Jane LaTour

Jane Ellen LaTour (May 3, 1946 – April 3, 2023) was an American labor activist, educator, and journalist in New York City who advocated union democracy and documented the role of women in traditionally male-dominated trades. Efn|Born with the surname "Latour", she started capitalizing the "T" after becoming a professional writer. A two-time recipient of the Mary Heaton Vorse Award for labor journalism, she was an associate editor for Public Employee Press, the publication of District 37 of AFSCME, and contributed to numerous other publications. She later wrote that it was not until 1976 that she first learned about Rosie the Riveter and the role of women working in shipyards during World War II. Over the years, she worked in a printing plant; in pharmaceutical and electronics assembly lines for companies such as Hewlett-Packard; and in warehouses. and apprenticed as a building superintendent and painter/renovator. Her experience in industrial action included leading walkouts at a factory in Philadelphia to protest the lack of heating, and participating in a Teamster-sanctioned wildcat strike at United Parcel Service in Edison, New Jersey.

In addition, LaTour contributed to numerous other publications, including academic journals such as Labor's Heritage, Labor History, and The Journal of Labor and Society, as well as magazines and websites such as CounterPunch, LaborPress, The Indypendent, Z Magazine, and Znet. Based on oral history interviews, the book focuses on rank-and-file activism within unions and the limits of union reform.

Honors and awards LaTour was a two-time recipient of the Mary Heaton Vorse Award, the top journalism honor given by the Metro New York Labor Communications Council. In 2007, she was recognized for her "Poverty Fighters" series on the growth of poverty in New York City, and the actions of DC 37 members in helping those in need.

In November 2012, LaTour received the John Commerford Labor Education Award from the New York Labor History Association , and was honored alongside Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary.

Backroom Bargaining: Racketeering and Rebellion in New York City's Labor Unions. Champaign: University of Illinois Press. 2026.

Articles "Putting Labor on the Map: The New York State Project". Labor's Heritage 10 (3). Spring/Summer 1999. "Live! From New York: Women Construction Workers in Their Own Words". Labor History 42 (2). May 2001. "Looking for a Fire Department That Looks Like New York". Gotham Gazette. December 3, 2001. "The Uncompensated Costs of Electricity". WorkingUSA 5 (4). Spring 2002. "In Their Own Words: Insurgents and the Limits of Reform in Organized Labor". WorkingUSA 16 (2). June 2013.