

Power At Work
The Burnes Center for Social Change
Sustained and effective worker power arises out of collective action. Our goal at Power At Work is to advance actions that build power to confront power — contributing to a discourse in the United States that puts workers at the center of the conversation.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 4, 2024 • 54min
Power At Work Blogcast #63: Secretary of Labor Julie Su on Her Role and the State of Labor in 2024
In this very special blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Julie Su, the United States Secretary of Labor. Listen now to hear about Su's role as the acting secretary along with her accomplishments in the position. Also learn about Su’s opinions on the current state of labor and her views on the future of worker activism.
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Julie Su became Acting Secretary of Labor on March 11, 2023. She was previously confirmed by the Senate to serve as the deputy secretary of labor on July 13, 2021. Prior to joining the U.S. Department of Labor, Acting Secretary Su served as the secretary for the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Su is a nationally recognized expert on workers' rights and civil rights who has dedicated her distinguished legal career to advancing justice on behalf of poor and disenfranchised communities and is a past recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant.

Sep 30, 2024 • 34min
Power At Work Blogcast #62: Senator Bernie Sanders on the Current State of Labor and Worker Rights
In this very special blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Bernie Sanders, the senior United States senator from Vermont. Watch now to hear Senator Sanders' opinion on the current status of the labor movement and worker power, along with his views on the Biden administration and a possible Harris administration. Also learn about Sanders’ strategies to improve worker rights and diminish the pay gap in the United States.
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Bernie Sanders is serving his third term in the United States Senate after winning re-election in 2018. His previous 16 years in the House of Representatives make him the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history. He is the current chair of the U.S. Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Sep 23, 2024 • 1h
Power At Work Blogcast #61: Leading the Movement: Inside the Growing World of Organizing in the Nonprofit Sector
In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Amy Chin-Lai, the president of the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU), and Hannah Stephens, a Vice President for Organizing with the NPEU. Watch now to learn about the NPEU and their successes organizing in the nonprofit sector. Also learn about the differences between organizing in the for-profit world versus the nonprofit world, criticisms of nonprofit organizing, and the future of organizing with not for profit organizations.
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Amy Chin-Lai is a Solutions Engineer at Action Network and the president of the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union.
Hannah Stephens is a Senior Research Assistant at the Brookings Institution and a Vice President for Organizing with the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union.

Sep 16, 2024 • 59min
The Power Hour #9: Labor Experts on Arbitration, Organizing College Athletes, and much more!
In this edition of The Power Hour, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Roberto Corrada from the Denver University Sturm College of Law and Harry Katz from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations to discuss arbitration, organizing in college athletics, general views on the state of labor and much more.
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Roberto Corrada is a Professor and the Mulligan Burleson Chair in Modern Learning at the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver. Roberto’s scholarship is focused on three primary areas: the rights of ethnic and sexual minorities; the public/private distinction in labor and employment law; and the scholarship of teaching and learning. He is widely published, including co-authoring casebooks in administrative law and employment discrimination law. Roberto has served as chairman of the board of the ACLU of Colorado, chair of the Association of American Law Schools Labor & Employment Relations Section, and secretary of the Latino/a Critical Legal Theory Association.
Harry Katz is the Jack Sheinkman Professor and the Director of the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He is the former Kenneth F. Kahn Dean of the ILR School and an interim Provost of Cornell University. He is a Scholar Fellow of the Labor and Employment Relations Association and a Past President of the International Labor and Employment Relations Association. He is also the author of a long list of books and articles, including the most widely used textbook relating to collective bargaining and industrial relations.

Sep 9, 2024 • 41min
Power At Work Blogcast #60: Celebrate Later, Fight Now: A Labor Day to Remember in Boston
On Labor Day, Monday, September 2, the Greater Boston Labor Council held their annual Labor Day Breakfast. The event featured many notable speakers, from Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey to labor leaders such as Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Chrissy Lynch. This breakfast was unlike any prior year as it coincided with UniteHere! Local 26's Hotel Workers strike. The breakfast was held outdoors due to the striking workers of the Park Plaza Hotel, and many of the efforts of the event were turned to supporting Local 26's workers.
In this special blogcast, we offer segments of the many speeches at the event, footage of the strike, and interviews with Local 26's striking workers.
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Sep 2, 2024 • 44min
PAW Blogcast #59: Labor Day 2024 - AFL-CIO's Liz Shuler and Fred Redmond on the State of the Unions
On Tuesday, August 27, President Liz Shuler delivered her second State of the Unions address to a packed house of enthusiastic trade unionists and friends at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was obvious to us that this was a speech Power At Work's audience would want to hear. We are proud and pleased to be able to present it you in its entirety. We expect you will enjoy it.
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Elizabeth H. Shuler is president of the AFL-CIO, the democratic federation of 60 national and international unions that represent 12.5 million working people. Shuler is the first woman leader of America’s labor movement. Before being elected president in 2021, Shuler served as the AFL-CIO secretary treasurer beginning in 2009. Shuler began her career working as an organizer for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 125 in her home state of Oregon.
Fredrick D. Redmond is the secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO. On June 13, 2022, he was unanimously elected to the position as the highest ranking African American officer in the history of America’s labor movement. Redmond is a former steelworker who became a local union president and, in 2006, the United Steelworkers of America's international vice president for human affairs. In 2007, Redmond was elected chair of the A. Philip Randolph Institute's board of directors and, in 2021, he became president of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas.

Aug 26, 2024 • 58min
Power At Work Blogcast #58: Surviving the Heat: What OSHA's Proposed Heat Standard Would Mean for Workers
In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Claudia Navarro, the Co-Executive Director of WeCount!, and Rebecca Reindel, the Safety and Health Director at the AFL-CIO. Listen now to learn about the current state of working in the heat in both Florida and the country as a whole. Also learn about OSHA's proposed heat standard, and how it would help the millions of workers working in extreme heat every day in the United States.
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Claudia Navarro is the Co-Executive Director of WeCount!, a membership-based workers’ center of agricultural workers, day laborers, and domestic workers in South Florida. Claudia’s work includes developing worker leaders, engaging in policy advocacy, and facilitating popular education, including WeCount!’s community radio station, Radio Poder 97.7 FM. Prior to this role, Claudia was a Domestic Worker Organizer at the Miami Workers Center, where she organized immigrant nannies, house cleaners, and home health care aides.
Rebecca Reindel is the Safety and Health Director at the national AFL-CIO where she brings key and emerging information on workers’ safety and health exposures to federal, international and state policy making. In these efforts, she brings together many stakeholders to assess and characterize workplace exposures, testifies in front of policy makers, and brings working conditions from the shop floor to the halls of government.

Aug 19, 2024 • 1h
Power At Work Blogcast #57: Fighting Governor Ron Desantis’ Attack on Public Employee Unions in Florida
In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Andrew Spar, the President of the Florida Education Association (FEA), the union of Florida's teachers, and Emilio Azoy, the President of AFSCME Local 121, which represents over 1,800 Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer Department workers. Watch now to learn about Governer Ron Desantis' attack on public sector unions in Florida and how unions in the state are combatting his legislation.
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Andrew Spar is president of the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest association of professional employees. He is also a Vice-President of the American Federation of Teachers.
Emilio Azoy is the President of AFSCME Local 121, representing over 1,800 Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer Department workers. In April 2019 he was elected Vice-President of AFSCME Florida Council 79.

Aug 12, 2024 • 1h 3min
Power At Work Blogcast #56: 2024 Election Rollercoaster: Union Political Directors Return!
In this episode, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Susan Valentine, the National Political Director of UNITE HERE!, Russ Breckenridge, the Director of Legislative and Political Affairs at the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA), and Katrina Mendiola, the National Political Director of the National Education Association (NEA). Listen now to hear their perspectives on the upcoming Presidential election. Also hear their expectations for Senate, House of Representatives, and gubernatorial elections in relation to the predictions of the respondents of Power At Work's Q3 Labor Issues Survey.
These experts were first featured on Power At Work nearly 10 months ago.
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Susan Valentine is the National Political Director of Unite Here!
Russ Breckenridge is the Director of Legislative and Political Affairs at United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA).
Katrina Mendiola is the National Political Director of the National Education Association (NEA).

Aug 2, 2024 • 59min
Power At Work Blogcast #55: Inside the Movement: Jaz Brisack on Starbucks Unionizing and the Future of Organizing
In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Jaz Brisack, one of the original Starbucks union organizers, and the co-founder of the Inside Organizer School. Watch now to hear an inside perspective on union organizing, Jaz's origins in organizing, the successes in unionizing at Starbucks, and how those successes can lead to further improvements with other companies and in other industries.
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Jaz Brisack, nationally known as a co-founder of Starbucks Workers United, now works for UC Berkeley's Labor Center as a practitioner in residence. During their year-long residency, Brisack is working on a project to develop the “Inside Organizer School,” which they co-founded in 2018 to train non-union workers and “salts” to unionize their workplaces. The Inside Organizer School training laid the groundwork for Starbucks Workers United, providing its replicable model that enabled the campaign to rapidly expand nationwide. It brings together organizers, activists, and workers from a variety of industries, unions, and campaigns, creating a community focused on rebuilding a vibrant, diverse, and democratic labor movement.


