York University’s Global Labour Research Centre will host a talk,”Beyond $15: Immigrant Workers, Faith Activists, and the Revival of the Labour Movement” with Jonathan Rosenblum, labour organizer and author from Seattle, WA.
The event, which runs as part of the Global Labour Speakers Series, takes places Sept. 26 in the Ross Building S802 from 1 to 2:30pm.
Rosenblum will discuss the inside story of the first successful fight for $15. Just outside Seattle, an unlikely alliance of Sea-Tac airport workers, union and community activists, and clergy staged face-to-face confrontations with corporate leaders to unite a diverse, largely immigrant workforce in a struggle over power between airport workers and business and political elites.
This talk will consider lessons from this campaign that may contribute to building a powerful, inclusive labour movement and enable workers to reclaim their power in the contemporary economy.
Rosenblum was campaign director of the SeaTac Airport workers campaign, which he directed for the Service Employees International Union. Prior to SeaTac, he led healthcare organizing campaigns, coordinated multi-union drives in the Seattle area, and was founding organizer of Washington State Jobs With Justice, a labour, faith, student and community coalition organized to fight for the rights of all working people. He played a key role in the historic 2015 re-election of socialist Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant.
Rosenblum also served in leadership positions in multi-faith coalitions, and is a leader in Kadima (Jewish) Reconstructionist Community in Seattle. He has written and spoken extensively about workers and the future of the social justice movement.
To register for the event, visit the EventBrite listing at http://bit.ly/2yw1HvB.
To see more, visit the Facebook event page at www.facebook.com/events/877972779033155/.
All are welcome to attend. The event is co-sponsored by York University’s Departments of Social Science and Sociology, and Osgoode Hall Law School.
For more information about the Global Labour Research Centre, visit www.yorku.ca/glrc.