Labor's Next Century: New Alliances, Sweatshops and the Global South
An international conference at New York University on the future of post-Seattle alliances, international organizing and the struggle for human rights
April 7-8 at Judson Memorial Church, Washington Square South and Thompson Street
Organized by the NYU Program in American Studies
Co-sponsors: United Students against Sweatshops and the Workers Rights Consortium, the National Labor Committee, UNITE, UAW and the NYU Graduate Student Organizing Committee, People of Faith Network, United Steelworkers of America, Scholars, Artists and Writers for Social Justice, Local 3882-AFT, Global Exchange, the Harvard Trade Union Program, Campaign for Labor Rights, New York State Labor-Religion Coalition, Massachusetts Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, Direct Action Network at NYU, Students for Social Equality at NYU, DSA at NYU, Amnesty International at NYU, NYU Departments of History, Sociology, Anthropology, Institute for Law and Society, Africana Studies, Metropolitan Studies, Center for Gender and Sexuality, and Cinema Studies, Tamiment Library and Wagner Labor Archives at NYU, Impact Visuals, the Nation Institute, and the Ford Foundation
CONFERENCE AGENDA
Friday, April 7, Sanctuary of Judson Church
4:00 p.m. Opening Remarks: Charles Kernaghan, National Labor Committee
4:15 p.m.-5:45--United Students against Sweatshops: Political Directions for the Student Movement
Moderator--Bill Capowski, Center for Campus Organizing
Smriti Rana, USAS Tim Waters, United Steelworkers of America Andy Burns, USAS and 180 Movement for Democracy and Education Representatives from Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and the General Strike Council for UNAM, National Autonomous University of Mexico
5:45--Introductory Comments: Andrew Ross, NYU American Studies
6:00 pm.-8:00--Whose World Is It Anyway? A Nation Institute Roundtable
Moderator--Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation
Thea Lee, AFL-CIO Naomi Klein, author, No Logo Anuradha Mittal, Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy Maritza Paredes, Colectivo de Mujeres Hondurenas (CODEMUH) Doug Henwood, Left Business Observer
Reception in Sanctuary balcony
Saturday, April 8
10:00 a.m.-11:30, Judson Church Sanctuary
Nike: A Case Study in International Strategies
Moderator--Rev. David Dyson, People of Faith Network
Jeff Ballinger, Press for Change Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange Thuyen Nguyen, Vietnam Labor Watch
11:30 a.m.-1:15 p.m., Sanctuary
Hands Across the Global South: Transnational Organizing, Fair Trade and the Living Wage
Moderator--Bob Ross, Clark University
Susan Cowell, UNITE Alice Kwan, Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee Rev. David Schilling, Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility Homero Fuentes, Commission on Verification and Codes of Conduct (COVERCO), Guatemala
1:15-2:15--LUNCH BREAK
2:30 p.m.- 4:00
WORKSHOPS: NYU Main Building, Washington Square East:
Policing the Sweatshop: Strategies for Achieving and Leveraging Disclosure Agreements, Room 706 Main Bldg
Rountable discussion with Kate Pfrodresher, District Council 37 AFSCME and Tom Wheatley, National Labor Committee
Academic Labor and Campus Activism, Room 705 Main Bldg
Moderator:
Roundtable discussion with Randy Martin, Pratt Institute, Josh Schreier, NYU Graduate Student Organizing Committee (GSOC-UAW), Charlie Eaton, NYU Students for Social Equality and representatives of NYU Local 3882-AFT
The Political Economy of Globalization: A Teach-In with Scholars, Artists and Writers for Social Justice, Room 714, Main Bldg
Moderator--Michelle Stephens, Yale University, SAWSJ
Ron Blackwell, AFL-CIO Frances Fox Piven, CUNY Cheryl Payer, author Daniel Seligman, Sierra Club
Building a High School No Sweat Network, Room 713, Main Bldg
Moderators: Lauren Stephens-Davidowitz, Yale-USAS; Dan Hennefeld, UNITE Open meeting for high-school students
4:00 p.m.-6:00, Sanctuary, Judson Church
A Domestic Front: The Shape of New Alliances Moderator--Nikki Bas, Sweatshop Watch
Alexander Cockburn, Co-editor, Counter-Punch Robin D.G. Kelley, New York University Bob Muehlenkamp, Coordinator, 14-union campaign at General Electric Angela Davis, UC Santa Cruz
Closing Comments: Rev. Peter Laarman, Judson Memorial Church, People of Faith Network--Introduced by Kitty Krupat, NYU American Studies
*SATELLITE MEETINGS
Friday, April 7:
11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. (by invitation only): Founding meeting of the International "Worker Rights Consortium for the Enforcement of University Licensing Codes of Conduct"--Sanctuary, Judson Church
11:00 a.m-1:00 p. m.--Colombia Human Rights Network, Judson Church Garden Room at Thompson Street off Washington Square South
4:00 p.m.-6:00 --Northeast Regional Meeting of Students United for a Responsible Global Environment (SURGE), Thompson Student Center, Thompson Street across from Judson Church, Room 200 Series
Saturday, April 8
10:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m.--SURGE meeting, Thompson Student Center Auditorium
For pre-registration: (212) 998-3721. Donations Suggested For more information, see NYU AmericanStudies website: http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/program/amerstu/