*Featuring*
BASIL SMIKLE, PhD
Political Commentator at CNN and MSNBC; Faculty at Columbia University; Former Executive Director of the New York State Democratic Party; Former Distinguished Lecturer in Urban Studies, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
Date: Fri, February 21, 2020
Time: 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM EST
Location: CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, 25 West 43rd Street, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10036
Featuring:
Moderator:
Doors open at 8:30am. A light breakfast will be served.
Given the especially high stakes of the 2020 election, the need for broad and unobstructed voter participation could not be greater. Yet the past decade has seen a plethora of legal curtailments on voting rights. Since 2010, 25 states have adopted strict photo ID requirements, curbs on early voting, and voter registration restrictions that have all served to gut the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a major win of the Civil Rights movement. Finally, the perennial challenge of voter turnout still exists – over 25% of eligible voters are unregistered, and only 50% of registered voters are expected to vote, making the prospects for a truly democratic election in 2020 very concerning.
What lessons can be gleaned from a long history of heroic efforts to ensure equal voting opportunities and rights for all? What are advocates, unions, and other activists doing to combat voter suppression and promote voter registration and turnout in the upcoming election? What should be the top legislative priorities of a more progressive, post-2020 federal government to strengthen our democracy by expanding the vote?
When: December 13th, 2019 @ 5:30pm
Where: SLU CUNY, 25 W. 43rd St., New York, NY 18th Fl.
Join us for crisp cider, homemade cookies, and ornament crafts for our community tree! Happy holidays!
Tue, December 3, 2019
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
25 West 43rd Street, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10036
Featured speakers:
Maribel Hernandez-Rivera – District Director for U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Deepak Bhargava – Distinguished Lecturer in Urban Studies, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies (SLU)
Muzaffar Chishti – Director of the Migration Policy Institute at NYU Law
Moderator: Ruth Milkman, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies (SLU)
What should be the top immigration policy priorities of a new Democratic administration, assuming an election win in 2020? What are the labor market, social, and political impacts of merit-based vs. more humanitarian immigration streams? What are the various impacts of these two streams on the labor movement and working-class communities? What are the various political and economic interests influencing the growth of the deportation and detention industry? In what different ways are U.S. communities and jobs dependent on this industry? What are the key political distinctions among pro-immigration forces? Should the mass decriminalization of migrants and refugees be at the top of an immigration reform agenda? As war and climate change promise to accelerate this world-wide migratory trend, what policy framework should organized labor and social justice movements support?
FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED
Events are free and open to all, but due to space constraints registration is requested. We generally overbook to ensure a full house. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. After the event starts all registered seats are released regardless of registration, so we recommend that you arrive early. Light refreshments will be served.
AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING
Programs are photographed and recorded by the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies for educational purposes. Attending this event indicates your consent to possibly being filmed and photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image by the School.
PRESS
Please email all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc.) at least 24 hours before the day of the program to events@slu.cuny.edu. Please note that professional photography and video recordings are prohibited without expressed consent.
PRIVACY POLICY
No spam, ever. Your email address will only be used by the event sponsors to communicate with you about this event and upcoming public programs.
ACCESSIBILITY
This venue has an elevator and is accessible for wheelchair users. There is an all-gender restroom on site. Simultaneous translation into other languages is not available for this event.
On Friday, November 15th, SLU hosted a Labor Forum on the future of labor rights. 135 people attended to hear how the labor movement can fight for workers’ rights and protections while the Trump administration continues to attempt to roll them back.
Featured speakers included:
Although union density is near an all-time low, labor activism has surged in many sectors. From adjunct faculty to video game developers, digital media workers, platform app drivers, and public school teachers, labor movement activism is growing in a number of key sectors. This is happening as many full-time jobs with benefits are disappearing, consumer/student debt is skyrocketing, the “gig economy” is expanding, and economic insecurity is increasing for American workers and families. Housing and child care costs – which heavily impact workers’ income, wealth, and health – have also become more burdensome for many families. Under President Trump, a number of worker rights and protections have been weakened or denied, including:
• No movement toward federal minimum wage increase
• Weak overtime protections for salaried workers
• Allowing employers to self-report wage violations and escape penalties • Siding with employers against rights of gay and transgender workers
• (Mis)classifying Uber drivers and others as independent contractors, denying them basic rights
• Continuing ‘Right-to-Work’ efforts kickstarted by Supreme Court’s Janus decision
• Restricting workers’ right to organize at franchised businesses like McDonald’s
• De-funding and weakening OSHA
What should be Democrats’ top policy priorities to strengthen all workers’ rights? What are the most significant gaps and weaknesses in protections for worker organizing and economic rights today? ‘Right-to-work’ laws? Legal constraints against strikes and other worker actions? Minimum wage? The growing numbers of workers who fall outside the protections of the NLRA? Lack of livable safety net benefits for displaced and underemployed workers? Lack of protections for flex/gig workers? What new policies would best promote stronger worker protections and greater economic justice?
The exhibition runs through January 12th at the Queens Museum located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Click here for more information.
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