"Building coalitions" is the theme for Union Days 2000, which will be the backdrop for the visit of Kent Wong, an Asian American labor activist of national stature, to Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations next week.
Wong, the Alice B. Grant Labor Leader in Residence at the ILR School, will deliver a public lecture Wednesday, March 29, in the Colbert Auditorium, 105 Ives Hall, 1:30-2:45 p.m. He also will take part in a Union Days panel discussion and will meet with students in several ILR and Asian American studies classes during his four-day visit this March as labor leader in residence.
Wong was president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance from 1992 to 1997 and was a moving force in the creation of APALA as an AFL-CIO constituency group for Asian American unionists. He still serves on the organization's executive committee. He currently is the director of the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education and president of the University and College Labor Education Association. He also is a member of the American Federation of Teachers' National Civil and Human Rights Committee and serves on the board of trustees of the George Meany Center for Labor Studies. He served on the U.S. Department of Labor Task Force on Public Sector Labor Management Cooperation from 1994 to 1996.
As part of Union Days 2000, March 29-31, the ILR School will host the visit of another nationally prominent activist and labor supporter, the Rev. Nelson Johnson, a religious and civil rights leader from Greensboro, N.C. Johnson was instrumental in building the coalition to support the UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees) campaign to win its initial union contract at Kmart Distribution Center in Greensboro. Johnson will be a guest speaker in a class taught by James Turner, Cornell professor of Africana studies and, along with Wong, will take part in a panel discussion, "Building Coalitions, Uniting for Change," that echoes the theme of this year's Union Days.
The panel, which will be Thursday, March 30, 1:30-3 p.m. in 105 ILR Conference Center on Garden Avenue, will also include the participation of Kathy Saumier, a labor activist, leader and community coalition builder in the United Steelworkers of America's union organizational campaign at Landis Plastics in Syracuse.
Also on the schedule is a talk by Susan Eisenberg titled "Still Waiting After All These Years: Equity for Women in the Construction Industry." Eisenberg is a master electrician and author of the book We'll Call You If We Need You: Experiences of Women Working Construction. Her presentation, which will be March 30, 4:30-6 p.m. in the Colbert Auditorium, 105 Ives Hall, is part of a Women's History Month celebration on campus.
"We are pleased to have such an illustrious roster of visitors," said ILR Dean Edward Lawler, who will deliver the Union Days welcoming address March 29, before Wong's talk.
The diversity of the speakers reflects changes in the labor movement, which now includes more women and people of color in leadership roles, said Risa Lieberwitz, Cornell associate professor of labor law and chair of the Union Days committee.
"This is an exciting time for young people to get involved in the labor movement," she said. "It offers them an opportunity to help diverse groups assert their voice at work and achieve workplace rights through democratic participation." But identifying common goals and building coalitions between such groups is key, she said, which led to the focus of this year's Union Days and its inclusion of representatives from the labor, civil rights and women's rights movements.
Union Days events are open to the public and are free, unless otherwise noted. In addition to the talks and panel discussions listed above, they include the following:
In addition to the ILR School, Union Days is co-sponsored by other relevant Cornell departments, programs and student groups.
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