Remembering Jane McAlevey, a Labor Leader
July 12, 2024
Jane McAlevey dedicated her life to organizing workers—and winning.
The Roosevelt Rundown features our top stories of the week.
(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Jane McAlevey’s Relentless Labor Fight
The world lost a fierce advocate for labor this week. Jane McAlevey was an organizer, strategist, and writer whose vision for building labor power forever transformed the landscape of worker organizing. She died of cancer on July 7 at the age of 59.
McAlevey’s teachings and writings emphasized the importance of creating deep relationships among and between workers and communities to create durable labor power. In her last written piece, published in February, she celebrated the past year’s labor renaissance while also reminding readers that “securing and enforcing lasting change depends on knowing how to build and sustain power past the initial surge.”
Her relentless drive and fighting spirit will continue to inspire advocates for worker power for generations to come. “Jane devoted her life to collective action, but she never forgot that collectives are composed of people, and every person is a world unto themselves,” journalist Alex Press wrote in Jacobin, summing up the wisdom McAlevey left for us: “Leave the world better than it was when you arrived and leave many more organizers in your place when you go.”
Maximizing IRA Benefits and Imagining a Better Society for a Better Politics
Neoliberalism is slowly crumbling as the reigning economic order, but what replaces it remains contested. In two upcoming events, experts will dig into recent Roosevelt research to ask two questions: How can communities see the most benefit from the economic changes set in motion by recent policy fights, and how can progressive politics broaden its imagination beyond material economic gains?
July 24: Building the Future
In a forthcoming report, Roosevelt’s Alí R. Bustamante and the Urban Institute’s Joe Peck analyze how the Inflation Reduction Act has impacted communities across the country. Using case studies of investments in Georgia, California, Michigan, South Carolina, and Louisiana, the report will show how municipalities and states can ensure that IRA investments maximize benefits to local job markets and community needs. On July 24, Roosevelt will host a webinar diving into this research and laying out a roadmap for future collaborative workforce strategies. Lael Brainard, director of the National Economic Council, will deliver a keynote address.
July 25: Envisioning the Good Life
In April, Roosevelt released a report describing how the political Right has weaponized the discontent resulting from neoliberalism to push a reactionary cultural agenda. Last month, progressive thinkers offered ideas in The American Prospect on how the Left can offer an alternative: an inclusive, democratic, and progressive vision for a good life. On July 25, several of these thinkers will join Roosevelt to consider how we can break free from the neoliberal conception of what society should look like and how an effective politics must promise more than just improving material conditions.
What We’re Talking About
What We’re Reading
Private Financial Markets Are Eating the World – by Roosevelt Senior Fellow Lenore Palladino – LPE Project
Upgrading America’s Electricity Market Requires Downgrading Monopoly Utilities – ProMarket
Industrial Policy in the Global Semiconductor Sector – National Bureau of Economic Research