Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At long last, Congress has passed healthcare reform, and progressives can breathe a collective sigh of relief.  The bill isn’t a panacea.  The lack of a public option will leave for-profit insurance companies, which have correctly been vilified, without any competition.  The concessions to abortion-rights opponents are especially troubling in that they are likely to have the most impact on poor and working-class women. Still, the passage of the legislation is a major step toward recognizing and guaranteeing healthcare for all Americans.

To us, it’s astounding that the United States is the only developed nation in the world that does not have universal healthcare. Yet the public option is presented as a dangerous experiment, a “government takeover,” rather than a long overdue reform.  Middle-class people often spend a disproportionate amount of their incomes on health insurance premiums, but it is the working class, increasingly making low wages in non-union jobs, which are often uninsured or underinsured.

The United States, and indeed the world, continues to grapple with the recession.  We also grapple with employers whose first response to the economic downturn is to cut jobs and/or benefits. But we are fighting back. In response to draconian budget cuts (17 billion in 2 years) and soaring student fees (182% increase since 2002) students and faculty at the University of California campuses organized a Day of Action on March 4.  Many thousands participated in rallies and actions across the state.  In thirty-two states people organized actions in solidarity with those in California.

At one time the public higher education system in California was the envy of the nation.  Its colleges and universities provided a first-rate education for many working-class first-generation students.  Where will those students go now?  What can students do when they can’t afford a public college?

We know that the issue isn’t just resources; it’s priorities. Increasingly colleges are run on a corporate model featuring top-down decision making.  High profile projects, such as building new sports facilities, are deemed more important than funding academic programs.  Working-class people have long recognized that they must organize to protect their interests. Academics are starting to learn this lesson.

The Working-Class Studies Association must continue to study the forces that impact the lives of working people and to work for economic equality. The How Class Works Conference at SUNY Stony Brook, June 3-5, will be a venue for academic and activist work. It will be a truly international conference, with scholars from a dozen countries and five panels devoted to papers on various countries.  Plenary sessions feature Bill Fletcher and William Tabb examining the working class and right-wing populism, the economic crisis and political paralysis, and the AFT critique of charter schools.

Every conference gives us the opportunity to celebrate what we have accomplished and assess what we need to do.  In sharing our research and our skills, we collaborate. I look forward to seeing many of you in June.

In Solidarity,

Michelle M. Tokarczyk