Fine

Janice Fine

Associate Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations
Chapter Member: New Jersey-Philadelphia SSN
Areas of Expertise:

Connect with Janice

(848) 932-1746

About Janice

Fine teaches and writes about innovative union and community organizing strategies, historical and contemporary debates regarding federal immigration policy, strategies for improving enforcement of the nation’s minimum wage and overtime laws, and issues related to privatization. Prior to joining the faculty at Rutgers in 2005, Fine worked as a community, labor and electoral organizer for more than twenty years and continues to work closely with the national labor, immigrant rights and student movements. In 2008, Fine was appointed by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine to the state Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigrant Policy, where she helped formulate recommendations on a range of issues including strategies to strengthen labor standards enforcement as well as establishing a Commission on New Americans. She is currently an Executive Board member of the Labor and Employment Relations Association and Co-convener of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

How Innovative Worker Centers Help America's Most Vulnerable Wage Earners

Key Findings Brief,

In the News

Janice Fine quoted on revived interest in organized labor by Danielle Kurtzleben, "Sanders Campaign, Workers Ratify Union Contract" Vermont Public Radio Online, May 8, 2019.
Janice Fine's research on immigration's effects on the US population discussed by Disha Raychaudhuri, "Trump Says the Country is ‘Full.' But that isn’t True, Data Shows.," New Jersey Online, April 24, 2019.
Janice Fine quoted by Noam Scheiber, "Missouri Voters Reject Anti-Union Law in a Victory for Labor" The New York Times, August 7, 2018.
Janice Fine quoted on unions and immigration policy by Jacquie Lee, "Hotel Worker Pact in New Jersey Features Novel Benefits" Bloomberg News, April 16, 2018.
Guest to discuss the history of immigration on NPR: All Things Considered , Janice Fine, February 17, 2018.
Janice Fine quoted by Carly Ryan, "Congressional Candidate and Alum Unionizes Campaign Staff" Michigan Daily , February 14, 2018.
Janice Fine quoted by Josh Eidelson, "Campaign Workers Unionize Just in Time for Midterm Elections" Bloomberg Politics, February 12, 2018.
Janice Fine quoted on workers' pledges to nonprofit groups by Steven Greenhouse, "Fast-Food Workers Claim Victory in a New York Labor Effort" New York Times, January 9, 2018.
Janice Fine quoted on immigrants in New Jersey by David Matthau, "NJ Used to Have More Immigration than Today" New Jersey 101.5, June 29, 2017.
Janice Fine quoted on the economic impact of immigrants by David Matthau, "Latino and Asian Immigrants Pump Nearly $100 Billion into NJ Economy" New Jersey 101.5, June 26, 2017.
Janice Fine quoted on local labor standards enforcement by Melissa Sanchez, "Chicago Needs to Better Enforce Labor Ordinances, Aldermen and Advocates Say" Chicago Reporter, February 23, 2017.
"OT Work Deserves OT Pay," Janice Fine, Philadelphia Inquirer, June 11, 2015.
Janice Fine quoted on worker centers, "Advocates for Workers Raise the Ire of Business" New York Times, January 16, 2014.
Janice Fine's research on labor politics and the current stability of unions discussed by Steven Greenhouse, "AFL-CIO Had Plan to Add Millions of Nonunion Members," New York Times, September 6, 2013.
"OpinionNation: Immigration Activists and Experts on Their 'Dealbreakers' on Immigration Reform," Janice Fine (with Sarahi Uribe, Kica Matos, and and Ai-jen Poo), The Nation, April 15, 2013.
"Debating Labor's Future: Union Leaders Weigh In on the Future of the AFL-CIO," Janice Fine, The Nation, July 14, 2005.
"Going Public: New Directions for Campaign Finance Reform," Janice Fine (with David Donnelly and Ellen S. Miller), Boston Review, April 1, 1997.

Publications

"Worker Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of the Dream" (Cornell University Press and the Economic Policy Institute, 2006).
Identifies 137 worker centers – organizations that help low-wage workers gain access to social services; advocate for their own civil and human rights; and organize to improve wages, working conditions, neighborhoods, and public schools – in more than eighty cities, suburbs, and rural areas in thirty-one states. Makes the case that worker centers serve not only as organizing laboratories but also as places where immigrants and other low-wage workers can participate in civil society, tell their stories to the larger community, resist racism and anti-immigrant sentiment, and work to improve their political and economic standing.