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The Future of Work:Connecting Our Fights for
Worker and Economic Justice
Workshop Goals and Agenda
Deepen our ANALYSIS of the Future of Work
Make CONNECTIONS between local and state level campaigns
Share STRATEGY on how to connect these fights
Our main point
The nature of work has changed,
fundamentally and forever
Workers in the US used to take 3 things
for granted
Either way
You can get a job close to home You can get training
In a bad economyYou may lose your job for a while But while you wait you can get
unemployment
In a good economyYou have a job, and a boss If you get enough people together you
can organize for a contract and raise
But there has been a historic shift in the workplace
…and not for the better
Contingent/contract labor
Long-term, structural
unemployment
Linking of global labor
markets
Unsecure, temporary
work
First is a shift in the nature of employment
1/3 Contingent
Share of continent labor is up 50% in last 10 years
This is not a natural phenomenon
…it’s driven by a corporate business model
Walmart hires subcontractor
Subcontractor hires another subcontractor
Subcontractors hire workers
Workers don’t know their real
employer
Walmart profits
Yikes!
…this is not good for workers at all!
1/3 of workers have lost ability to bargain
Wages have declined
Weak U.S. safety net irrelevant
The 1% economy is bad and getting worse for
workers
Organizing corporate supply chains and corporations
With Iowa CCI, Sunflower Community Action, and Fuerza Laboral
Second, the shift in the nature of unemployment
The new normal is long periods of unemployment interrupted by brief employment 40% of the unemployed
have been so for 27 weeks or longer
Rise of Structural Unemployment – from circumstantial to structural and from short-term to long-term
Structural Racism is built into the labor market
Black unemployment• 2 times higher than whites• Lasts three times longer
Latino unemployment• 1.5 times higher than whites
Fighting structural unemployment and racism
With VOCAL-NY, TakeAction Minnesota and AMOS
Third, the linking of local and global labor markets
The only work that will remain can’t be outsourced
11% of the Mexican population lives in the U.S.
Outsourcing will continue to move to India and the Philippines
Here’s another main point
Unless you are in the 1%, then we are all in the same boat and it’s sinking
Fighting for Economic Justice
With Community Voices Heard, Michigan United and Maine People’s Alliance
Three big implications of this analysis
For the Future of Work in America
Expand our
organizing
Re-imagine
the safety
net
Reinvent bargaining with the real boss
There are 3 paths we can take
Keep what we have?
Go back to golden era?
Reimagine the economy Only way forward
Only way forward = build a long-term agenda & new economy
• Take power away from corporations and 1%• Get power for people and public
Structural reforms that change power relations
• Moves away from confronting and petitioning power• To building and taking power
Long-term agenda is about power, not just issues
• Provides direction• Does not provide a map with each step lined out
Long-term agenda is a compass, not a blueprint
• This is an agenda for all progressives• We need to recruit people and groups to join us
NPA’s work is one piece of the puzzle, need allies
• We have to build a lot more power• This means building power differently
We can’t win by doing what we have done before
Building a New Economy
With Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition, IIRON Student Network, and PUSH Buffalo
It’s time to move from defense to offense…and build a new worker movement!
Win structural change
Advance our ideas
Build powerful groups
Connecting Our Fights, Building a Movement
With Gar Alperovitz (Democracy Collaborative), Saket Soni (National Guestworkers Alliance), David Kimball (Center for Community Change), & more
Connecting our fights, building a movement
What are your ideas on how to build a new worker and economic justice movement?