"We were organized to do a job for working people. We were organized to fight for unity and understanding. We were organized to try to bring people together so that they can struggle together, without any distinctions of race, creed, color or religious or political faith."

About

Throughout each academic year, the Bridges Center hosts many events, conferences, and other Labor Studies programs.

Center events and programs provide a unique point of connection for Labor Studies scholars, students and community members.

Many of these events produce media, including video, audio, written papers, and more.

Good, Green Jobs Conference

June 21st, 2008

In 1999, labor leaders and environmentalists, united by their common opposition to the policies of the World Trade Organization, came together to form the Blue-Green Alliance. On June 21st, 2008 at the University of Washington, the Blue-Green Alliance brought these two groups together again, this time with a common vision, for the Good, Green Jobs conference.

Co-hosted by the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, the conference posed the question of working people in new "green" industries. From the carpenters and plumbers who renovate houses to meet environmental standards, to the roofers who install solar-panels, to the many other trades and professions: how can these green-industry jobs benefit the working class, and pay good, family-supporting wages?

Political officials attended the conference to lend their support, including Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire, State representative Jay Inslee, and King County Executive Ron Sims.

Streaming video:

• Good, Green Jobs Conference - Part 1
  Welcome by Professor James Gregory
  Morning address by King County Executive Ron Sims
  Panel discussion, "Ahead of the Curve: Washington State's Clean Energy and Green Jobs"

• Good, Green Jobs Conference - Part 2
  Introduction by WA State Labor Council President Rick Bender
  Keynote address by Governor Chris Gregoire

Streaming video courtesy of TVW. For information on how to order your own copy of the conference on DVD, visit the TVW website, or contact the Bridges Center at pcls@u.washington.edu.

Co-sponsors:

Washington State Labor Council, Martin Luther King, Jr. County Labor Council, Worker Center (AFL-CIO), United Steelworkers, SPEEA, Sierra Club, Climate Solutions, NW Energy Coalition, Puget Sound Energy, and McKinstry Co.

Conference on Caring Labor

May 20 & 21, 2005

As part of the Bridges Center's Caring Labor initiative, a conference was held at the UW, Seattle campus on May 20 & 21, 2005. The keynote speaker was Nancy Folbre, economist from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The conference brought together researchers, practitioners and activists from fifteen universities, three countries, and ten community organizations and unions to give papers and presentations about social policy, labor activism, and historical and political research in this rich area.

The conference resulted in a special issue of the journal Politics and Society, which provided major support for the conference. That issue came out in March of 2006 and the articles in it can be read and downloaded by going to http://pas.sagepub.com/ and finding the March 2006 issue in their on-line archive.

Featured papers:

• Demanding Quality: Worker/Consumer Coalitions and "High Road" Strategies in the Care Sector
  Dr. Nancy Folbre, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• Making "Choices" in Home Care: What Will an Increased "Choice" Mean for Employment and Service Provision?
  Claire Frew, Queen Mary, University of London
• Agitation and Control: A Tactical Analysis of the Campaign Against New Jersey's Quality Home Care Act
  Patrice Mareschal, Rutgers University

Co-sponsors:

Politics and Society, The Institute on Poverty and Inequality, the Institute on Inequality and Social Structure/UW, The Center for Research on Families, Women's Studies/UW, Canadian Studies/UW Jackson School, and Sociology/UW.

Participants also included members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 925 and 1199NW, the American Federation of Teachers, the Economic Opportunity Institute, and the Poverty Action Network.

Organizing Our Futures:
Labor, Knowledge and the Economy

October 13 & 14, 2006

With rapidity never before seen, new knowledge and innovation are reshaping work and the economy in the 21st Century. The integration of biotechnology, robotics and telecommunications will sharply reduce the demand for repetitive, dangerous, or otherwise programmable labor.

So far, less-skilled workers have borne the brunt of these changes as their opportunities and income have declined. But so-called "knowledge workers" — those who diagnose, solve or broker solutions to complex problems — now realize that they too can be made technologically obsolescent or replaced more readily by low-wage workers in the global labor market. New employment opportunities in service areas may replace current work, but the attractiveness of such jobs depends upon a distribution of income that enables workers to share in the wealth made possible by new knowledge and technology.

Some, like Thomas Friedman, argue that education is the critical ingredient that will empower and prepare knowledge workers for these changes. Others argue that education and human resource policies are window dressing that side step the need for more fundamental labor-driven reorganization of our economy.

Background Information:

• The Road to Good Jobs
  Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect
• Labor pains: The role of the worker in a technological age
  Daniel Jacoby, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Bothell
• Knowledge and the Economy: Why labor must work with educators
  Daniel Jacoby, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Bothell
• Thoughts on the Engineer of 2020: An Early 21st Century (Aerospace) Industry Perspective
  John H. McMasters, Technical Fellow, The Boeing Company

Co-sponsors:

American Federation of Teachers, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 174, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Microsoft Corporation, Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (IFPTE Local 2001), University Bookstore, Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, Communications Workers of America, Local 37083

This lecture series at the University of Washington evaluated several of the Latin American governments that are challenging the U.S.-led neo-liberal world order, which emerged following the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the Soviet Union itself in the years 1989-90.

Although all these governments have opposed, to one degree or another, the neo-liberal precepts of unrestricted free trade and foreign investment, privatization of many government activities, and rollbacks in social welfare programs, the origins of these governments and their relationships with the organized labor movements in their countries are in fact quite different. By examining the role of organized labor and working people generally in these regimes, this series took a hard look at the so-called "Leftist" turn in Latin American politics.

We are pleased to be able to present some of the excellent work done by students from the class in response to the lecture series.

April 19th, 2007
"Re-thinking Revolution and Reaction: Bolivia and Colombia in Historical Context," Forrest Hylton, New York University

• Breaking the Imposed Silence on Neoliberalism: The Voice of Democracy
  Jennifer Claar
• Bolivia and Colombia: Neoliberal Comparitive
  Lily Lema-Hallauer
• Comparative essay on Brazil, Venezuela, and Bolivia
  Anne Housekeeper

April 26th, 2007
"Brazil's President as Working Class Fox: Lula from Trade Unionism to the Presidency," John French, Duke University

• From the Periphery to President: The Legend of Lula
  Jennifer Claar
• Noted Brazilianist Gives Talk on Brazil's Lula
  Lily Lema-Hallauer
• Trapped in the Neoliberal System: John French's take on Lula – from Union to Presidency
  Stephanie von Wogau

May 3rd, 2007
"Anti-neoliberalism in Venezuela and its Implications for the Labor Movement," Steve Ellner, Universidad de Oriente, Venezuela (Watch On-Line)

• The Transformation of Hugo Chavez: From Anti-Neoliberalism to Socialism
  Jennifer Claar
• Chavez is not Castro
  Stephanie von Wogau

May 10th, 2007:
"Indigenous Movements in Evo's Bolivia - In Search of Roots," Brooke Larson, SUNY Stoney Brook

• Bolivia's Indigenous Past and Present
  Lily Lema-Hallauer
• The Rise of Indigenous Political Influence in Latin America
  Anne Housekeeper

May 17th, 2007:
"From Revolution to Reform: The Socialists and the Workers' Movement in Chile from Allende to Bachelet," Paul Drake, UC San Diego

• The Latin American Endorsement of the Neoliberal Order
  Jennifer Claar

In May 2009, the Bridges Center co-sponsored two events with author and labor activist Bill Fletcher, Jr. The first took place on May 20 at the Seattle Labor Temple. The second took place at Seattle's University Bookstore.

Co-author of Solidarity Divided (UC Press, 2008), Fletcher is co-founder of the Center for Labor Renewal, a columnist, and a long-time activist. He served as President of TransAfrica Forum and was formerly the Education Director and later Assitant to the President of the AFL-CIO.

Streaming video:

• Solidarity Divided Reading and Discussion
  May 21, 2009, University Bookstore, Seattle, WA

Streaming video courtesy of TVW. For information on how to order your own copy of the event on DVD, visit the TVW website, or contact the Bridges Center at pcls@u.washington.edu.

Co-sponsors:

Martin Luther King, Jr. County Labor Council, National AFGE, AFGE 11th District, and AFGE 3937.

The Bridges Center kicked off the 2009 Year of Washington State Labor Heritage with an event commemorating 90 years since the 1919 Seattle General Strike. Union members, scholars, students, musicians and others convened for an exciting program remebering the events of 1919 and exploring their legacy.

Labor scholars including Howard Kimeldorf (University of Michigan), Robert Cherny (San Francisco State), and Rob Rosenthal (Wesleyan University) provided background on the Seattle strike and the larger labor movement it was a part of. Musical performances by the Anti-Fascist Marching Band, Jess Grant, and the Seattle Labor Chorus gave the event a celebratory atmosphere. Finally, a panel on immigration rights and organizing facilitated by Rosalinda Guillen ended the day with an important look towards the future.

Attendence at the event surpassed all expectations, and remained standing-room only for most of the day. All in all, people cherished the oppurtunity to recognize the achivements of the labor movement and learn from its legacies in order to grow into the future.

Streaming video:

• Overview of the 1919 General Strike and the day's festivities
  James Gregory, Bridges Chair
  13 minutes (Starts at 1:53, ends at 14:40)

• The Historical Legacies of the IWW and Workers Control
  Howard Kimeldorf, Sociology, University of Michigan
  28 minutes

• Music and the Seattle General Strike
  Rob Rosenthal, Sociology, Wesleyan University
  18 minutes

Streaming video courtesy of Pepperspray Productions. For information on how to order your own copy of the event on DVD, visit the Pepperspray Productions website, or contact the Bridges Center at pcls@u.washington.edu.

Streaming audio:

• Overview of the 1919 General Strike and the day's festivities
  KBCS 91.3, One World Report, Tom Harrimmen, Mp3, 6min
• Lecture: "The Historical Legacies of the IWW and Workers Control," Prof. Howard Kimeldorf
  KEXP 90.3, Mind Over Matters, Mike McCormick, Mp3, 26min
• Interview: "The Lost History of the Seattle/Seiatel Commune," Prof. Robert W. Cherny
  KEXP 90.3, Mind Over Matters, Mike McCormick, Mp3, 28min

Co-sponsors:

Pacific Northwest Labor History Association, Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. County Labor Council

During Black History Month 2008, Reverend James Lawson visited Tacoma, WA to engage in scholarly work and dialogue with students, faculty and the religious and labor community.

Activists and scholars of the civil rights movement know Lawson as one of its most influential figures, and he is also one of the most profound labor advocates in the church. Speaking to Lawson is the closest most of us will ever come to speaking with Martin Luther King, Jr., who called him the leading theorist of nonviolence in the United States.

Rev. Lawson worked as King's educational director and taught nonviolent direct action to start the student sit-in movement, the freedom rides, and campaigns in Birmingham and Chicago and Memphis, where King died in 1968.

Streaming video:

The latest version of Flash Player is required to view these videos.

• Where Do We Go From Here?
  Forty Years Since Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Shiloh Baptist Church, February 25, 2008

In this talk, Rev. Lawson applies Dr. King's principles to the present day, and discussed the prospects of the civil rights movement in a 21st century filled with war and conflict.

• Dialogue on Philosophy and Practice of Nonviolence
  University of Washington, Tacoma, February 27, 2008

In this talk, Rev. Lawson discusses how nonviolence can be used to put young people and others on a path toward life-long pursuit of justice and personal fulfillment, to end war and create a better world.

Co-sponsors:

Associated Ministries; Black Student Union – UW Tacoma; Fred and Dorothy Haley Professorship – UW Tacoma; A. Philip Randolph Institute – Tacoma Chapter; Tacoma Ministerial Alliance; and the UW Graduate Program – Walker-Ames Scholar.