Category Archives: Wage Slavery

Enough lip service to Martin Luther King.

America faces a crisis of democracy, and must follow the slain Civil Rights leaders example of nonviolent action for a moral re-set, the Rev. William J. Barber II said Monday in a virtual MLK Day address to Morristown.

Barber, who in 2018 helped re-launch the Poor Peoples Campaign that King promoted a half century earlier, called for a mass, poor peoples, low-wage workers, moral march on Washington on June 18, 2022, to forge a movement addressing our national sickness.

Americas memory of Jim Crow has been distorted by a political culture that pays lip service to Dr. King while forgetting his vision of a democracy that works for all Americans, Barber said.

He was keynote speaker for Morristowns Martin Luther King Observance Committee, which has marked Kings birthday for 52 years. The program went virtual for the second straight year because of the pandemic.

There were video messages from ministers Jerry Carter of Calvary Baptist Church, Sarah Green from the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, and David Hollowell, who emceed.

A group called Sounds of Zamar sang anthems, MLK scholarship winners pledged to do good for the world, and recorded panels discussed todays Toxic Environment of Hate, culture wars, and disparities wrought by COVID-19.

Noting that Juneteenth, a celebration of the end of slavery, now is a Morris County holiday, Morris County Commissioner John Krickus, a Republican, urged viewers to heed Kings call to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

Video: The Rev. Barbers talk starts around the 31:00 mark:

Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, called out the GOP for sowing division nationwide.

The 2020 presidential election, a low point in American history, showed how some would go to any means to stop democracy in its tracks in a naked quest for power, said Morial, former mayor of New Orleans.

Since the Capitol insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, some 40 states have introduced laws to hinder voting, sanction racial gerrymander, and undercut the Voting Rights Act that King fought for in 1965, he said.

Standing up for the right to vote, and insisting our leaders do the same, is how to honor Kings legacy, Morial said.

Barber attributed this period of national sickness to wickedness in high places.

Back in the 1960s, Martin Luther King observed how the Southern aristocracy pitted poor whites against poor Blacks to thwart democratic coalitions. Today, Jim Crow segregation tactics have evolved into Jim Crow, Esquire, Barber said.

The data analysis and legal maneuvers are more sophisticated than Jim Crow. If they werent, you would not have voter suppression laws being passed in Texas, where the majority of people are people of color, he said.

Such measures, enacted in at least 19 states so far, along with government policies favoring corporations and military spending over social programs, and an ever-widening chasm between haves and have-nots, glaringly exposed by COVID-19, ultimately threaten everyone, Barber said.

The Civil Rights movement, he pointed out, was a coalition of Black and white, Christian and Jew, young and old, gay and straight.

The Beloved Community that Dr. King preached and organized toward wasnt just an America where Black, white and brown could sit down in a restaurant together.

It was the hope of a political system where the Black, white, brown, Asian, and native masses could vote together for leaders who served the common good.

We need to understand this today. Somethings going on here other than just the attack on voting rights being a Black issue, said Barber.

The North Carolina pastor and author is a visiting professor at the Union Theological Seminary. He holds a doctorate from Drew University in Madison, and in 2017 was consecrated as Bishop of Repairers of the Breach, a national network of faith-based justice organizations.

He delivered the homily at the inaugural prayer service for President Biden and Vice President Harris, and has spoken at the Vatican.

Barber questioned how the United States, alone among the planets 20 wealthiest nations, refuses to offer universal health care. And why corporations swiftly received more than $4 trillion in COVID aid, while Congress has yet to pass the $1.9 trillion Build Back Better bill.

Billionaires have thrived during the pandemic, he said, while 140 million citizens live under or near the poverty line, and 61 percent of Americans cannot afford a $1,000 emergency.

Low-wage workers deemed essential early in the pandemic were treated as expendable, dying in disproportionate numbers, he said.

Opposing living wages and voting rights laws, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports Sen. Mitch McConnell, his fellow Republicans and moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who normalize the subversion of democracy by insinuating that voting rights are a special interest of minorities, Barber said.

This week the Senate is poised to debate two voting rights measures favored by Democrats.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named for the late Georgia congressman, would reverse a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that weakened the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.

A more sweeping bill, the Freedom to Vote Act, would make Election Day a holiday, prohibit partisan redrawing (gerrymandering) of voting districts, limit dark money spending on campaigns, and protect alternatives to in-person voting, among other things.

Citing states rights and concerns about voter fraud, Republicans are expected to block the measures by filibustering.

Barber said the GOP mantra of election integrity predates President Trumps Big Lie about a stolen election; he pegs it to President Obamas victories. So many Black, brown and white votersparticularly in the Southvoted for Obama, all of a sudden somebody said something must be wrong. Somebody must be cheating.

Voter roll purges, overly restrictive voter I.D. requirements, gerrymandering and other state-level actions disenfranchise Blacks and also diminish multi-ethnic voting coalitions, Barber said.

Meanwhile, millions of poor people can buy unleaded gasbut not unleaded water, Barber continued. The environment is devastated, education is underfunded, and political agendas are driven by the false, distorted morality of religious nationalism, coupled with white supremacy.

These challenges are enormous, Barber acknowledged. Yet nothing could be more tragic than turning back now, in his view.

Silence is not an option. Standing down is not an option. It wasnt an option for Martin, cant be an option for us.

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Citing 'national sickness,' Barber issues call to action in MLK Day message to Morristown - Morristown Green

BHUBANESWAR: Six months after the Odisha government marginally hiked the daily wages of the convicts and undertrial prisoners in 87 jails of the state, the prisons directorate has proposed to raise the daily wages by at least four times after deduction of maintenance cost of each convict.

The directorate of prisons in a letter to the state home secretary proposed that the daily wages be hiked as per the orders of the Orissa high court passed in December last year which advised the state government to adopt the best practices of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Telangana and Chhattisgarh in the matter of prisoners wages and issue a circular within a period of two months.

In its letter, the prisons directorate also referred to the minimum wages for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labourers notified by the Odisha labour commissioner in November last year, fixing the daily wages of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labourers to Rs. 315, Rs. 355 and 405 respectively. The prisons directorate said the convicts and under-trial prisoners can be given 234, 274 and 324 for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled convicts respectively after deductions of cost of upkeep/ maintenance of Rs. 81.49 per day.

In its December judgement, the Orissa high court asked the state government to revise wages to all inmates referring to the best practices in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Telangana and Chhatisgarh in regard to wages of prisoners.

The practice in jails in Odisha is that while convicts are engaged in activities of carpentry, farming, etc., it is voluntary when it comes to undertrials. The Court finds that the rate of wages offered to prisoners, when compared to the best practices elsewhere in the country, is abysmally low, the HC said in its order while referring to a 1998 judgement which said it is not only the legal right of a workman to have wages for the work, but also a social imperative and an ethical compulsion.

Quoting the SC judgement, the high court had said extracting somebodys work without giving him anything in return is only reminiscent of the period of slavery and the system of beggar.

In June last year, the Odisha government marginally hiked the daily wages of convicts from 40 to 50 for unskilled prisoners, 50 to 60 for semi-skilled ones and 60 to 70 for and skilled convicts.

While welcoming the move of the prisons directorate to raise the daily wages, human rights activists said the state government should immediately implement it instead of subjecting it to routine examination. The HC has clearly given a timeline and so the government should not delay its implementation as it would amount to contempt of court. But what is surprising is the government move to deduct 81.5 a day towards upkeep and maintenance cost from their due wage. Its the duty of the state to maintain the convicts and they should not be charged anything. Besides, the jails also earn a handsome amount from what the convicts make while serving their sentence, said Omkar Devdas, a human rights lawyer.

The Orissa High Court judgement came in response to two writ petitions filed by one Krushna Prasad Sahoo, a convict in Balasore district jail in 2006 and 2014 highlighting various issues in Odisha jails such as violation of human rights in custody, treatment of prisoners and maintenance of good sanitation inside jails, payment of compensation to prisoners who die in custody due to medical negligence and whether first time offenders, under trials, life convicts, other convicts, women and children need to be completely segregated from each other.

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Odisha government moves to raise wages of prisoners by four fold - Hindustan Times

Sydney Paolercio| Staff Writer

Student workers at the Strozier Library Starbucks have raised the alarm about working conditions under Aramark. The controversial dining provider that was widely criticized many times before has been accused of abuses that its employees have grown tired of.

Some of the food service workers under Aramark have pointed out that, although corporate Starbucks announced plans to raise their minimum wage to $15 in Oct. 2021, those working under Aramark have only received a 50 cent raise in their pay from the original $10. I find it quite odd that the employees at the Strozier Library Starbucks are getting paid less than those who arent contracted under Aramark despite doing the same work.

One employee in particular noted that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, none of the workers have received any hazard pay despite seeing customers from across the entirety of FSU campus daily. Under corporate Starbucks policy, hazard pay is to be extended to employees for up to 14 days if they have been exposed to COVID-19. This has not been offered to the Strozier Starbucks workers which is contracted through Aramark at all. They also said that despite both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)and FSU recommending KN95 masks to combat the latest wave of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, they have only been given poor-quality cloth masks, which have been reported to be less effective against the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said that they bought KN95 masks with their own money in order to, Just feel at least a little bit safer at work.

Another issue raised was the lack of training they have received. Under Aramark, employees reportedly receive no formal training, they are simply thrown into the work environment and expected to learn on the spot. Another worker, who also preferred to remain anonymous,said that they have had to learn about the job through asking other workers, while another added onto this by saying that they had to Google information in real time to answer whatever questions they had. When speaking to employees that worked at Starbucks establishments that werent under Aramark, but instead through corporate, I found that they are actually meant to receive two weeks of training before they begin working. This is a stark contrast to the story a differentemployee, who also chose to remain anonymous, told me in which they recounted how they were told to train another employee on their second day at work. I find this task givento someone with such little experience to be highly irresponsible and reckless.

One other issue that was mentioned again and again was a serious lack of staffing. Often, the employees at this establishment find themselves to be at a shortage of workers during their respective shifts. One particularly shocking story another employee, who also wished to remain anonymous,told me involved another coworker on their day off.

According to the employee I spoke to, they said the coworkersaw how busy the line was so she came over to our side and started making drinks un-clocked in without pay because she saw how understaffed and backed up we were. So we had a barista in pajamas making drinks, unpaid, not clocked in to help us deal with how overwhelmed we were. This is a violation of labor laws and, quite frankly, a failure on the part of Aramark. To hear that something like this was allowed to occur on campus shows a lack of care for its students that provide their labor.

Aramark has come under fire numerous times for their controversies involving racism and their use of prison labor. One particular instance occurred at New York University, in which Aramark approved a menu which included Kool-Aid and watermelons to be served in honor of Black History Month. Due to this, NYU decided to terminate their contract with Aramark. This is not the first time this happened, however. The same exact incident also occurred at Loyola University Chicago.

Aramark also uses prison labor to package and prepare food that is provided in prisons. At these very same prisons, the food that Aramark provided for them had maggots in it, which called their contracts into question. Despite all of this, FSU still allows Aramark a corporation that participates in modern-day slavery and provides horrible quality food to feed our student body. Employees at the Strozier Library Starbucks find all this, in conjunction with the abuses they are dealing with, to be their breaking point. Im inclined to agree with them.

When looking at all of this damning information, it calls into question the morals of FSU and their decision to keep their contract with Aramark, despite how they are treating student workers and the company's numerous controversies. The actions that have been exhibited by Aramark are truly deplorable and beg the question: Is money worth more than your students?

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Aramark Corporation and its profits over people policy - FSView & Florida Flambeau

By: Oscar H. Blayton

Most folks in Black and brown communities have heard of The 1619 Project that was published by the New York Times Magazine in 2019. This important and ambitious project, led by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, pulled back the curtain of euphemistic rhetoric composing American historiography that points only to the good in our history and sweeps under the rug the evil deeds perpetrated against people of color for more than 400 years.

The 1619 Project sought only to do one thing start an honest conversation about how toxic attitudes about race have shaped this nations past and made America the country it is today.

For her effort and her scholarship and her truth telling, Ms. Hannah-Jones has been subjected to foaming-at-the-mouth attacks by conservative politicians and right-wing pundits. These racially motivated jingoists have stirred The 1619 Project into the witches brew of grievance politics and created a screaming mob of frightened white people who fear that an open discussion of Americas history will take something away from them. They want to wage war against anyone who dares to reveal Americas true history.

This is a battle for the truth. And Nikole Hannah-Jones and the people who developed The 1619 Project should not be left to fight this battle alone. We all must arm ourselves with the knowledge of the truth and enter the fray. It is our duty. And I would like to play my part by pointing out some truth about American history.

Some of the loudest howling from the American white supremacists against The 1619 Project has been to denounce the statement that one of the principal factors driving the American Revolution was the fear that Britain would bring an end to slavery in the colonies.

With wild-eyed frenzy, conservative commentators argue, How could such noble men as our founding fathers be motivated by such a low-down motive?

But given the fact that Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe four of the first presidents of the United States and participants in the Revolution were slaveholders, it is clear that these screeching conservatives are attempting to obfuscate historical facts to prevent an open and critical examination of the issue.

There are numerous historical data points that can be examined regarding the causes of the American Revolution, enough to fill books comprising a large library. But the examination and consideration of a few facts will corroborate what the project has said about the relationship between slavery and the American Revolution.

There were three sets of events that are interconnected although their connection is often overlooked by most historians that led to slavery being a driving factor of the American Revolution.

The first set was the taxation issues of the 1760s. As a result of the costly French and Indian War, Britain began to tax its North American colonies on items such as glass, lead, paint, paper and tea. There were other taxes, including the notorious Stamp Act, which levied taxes on paper products and documents on paper.

The colonists protested these taxes vigorously, and eventually all these taxes were rescinded, except for the tax on tea. The colonists saw these taxes by England as arbitrary, and a distrust began to grow among the colonists towards Britain and how it might oppress its subjects in the colonies.

Secondly, the British Parliament passed the Declaratory Act of 1766. When Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, it simultaneously sought to strengthen its control over the colonies by declaring that the British Parliaments taxing authority was the same in America as in Great Britain. In this way, it was asserting its complete authority to make laws binding in its colonies in all cases whatsoever.

Even with the passage of the oppressive Declaratory Act, there was not a great deal of fervor for independence among the colonists until the third series of events were precipitated by the Somerset case in 1772. James Somerset was an enslaved Black man who had been taken from Norfolk, Virginia, to London by his enslaver, Charles Stewart. Once in England, Somerset began to realize that he might live as a free person. Stewart got wind of Somersets interest in freedom and had him chained in a ship scheduled to sail for Jamaica, where Somerset was to be sold. Abolitionist friends of Somerset petitioned the highest court in England for his release. And after months of legal maneuvers, Lord Mansfield, chief justice of the highest court in Great Britain, ordered Somersets freedom, stating that slavery is so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it, but positive law. And further, he ruled, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England; and therefore the black must be discharged.

This ruling by Lord Mansfield sent shock waves through the American colonies, especially those in the agrarian south. It was clear that Britain would not long abide slavery in its possessions overseas. The Declaratory Act now had real significance because all English colonies were created by charters granted by the crown. And in each of those charters was a repugnancy clause stating that no colony could make laws that were repugnant to the laws of England. This left the colonists no way to contest laws freeing slaves in the colonies. Three colonial acts relating to other matters already had been struck down by English authorities in the two years preceding the Somerset decision. So, Lord Mansfields remark about slavery being odious was a very real threat to slavery in the Americas. The repugnancy clause in colonial charters, coupled with the Declaratory Act and the decision in the Somerset case, threatened economic doom for the colonists, especially southerners. Almost all the wealth in the southern colonies was created by slave labor. The only reason white enslavers had so much wealth was because enslaved Blacks had none.

Not only did the enslavers in America know of the Somerset case, the enslaved knew of it as well. A Virginia Gazette advertisement printed on June 30, 1774, stated in part about a runaway slave:

He will probably endeavour to pass for a Freeman by the Name of John Christian, and attempt to get on Board some Vessel bound for Great Britain, from the Knowledge he has of the late Determination of Somersets Case.

The handwriting was on the wall. Southern planters, as well as northern slaveholders, would not be able to hold onto their slaves for more than a generation or two. America would become a very different place without slavery. Rather than have that happen, the colonists went to war.

These are facts white supremacists and their right-wing pundits do not want you to know. But these facts are not hard to confirm. Books that speak to these facts are in libraries and online. We must arm ourselves with the facts and use them to battle for truth. We cannot let Nikole Hannah-Jones and The 1619 Project fight this fight alone.

Oscar H. Blayton is a former Marine Corps combat pilot and human rights activist who practices law in Virginia. His earlier commentaries may be found at https://oblayton1.medium.com/

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Support Nikole Hannah-Jones and The 1619 Project - The Chicago Cusader

What would Martin Luther King Jr. think about critical race theory?

As an educated man, he might be offended by the latest woke gambit of challenging unbelievers to word games, tricking them into not being able to define CRT so they cant oppose it. The con is, the definitions that believers themselves use are squirmy. The simplest is: Everything good that happened to white Americans and everything bad that happened to black Americans from 1619 up to this moment is because of slavery.

No matter which definition you write on the golden tablets, the result is people demanding more black sitcom characters with the same zeal as they demand Thomas Jeffersons name be stripped off high schools, and believing both things accomplish something. But as historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad put it, The Dr. King we choose to remember was indeed the symbolic beacon of the civil rights movement. But the Dr. King we forget worked within institutions to transform broken systems.

Most people who believe in CRT avoid the practical questions that recognition might invite. Its about empty faith, belief without the possibility of proof. Like any zealot, they simply know it is truesometimes because things havent worked out in their own lives and they cannot be responsible, and they think we should reshape all of society based on their interpretation of lived experiences.

Definitions aside, CRT folk mostly just wait for something bad to happen to black Americans, or on dry days resurrect some bad event from the past (how many times does Emmett Till have to die?) and say There, thats it, systemic racism. If anyone objects, they shout that person down, deplatform, or cancel them. That is all a long way from what King wrote to us all from his jail cell in sweltering Birmingham, saying the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. King played the long game, not the one for daily clicks.

Playing for the systemic racism team means the willful ruling out of bounds any discussions that could lead to unwelcome conclusions. So, you must ignore cases of black Americans doing well, and ignore cases of white Americans doing poorly. You must also dump people as diverse as Hasidic Jews, 19th century illiterate Irish immigrants, and Louis C.K. into a category called white.

As a systemic racism supporter you must not question why racist whites have allowed Asians, Hispanics, Persian real estate agents, and Ghanaians to succeed. You dont want to talk about how all sorts of groups have found success in America. (If we are a white supremacist nation, we are quite bad at it.) You must also not wonder why the racist police are equally poor at racism, failing to gun down in appropriate numbers the many non-whites who cross their gun sights in Asian, Indian, and Hispanic neighborhoods.

Belief in Americas unique racism also requires not asking a lot of questions about how, of the 12 million abducted into slavery out of Africa, only about 388,000 people were brought to the U.S. You cannot talk about slavery as a part of economies across the globe and over millennia. You cannot wonder why BLM isnt focused on the Dutch, the Arabs, or the British, who helped create the slave trade infrastructure. Belief in systemic racism demands you see slavery, which existed globally and in North America before there was a USA, as a distinctly American thing.

You have to believe there exists a mass movement devoted to not teaching about racism, when even in my own lousy public high school 40 years ago we learned about Little Rock (the reason the famous photo of the troops escorting the young black girl to school is famous is because weve all seen it) and Brown. You have to be comfortable turning George Floyd into a hero while ignoring George Floyd the drug addict. You must be comfortable ignoring the Thomas Jefferson of the Declaration of Independence as just another oppressor.

Martin Luther King, on the other hand, understood the Foundersmen of their 18th centuryas clearly as he saw the scope of progress on a Biblical (rather than internet) time scale. In his August 1963 address from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King said, When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. It is possible King might see himself more Jeffersons intellectual heir than he would see Nikole Hannah-Jones as his.

Critical race theory adherents must deny the economic progress made by black Americans after the Second World War, significantly closing the wage gap even while segregation was still widespread. And dont ask why this progress stopped even though racial animus declined over the years. No talking about how immigrants from the West Indies and Africa, descended from slaves, fare better than U.S.-born black citizens, even better than many white Americans. (The median income for American households of Nigerian ancestry is $68k, compared with $61k for U.S. households overall.)

Fixing systemic racism somehow also means believing it is someone elses job. No talk about low turnout rates for black voters, or how most shootings in our cities are black-on-black and not by cops. Nothing please about individual responsibility, or single parent families and runaway dads, or fetal alcohol syndrome and teenage moms, or the scourge of inner city gangs and drug use. Nope, those things are caused by systemic racism, we must believe, so theyre not any individuals fault or responsibility.

We must dismiss the lack of action on this supposed systemic racism by a two-term black president with two black attorneys general, and later by a black vice president, because somehow that was not their job or their responsibilitynever mind the fact that they were the system in systemic, literally running the government.

We might remember Obamas Department of Justice described failures throughout the Chicago Police Department, the city then run by Obama stooge Rahm Emanuel, saying excessive force was chiefly aimed at black people. Not much was done, and Biden, another Obama stooge, went on to appoint Rahm ambassador to Japan. It was under Obamas black attorney general in 2013 that key provisions of the Voting Rights Act were dismantled.

King understood charlatans come in all colors, and so demanded we judge people by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. He also believed in the responsibility to act, and indeed found the soul of his movement in it. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, he once said, the opposition we now face will surely fail.

It may be unfair to put words in the mouths of the dead, and indeed there are people reading this who question the propriety of a Caucasian even writing critically about Martin Luther King. So lets try it this way: What will happen when those who still understand King (never mind the oh-so-earnest undergrads with purple hair and lily-white skin) realize his successors, the critical race theorists, have built their message on a foundation of untruths, hate, hypocrisy, violence, and plain carny talk?

A lot to think about on this day, remembering MLK.

Peter Van Buren is the author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, Hoopers War: A Novel of WWII Japan, and Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the 99 Percent.

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If MLK Were Alive Today - The American Conservative

Gavin Newsoms new budget is enormous. On Jan. 10, Californias Democratic governor unveiled a budget plan that includes $286.4 billion in spending. That amount tops last years budget already of record size by more than $20 billion. His proposed spending spree is possible thanks to the states surplus, which currently stands at $45.7 billion.

Californias numbers are outsized, as ever, but they arent unusual. Thanks to federal largesse and unexpectedly robust revenues, states across the country are enjoying a budget season thats not just rosy but would have been essentially unimaginable when 2021 began. In a typical year, we might have $300 million or $400 million of discretionary spending decisions to make, said Colorado state Sen. Chris Hansen. This year we basically have $4 billion.

So much money sloshing around is driving dreams of spending for programs old and new, while also leading to promises of tax cuts from Republican and Democratic governors alike. Idaho GOP Gov. Brad Little, for example, has proposed increasing school spending by 11 percent while cutting taxes by more than $600 million. Jim Justice, the Republican governor of West Virginia, wants to raise pay for state employees by 5 percent, while also offering a one-time supplement of 2.5 percent to offset inflation.

Still, as lawmakers craft budgets this year, its clearly a good moment. States are in as good fiscal shape as theyve been, certainly since before the Great Recession, says Tim Storey, executive director of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Their revenues are bursting through their estimates.

Money isnt the only thing that matters. The omicron wave offers a reminder that the pandemic, about to enter its third year, is not over. Even Democratic politicians have mostly grown wary of shutdowns and mandates, but states are having to respond to the ongoing health challenges in all sorts of ways, from sending National Guard troops to help out in hospitals to supplying vaccinations and at-home test kits. As they gather in 2022, legislatures themselves are already watching recent history repeat itself, with some lawmakers meeting remotely while others have shown up at the capitol infected.

Meanwhile, culture wars are running hot. The Supreme Court will soon rule on a pair of abortion bans. Justices appear unlikely to uphold a Texas law that allows private individuals to sue abortion providers and facilitators, but most observers expect theyll use a Mississippi case either to overturn or gut the precedent set by Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that made abortion access the law of the land. A dozen states have trigger laws in place to end abortion rights as soon as the court allows. Conversely, on the same day that Newsom unveiled his budget, New Jerseys Legislature passed a bill to enshrine abortion rights in that state.

Schools have become a battlefield, with more Republican legislators looking to limit the ways in which the nations racial history can be taught in schools. Last year was a banner year for private school choice programs. That momentum may continue, given the anger many parents have felt about curriculum and COVID-19 closures.

All these issues and more are happening against the backdrop of an election year. The redistricting process is complete in a majority of states, with the clear loser being competition. There will be even fewer competitive seats left at the congressional or legislative levels. Republicans, who already control a majority of governorships and legislative chambers and seats, can hardly wait until November, convinced they will make more gains given the typical midterm backlash against the presidents party.

Meanwhile, the parties are still arguing about the 2020 election. Republican investigations and audits are continuing in states such as Wisconsin and Texas. For all the laws GOP state legislators passed last year that were designed to ensure election integrity, polling shows that increasing numbers of Republican voters think the game is fixed.

On the Democratic side, meanwhile, voters are convinced that Republicans are seeking to rig the rules to ensure their partys victory in 2024. Bidens recent call to change Senate filibuster rules and allow passage of renewed voting rights legislation at the congressional level looks unlikely to be persuasive. The persistent failure of Congress to pass such bills over the past year left the door open for states to enact dozens of voting laws, both restrictive and expansive.

In 2022, whether its addressing elections or climate or energy or immigration or cybersecurity states will continue to be highly active, even as Congress remains mired in its habitual gridlock.

Alan Greenblatt

Additionally, four states have passed amendments explicitly stating that their state constitution does not protect the right to abortion or allow public funds to be used for abortion. By December of 2021, 19 states had enacted restrictions on abortion, the most in any year since Roe v. Wade.

Besides Mississippi, other states have taken legislative action to neuter abortion. Last September, Texas passed a new law that deputized citizens to enforce a ban on nearly all abortions in the state (the Supreme Court is expected to rule against this law). In fact, 2021 was a record year for abortion restrictions, the most in any year since Roe v. Wade was decided back in 1973.

Nearly one in five pregnancies ends in abortion. By some estimates, one in four American women will have an abortion during their lifetime. Legal since Roe v. Wade, rates of abortion have been anything but steady. In the decade following Roe, the rate of abortion rose by 60 percent, peaking in 1983 at 30.4 per 100 women aged 15-44. The rate has since dropped to 13.5 in 2017, the last year figures are available, the lowest rate recorded since abortion was legalized in 1973.

The decline in abortions has occurred in every region of the country, whether states have acted to restrict or support access. Access to clinics has become increasingly difficult in some parts of the country. The number of clinics has increased in the Northeast and West, while declining in the Midwest and South. Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia each have only one remaining abortion provider. A reduction in the number of clinics, however, has not resulted in a corresponding reduction in the rate of abortion.

In 2017, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Florida had the highest abortion rates. Rates were lowest in Wyoming, South Dakota, Kentucky, Idaho and Missouri. However, many individuals cross state lines to get an abortion. In the five states with the lowest rates, nearly a third of those seeking an abortion go out of state.

Just as some states have moved to restrict abortion rights, so too have a number of other states moved to shore up support for abortion rights and access without relying on Roe. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books that protect the right to abortion. Twelve states explicitly permit abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the health and life of the mother.

In the last weeks of 2021, the federal government lifted restrictions on so-called abortion pills, allowing patients to receive the medication by mail, rather than in person from a doctors office, clinic or hospital. This development comes at a time when the use of medication abortion is on the rise, even as abortion rates in general are in decline. Medication abortion now accounts for two of every five abortions in the U.S. The majority of abortions in some states are medication abortions. Eight states enacted restrictions to medication abortion in 2021 and more are expected to follow.

However the Supreme Court rules on Mississippis challenge to Roe, the coming year is certain to see continued activity at the state level as well as ramifications for congressional elections and the presidential race two years beyond.

David Kidd

In recent years, state programs have received applications in excess of available funds, says Anna Read, senior officer for the Pew Charitable Trusts Broadband Access Initiative. State grant programs to date have focused on expansion of last-mile infrastructure to unserved areas, she says. Stimulus dollars are enabling states to allocate funds for other purposes, including mapping, public space connectivity, free wireless broadband for public housing residents, municipal broadband pilots and planning.

Looking ahead for 2022, broadband expansion faces a number of stumbling blocks that include supply chain issues and a need for more workers to build, deploy and maintain broadband services, says Shirley Bloomfield, chief executive officer of NTCAThe Rural Broadband Association. Focus on training and apprenticeship could address the latter need.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) included $65 billion for broadband expansion. The majority of that money, $42.5 billion, will fund a grant program to be administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). NTIA has a huge task ahead in an area where they do not have staff or expertise, says Bloomfield. Look for growing pains there.

Each state will receive at least $100 million for broadband infrastructure, mapping and adoption projects, the remainder awarded on the basis of the number of underserved or high-cost locations in individual states. If a state is unable to submit an application by the funding deadline, an application can be made in its place by a political subdivision or a consortium of subdivisions.

Grant dollars wont start flowing from NTIA until 2023, but states have much to do in 2022 to be ready to get in line for them. Proposals for funding must be accompanied by a five-year state action plan that reflects meaningful coordination with local and regional entities.

If the goal of these projects is to ensure equitable access, poor data regarding coverage will thwart the best intentions, says Francella Ochillo, executive director of Next Century Cities. Its important to ask questions about how coverage data is being collected, she says, that its not just top-down from the FCC to states.

If service is available to just one household in a census tract, the FCC considers the tract to be covered, whether even one household is connected or not. We need to make sure were using bottom-up methodologies to learn from municipalities, counties, unincorporated areas, places that are finding ways to collect data on their own to inform larger data sets.

Ochillo is also concerned about the standards for connectivity speeds that are built into projects. The FCC benchmark of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload, used for many projects, was established in 2015. I think its problematic to push money out the door based on a speed threshold that you know is becoming obsolete we need to make sure that our communities are able to get the best speed that is available to them.

As more municipalities incorporate broadband within their economic development planning, the issue of speed has particular significance. Its not just a matter of access to texting and email but ensuring that all citizens have access to the full range of commercial, educational and work resources necessary for 21st-century communities to remain economically viable.

Last-mile needs arent just about broadband connections. A holistic approach should encompass increasing digital literacy among users and providing devices and tech support where necessary. Its important to think from the perspective of those who are disconnected, says Ochillo, which is not necessarily the reality of those making broadband policy. What does broadband access mean if a family shares a single smartphone and can only afford so much data?

If short-term federal funds are a big part of the reason that broadband becomes affordable to low-income citizens, jurisdictions will have to think about long-term strategies to keep prices down. We need to remind policymakers that building broadband may be sexy, but maintaining those networks and keeping them affordable will be just as important, says Bloomfield.

ARPA and IIJA dollars are the most significant broadband investments to date, says Pews Anna Read. A lot is still to be determined about how this funding will be prioritized and used, but it does create an opportunity to make real progress in closing remaining gaps in broadband access and adoption.

Carl Smith

Offices that hoped to have workers return in person in the new year have delayed opening fully yet again. Just before Christmas, several of the nations most prestigious universities, including Harvard and Stanford, announced that theyre moving classes back online for at least the start of spring semester. The University of Illinois delayed its start by one week, while the University of Virginia announced that faculty and students would be required to have booster shots to return to campus. K-12 schools, at least in some jurisdictions, have also returned to remote learning while a well-publicized standoff in Chicago that led to temporary school closures but that is something the vast majority of districts are determined to avoid.

Closures offer a strong sense of deja vu, but they are not the rule. The public and political will for strict lockdowns is now part of the past. Even many Democratic governors have lost their appetite for measures such as mask mandates. After two years, people arent reacting well to an ongoing environment of fear, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in December. You cant, at the end of the day, force people to do something they dont want to do, he said. Public health doesnt get to tell people what they want to wear. Its just not their job.

The mask and vaccine mandates that are in place continue to face challenges in court. Republican attorneys general are still battling the Biden administrations requirements for vaccinations or frequent testing for most workers, in a challenge that reached the Supreme Court. Let me be clear I will never force you to get the vaccine, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves tweeted in November. Why? Because you can be trusted to make good and responsible decisions.

More than 90 percent of Democratic adults have received at least one coronavirus vaccination, compared with 60 percent of Republicans. Only elderly Republicans are as likely as the youngest Democrats to be vaccinated. In Texas where President Biden carried just 22 of the 254 counties in 2020 17 of the 20 counties with the highest vaccination rates all voted for the Democrat. This divergence has led to a sizable partisan gap in death rates, one likely to worsen as the omicron variant spreads and infects millions more. In 2021, we started to see more of a divergence, and 2022 is potentially going to be even worse, unless we can pull it back from the intense politics, says Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

Even as omicron cases spike, there is some good news. Late last year, the federal Food and Drug Administration approved the use of two anti-viral pills. One, manufactured by Pfizer, reduced the risk of hospitalization in clinical trials of infected patients by 88 percent. Increasing supply to meet the enormous demand will be a big task, but finally treatments are available that should make a real difference.

All of this means that the pandemic continues to present challenges to state and local governments running vaccination clinics, supplying at-home test kits, sending the National Guard in to help in strapped hospitals. Some states are planning to send additional stimulus checks to residents whose economic fortunes remain crimped.

Public health officials continue to maintain that the tried-and-true methods of avoiding disease vaccination, distancing, hand hygiene, avoiding indoor crowds, masks offer the best hope for individuals to evade omicron. Theyre unhappy that about a dozen states placed curbs during the pandemic on the authority of health departments, particularly at the local level. They hope, perhaps optimistically, that lawmakers can be persuaded to strengthen local authority, while also helping to build up public health infrastructure for the longer term that will allow them to address future emergencies more capably.

In the meantime, there are plenty of other public health concerns that have received inadequate attention during the pandemic, including suicide and mental health issues, particularly among young people. Substance abuse has increased, notably abuse of opioids and alcohol. We have undervaccinated children, says Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. We didnt have that before the pandemic, but we have it now. We dont want the pandemic to be a cause for us having to deal with a lot of measles outbreaks, or other outbreaks.

Alan Greenblatt

A CNN analysis found that a diverse array of cities across the country had already broken their one-year homicide records before the close of 2021, including Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Louisville, Columbus, Albuquerque, Tucson, Rochester and Portland, Ore. A handful of others, including Austin, are on track to do the same. In some cities, including Philadelphia, the sixth largest in the country, 2022 is off to an equally bloody start.

The surge in violence is fueled almost entirely by guns. The abundance of firearms in the United States makes policing more difficult and dangerous, and officers more likely to react aggressively. But gun regulation efforts are unlikely to advance substantially in 2022, as the Supreme Court looks likely to rule in favor of gun advocates.

Although homicides began trending upwards before COVID-19 struck in 2020, it is widely believed that the immense social dislocation of the pandemic has fueled the surge in gun violence. In-depth reporting on Philadelphias horrific 2021 found that disadvantaged young people deprived of school, libraries, sports teams, youth groups and a litany of other supports were uniquely vulnerable to the maelstrom. As the pandemic continues its uncertain course, it remains to be seen if school closures or other safety measures will continue to disrupt social life or if an easing of COVID-era restrictions could finally stall spiraling violence.

Many pundits and analysts argued that Defund the Police sloganeering hurt Democrats in 2020, despite the fact that few politicians used that rhetoric. In 2021 the political ramifications of the crime wave were unclear, but it is sure to be further weaponized by Republicans. In states like Pennsylvania, where elections have been tight, statewide offices are up for contest, and crime has visibly surged in some areas; it seems likely such tactics will be widespread.

Last year, in New York City, former police officer Eric Adams won election as mayor by promising to address violence head-on. Similarly, Democratic mayoral candidates with law-and-order platforms defeated police critics in Seattle, Buffalo and Atlanta. However, the preeminent progressive district attorney in the country, Philadelphias Larry Krasner, won re-election easily while voters in Austin rejected a proposal to require the hiring of hundreds of more police officers. In Cleveland, Justin Bibb won handily by campaigning, in part, on additional civilian oversight for the police department, while progressive-backed Susan Hutson defeated the 17-year incumbent in the New Orleans sheriff race.

In 2022, criminal justice will be on the ballot again. In San Francisco, progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin faces a recall election in June. In Los Angeles, a similar effort is targeting prosecutor George Gascn, although it remains unclear if his opponents will gather the number of signatures needed to initiate the recall process. In heavily Democratic California, a victory for a recall campaign against a progressive prosecutor would be a major blow to the criminal justice reform movement.

Many other progressive prosecutors are facing re-election campaigns, including St. Louis Countys Wesley Bell, John Creuzot in Dallas, Brian Middleton in Fort Bend County, Texas, and Joe Gonzales in Bexar County, Texas (home of San Antonio). There are also races between reformers and more traditional district attorneys shaping up in Memphis and Raleigh.

A handful of big cities shifted funds away from their police departments in 2020, including Austin, Seattle, Portland and Minneapolis. But the concept of depriving police departments of funding, especially if framed as a punishment, polls poorly and few mayors are likely to pursue such a path in 2022.

There were cities where the call to defund translated into meaningful reductions in police budgets, but it wasn't widespread, says Patrick Sharkey, professor of sociology at Princeton University. In the coming year, Id guess police departments will ultimately have higher budgets than at the beginning of the pandemic. That initial momentum to defund is not persistent.

Funding social services and alternatives to police law enforcement polls much more strongly than defunding. New York and California plan to allocate funds to support violence interrupters and other community-based interventions. In Philadelphia, unarmed traffic wardens are replacing police officers for regulation of some street offenses while alternative first responder programs were established in San Antonio and Dallas during the pandemic, and in 2022 other cities may follow their example.

Jake Blumgart

Economists expect many of these features to remain a persistent part of the economic landscape in 2022, although in a more muted fashion than last year. Policymaking in D.C. is likely to be more conservative, with as many as four interest rate hikes possible this year and far less fiscal spending forecasted. Even if some version of President Joe Bidens Build Back Better bill does pass it is not likely to inject much money into the economy in the short term, unlike 2021s American Rescue Plan Act.

You likely will continue to see inflation above the Feds two percent target for a lot of 2022, but not the kind seen in the second half of 2021, says Alex Williams, research analyst with Employ America. That is going to play a major role in fiscal spending decisions at the federal level and maybe at the state level.

The politics of inflation are believed to have weighed on the Democrats in the 2021 elections, where Republicans won one of two governors races. Concerns over price rises are one of the reasons that U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin gave for setting back the presidents major social spending and climate change bill, evidence that a more conservative fiscal attitude may be winning out. Inflation is likely to be a persistent line of attack for Republicans in the 2022 midterms.

Supporters of Bidens spending plans say that many of his priorities could ease inflation in the medium-to-long term, enhancing productivity through investments in child care, sick pay and clean energy. We may never find out if they are right, but the president made a similar argument about his infrastructure bill and local leaders are already planning projects with those funds to ease supply chain issues. But the fruits of such spending are unlikely to be seen in 2022.

The National Association of Counties points to investments by entities like Miami-Dade County, which is expanding cargo facilities at its airport. With federal aid and local funds, Chambers County, Texas, is purchasing two purpose-built barges to facilitate the movement of tens of thousands of additional containers around the region. These are just a few examples of the local investments in physical infrastructure, even before the funds from the bipartisan law are distributed.

During the pandemic, cities quickly adjusted their zoning and street codes to accommodate restaurants and other outdoor services for safer dining. This saved many eateries, coffee shops and bars and made life much more pleasant, especially in big cities where outdoor space is at a premium. But as 2021 wore on, some cities and counties rolled back these regulatory easements. In 2022, as the pandemic rolls onward, restaurant industry and outdoor groups may go back on the offensive.

Meanwhile, wages for lower income workers surged ahead of inflation as employers had to lure people out of their homes and compete with pay raises and mass hiring by major corporations like Amazon and Walmart. Labor strikes, union drives and other worker actions saw a notable uptick, although they remained low by mid-20th-century standards. Higher income workers did not see the same wage increases, although their amassed savings from 2020 provided plenty of cushion.

Economists believe consumer spending will remain elevated in 2022 even without further federal fiscal support, as a result of the strong job market, historically low unemployment and rising wages.

Consumer spending is likely to be buoyed by strong labor markets and gross labor income growth in 2022, said Williams of Employ America. This is in contrast to the years leading up to the pandemic, which saw tightening labor markets without the kind of wage growth that were seeing right now.

In 2022, local and state policymakers will continue to compete for scarce workers with the private sector. They have a deep deficit to build back from, and it will be worth watching to see if the public-sector employment levels can return to pre-pandemic levels.

Many public-sector jobs grew increasingly stressful in the last two years, especially in health care, law enforcement and sanitation. Additionally, in 2020, many local and state governments did not replace workers who retired or quit, fearing a coming budget crunch. In some cases, layoffs were enacted.

But today, even with revenues surprisingly robust, state and local employment is still far below its early 2020 levels.

It's just gotten much more expensive to hire people, says Tracy Gordon, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. The great resignation affects the state and local sector as well. To the extent that governments want to hire people, or bring them back, they have to pay much higher salaries. And I do wonder about the sustainability of that.

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that the principal concerns over inflation next year for legislative fiscal officers are that everyone will be trying to recruit teachers, police and health-care workers. In addition to competing with the private sector for workers, states and localities will also be crafting bills to entice people into the workforce and prepare them for available jobs.

Along with the usual job training programs, some states are considering higher pay and benefits like child care to help parents ease back into the labor market. Minimum-wage increases to keep pace with inflation could be a possibility in a few states, and even fewer cities. Living-wage increases for government workers are expected in 2022, in an effort to help the public sector compete for employees.

Every legislator I've been talking to is hearing about workforce problems, both for state employees and private-sector workers, says Tim Storey, executive director of the National Conference of State Legislatures. I think many states are going to be paying a lot of attention to workforce issues in the next few months.

Jake Blumgart

The expansion of ESAs, which allow students to use public funds for private school tuition or tutoring, is a prime example of the recent growth in school choice experiments. Choice proponents expect the momentum from their breakthrough year to continue into 2022. In an election year, when most legislatures will have shorter sessions, there may not be as many new programs created as last year, but there will be continuing expansion of existing programs in choice-friendly states. School choice legislation has already been introduced this year in a long list of Republican-run states, including Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and South Dakota.

Its also possible that changes will be pushed through the state budget process, with governors already looking to shift some federal COVID-19 dollars into ESAs. For an election year, were going to see more action on things like education savings accounts, tax-credit scholarships and education measures in general, says Ben DeGrow, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center, a conservative think tank in Michigan.

In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to weigh in on a religious education case with major implications. In December, the court heard a challenge against Maines policy of banning state funding for parochial schools that engage in religious instruction and activities. The state argues it is not penalizing such schools, merely refusing to subsidize them. Plaintiffs argue that the state, which offers vouchers for secular private schools, is discriminating against religion. The court is expected to decide the case this spring. Justice have been sympathetic to religious schools in other recent cases, including a 2020 decision that overruled state constitutions that ban state aid for religious schools. If they rule against Maine, it could open the door to religious school vouchers across the country.

Choice proponents believe 2022 could be decisive in another way. They believe that political momentum is on their side, pointing especially to the results of the November gubernatorial election in Virginia, in which choice issues played out in favor of newly elected Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. If more Republicans win on a school choice platform, it will obviously embolden choice advocates to press harder. Count me as just a little skeptical that school choice is going to be one of the most prominent political issues in the 2022 election cycle, says Patrick Wolf, an education policy professor at the University of Arkansas. But Republicans have pretty much embraced it and theyve committed to it, while Democrats have to figure out what their response is going to be and will have to develop a response thats more family-friendly.

Its clear that many parents are angry about whats happening in schools. They will be demanding greater transparency about curriculum, while many will also be pushing back against standardized testing. Parents are going to demand a stronger role in influencing whats taught to their kids and how its taught to them, Wolf says.

Critical race theory is only a small part of this dynamic. Nevertheless, its clear that the question of how race and racial history is taught will continue to be a flash point issue. Nine states passed bans on the teaching of critical race theory in 2021, although Arizonas ban was overturned by the state Supreme Court in November. Expect at least twice as many states to consider similar legislation in 2022.

The state bans are quite broad and limit the way subjects such as slavery and structural racism are taught. Opponents of the bans have noted that critical race theory, an academic doctrine taught largely in graduate and law schools, is entirely absent from K-12 curricula. They are angry about schools and libraries removing a broad range of books not just about race but also gender identity and sexual orientation from the shelves. Nevertheless, the push will continue. In December, Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that he wants to allow parents and other private individuals including corporate employees who undergo diversity training to file lawsuits against teachers or others who run afoul of the proposed legislations definition of critical race theory.

Aside from the hot-button issues, schools are still struggling with how to deal with learning losses caused by disruptions from the pandemic. Helping kids make up for lost classroom time has been difficult and may become more so, as some districts revert to online and hybrid learning due to omicron outbreaks. Total school enrollment, including higher education, dropped by 2.9 million from 2019 to 2020, according to the Census Bureau. College and preschool enrollments dropped to their lowest levels in decades, while K-12 enrollment fell by roughly 2 million.

Theres been an assumption that most of those kids will come back, once the pandemic is truly in the nations rearview mirror. But its possible that many are now permanently in charters and home schooling and are lost to traditional public schools. To the extent that parents are angry at their neighborhood schools, its clear that, at least in red states, they can count on having more options available in the future.

Alan Greenblatt

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), more than 3,500 election bills have been introduced during the past year, over a thousand more than the average over the past decade. Only 285 were enacted, consistent with the 300 or so seen in earlier years. But tensions cant be expected to ease.

Local election officials expect even more public attention to their work in the coming year, says Ricky Hatch, the clerk/auditor for Weber County, Utah. While transparency is crucial and welcome, election administration is complex. The past year saw numerous examples where routine processes were seized upon as smoking guns by observers who didnt understand what they were seeing. Im also concerned about knee-jerk legislation that is based on inaccurate information or sensationalized anecdotes, says Hatch.

The number of Americans who voted by mail in 2020 doubled, reaching 46 percent. Although some characterized this as an invitation to fraud, there was more legislative action in 2021 to increase mail voting than to restrict it. Its unknown how much public health concerns will color the 2022 midterm elections but that possibility, combined with greater public enthusiasm for voting by mail, could prompt adjustments to ballot deadlines and the time allowed to count mail ballots before election day. A voting rights bill before Congress could protect against restrictions on voting access, but its path forward is uncertain.

Legislative and executive actions taken in 2020 to accommodate COVID-19 have lapsed or expired and legislation has been proposed in some states to prohibit practices such as extending absentee voting to at-risk populations. The challenge then becomes creating safe ways for voters to cast their ballot in states that do not have election administration laws that facilitate safe voting, says Brianna Lennon, the clerk for Boone County, Mo.

While the legislation passed to date may not reframe the 2022 voter experience in most states as drastically as feared, attempts to shift authority over certification of vote counts are a different matter. These can give officials with limited understanding of the processes involved in ballot collection and counting the authority to override results, and the will of voters. Do you want your legislature looking over the shoulder of your election officials? asks Wendy Underhill of NCSL. Maybe thats the job of the secretary of state.

Partisan efforts can have unintended consequences, says Tammy Patrick, a former election official and senior adviser to the Democracy Fund. Control of a legislature that seizes authority over certification can shift; voters from both parties can have trouble with voter ID or prefer to vote by mail. Too often, she says, "politicians believe they understand what the situation is, and they have it wrong.

Threats and hostility prompted an unusual number of election officials to leave their jobs in 2021. A bill proposed in Washington state would criminalize such harassment. For officials who remain in their positions, disinformation and mistrust are reinforcing a commitment to free and fair elections and leading to new collaborations with colleagues, private-sector leaders, academics and nonprofit organizations.

Risk-limiting audits can play a significant role in convincing voters that vote tallies are accurate. Already required by statute or being piloted in 15 states, they are expected to become more common and more prominently publicized in the coming year. We could add a statewide risk-limiting audit to the certification process and that would create a two-step process to verify all results, says Lennon.

As Lennon puts it, election officials need to take back the space, replacing false narratives with the truth about their work and its complexity, precision and reliability. This is often best accomplished through personal contact with the public, tours of processing facilities, presentations to community groups and schools or interaction with individual voters.

Ive been able to turn people around a little bit or make them feel more comfortable about what we do, says Carly Koppes, the clerk and recorder for Weld County, Colo.

Thats what we are going to have to continue to do, but were also going to continue to figure out how many other ways we can do that.

Carl Smith

Demand for green energy is being driven by emission reduction targets set by government as well as private-sector attention to environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG), says Marlene Motyka, U.S. and global renewable energy leader for Deloitte, a market research firm.

Tech companies such as Google and Amazon that are driving the growth of energy-intensive data centers are also demanding green energy to match their footprint, says Steve Piper, director of energy research, S&P Global Market and Intelligence. Jurisdictions that want to attract them and the companies that are following their lead on clean energy, such as Walmart and McDonalds, need to have policies that facilitate development and procurement of it.

In 2022 and beyond, state and local governments will grapple with siting of projects as renewable generation becomes a bigger part of the power mix, says Piper. Utility-scale projects can create land use controversies in states or crowded metropolitan areas with limited open space, or if projects involve agricultural land. Rooftop solar and microgrids can help address this and governments will need to adjust policies to get the mix of applications right, he says.

Energy demand continues to rise, driven by data centers, electric vehicles and cryptocurrency. Another driver is electricity use from indoor cannabis cultivation, which is approaching that of data centers. A lighting module for four plants can use as much electricity as 29 refrigerators.

Kim Chelsak, director of code for New Buildings Institute, expects to see more attention to building electrification in 2022, whether through codes, gas ban ordinances or building performance standards tied to carbon reduction targets. Attention to building grid integration will also increase, she says, updating building systems so that they can talk to the power grid and balance energy demand, on-site generation and storage, and act as grid resources if needed.

Smarter buildings are only one piece of what will be required to ensure the nations electricity grid can accommodate escalating clean energy production and demand. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes $73 billion to improve grid infrastructure capacity, resilience and cybersecurity.

According to a Net Zero America study from Princeton University, a 60 percent increase in high-voltage transmission capacity is needed by 2030 in order to accommodate the additional clean energy inputs required in high electrification. This would require a $360 billion investment, it says.

The rest is here:

The Biggest Issues to Watch in 2022 - Governing

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: After missing a deadline on a key rule change to pass voting rights legislation before the federal Martin Luther King holiday Monday, Senate Democrats say this is the week theyll push through changes so they can vote on the House-approved Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, which is a bill that combines the Freedom to Vote Act and John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has vowed to use a procedural workaround and change the Senate rules to weaken the 60-vote threshold to pass the measure despite opposition from Republicans. But Senators Manchin and Sinema would have to end their objections to a filibuster carveout, which they indicated last week they would not. A vote on Senate rules could come as early as Wednesday.

On Monday, the family of Dr. Martin Luther King marched with thousands of others in Washington, D.C., to demand the Democratic Senators Manchin and Sinema drop their support for the Senate filibuster. This is Martin Luther King III.

MARTIN LUTHER KING III: Senators Sinema and Manchin also say if the bill doesnt get bipartisan support, it shouldnt pass. Well, the 14th Amendment, which granted citizenships to slaves in 1868, that didnt have bipartisan support. Should formerly enslaved people have been denied citizenship, Senator Sinema? The 15th Amendment, that gave formerly enslaved people the right to vote in 1870, that didnt have bipartisan support. Should former slaves have been denied the right to vote, Senator Manchin? In 1922, 23 and 24, some senators filibustered an anti-lynching bill that had passed in the House. Would Senator Manchin and Senator Sinema have supported blocking those bills, too?

Im just applying their logic here and showing that its not logical at all. To them, the filibuster is sacred except for when its not. In 2010, Senator Sinema supported the idea of using reconciliation to get around the filibuster and pass healthcare reform. Just last month, they both supported an exception to the filibuster to raise the debt ceiling. But they draw the line at protecting the rights of millions of voters. History will not remember them kindly.

AMY GOODMAN: This comes as Republicans are leading voter disenfranchisement efforts nationwide, with GOP-led state legislatures passing more than 30 laws restricting ballot access, and introducing at least 400 more.

For more, we go to Washington, D.C., to join Dr. William Barber, Bishop William Barber, co-chair of the Poor Peoples Campaign, president of Repairers of the Breach. On Saturday, Bishop Barber was awarded The King Centers 2022 Beloved Community Award for Civic Leadership.

Bishop Barber, welcome back to Democracy Now! I also wanted to start off by asking how youre feeling, as you announced you tested positive for coronavirus.

BISHOP WILLIAM BARBER II: Well, Im doing much better. Thank you for asking. Im quite bothered, though, by all of the people that cant get free tests. And we still have not given people free insurance even in the midst of COVID. So, while Im well, the nation is not well, the world is not well. And I want to thank you for having me on this morning.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, thank you so much for joining us. This is a pivotal moment. If you can talk about the standoff in the U.S. Senate right now, not exactly between Republicans and Democrats, though you could ask why many Republicans are not supporting the voting rights legislation as they have in the past over and over again, but within the Democratic Party, with Senators Manchin and Sinema refusing to support a filibuster waiver, a carveout?

BISHOP WILLIAM BARBER II: Well, Amy, let me take a moment. You know, this past Friday, the Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival announced that we were going to, regardless of what happened, have a mass poor peoples, low-wage workers assembly, moral march on Washington and to the polls on June 18th, 2022. We are launching a tour, actually, announcement tomorrow, regardless of what happens. Were going to engage in mass action, direct action, nonviolent action, not just for a day but for a declaration, to declare that there must be a moral shift in this country, that there must be a change in power. As Dr. King said, the real problem that weve always had with these issues of voting is the fear of the aristocracy of the masses of poor and low-wealth people, Black and white, coming together to vote in a way that fundamentally shifts the economic architecture of the nation. In fact, in 1967, Dr. King said, We must also realize that the problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power.

So, first of all, we should have never decided to separate voting rights from economic justice. I was listening to your report a minute ago about what just came out about poverty. That was a fundamental mistake, I believe, on many activists part and on many Democrats part, to separate these out. We should have started saying we demand infrastructure of our democracy, which is voting, and infrastructure of investment in the lives of poor and low-wealth people.

The next thing is, we are intensifying that, but if were going to win this, weve got to, number one, say we cant allow the government to set false deadlines. Our deadline is victory. We could have done this since 2013, when the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in the middle of the Obama administration. We have to ask the question: Why hasnt some of the intensity been before now? We have to ask the question: Yes, Manchin and Sinema, but why havent some groups, even some civil rights groups, pushed them hard in their own states before now? Who made the decision that we wait until now?

Yes, you challenge Sinema and Manchin, but there are other Democrats, moderates, that Dr. King once called the worst enemies to the civil rights movement, who also have been weak when it comes to ending the filibuster. Certainly the Republicans, and some Democrats, have not wanted to move the filibuster, other than Sinema. Why didnt we make the connection, the fact that 45% of the electorate in battleground states are poor and low-wealth, 30% across the nation? So, regardless of what happens today, we have a lot of work to do. Sinema and Manchin are acting like James Calhoun in the 1850s, who said you had to protect minority rule. Theyre not acting like Robert Byrd, because Robert Byrd actually hated this kind of filibuster.

We must, lastly, raise the question: Wheres the U.S. Chamber of Commerce? Why arent we criticizing them all groups, civil rights organizations, everybody because they are the ones that both are against living wages and against voting rights? And if were going to have a criticism and be like Dr. King, we have to go deep. What about the Koch brothers? What about the Americans for Prosperity?

And then, lastly, what do these bills actually do? I know they want to sell it as an end-all and be-all, but the new Freedom to Vote Act, which Manchin compromised down, what does it do? What doesnt it do? One thing it does is it codifies voter ID for the first time in the history of the country not saying it doesnt do some good things. The other one, the Voting Rights Advancement Act, does it really cover states? How many states will be covered under preclearance? Whats the formula? One formula said that you had to have 15 cases adjudicated all the way through the Supreme Court. Well, how many states can even meet that formula right now? And will it grandfather and stop the gerrymandering thats already happened? Was part of the game of Manchin and Sinema to delay all the way this year until bills got passed, so even now if they change, they would have actually won what they promised the Chamber of Commerce and others? These are heavy questions. And its great to come out today and yesterday and others, and we should, but we cannot allow the politicians to do politics by ceremonial day.

And lastly, the president weve been begging the president and his handlers to meet with moral leaders, white and Black and Brown and Latino, and impacted people in the White House. To make this a Black issue is dangerous. Its not just a Black issue. Fifty-five million people will lose their access to the polls they used in 2020, if we see allow whats going on to continue. Its a democracy issue. Dr. King never framed this issue as just a Black issue. He always framed it as an economic issue and a race issue, and we should be doing the same.

JUAN GONZLEZ: Well, Bishop Barber, I wanted to ask you many would agree with you that even the current bills before that will be voted on before the Senate have problems or weaknesses in terms of their defense of the Voting Rights Act, but it seems pretty certain that even these will be voted down. And the question is: What will then be the approach that the movement for voting rights should take? Clearly, its into the streets, but would you support some kind of a legislation that would take portions of these bills and at least get something passed before the next elections?

BISHOP WILLIAM BARBER II: Well, see, thats the politicians decision. The movements decision is to demand what is right all the way, not part of our rights, some of our rights. Its amazing to me that when it came to the corporations, they got everything they asked for. They wanted $4 or $5 trillion, they got $4 or $5 trillion. Billionaires made $2 trillion in the first 20 months of COVID and are growing. When it comes to issues like poverty and voting rights, number one, we bifurcate them in a way that the forces of oppression never bifurcate them. And then we keep compromising down, down, down, down, rather than fighting. And eventually, if were not careful, it would be tantamount to Frederick Douglass accepting a long weekend as an answer to slavery rather than emancipation and freedom.

So, what the movement is saying is, not only were going to the streets, but direct action, mobilization, and not for a day but for a season, until were going to massively engage in registering voters and pushing out voters in poor and low-wealth communities who can fundamentally shift the economic I mean, the political realities of this country. We are going to put together a full agenda. We call it the Third Reconstruction agenda. We now have 45 coordinating committees, 2,500 clergy, 200 partners. Weve been mobilizing and planning because we never were going to just accept what the politicians throw at us. The tail cant wag the dog. It doesnt work like that.

The reality is that when we talk about even the Build Back Better plan, Democrats should have never called that the most transformative. They should have said it was a step to attempt to respond to the fact that poor and low-wealth people were the ones hurt the most during COVID. These bills, once they get compromised, call it what it is. Think about it. We have allowed Manchin, Sinema and the Republicans to basically throw the memory of John Lewis away, throw the For the People Act, that he actually wrote, away. And Democrats should never have done that. We didnt fight hard enough on the front end. Many groups agreed with this delay. Well, the movement is saying theres going to be a moral reset.

And lets do history. In 1852, the Dred Scott decision was passed. Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, they didnt quit. They said they emboldened and intensified their agitation. When the 1957 Civil Rights Act was passed, the movement didnt quit because it was so compromised; they began to push even the more. Right after the 64 Civil Rights Act, then we began moving toward the 65 Voting Rights Act. John Lewis, in fact, criticized the 64 Voting Rights Act and exposed the weaknesses of it.

I dont know where in the world we have come to in this country, particularly in activism, where we think that the politicians set the agenda; we just have to go along with it; we dont criticize, or we dont show the weaknesses of it; we dont talk that is wrong. You know, we cannot let the politicians I dont care what party just say, Heres what you need, and this is the greatest thing you can have. No, we want all our freedom, all our voting rights, all our economic prosperity, and we want it now. And we dont know what can happen until we see the greatest, largest mass movement of poor and low-wealth people in this country ever in history. And that is what were moving towards, putting together and pushing out now.

JUAN GONZLEZ: Well, Bishop Barber, I wanted to ask you the point that you raised that it was a mistake to frame the voting rights legislation as a largely Black and Brown issue, yet you have millions and millions of white Americans who are not only still rallying behind Donald Trump but believing his false claims that the last election was stolen. How do you reach out to the masses of white working-class and poor people who really should have a strategic and interest for their own interest, in the passage of voting rights?

BISHOP WILLIAM BARBER II: Well, lets stop lying on poor and low-wealth people. Most of the people at January 6th were not poor and low-wealth. They were middle-class and up. The data shows that. The majority of poor and low-wealth people, 55%, voted for Biden-Harris. The majority of poor and low-wealth people dont vote. And we did a study with Columbia University, and they asked why didnt they vote. They said, Because nobody talks about poverty and the issues that are really facing us, and even voter suppression. So, the majority of poor and low-wealth people have not voted. We did a study that showed, in 15 states, if between 1% and 24% of poor and low-wealth voters who were already registered were to vote, who havent been voting, would vote around an agenda for their uplift, it would fundamentally shift the electorate. As you heard me say earlier, poor and low-wealth people represent 45% of the electorate in states where the decision for president or Senate was less than 3%.

There is Dr. King knew it, that these masses are always out there. Im tired of folks saying that theyre not there. Dr. King said its the aristocracy that knew they were out there, knew they could be unified, and thats why billions of dollars has been spent to divide us. And every time we get up and we try to frame this as just a Black issue, like voting rights is a special interest issue for Black people rather than an attack on the democracy that includes racism, that includes classism, that has impact based on region. And when we dont connect the fact that the same person thats suppressing the vote also, Joe Manchin suppressed, for instance, passing the living wage in February, raising it to $15. He should have been called out then we did; many others didnt, they should have that that was a racist vote, because when he blocked $15 and a union, not only did he block 31 million Americans from moving out of poverty and low wealth, he blocked 41% of African Americans from moving out of poverty and low wealth.

Dr. King never separated these issues. He said triune: poverty, militarism and racism. Today we say systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism and the denial of healthcare, which is why we have to have massive public education of whats really going on, because weve been lied to so much. We have to have a unified coalition of Black and Brown and white and young and old and gay and straight and Native and Asian. And its possible, that we do not have a scarcity of resources or a scarcity of ideas; we have a scarcity of moral consciousness. We have to see the religious community come together.

And they are ready. Im telling you, when we made the announcement on Friday, they said, regardless of what happened weve been building for three years underneath, putting things together it is time for that body of people to come together that the greedy, profit-driven aristocracy fears the most, and that is the masses of poor and low-wealth people and moral leaders coming together to reset and not just for a day. June 22 is not just a day, its a declaration; not just a moment, its a movement. Its going to be a season, not a day. We need a season, if it takes a whole year or two years, of action and conscience changing and in the streets and nonviolent direct action and major public education and movement to the people to the polls. Thats what has to happen. And people cant tell me what cant happen, because they havent tried that. Weve been too bifurcated, too separated. Weve allowed politicians to do policies by ceremony and ceremonial days. That is not movement. And we must not allow that to be the end.

And so, I want to, finally, quote what Frederick Douglass said when he was asked one month after the Dred Scott decision and he was told the abolition movement was over, nothing they could do. He said, What I do know is that the Supreme Court of man can never overrule the Supreme Court of God. What I do know is that this decision, as monstrous as it is, may just be the necessary link in the chain of events to the downfall of the whole system of slavery, because what I know is every attempt to allay and stop the abolition movement has only served to embolden and intensify its agitation. Thats what we must have now, and it must be Black and white and Brown and Asian and Native and young and old and gay and straight and Jewish and Christian and Muslim and people of faith and people not of faith and Appalachia and Delta of this country, in California to Carolinas, working together.

AMY GOODMAN: Bishop William Barber, we want to thank you for being with us, and we will certainly continue to follow this movement. Bishop Barber is co-chair of the Poor Peoples Campaign, president of Repairers of the Breach. Reverend Barber was just awarded The King Centers 2022 Beloved Community Award for Civic Leadership this weekend.

Next up, we go to Texas, where an armed gunman took four hostages at a synagogue outside Dallas Saturday, sparking an 11-hour standoff. Well speak to a Dallas rabbi. Stay with us.

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There Must Be a Moral Shift: Bishop Barber Calls on Democrats to Pass Voting Rights, Protect Poor - Democracy Now!

January 18, 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the historic 1982-83 strike that lasted for 18 months.

The strike led by Dr. Datta Samant involved 247,189 Mumbai mill workers and brought the city to a standstill. The 1982-83 strike was the last industrial action by the Mumbai mill workers when the city witnessed an industry-wide strike bringing the workforce to the centre of politics.

While the present-day public memory of the strike has receded, it is important to remember the event which fundamentally transformed the city of Mumbai.

During my fieldwork for doctoral research in 2008-09, there were umpteen times when I wanted to talk about the situation of the textile workers from the late 1990s onwards, but the discussion would swiftly move to the 1982-83 strike. Observers, activists, schoolteachers, the older residents of Girangaon (the village of textile mills in central Mumbai), and not least the ones who worked in various professions in the vicinity had a story to share about the 1982-83 strike.

It signalled the importance of the historic strike and that without taking that event into account it will not be possible to understand the contemporary condition of the mill workers and the transformations that are underway in Girangaon. However, for the present generation, the only reference that one has is that of the leader of the 1982-83 strike, Dr. Datta Samant.

Dutta Samant. Photo: Wikipedia

And this is also because he was murdered in broad daylight in the mid-1990s.

The conflict between the mill workers and the owners began over the issue of bonuses. However, as the conflict gained momentum other demands were added, such as providing for an ad hoc increase of wage per month from Rs 120 to Rs 195 per month depending on the years of service.

Secondly, to make the badli workers permanent who had worked for an aggregate period of 240 days.

Thirdly, payment of House Rent Allowance (Rs 52 per month), Leave Travel Allowance (Rs 42 per month), and Educational Allowance (Rs 30 per month). Substantial improvement in leave facilities such as privilege leave, casual leave, sick leave, and paid holidays was also one of the demands.

Finally, the strikers demanded non-recognition of Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh (RMMS) as the representative union, and the sole bargaining agent for workers. These demands shocked the employers. The mill owners were able to put down the strike by colluding with the state machinery and the RMMS, the officially recognised trade union, which had held a monopoly of speaking up for the workers.

After this, about 91,251 mill workers were laid off. The catastrophic outcome of the strike also had national-level implications, as Mumbais mill workers held the vanguard position of the countrys labour movement.

The failure of the 1982-83 strike crucially led to the reversal of the entitlements that the mill workers had obtained through various struggles and fundamentally altered workers claims over the citys social fabric. Following the strike, the workers lost the fighting spirit, which they had demonstrated historically.

Most importantly, the failure of the strike resulted in the gradual dismantling of the various social, political, and cultural institutions that contributed to the rhythms of Girangaon. These factors suggest that the industrial action of 1982-83 is indeed a key moment in the history of Mumbai as well as for the countrys labour movement.

The failure of the strike was not merely a loss of that industrial action, but it had ramifications for the future strikes of the working classes.

Throughout the strike, the state used its police machinery to threaten and inflict violence on the workers to break the industrial action. The judiciary took a long time in deciding on the case that challenged the RMMS status as the representative union. The bureaucracy too assisted in delaying the process.

The mill workers who were taken back to work had to return on deeply unfavourable terms.

First, many workers who returned to work did not receive the payments they were entitled to.

Secondly, workers had to confront an entirely hostile environment inside the factory. They were fined for the slightest mistakes and often abused and very easily charge-sheeted.

Also read: Inside the Winter of Discontent for Indias Gig Workers

Thus, the mill management gave a strong message to the workers that henceforth no resistance against its policy would be brooked. Before accepting the jobs workers had to sign a statement in which they declared that they had participated in an illegal strike, and they would henceforth refrain from agitation and not cause trouble in future. Left with little choice workers were compelled to sign the statement without even having the opportunity to read it.

The penalising of the mill workers for participating in the 1982-83 strike was, as Dr B.R. Ambedkar had said in 1938, short of making the worker a slave. And slavery is, Ambedkar stated further, nothing else but involuntary servitude. Following the 1982-83 strike, the Mumbai mill workers found themselves in a state of involuntary servitude.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar delivering a speech . Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The attempts by the state to term strike illegal under some conditions goes back to the introduction of the Bombay Industrial Disputes (BID) Act by the provincial government in 1938. In 1938, the then Bombay provincial government led by the Congress party introduced the BID Act which sought to curb workers right to organise industrial actions. The BID Act was opposed by various labour organisers which culminated in the successful organisation of a one-day strike in 1938 by Ambedkars Independent Labour Party.

The Socialists, Communists and other unions supported the strike. As a result, the state did not pursue the legislation. However, the Congress-ruled state later introduced the Bombay Industrial Relations (BIR) Act in 1947 whereby, as the scholar Hub van Wersch puts it, did not forbid strikes de jure but the conditions which have to be fulfilled before a lawful strike can take place amount to a virtual ban on strikes.

Also read: Lohia, Ambedkar and Bahujan Unity: How the 2022 UP Elections Are Turning the Clock Back

As a result, the cumulative effect of the whole structure of conciliation, adjudication and arbitration amounts to a de facto ban on strike. Moreover, the Congress appointed its trade union the RMMS as the sole representative union and bargaining agent for the textile industry and made it difficult for other unions to get rid of it.

During the 1982-83 strike, the Datta Samant led union was able to dislodge the representative union but the state agencies, both the bureaucracy and the judiciary, ensured that the RMMS retained its position. As a result, after the strike was put down by the state and mill owners, the RMMS became aggressive towards the strikers and penalised them for participating in the industrial action.

It is probably this reason that a section of mill workers constantly evokes that the 1982-83 strike was never officially called off. For the workers, the strike symbolised their whole struggle for emancipation, and given the fact they were pushed into involuntary servitude, it continues for them even today.

Spatial transformation of Girangaon

The failure of the 1982-83 strike paved the way for the spatial-economic transformations of Girangaon, which broadly covers the Parel and neighbouring areas, which subsequently had broader social and political implications for the citys working classes and labouring poor.

Cotton green mills, c. 1910 in front of the Taj Mahal Hotel, Colaba. Photo: Public domain

During the strike, the majority of the private mill owners had sub-contracted cloth production to Bhiwandi, the power loom centre on the outskirts of Mumbai. Therefore, the mill owners were less keen on running the mills after the strike was over. Citing the losses their business incurred during the strike, the mill owners sought the states permission to sell a surplus portion of the mill lands in the real estate market to generate interest-free capital.

Despite workers opposition, the Maharashtra state eventually introduced the Development Control Regulations (DCR) 58 in 1991. For the first time, DCR 1991 permitted the mill owners to sell parts of mill lands in the real estate market for the revival of the textile mills and payment of workers dues. This provision was misused by several mill owners.

None of the mill owners who utilised the provisions of DCR 1991 invested their land sale profits in modernising the sick textile units and clearing workers dues. A few mills violated the norms entirely. For instance, the Phoenix Mills sought permission for workers recreation centres but instead constructed an expensive commercial bowling alley and mall. Given the violations of DCR 1991, the Maharashtra government further amended the DCR 58 in 2001. The DCR 2001 permitted the mill owners to use the entire mill land for the non-industrial purpose.

This decision paved the way for the eventual closure of the textile mills most of which were over a century old. The pressures of the real estate market, an ever-growing service sector economy and to cater to the necessities of the citys elites, the upper-middle classes and the new middle class also hastened the factory closures. These processes have radically transformed the working-class district, spatially and economically, which in turn has led to the dissolution of the twin character of the city whereby the citys elite occupied the southern part, and the working classes held the central part of the city with its distinct character.

For instance, Lower Parel, an area identified with the working classes, is now renamed Upper Worli to create a new sense of belonging of the space for the new middle class. This making of the city anew through gentrification has gradually pushed a large section of the working classes and the lower middle classes from the central parts of the city to the extreme suburbs or even their own villages.

Phoenix Mills, Parel, which is now a shopping mall. Photo: Rakesh Krishna Kumar/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Thus, the transformation of Girangaon, as a part of remodelling Mumbai into a world-class city, has resulted in the shrinking of the already limited space for the working classes and labouring poor.

Since the late 1980s protests by the working classes in Mumbai became increasingly weaker in staking their claims. As industrial actions from the late 1980s and 1990s reveal that while workers protest did attract solidarity from the artists, writers and leaders of opposition parties (in some cases ruling party too), it did not translate into the working classes occupying centre stage in politics.

The disastrous outcome of the 1982-83 strike, thus, not only resulted in working classes losing their rights and privileges earned through various decades of struggles but it heralded the unmaking of kaamgarachi or shramikanchi (labourers) Mumbai. This journey of Mumbai as a labourers city began during the sustained industrial actions carried out by the mill workers during 1928-29. These strikes brought together various strands with the mill workers and strengthened the social and cultural institutions that had their roots in the late 19th century social and economic development of Mumbai.

It is this idea of a labourers city that was rapidly dismantled following the failure of the 1982-83 strike. Since 2006, while the ex-millworkers have reorganised on the housing question and have been successful to a certain extent the unmaking of the organised workforce is now complete, and the claims of the working classes over cityscapes are no longer recognised, a clear indication of a near-complete unmaking of Mumbai as a labourers city.

Today the situation is such that the history of the significance of the textile industry and the contribution of the workers for the development of Mumbai city is on the verge of being wiped out from the public memory.

Sumeet Mhaskar teaches at the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, O.P. Jindal Global University. He is currently finalising his book manuscript on Mumbai mill workers responses to joblessness.

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How a Strike 40 Years Ago Dismantled Workers Claim Over Mumbai, Hastened its Gentrification - The Wire

Covid isolation periods and the associated impacts of the pandemic continue to allow abusers to go to new extremes to exert control (Getty)

With such monstrous nonchalance, the man in the short video clip drags the Ethiopian domestic worker by her hair down the street in broad daylight. She is screaming her heart out as her shoes are ripped off by the concrete underneath her. He loosens his grip briefly to savagely beat her. People watch from their balconies, someone is clearly filming.

This disturbing video was shot just a few kilometres east of Beirut. Activists who located the woman this week said she is now safe but due to be sent home on Monday. They told me the attacker, her employer, was taken into custody but reportedly released only a day later. It is a painful reminder of the ongoing shadow pandemic within the pandemic: domestic violence and emotional abuse.

Rights groups across the world warned in 2020 that cases of abuse in the home soared during coronavirus lockdowns, which piled emotional and financial pressure on households. This (although not exclusively) overwhelmingly impacted women (one in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence mostly from intimate partners, according to the UN). Domestic migrant workers in countries like Lebanon, who are trapped in the slave-like kafala sponsorship system and often living with their employers, found themselves on the searing frontline of that.

But the truth is, this shadow pandemic didnt just stop because lockdowns were lifted. Rights workers have told me that instances of violence whether physical, emotional, financial, or sexual abuse continue to rise for many reasons, not least because of Covid isolation periods and ongoing associated economic woes.

In Lebanon, this is depressingly true. The pandemic and an unprecedented explosion in Beirut in August 2020 came alongside and contributed to one of the most spectacular economic collapses in modern history.

This week, the Lebanese lira surpassed a new record low of 30,000 lira to the dollar, even though it is still pegged at 1,500. This has helped contribute to the highest inflation rates in the world, outstripping Venezuela and Zimbabwe. It means one single canister of cooking gas costs more than half the monthly minimum wage, and the cost of four weeks use of a generator, essential as there is no longer any state-proved electricity, is six times a regular monthly salary.

Story continues

The poorest and most vulnerable have, of course, been hardest hit. Among them are the estimated 250,000 domestic migrant workers, who work in Lebanon under the kafala system. Used across countries in the Middle East, the kafala system shuts workers out of basic protections like a minimum wage, limits on working hours or the right to change jobs without their employers consent. They cannot even regain control of their passports to leave the country if they want out. Many women over the past two years have messaged me, trapped in their employers houses, where they are forced to work without money or proper food.

According to Human Rights Watch, since the start of the pandemic and the economic collapse, employers in Lebanon took to abandoning hundreds of workers outside consulates or embassies, often without money, passports, their belongings or flight tickets home. One employer even posted a Nigerian domestic worker for sale on a Facebook page used to trade secondhand items.

As this weeks grim video shows, migrant workers trapped in that system are increasingly vulnerable to physical abuse too.

We cannot let the rise in domestic violence, in all its forms, disappear from the agenda. Beyond Lebanon, it is an issue impacting homes in every country, in every town, and likely in every street.

This week, as right groups were warning of abuse of domestic workers in Lebanon, I also coincidentally stumbled upon Maid a searingly triggering miniseries about an impoverished American domestic worker and mother called Alex, who struggles to break free from her abusive partner, not even realising she is a victim of domestic violence.

Since it came out in October, it has sparked a slew of responses from many women who saw their own lockdown experiences played out in the storyline. We need to keep these conversations going.

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There is no coronavirus pandemic in Maid but as I watched it in Covid isolation myself, I couldnt help thinking that during the pandemic, the tiny lifelines that end up saving Alex would have completely vanished, simply because she would have been increasingly isolated.

Domestic violence hotlines have reported that Covid isolation periods and the associated impacts of the pandemic continue to allow abusers to go to new extremes to exert control beyond the obvious, including lying about pandemic risk, making up lockdown rules, and controlling access to money and methods of communication with the outside world.

I have mainly spoken about women in this piece, but it is, of course, not exclusively something women face. It is often more taboo to speak about when men are the victims and survivors of this kind of abuse. Now more than ever, we need to keep speaking out about all forms of violence in the home and the impact the pandemic continues to have from emotionally abused mothers in the US to modern slavery in Lebanon.

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Voices: In the shadow of the pandemic, domestic violence and slavery are still flourishing - Yahoo News

The U.S. Department of Labor announced this week that 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in November. Job openings, however, have decreased from 10.6 million to 11.1 million.

That number is still a record high.

However, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, this could be looked at from a positive perspective.

Large numbers of hires and separations occur every month throughout the business cycle. Net employment change results from the relationship between hires and separations, read the bureaus report. When the number of hires exceeds the number of separations, employment rises, even if the hires level is steady or declining. Conversely, when the number of hires is less than the number of separations, employment declines, even if the hires level is steady or rising.

In December, One Fair Wage (a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of tipped restaurant workers), warned of severe disruptions when dining out during the holidays with workers not willing to risk their lives due to the easily transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The organization said workers arent willing to risk their lives for tips.

Hundreds of thousands of service workers across the state of New York are fed up with the low wages and poor working conditions in the restaurant industry, including the subminimum wage for tipped workers that persists in New York, which is a direct legacy of slavery, stated Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage. The industry is in crisis. Unless wages go up immediately statewide, thousands of workers will continue to organize and many more will continue to leave.

A lot of this ire could be directed to Albany. New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul has touted her experience as a former tipped worker and called for the elimination of subminimum wage for those kinds of employees.

According to Jayaraman, the ball is in her court. She has the power to do so right now, before the end of the year, through a simple executive action, Jayaraman said.

Michael Fuquay, owner of the Queensboro and leader in RAISE High Road Restaurant, said,

Long before I owned a restaurant, I worked in a restaurant as a busboy, dishwasher, bartender, server. I think its important for us to have a kind of industry that good people want to stay in.

With low wages, people dont feel there is a future. We as an industry have to change to be the best we can be. Were trying to make that a reality as much as we can here at The Queensboro.

One Fair Wages own report, titled Closed Due to Low Wages: The Ongoing Exodus of Workers From the NY Restaurant Industry & The Looming Impact on Consumers, showed that since December 2019, New York State made up 12% of all restaurant workers who left the industry with a 18% overall decline in the overall workforce of any U.S. state or territory. The report stated as of May 2021, 53% of all restaurant workers still in the industry planned on leaving.

And job shortages arent only found in the restaurant industry. According to Pew Charitable Trusts, Missouris social services are in dire straits.

Communications Workers of America Local 6355 officials told Pew that the states child welfare workers are being assigned as many as 50 cases, which is double the normal amount. Citizens with questions regarding public assistance are on hold for hours before speaking with a worker.

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Millions of workers quit their jobs, particularly low-wage ones - Amsterdam News