The quest to improve conditions for working people during and after the COVID-19 pandemic was the focus of a four-day online convention, “Constructing a New Social Compact: A Public Forum on Empowering the Post-pandemic Working Class,” held April 28–May 1.Nearly 1,200 participants attended the convening, which featured three plenary sessions, twenty-five panels, and 150 presenters from five continents. Attendees heard and discussed issues aimed at reconstructing a social compact in ways that are fairer and more inclusive. Among the topics discussed were the future of workers and democracy, immigration, climate change, the care economy, and approaches to bargaining for the common good.An arts event included an online screening of Union Time: Fighting for Workers’ Rights, a documentary on the successful organizing of a Smithfield Foods pork-processing plant, and a question-and-answer session with Union Time director Matthew Barr and Gene Bruskin, former director of the Justice@Smithfield organizing campaign.Presenters included Sharan Burrow, the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation; Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants; Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers; Mary Kay Henry, SEIU president; LAWCHA president Will Jones; J. J. Rosenbaum, executive director, Global Labor Justice; Ai-Jen Poo, executive director, National Domestic Workers Alliance; William Spriggs, chief economist, AFL-CIO; Sarita Gupta and Rebecca Coakley of the Ford Foundation; and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY).Conceptualized by the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University and developed by an organizing committee of roughly forty representatives from academia, labor, faith, and nonprofit organizations, the New Social Compact project envisions building a stronger, more durable social compact for workers in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is designed to bring together representatives of various groups to discuss shortcomings of the safety net that exists in most nations and conceive of how that safety net can be improved, in ways that help the working class and avoid barriers to people based on gender, race, or class. From these discussions, the NSC organizers plan to build coalitions of leaders and activists with the purpose of creating change in communities—local, regional, national, and global.Major crises, such as wars, depressions, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic “create windows where major changes that once seemed unthinkable are possible,” said Lane Windham, associate director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative. The NSC project, Windham said, is an effort to bring together people to think about, and propose, ways to change or even replace the current social compact.In the United States, much of that compact dates to the New Deal and World War II and is largely based around employment. Unfortunately, that safety net also excluded large swaths of people—mainly women and Black and Brown workers who worked in economic sectors not addressed by the compact. That compact has weakened, especially in the past half century, as employers sidestepped their responsibilities, aided by laws, including labor laws, that were too weak to protect workers or force the private sector to abide by its duties.“The pandemic has forced a national reckoning that's been years in the making,” said Henry, the SEIU director, adding that multiple crises triggered by the pandemic—including loss of jobs, healthcare, and housing—are affecting communities, but especially Black communities and communities of color.Henry added that workers, employers, and government all have duties to help create a new social compact. Employers of all sizes, especially the wealthiest and most powerful, and government must value the work performed by workers, particularly service and care workers, in part through the elimination of poverty wages. Workers also need a voice at work, including greater freedom to unionize and bargain collectively.“All of us, no matter what our race or where we come from, want the same things: health, safety, security, a fair chance at a decent life, a better future for our families, and that creating a new social compact has to be grounded in a shared analysis that those basic things are only possible [now] for a very few in America,” she said.Rev. Alvin Herring, executive director of Faith in Action, added that he saw “a new kind of social theology” in the massive protests nationwide following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. He described this new change as a theology predicated on justice, equity, respect for the planet, and an understanding of the moral underpinnings of human societies. “If we are to build a new social compact, we'll have to have a moral discussion in this country,” he said.The New Social Compact project plans more meetings and gatherings over the coming years that it anticipates will lead to greater networking, coalition-building, and further actions to shape social policy. Additional information on the New Social Compact, as well as recordings of all the sessions, are available at lwp.georgetown.edu.
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Apr 19, 2022
Prima Dewi Pratiwi + 1
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