Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice
“The Crisis of Organized Labor and Possibilities of Renewal”
Tuesday, February 24, 4pm, 206 Ingraham Hall
Open Seminar: “The November 2008 Elections and the Challenges for a Progressive Movement”
Wednesday, February 25, 11am, 5243 Humanities
“Strangers in a Strange Land: African American-Immigrant Tensions and the Potential for Unity in the 21st Century”
Wednesday, February 25, 4pm, 8417 Social Science
“Progressives and the Possibilities for Renewing the Labor Movement”
Wednesday, February 25, 7pm, Madison Labor Temple, 1602 S. Park St., Room 109
Co-sponsored by the UW Global Studies Program and the Comparative US Studies Collective.
BILL FLETCHER, JR., is the Director of Field Services & Education for the American Federation of Government Employees. He also serves as the executive editor of BlackCommentator.com (www.blackcommentator.com). Prior to joining AFGE, Fletcher was the Belle Zeller Visiting Professor at Brooklyn College-City University of New York. From January 2002 through April 2006 he served as the President and chief executive officer of TransAfrica Forum, a national non-profit organization organizing, educating and advocating for policies in favor of the peoples of Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. Previously, Fletcher served as Education Director and later Assistant to the President of the AFL-CIO. His union staff experience also included the Service Employees International Union, the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, District 65-United Auto Workers in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America. Fletcher has authored numerous articles published in a variety of books, newspapers and magazines. He is the co-author, with Fernando Gapasin, of the book Solidarity Divided (University of California Press, 2008) which examines the crisis of organized labor in the United States. He is also the co-author of the pictorial booklet, The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1934-1941.
Readings:
Fletcher, Bill. Ch. 1 “Dukin’ It Out” in Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 2008.
Fletcher, Bill. Ch.19 “Realizing Social Justice Unionism: Strategies for Transformation”.Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 2008.
Fletcher, Bill. Ch. 17 “The Need for Social Justice Unionism” in Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 2008.
Fletcher, Bill Ch 18 “The Need for a Global Outlook” in Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 2008.