Worker
Speakers:
- David Goldberg (facilitator)
- Dianne Feeley (UAW Retiree, Detroit Eviction Defense)
- Steve Noffke (UAW Rank-and-file member)
- Carolyn Baker (General Baker Institute)
Suggested Readings:
March 9th - Service Workers Unite!
Speakers:
- Craig Regester (Facilitator)
- Tristan Taylor
- Graham Kovich
- Vaibhav Diwadkar
March 16th - Globalization and the Logistics of Worker's Power
Speakers:
- David Goldberg (moderator)
- Abayomi Azikwe from Pan-African News Wire
- Vicente Duran from Garage Cultural
- Jonathan Bailey (via Zoom) from Amazonians United
March 23rd - Public Sector Workers Against Austerity
Speakers:
- Torie Anderson - Teacher, Detroit Public Schools Community District
- Harvey "Big City" Wilson - Bus Driver, Detroit Department of Transportation
- Praveen Loganathan - Staff, Wayne State University
- Jane Duggan - Retired Detroit Postal Worker
Suggested Readings:
- The Legacy of Destructive Austerity (Paul Krugman, NYT, 12/30/2019)
- Letter Carriers Resist After-Dark Delivery (Alex Bradbury, Labor Notes, 10/27/21)
- Introducing MI-CORE: A New Radical Voice for Michigan Educators (Gavin Buckley, Detroit Socialist, 5/5/20)
- The Student Strike that Changed Higher-Ed Forever (3/21/19)
March 30th - Organizing Where You Are
Speakers:
- Danielle Aubert - President, Wayne State University AAUP-AFT, Local 6075
- Zach Rioux - Labor Notes
- Elliott Smith - Poor People's Campaign
- Carolyn Baker - General Baker Institute
Suggested Readings:
- A New Union President at Wayne State University - Detroit Socialist, Jane Slaughter
- How Workers Can Win in 2022 - Jane McAlevey (Nation, 12/27/21)
- Labor Notes Conference, June 17-19, 2022
- Poor People's Campaign State Fact Sheet for Michigan
