People

Amytess Girgis

Research Topic:

Labor Organising in Hard Places: Early-Stage Unionisation and the Starbucks Workers United Campaign
AFFILIATION
College
Keble College
Course
DPhil Politics
supervisor

I am a doctoral candidate in Politics. My research focuses on the political sociology of labour organisation in the United States, particularly in the food service sector and other sectors prone to low rates of trade union membership. I am interested in how precarity exacerbates structural impediments to labour organising in the United States, how those conditions shape the trajectory of worker organisation, and how these trends can inform our understanding of the future of organised labor.

I completed my MPhil in Politics at the University of Oxford in 2023. My thesis explored these themes through the case of Starbucks Workers United, analysing the experience of Starbucks baristas in the early stages of unionisation and bargaining,

My graduate study is supported by the Rhodes Scholarship. Prior to my time at Oxford, I completed a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan, where I was funded by the Penny & Roe Stamps Scholarship.

Research Interests

  • work and labour organisation in the United States
  • precarious work
  • labour and economic inequality
  • industrial relations
  • social movements and political mobilisation
  • qualitative methods