Tag Archives: Change to Win

My Op-ed on AFL-CIO President Trumka

The McClatchy Newspapers have picked up my op-ed on Richard Trumka, the new AFL-CIO President.  So far it’s run in the Providence (RI) Journal, Buffalo News, Sacramento Bee, the Pittsburgh Tribune and the Bellingham (WA) HeraldAFL CIO.

Here is the introduction:

America’s leading union federation, the AFL-CIO, just elevated longtime Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka to its presidency, replacing the plodding 75-year-old John Sweeney and providing hope that organized labor will finally get the breath of fresh air it has needed for many years.

To reverse labor’s slow descent into irrelevance will require a bold shift by Trumka, ironically perhaps, back to trade unionism’s first principles, including advocacy of “bread and butter” improvements in pay and working conditions and support for workers abroad.

Once before in its long history, American labor found itself socially isolated, facing intransigent employers, feckless politicians and a challenging combination of rapid technological change and a multi-ethnic immigrant workforce.

You can read the rest here.

Are there real unions in China? A debate with labor historians David Brody and Nelson Lichtenstein, labor economist Ken Jacobs and legal scholar Stephen Diamond

I was part of a debate recently with some other academics on labor rights in China. You can listen to it here. It runs about an hour and a half. The other participants were labor historians Nelson Lichtenstein and David Brody and labor economist Ken Jacobs.

The panel was chaired by Dr. Arthur Lipow of the Alameda Public Affairs Forum, which hosted the panel.
A helpful background report by Dan Gallin, former head of the International Union of Foodworkers and now head of the Global Labour Institute, can be found here.
(Note: the discussion followed a showing of China Blue, a terrific documentary on labor conditions in China today.)

China labor debate