The State of the Unions, with Steven Greenhouse in Conversation with Inara de Leon

The State of the Unions, Steven Greenhouse Conversation with Inara de Leon

February 6, 2024 @ 10:30-11:45am

In the wake of punishing strikes recently settled by the United Auto Workers’ Union, SAGAFTRA and the Writers Guild of America, and the promising union wins at Starbucks and Amazon – where is America’s labor movement today? Steven, an award-winning former New York Times journalist, is an expert on labor and workplace issues. Author of several books on America’s workers and labor unions, his most recent one is Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor. The Washington Post called it “an invaluable read for anyone interested in understanding one of the more shameful aspects of America’s status quo: the persistence of a working poor who… work far harder than the rest of us yet live in a state of perpetual economic uncertainty, if not outright destitution.” Unions are not always heroic, Steven says, plagued in some cases by poor leadership, corruption and lack of vision. This session looks at the labor landscape today: the impressive contracts unions won, and unionization efforts at other major chains like Trader Joe’s and many other workplaces. Are the wins a harbinger of a new golden age for unions? How much does the tight labor market contribute to the recent successes? It also examines workplace issues like diversity, sexual harassment and wage violations. Inara is a former WNBC producer of politics..