Rewatch Sessions from “The Pandemic Worker Wave”

Protester with caption

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On June 2-3, 2022, the Kalmanovitz Initiative hosted a public forum, “The Pandemic Worker Wave and a New Social Compact.” The event featured two days, ten panels, and over 45 speakers who commented on a wide range of topics including climate, democracy, collective bargaining, immigration, occupational safety, and more. Rewatch all the panels here.

View events including:

“Rethinking Bargaining and Building Worker Power” where Erica Smiley, Director of Jobs with Justice and co-author of The Future We Need, shared that “Democracy is not just a system of political practices; it can be applied to participation and decision making in all aspects of our economic lives…Collective bargaining is fundamental to democratizing the economy…” 

“Why Are So Many Young Workers Organizing?” in which Emrys Adair, Google Fiber worker and Alphabet Workers Union / CWA member said, “Our generation was born into a lot of issues that began decades ago but in our generation have metastasized.  We are disillusioned with…a political framework where it’s hard to change things. We’ve moved on to …unions, where we can more easily make material change…”

“Voting and Democracy in a New Social Compact” in which E.J. Dionne, reporter and co-author of 100% Democracy said that, “Lots of people don’t feel invited into our democracy.  Elections have become like a fancy dinner party with A,B and C lists…” 

“Migration, Climate and the Question of Labor” in which Samantha Smith, director of the Just Transition Centre, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) said, “In the big vision of just transition…we will eradicate poverty, have gender equality, all work will be decent… and you will have rights at work…Everyone will have social protection that covers every single person. There will be truly sustainable economies and societies”

Thank you again to our sponsors, the Hewlett Foundation and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.