Food. Justice. Work.
The Checkout centers the voices and efforts of essential workers on the frontlines of our food system. Now more than ever, our food system is in a constant state of flux, radical change and crisis. From political economy and supply chain analysis to public policy, labor organizing and community struggles, The Checkout will expand the horizon of what is necessary to create a just, equitable and progressive food system.
The Checkout is a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.
Episode 54: Margaret Smith, The Common Market Texas
The Common Market is a mission-driven distributor of regional farm products. They partner with farmer and grower networks and handle the distribution of their local products — ensuring customers get easy access to some of the best foods their regions have to offer. Since 2008, The Common Market aggregated and distributed over $22 million of local foods from over 200 sustainable family farms and producers. Currently operating in the Mid-Atlantic, Georgia, and Texas, The Common Market is expanding to other U.S. regions to build a nation of vibrant regional food systems.
From https://www.thecommonmarket.org: Margaret Smith is the Director of The Common Market Texas and is based in Houston. The Common Market Texas connects institutions and communities with Texas-grown good food from sustainable producers. They provide specific grower information and it's printed on every invoice and every case of food so you know exactly how the food is grown and where it's coming from.
Episode 37: Amazon’s Racial Capitalism: The Cost of Free Shipping
Dr. Ellen Reese is Professor of Sociology and Chair of Labor Studies at the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on gender, race, and class, welfare state development, social movements, and poverty and work. She is author of They Say Cutback; We Say Fightback! Welfare Activism in an Era of Retrenchment (2011, American Sociological Association’s Rose Series) and Backlash Against Welfare Mothers: Past and Present (2005, University of California Press). She is also co-author of The World Social Forums and the Challenges of Global Democracy (2007, Paradigm Publishers) and co-editor of The Wages of Empire: Neoliberal Policies, Repression, and Women’s Poverty (2007, Paradigm Publishers) and A Handbook of World Social Forum Activism (2012, Paradigm Publishers). ellen.reese@ucr.edu
Dr. Jake Alimahomed-Wilson is a Professor of Sociology at California State University at Long Beach. His research explores the ways that racism and labor exploitation intersect. He is particularly interested in the global logistics industry and the workers who move goods around the world. His current research examines the impact of e-commerce (i.e. Amazon) on work and labor. His newest co-edited (with Ellen Reese) book, The Cost of Free Shipping: Amazon in the Global Economy, was released in 2020 by Pluto Press (Wildcat Series). This book provides a rich and interdisciplinary collection of critical essays by scholars, activists, and labor and community organizers that interrogates the global significance of Amazon’s rise and the growing popular resistance to it around the world. jake.wilson@csulb.edu