Michelle Chen
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Searching for Work and Stability, Vets Fight New Battles at Home
By Michelle Chen The tragedy at Fort Hood may strike Americans as a singular, incomprehensible horror. But the… more
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Protesters Tell It On the Mountain in Coal Country
By Michelle Chen Coal River Mountain in West Virginia is rumbling. Last week's … more
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Where Credit is Due: Tax Breaks to Spur Hiring?
By Michelle Chen After doling out stimulus dollars, shoring up state agencies and setting up construction jobs, Washington… more
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Legal Dissonance: Immigration Policies Clash with Worker Protections
By Michelle Chen A… more
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Risks and Returns: Exploiting the Immigrant Detention Industry
By Michelle Chen Last winter, a remote Texas prison convulsed in a cry of outrage, voicing the desperation… more
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Women and the Global Labor Movement: In Search of ‘Decent Work, Decent Life’
By Michelle Chen The recession has been hard on the working man, but often, the least visible and… more
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Homelessness and the Recession: An Unimaginable Crisis
For millions of American households, the recession has turned the once unthinkable into inescapable reality: suddenly finding themselves… more
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Puerto Rico Engulfed in Massive Labor Unrest
To many Americans, Puerto Rico may be best known as a distant tropical idyll. But this vestige of… more
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Flu Vaccine Controversy Gives Health Workers a Dose of Resistance
By Michelle Chen When a disease outbreak hits, the last thing you'd want is anything standing in the… more
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Filipino Teachers Recruited to ‘Virtual Servitude’ in Louisiana
By Michelle Chen They came on a mission to teach American children, but ended up getting a tough… more
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Robbed of Savings, Older Workers Hit with New Problems
By Michelle Chen To young financial analysts on Wall Street, the markets may be brightening, but to their… more
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From Beantown to Chi-town, Hotel Workers Rising Up
By Michelle Chen The recession has driven massive layoffs around the country, so when the Hyatt decided to… more
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Recession Brings Uneven Pain, Threatens Uneven Recovery
By Michelle Chen While the recession has left no community untouched, we're not all feeling the same pain.… more
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Navajo Nation Pushes for Green Jobs on Mother Earth
The resignation of former White House green jobs advisor Van Jones, a longtime racial and environmental justice activist,… more
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Service Workers in Limbo, as Organizing Strategies Divide Unions
A standoff between factions of a major service worker union reveals simmering tensions over how to build union… more
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Furloughs Balance State Budgets—on Backs of Critical Workers
As state lawmakers struggle to make "tough choices" to close budget gaps, tens of thousands of public employees… more
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Troubled ‘E-Verify’ Program Highlights Dysfunctional Immigration System
Even before they became the paper tiger in the healthcare reform circus, undocumented immigrants were Washington's favorite boogeyman… more
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Nurses’ Orders: New ‘Super-Union’ Pushes for Healthcare Reform
The progressive talking points for universal healthcare are often framed around the interests of patients. But one sector… more
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Workers’ Sick Struggle: Getting Well vs. Getting Paid
When families are hit with both health problems and financial hardship, they often can't afford to deal with… more
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Four Years After Katrina, Workers Still Exploited in the Big Easy
"I never earned anything for my work... When finally the bosses paid something, all of the money went… more
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The End of Retirement as We Knew It
While millions of Americans worry about making ends meet from day to day, many probably don't even want… more
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Labor Movement for the Oldest Profession? Sex Workers Organize
Sex workers exist in every corner of the world, but they're typically relegated to the outer edge of… more
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Across an Ocean: Can U.S., Chinese Unions Find Common Ground?
This summer, steel has been melting down on both sides of the globe. protests… more
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Digesting Whole Foods’ Unsavory Politics
The left has always had its share of hypocrisy, but mega-green grocer Whole Foods has dished out a… more
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Globalization and Labor: Taking Stock of Free Trade
With North American leaders tiptoeing around NAFTA in Guadalajara and more free trade pacts wending through Congress, now… more
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Freedom of Movement: Migrant Rights in the Global Economy
What if lawmakers had the guts to create comprehensive labor legislation for immigrants, enshrining their rights in accordance… more
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On the Waterfront: The Struggle for Sustainable Port Trucking
America’s teeming harbors are the lifeblood of global commerce. But for the truck drivers who keep the shipping… more
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Protecting Washington’s Troublemakers
For all the politicking about waste, fraud and abuse on Capitol Hill, you’d think the federal government would… more
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Will Teachers be Left Behind by the Stimulus Gold Rush?
To teachers across the country, the carrot that Washington is dangling before schools could soon start to feel… more
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Perverse Incentives
The House may soon vote on legislation that could help level out the economic hierarchy. The “Say on… more
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Falling Through the Climate Gap
Poor Americans will suffer most from global warming.