Global Labour Speaker Series explores media reporting on labour issues

A panel discussion exploring media reporting on labour issues will be the focus of the Nov. 19 Global Labour Speaker Series.

The event, running noon to 2pm in Ross Building S701, will examine how the media covers the dynamics of the workplace and the labour market; what is and what should be the role of media in reporting on work; and, what impact media reporting can have on raising awareness on critical workplace issues and in affecting progressive social change.

The Global Labour Speaker Series will explore the role of media when covering labour issues
The Global Labour Speaker Series will explore the role of media when covering labour issues

Guest speakers participating in the panel discussion “Labour and the Media/Labour in the Media” include Sara Mojehedzadeh of the Toronto Star, David Bush of RankandFile.ca, and Nora Loreto and Nadine Tkatchevskaia of the Canadian Association of Labour Media.

Mojtehedzadeh is the Toronto Star‘s work and wealth reporter, covering issues including precarious employment and the changing nature of work. Previously, she worked for the BBC World Service covering African current affairs. She also reported for a year on development and human rights issues from Nairobi, Kenya through the Aga Khan Foundation of Canada. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto’s peace and conflict studies program.

Bush is an editor at RankandFile.ca, a Canadian labour news website. He is a former union organizer with the Service Employees International Union Local 2. Currently, he is working on his PhD at York University in the social and political thought program. He is also an editor at the magazine Canadian Dimension.

Loreto is editor at the Canadian Association of Labour Media. She is a writer, musician and activist based in Québec City with expertise in media literacy, social media and government relations. She is the author of From Demonized to Organized, Building the New Union Movement and regularly writes for Rabble.ca and progressive magazines. She has a BA in public administration and minors in journalism, history and politics from Ryerson University, and a master’s of education at the University of Saskatchewan. She was editor-in-chief of the Ryerson Free Press and was involved in the student movement for almost a decade.

Tkatchevskaia is Canadian Association of Labour Media’s assistant editor. She is a political organizer and activist based in Toronto who specializes in campaigns and digital engagement. She got involved in the student movement during her undergraduate degree and has since branched out to progressive organizing more broadly on municipal, provincial and federal levels. She holds a bilingual honours BA in international studies with a minor in women’s studies from Glendon College at York University. She earned her master’s of arts in gender studies and feminist research from McMaster University.

The Global Labour Speakers Series at York University is a collaboration of the Global Labour Research Centre, the Work and Labour Studies Program, the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy, and the Canada Research Chair in the Political Economy of Gender and Work.

The event is co-sponsored by York University’s departments of Social Science, Sociology, Geography, Equity Studies, and Political Science, the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, the Office of the Dean – LA&PS, Osgoode Hall Law School and the Office of the Provost.

Refreshments will be served, and all are welcome. For more about the Global Labour Research Centre, visit yorku.ca/glrc; for the Facebook event page, visit facebook.com/events/538924019597841/.