Power At Work

In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Sonia R. Vásquez Luna of LIUNA and Steven Gardner of NJ LECET to discuss working-class politics and the state government elections in New Jersey and Virginia that are taking place in 2025.The panel covered a number of important topics, including whether working-class and worker power issues are part of the candidates’ campaigns.  Our guests discussed whether unions in Virginia and New Jersey have an agenda that they want their endorsed candidates to implement if they are elected. They also addressed whether the two Democratic candidates are labor Democrats, focusing on working-class issues. Finally, Seth will ask Sonia and Stever to predict the outcomes of the elections in their states, and the effects that those expected outcomes might have on the 2026 midterm elections that will involve more governors and state legislators, but also every member of the U.S. House of Representatives and one-third of the U.S. Senate.Connect with Power At Work: Website: poweratwork.usTikTok: @poweratworkblog Instagram: @poweratworkblog Twitter/X: @poweratworkblog Facebook: poweratworkblog LinkedIn: power-at-workSonia R. Vásquez Luna is the Business Manager of Laborers' public employee local union 572, representing over 3,000 Public Employees and Service Contract members in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and North Carolina. Ms. Luna is also a member of the Manassas, Virginia, city council. Steve Gardner is the Director of the New Jersey Laborers Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, which is a labor-management partnership of the Laborers International Union of North America. Mr. Gardner is the former Executive Director of the New Jersey Assembly Majority Leader’s Office and a former Senior Advisor to Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald. Prior to his service in government, Mr. Gardner administered the New Jersey Laborers’ political action committees.

Episode #10 of the Power Half-Hour has arrived!The Power Half-Hour is a livestreamed, fast-paced, bi-weekly roundtable with a rotating group of regular guests. Our guests discuss the biggest labor story of the preceding week and the labor story everyone should be talking about over the next two weeks. Joining Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris for this episode are:Sharon Block - Executive Director at Harvard Law School’s Center for Labor and a Just EconomyElizabeth Ford - Assistant Professor at Seattle University School of LawTalia Soglin - Reporter for transportation and labor at the Chicago TribuneCatch our next episode live on Power At Work's LinkedIn page on October 14th and soon after on PowerAtWork.US.Connect with Power At Work: Website: poweratwork.usTikTok: @poweratworkblog Instagram: @poweratworkblog Twitter: / poweratworkblog Facebook: poweratworkblog LinkedIn: power-at-work

In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Randi Weingarten of the AFT and Roy Bahat of Bloomberg Beta to discuss the effort by the American Federation of Teachers and its local largest affiliate in cooperation with three of the leading American artificial intelligence companies to train elementary and secondary school teachers to use AI in their work.Watch now to see answered: How and why did the deal come together? Seth, Randi, and Roy will talk about what the union and the companies hope to accomplish by training school teachers in the use of AI. They will discuss how the union might try to address AI through collective bargaining over artificial intelligence. And they will discuss whether this arrangement between a very large teachers’ union and some very large companies is getting any pushback from local leaders, members, other unions, or anyone else.Connect with Power At Work: Website: poweratwork.usTikTok: @poweratworkblog Instagram: @poweratworkblog Twitter/X: @poweratworkblog Facebook: poweratworkblog LinkedIn: power-at-workRandi Weingarten is an American labor leader, attorney, and educator. She has been president of the American Federation of Teachers since 2008, and is a member of the AFL-CIO. She is the former president of the United Federation of Teachers.Roy Bahat is a venture capitalist, educator, and activist. He is currently the head of Bloomberg Beta, the venture capital arm of Bloomberg. He teaches at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Episode #9 of the Power Half-Hour has arrived!The Power Half-Hour is a livestreamed, fast-paced, bi-weekly roundtable with a rotating group of regular guests. Our guests discuss the biggest labor story of the preceding week and the labor story everyone should be talking about over the next two weeks. Joining Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris for this episode are:Alexandra Martinez - Senior News Reporter at PrismMel Buer - Multimedia freelance journalist and creator of Words About WorkAndrew Ziaja - Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of LawCatch our next episode live on Power At Work's LinkedIn page on September 30th and soon after on PowerAtWork.US.Connect with Power At Work: Website: poweratwork.usTikTok: @poweratworkblog Instagram: @poweratworkblog Twitter: / poweratworkblog Facebook: poweratworkblog LinkedIn: power-at-work

In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Jason Stahl of the College Football Players Association and Tremayne Anchrum Jr., Clemson Tigers alumnus, to discuss the effort currently underway to organize college football players so they will be able to bargain with their schools over their working conditions.Watch now to see answered: Are college athletes, and college football players in particular, employees of their universities with the rights to organize and bargain collectively under federal and state laws? To better understand this question, Seth, Jason, and Tremayne will discuss the lives of college football players and what their work weeks look like, both during the season and off-season. They will also discuss whether this is the right time to engage in a novel form of worker organizing, given the ferocious union busting and anti-union attitudes of the current President of the United States.Connect with Power At Work: Website: poweratwork.usTikTok: @poweratworkblog Instagram: @poweratworkblog Twitter/X: @poweratworkblog Facebook: poweratworkblog LinkedIn: power-at-workJason Stahl is the founder and Executive Director of the College Football Players Association. Jason is a former faculty member in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.Tremayne Anchrum Jr. is an American professional football guard. He played college football for the Clemson Tigers and has previously played in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams, with whom he won Super Bowl LVI. Tremayne serves on the CFBPA's Alumni Member Leadership Committee.

Episode #8 of the Power Half-Hour has arrived!The Power Half-Hour is a livestreamed, fast-paced, bi-weekly roundtable with a rotating group of regular guests. Our guests discuss the biggest labor story of the preceding week and the labor story everyone should be talking about over the next two weeks. Joining Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris for this episode are:Kim Kelly - Labor reporter for In These Times magazine and a regular labor columnist for Teen VogueMark Gevaart - Host of the My Labor Radio podcast and an active and activist member of the United Auto WorkersAnne Lofaso - Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law and former attorney for the National Labor Relations BoardCatch our next episode live on Power At Work's LinkedIn page on September 16th and soon after on PowerAtWork.US.Connect with Power At Work: Website: poweratwork.usTikTok: @poweratworkblog Instagram: @poweratworkblog Twitter: / poweratworkblog Facebook: poweratworkblog LinkedIn: power-at-work

In this episode, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris will recap all seven of the blogcasts that were a part of the 'What Could Happen Under Trump?' series published on Power at Work.Watch now as Seth shares clips of some of the most important insights from the 14 guests who generously participated in this series.Connect with Power At Work: Website: poweratwork.usTikTok: @poweratworkblog Instagram: @poweratworkblog Twitter: @poweratworkblog Facebook: poweratworkblog LinkedIn: power-at-workSeth D. Harris is a Distinguished Professor of Practice at Northeastern University and Affiliated Faculty and a Senior Fellow at the Burnes Center for Social Change (and its partner project The GovLab) where he runs the Initiative on Labor and Economic Justice. Prior to joining Northeastern University, Professor Harris was the Deputy Assistant to the President for Labor and the Economy and Deputy Director of the Biden White House’s National Economic Council.

In this very special blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Governor Tim Walz, the two-term governor of Minnesota and the 2024 Democratic nominee for Vice-President of the United States. Watch now to learn more about the state of worker power in America, the relationship between the Democratic Party and working-class voters after the re-election of Donald Trump, some of Gov. Walz’s pro-worker accomplishments during his seven years as Minnesota’s governor, and about the elections of 2026 and 2028.Connect with Power At Work: Website: poweratwork.usTikTok: @poweratworkblog Instagram: @poweratworkblog Twitter: @poweratworkblog Facebook: poweratworkblog LinkedIn: power-at-workTimothy James Walz is an American politician, former educator, and Army National Guard veteran serving since 2019 as the 41st governor of Minnesota. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019.

In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Chris Griswold from American Compass, a leading pro-union conservative policy expert who has been working with Sen. Josh Hawley and others on legislation that, if enacted, may very well benefit workers, worker power, and unions.Watch now to learn more about how support for unions fits with a larger politically conservative ideology, whether there is broader support for unions in the conservative movement than might be obvious to those of us who are not a part of that movement, and legislation that is currently pending that is the product of some our guest’s policy worker and advocacy.Connect with Power At Work: Website: poweratwork.usTikTok: @poweratworkblog Instagram: @poweratworkblog Twitter: @poweratworkblog Facebook: poweratworkblog LinkedIn: power-at-workChris Griswold is the policy director at American Compass, a think tank "dedicated to restoring an economic consensus that emphasizes the importance of family, community, and industry to the nation’s liberty and prosperity". Griswold’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, National Affairs, the Dallas Morning News, Newsweek, American Affairs, Comment, and The Hill, among other publications. He was previously a senior advisor in the U.S. Senate.

Episode #7 of the Power Half-Hour has arrived!The Power Half-Hour is a livestreamed, fast-paced, bi-weekly roundtable with a rotating group of regular guests. Our guests discuss the biggest labor story of the preceding week and the labor story everyone should be talking about over the next two weeks. Joining Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris for this episode are: Ruben Garcia - Ralph Denton Professor of Law at the University of Las Vegas, NevadaMatt Alley - Creator of BlueCollarWriterBill Samuel - Pro-union consultant, former AFL-CIO Director of AdvocacyCatch our next episode live on Power At Work's LinkedIn page on September 4th and soon after on poweratwork.us.Connect with Power At Work: Website: poweratwork.usTikTok: @poweratworkblog Instagram: @poweratworkblog Twitter: / poweratworkblog Facebook: poweratworkblog LinkedIn: power-at-work