Giving local workers a voice

Telling your story to a supportive audience is a way to gain self-respect.

Tom Lewan­dowski believes that. The local labor leader wants to offer that opportunity to people who attend this year’s Labor Day picnic.

Barbara Ehrenreich also believes in the power of personal stories. That’s why the Washington journalist is sending a professional photographer to the picnic to capture images and comments of local workers.

The author of "Nickel and Dimed," a first-person account of the struggle to survive while working low-paying jobs, founded the Economic Hardship Reporting Project to support immersive reporting on the working poor.

The photo essay that results from Monday’s work will be offered to major media outlets for publication.

The Reporting Project’s previous work falls under broad topics, including criminal justice, education, families, health, housing, inequality, immigration and workers. The pieces have been published by the New York Times, Time, the New Yorker, National Geographic, the Atlantic, the New Republic, Vogue and BuzzFeed.

The Reporting Project receives funding from the Institute for Policy Studies, a "progressive think tank dedicated to building a more equitable, ecologically sustainable and peaceful society," according to the institute’s website. The nonpartisan Reporting Project also accepts tax-deductible contributions.

Ehrenreich said there’s been a lot of interest in the working class for the past year, "mostly for bad or fad reasons."

"There’s a lot of prejudice against working-class people in this society," she said in a phone interview.

Professionals and white­collar workers often imagine themselves to be more progressive and superior, Ehrenreich said. It’s a premise she rejects. She hopes to showcase the dignity of workers struggling partly because of income inequality.

The Workers’ Project Inc., a local nonprofit, also will interview people at the picnic about the challenges they face in this economy. Those conversations will be recorded and eventually edited into a longer piece about the lives of the working poor.

"They’re working people, but they might have crushing debt and have trouble paying their bills," said Mindy Walker, who is co-organizing the project with Gayle Goodrich. Goodrich has a master’s degree in sociology. Walker has completed all but her dissertation for a doctorate in public policy and management.

By approaching some of the thousands of people attending the Labor Day picnic at Headwaters Park East, they’re hoping to include experiences of diverse groups. Some translators will be available.

Walker said it’s rare for economic development studies to include first-person perspectives.

Many, instead, rely on facts and figures. She doesn’t discount the importance of statistics, but there are just some things those numbers can’t communicate.

"People just want to be asked," she said of finding participants. "We think it’s a powerful way to tell the story."

Lewandowski also sees capturing the first-person accounts as an important opportunity. 

"My hope is that we learn things about what is going on in the lives of workers," he said, adding he hopes the resulting video illustrates the consequences of public policy. 

sslater@jg.net