Why Corporate America Needs to Listen to Workers’ Voices

When Companies Raise Pay Without Empowering Employees, Morale and Democracy Both Suffer

Like many frontline workers across the country, Denise Kohr saw her pay at Amazon increase over the past year; as for her say, not so much.

“They don’t want to hear from me,” complained Kohr, who has picked and packed products at a fulfillment center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, since 2018.

Kohr—who after a 25-cent bump last fall, along with a shift change that boosted her wage, now makes $22.95 an hour—still wishes she earned more money. But her bigger frustration is this: Whenever she makes a suggestion about how work should get …

I’m Indigenous Australian, and I Work for a Mining Company | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

I’m Indigenous Australian, and I Work for a Mining Company

For Over 20 Years, I’ve Been Trying to Change an Industry That Has Excluded, Displaced, and Exploited Native People

Being in mining was never part of my plan. As a young boy, I dreamed of becoming a priest with a pilot’s license, living and working in remote …

New Skyscrapers in L.A. and S.F. Tell Tall Tales About California

The Wilshire Grand and Salesforce Towers Show Corporations Still Sway the Golden State

This is a tale of two new skyscrapers—and of two cities that have more in common than they care to admit.

The Wilshire Grand Center towers 73 stories and 1,100 feet …

Why Suckering Americans Is a Booming Business

Business Fraud Is Thriving Amid Loose Regulation and Short-Term Gain Fixation

American capitalism has always provided openings for hucksters and outright swindlers.

For centuries, this society has been especially receptive to economic innovation and the strategies of wealth-seeking that so often …

A row of long socks with different patterns and colors, such as a black-and-white striped pair of socks and a rainbow pair.

Who in the World Named My Cashmere Socks?

Behind Every Witty, Punning, Trademarked Name, Somebody Like Me Worked to Make You Smile—and Buy a Product

Zócalo’s editors are highlighting some of our favorite pieces from the archive. This week: Writer Ellen Lutwak describes working as a naming consultant—and what’s …