Was Live Friday, Jul 28, 2023 | 11 am PT
Guest Speakers
- California State Senator Maria Elena Durazo, 26th District. Former labor leader and the first woman Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
- Nelson Lichtenstein, Research Professor in the Department of History at UCSB, where he directs the Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy
- Ada Briceño, Co-President, UNITE HERE Local 11
- Lucero Ramirez, A hotel worker participating in walkouts
- Jorge Rivera, Vice-Chair of the Latinx Writers Committee, WGAW/TV Writer and Producer
- Professor Emeritus Harley Shaiken, Geography and Education, UC Berkeley. He started as a factory worker, went into organizing, and then, academics
Related News Report
Event Overview
The writer and actors strike that has paralyzed Hollywood is part of the ongoing “hot labor summer,” and, according to an expert we have on today’s panel, has become the biggest moment for strikes since the 1970s.
In Los Angeles, Hotel and Restaurant workers are holding rolling walkouts. At the same time, United Parcel Services Inc. unions just reached a “historic agreement” to avoid a massive strike. If negotiations fail, Detroit’s Big Three automakers will likely join in the coming weeks. Amazon and Starbucks workers have tried to unionize and make some gains.
The bottom line for most of these actions is pay and benefits in a moment of soaring corporate profits, high inflation, and a larger question: why can’t much of corporate America appropriately compensate their workers and professionals? And how should workers fight the threat that Artificial Intelligence will take their job?
Our panelists will provide the front-line view of striking workers and the point of view of labor experts on the larger issue at stake.
