Friday, March 15, 2024
LWV-Downeast
March 15 — Unions and Democracy Take Two
We’ll revisit topics from our show in 2021, talking about the historical and contemporary links between labor organizing and expanding political rights like voting. Is union organizing an important, if not essential, tool in building a vibrant democracy – of people having a voice in their self-governance? What led to the demise of unions over the last half century? What have been the political consequences? Are unions making a comeback? Why is that? What new trends are emerging here in Maine?
If you missed the broadcast, listen from the archive here.
Special guests:
- David Madland, Senior Fellow and senior adviser to the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress
- Arthur Phillips, Economic Policy Analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy
- Cynthia Phinney, President of the Maine AFL-CIO. In 2015, she was the first woman elected to that position and has held the position since.
To learn more about this topic:
- Americans’ views of labor unions | Pew Research Center, February, 2024
- State worker union filing charges against Mills administration over pay gap | WGME, February, 2024
- USPS reschedules meeting on Hampden processing facility | WABI, February, 2024
- Local union president shares concerns about proposed changes to Hampden USPS facility | WABI, January, 2024
- Union membership grew last year, but only 10% of U.S. workers belong to a union | NPR, January, 2024
- Maine’s labor movement sees big shift from small unions | Portland Press Herald, December, 2023
- Maine farmworkers deserve equal rights | Bangor Daily News, Food and Medicine Op-ed, December, 2023
- UMaine System graduate-student workers win union certification | Mainebiz.biz, October, 2023
- Brief: The state of labor organizing in Maine | MECEP, September, 2023
- Why Government Unions—Unlike Trade Unions—Corrupt Democracy | TIME April, 2023
- Chipotle agrees to pay $240 K after closing a store that sought to unionize | CBS, March, 2023
- Chipotle workers in Maine file for chain’s first union election | The Hill, June, 2022
- House sustains veto of bill to allow Maine farm workers to unionize | Maine Public, January, 2022
- Re-Union by David Madland | Hardcover | Cornell University Press, 2021
- Democracy, Union Made, Phil Fishman in The American Interest, September 2007