Located in western Massachusetts, UMass Amherst is the flagship campus of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' five-campus University of Massachusetts system. UMass Amherst is a nationally recognized teaching and research institution with a current enrollment of about 28,500 students.

University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Massachusetts votes to keep its ‘subminimum wage’ for tipped workers

2023’s historic Hollywood and UAW strikes aren’t labor’s whole story – the total number of Americans walking off the job remained relatively low

Opinion—Uber and Lyft should be made to pay their fair share

Union Booms and Busts The Ongoing Fight Over the U.S. Labor Movement

Waves of strikes rippling across the US seem big, but the total number of Americans walking off the job remains historically low

This Labor Day comes amid the biggest jump in union activity in decades

Jasmine Kerrissey's research focuses on labor movements, work and inequality. Much of her work asks how workers' organizations have mattered, and what their decline means for workplace, economic, social and political outcomes. 

She is regularly sought after by national media to discuss current issues related to labor and worker issues including by  NPR, the Boston Globe and Time Magazine.

Worker Strikes

Labor Studies

Labor Movements

Social Movements and Collective Behavior

Political Sociology of Health

Gig Economy

Worker Rights

UMass Amherst Faculty Profile

Labor Center Director Profile

The Conversation Profile and Articles

Smith College library staff unionizes, part of larger union trend in Mass.

strike

The Newton strike is over. Was it worth it?

Newton paraprofessionals earn lower wages compared to other districts

striking worker

Union Escalates Strike at Two Major US Automakers

What It Would Take to Avoid a Rail Strike This Holiday Season

The factors driving 'Striketober'

Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Labor Center at UMass Amherst

Join the Labor Research & Action Network (LRAN) for a discussion about the current wave of strike activity and how we can understand it within a historical context. We’ll be joined by two scholars of the labor movement - Jasmine Kerrissey, Director of the UMass Amherst Labor Center, and co-author of Union Booms and Busts: The Ongoing Struggle over the US Labor Movement, and Johnnie Kallas, project director of the Cornell ILR Labor Action Tracker.

LRAN Webinar: Strike Surge! U.S. Union Strike Activity Today and Throughout History

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