For many, the difficulties posed by COVID-19 came with a dose of gratitude for essential workers and those who keep us fed, our families housed and our children educated. It’s their work that maintains our infrastructure, keeps the lights on and produces this paper you’re reading now.

In this impact issue, we examine the rights and realities of employees in the university and city, especially in light of an ongoing pandemic. We discuss athletes as laborers and consider the representation of workers in various artistic mediums. Online, blog writers provide insight on the importance of hiring international students and the effects of pesticides on agricultural workers. 

Ultimately, much of what we take for granted — our economy, our infrastructure, our knowledge, material and immaterial aspects of our society — is created through thankless and unnoticed labor. Without workers, we have nothing.