Lola Loustaunau

Lola Loustaunau

Assistant Professor, School for Workers, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Chapter Member: Wisconsin SSN
Areas of Expertise:

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About Lola

Loustaunau's research focuses on migrant workers; precarious and low-wage workers and labor organizing. Overarching themes in Loustaunau's writing include working conditions of precarious migrant workers; particularly women in food processing; processes of collective organization in low-wage work; scheduling and work-family balance; and emotions in the labor process. Loustaunau served as a research assistant in the Labor Education and Research Center at the University of Oregon between 2017-2019. Loustaunau also served as a member of the AFT-OR board for the same period. Loustaunau currently serves as volunteer in the Northwest Workers Justice Project assisting in wage theft and discrimination cases.

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Contributions

In-Home Childcare Providers are Essential—And Overworked, Underpaid, and Sometimes Not Paid at All

  • Larissa Petrucci
    • Lisa Dodson , Mary C. King
Key Findings Brief,

Assessing the Initial Impacts of the First Statewide Scheduling Law

  • Larissa Petrucci
  • Lina Mary Caroline Stepick
  • Ellen Kaye Scott
Memo,

Publications

"The Growing Need for “Non-Traditional Hours” Met by Underpaid In-Home Providers" (with Lisa Dodson, Larissa Petrucci, Mary C. King, and Ellen Kaye Scott). Labor Education and Research Center (2022).

Describes the long, irregular, badly paid and too often unpaid hours home-based childcare providers work to care for the children of Oregon’s working class families.

"Unlawful: U.S. Employers Are Charged with Violating Federal Law in 41.5% of All Union Election Campaigns," (with Celine McNicholas, Margaret Poydock, Julia Wolfe, Ben Zipperer, and Gordon Lafer), Economic Policy Institute, December 11, 2019.

Shows that U.S. employers are willing to use a wide range of legal and illegal tactics to frustrate the rights of workers to form unions and collectively bargain. Finds employers are charged with violating federal law in 41.5% of all union election campaigns.

"Impossible Choices: How Workers Manage Unpredictable Scheduling Practices" (with Larissa Petrucci, Camila H. Alvarez, and Ellen Scott). Labor Studies Journal (2019): 1-28.

Draws on data from in-depth interviews conducted in Oregon in 2016, this study expands research on how workers navigate through “bad jobs” by exploring the ways in which they respond in an attempt to manage the individual impacts of precarious work arrangements. Finds that workers respond to unpredictable scheduling in four ways: they acquiesce, self-advocate, quit, or directly oppose employers. Highlights the “impossible choices” workers face as they negotiate prevalent, unpredictable work conditions, juggle work-life obligations, and struggle to remain employed.