Conference: Advancing Well-Being and Power Among Low-Wage Workers

Register at http://bit.ly/PERIWorkerPowerConf

This three-day conference will feature presentations by a range of labor organizers, policymakers and researchers. The speakers will present local, national, and international perspectives on questions of advancing well-being and power among low-wage workers.

Download conference flyer

AGENDA

Thursday, November 2

Session 1: Plenary Session, 5:00 pm

Successes and Challenges in Organizing Low-Wage Workers: The Coalition of Immokalee Workers Model in Agriculture

Speaker: Lupe Gonzalo, Coalition of Immokalee Workers
(Translated from Spanish by Marley Monacello, Coalition of Immokalee Workers)

Discussant: Patrick Mason, PERI

Moderator: Robert Pollin, PERI

 

Friday, November 3

Session 2: 9:30 – 11:30 am

Approaches to Organizing, Policy-Setting and Action-Focused Research

Speakers:

Greg Asbed, Coalition of Immokalee Workers

Thea Lee, U.S. Labor Department

Maggie Gray, Adelphi University

Jen Sherer, Economic Policy Institute

Moderator: Patrick Mason

 

Session 3: 12:30 – 2:30 pm

Defending and Expanding Workers Rights in Organizing and on the Job

Speakers:

Laura Safer Espinoza, Fair Foods Standards Council

James Brudney, Fordham University

Claudia Quintero, Migrant and Seasonal
   Farmworkers Project

Lily Huang, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice

Moderator: Lenore Palladino, PERI

 

Session 4: 3:00 – 5:00 pm

International Perspectives on Organizing Workers

Speakers:

Seema Kulkarni, MAKAAM (Forum For Women Farmers’ Rights, India)

Lynda Pickbourn, Mt. Holyoke College, PERI

Jess Sparks, Tufts University

Liana Foxvog, Workers’ Rights Consortium & UMass Amherst

Moderator: Jayati Ghosh, PERI

 

Saturday, November 4

Session 5: 9:00 – 10:30 am

Perspectives on Fighting Inequality

Speakers:

Fernando Lozano, Claremont College

Kyle K. Moore, Economic Policy Institute

Janice Fine, Rutgers University

Moderator: Gerald Epstein, PERI

 

Session 6: 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Advances and Challenges in Organizing Campaigns

Speakers:

Claudia Rosales, Pioneer Valley Workers Center

Anna Canning, Worker-Driven Social Responsibility Network

Kate Paarlberg-Kvam, Vermont Milk with Dignity
Standards Council

Keith Bullard, Union of Southern Service Workers

Moderator: Jeannette Wicks-Lim, PERI

 

Session 7: 1:15 – 2:30 pm

General informal wrap-up discussion over lunch

Moderators: Patrick Mason and Robert Pollin, PERI

 

For more information, contact Nicole Dunham at .