Part 1:
Part One: Food Matters, with Prof. Jess Carson
Innovation in Food Access Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
We discuss with Professor Jess Carson the current problem of food insecurity, as it has been affected by the corona virus. Food producers have been forced to discard food because there is no way to get it to consumers, and the distribution networks were set up to feed into the restaurant, hotel, and other institutional businesses, which cannot operate during a virus lockdown. Consumers perceive a shortage. Food distribution is a problem, which the White House would like to solve by subcontracting to commercial enterprises. Other solutions exist.
bio: Jess Carson is a Research Assistant Professor with the Vulnerable Families Research Program at the Carsey School of Public Policy. Since joining Carsey in 2010, she has studied poverty, work, and the social safety net, including policies and programs that support low-income workers like affordable health insurance, food assistance programs, and quality child care. Her other interests include health within and across families, and the intersection of health and employment across the income spectrum. Jess is also working on a long-term project around the challenges and opportunities facing people who live and work in rural communities, with the goal of highlighting the strategies that work best to support them. She has a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of New Hampshire.
https://carsey.unh.edu/publication/innovation-food-access-COVID-19-pandemic
Part Two:”Tell the Bosses We’re Coming “ A New Action Plan for Workers in the Twenty-First Century
Prof. Shaun Richman, and Arnie Arnesen discuss the problems that labor organizations face. Labor laws have been written to make it more difficult to organize, and thus more difficult to get gains for workers. There are efforts to disconnect healthcare from work, such as medicare for all, and others.
Bio: Shaun Richman spent a decade and a half as a union organizer and representative. He is the Program Director of the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies at SUNY Empire State College. His writing has been published in The American Prospect, In These Times, Jacobin, The New York Daily News, and The New York Times, among other outlets.
