Bookforum at The New School: Getting to Work – Labor Issues in the 21st Century

The economic crisis has raised fundamental questions about how income is generated and what constitutes work that is both dignified and secure. Is there such a thing as a “postindustrial economy” and what does that mean for working Americans? Can we prosper without a vital manufacturing base? Is the global free market a fatally compromised myth, and if so, what is the alternative? Bookforum, in conjunction with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, presents a discussion to question how work has changed, how it will be defined in the coming years, and how it can be fairly rewarded in an era of changing standards.

After years of business deregulation, American workers have little or no representation. The government serves business at the highest levels, covering debt and protecting shareholders while the labor unions vanish, disparaged as anachronistic in the new corporate culture, leaving American workers without security or benefits. As Americans come to resemble their counterparts in those countries where we’ve exported so many jobs, must the workers of the world unite? Or are they doomed to compete?

How will the government’s efforts to renew the American economy translate into jobs, and will those jobs be secure? What standards will apply for people seeking “green” employment and who are the employers? And can America hope to reinvent its economy without an overhaul of its educational system, particularly in math and science? Assuming the answer is no, what will sustain us in the meantime?

American culture remains one of our greatest exports. New York and Los Angeles depend on it. But can we live solely on art and music, fashion and film? Is that possible without the support of a wealthy and confident public? Without Wall Street’s excess, can New York continue to employ its many thousands of people working in the arts?

Presented as part of the Vera List Center’s 2009/2010 program cycle “Speculating on Change.”

Moderator
Chris Lehmann, Senior Editor, Bookforum

Panelists
Kim Bobo, director of Interfaith Worker Justice, long-time advocate for workers’ rights, and author of Wage Theft in America: Why Millions of Working Americans Are Not Getting Paid-And What We Can Do About It

Thomas Frank, Essayist, founder and editor of The Baffler, Wall Street Journal columnist and author of What’s the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America

Tom Geoghegan, Chicago-based labor lawyer, politician and author of Which Side Are You On?: Trying to Be For Labor When It’s Flat On Its Back

Andrew Ross, chair of the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University and author of Nice Work If You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times