Worker Organizations Respond to the COVID-19 Crisis - Job Quality in Practice Webinar

The global pandemic and economic aftermath place us in a time of unprecedented uncertainty with respect to our work and well-being. Frontline workers are bearing an excessive burden. Despite the vital roles they play in keeping our economy moving, they are underpaid, overworked, and lacking essential health protections. And frontline worker roles are disproportionately filled by women and people of color, further exacerbating the divides of race, ethnicity, and gender. A pre-crisis wave of worker activism—among tech workers, teachers, and others—was responding to already challenging working conditions for millions. As crisis conditions are now threating the livelihoods and lives of millions of workers, will this wave of activism accelerate? In earlier eras, worker organizations played critical roles in improving the quality of work—are we in a similar moment? In this session we hear from leaders with long experience in organizing working people to tell their story, raise their voice and build the power to demand better. The panel includes Amanda Ream (Strategic Campaign Director, United Domestic Workers of America/AFSCME; Job Quality Fellow, The Aspen Institute); Michelle Miller (Co-Founder and Co-Director, Coworker.org); Tanya Wallace-Gobern (Executive Director, National Black Worker Center Project; Job Quality Fellow, The Aspen Institute); and moderator Maureen Conway (Vice President for Policy Programs, The Aspen Institute; Executive Director, Economic Opportunities Program). This webinar is the fifth in our Job Quality in Practice webinar series. The Job Quality in Practice series is designed to support practitioners across fields – including workforce development, economic development, capital deployment, policy, worker advocacy, and business – to address job quality in their work. Webinars share actionable tools and approaches, highlight leading practitioners’ work, and create connections across disciplines. We are grateful to Prudential Financial for its support of our Job Quality in Practice webinar series and our ongoing efforts to advance a job quality field of practice. The Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. We recognize that race, gender, and place intersect with and intensify the challenge of economic inequality and we address these dynamics by advancing an inclusive vision of economic justice. For over 25 years, EOP has focused on expanding individuals’ opportunities to connect to quality work, start businesses, and build economic stability that provides the freedom to pursue opportunity. For more information, visit our website at as.pn/eop. Learn about new events and activities by joining our mailing list (as.pn/eopmail) and following us on social media (as.pn/eopsocial).