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?