Welcome

Sara Gia Trongone

Welcome! I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Labor Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. My research focuses on labor unions and political economy in the U.S.

My work brings theory to bear on practical questions about how workers win social, economic, and political power; the conditions under which those wins spread or scale; and what induces social movement organizations to coordinate.

My dissertation and published papers identify patterns in strategic decision making within the American labor movement and theorize the structural and cultural factors that enable marginalized actors to reimagine what worker organizations do and whom they fight for. My research has been published in Mobilization and Work and Occupations.

I received my PhD in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before starting my doctoral program, I received a master’s degree from the NYU Steinhardt School of Education, focusing on critical pedagogy, and worked as a labor and community organizer in NYC. I’m a proud member of UAW Local 2322 (PRO), past co-President of AFT Local 3220 (TAA), and an Advanced Organizer and Trainer for the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC). I love talking shop about how to build a multiracial and intersectional working-class movement.