Busboys and Poets welcomes Bill Fletcher Jr. for a discussion of his book,"They're Bankrupting Us!": And 20 Other Myths About Unions.Â
Fletcher entered the labor movement after college as a shipyard welder and has worked for several labor unions, including serving as a senior staff person at the national AFL-CIO. Fletcher is also the former president of the TransAfrica Forum; a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies; an editorial board member of BlackCommentator.com; and the author of several books. He is a regular media commentator, and he hosts his own radio show, "Arise!" on WPFW 89.3 FM.
Featured Panelists:
James Benton is a Ph.D. candidate in history at Georgetown University. He holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in addition to master’s degrees in liberal studies and history from Georgetown. Before entering the Ph.D. program, he built a career that spanning more than 15 years in journalism and the nonprofit sector. His research explores twentieth- century U.S. labor history in the context of industrial decline, with a specific focus on the decline of the U.S. textile industry and the response of textile unions to foreign competition between the 1930s and the 1970s.
Bread & Roses is a monthly labor series that features a variety of events focused on workers and organized labor. Each month brings a new topic through interactive discussions, film screenings, and performances. The hope for these events is that attendees walk away with a greater understanding of organized labor, its role in shaping history and current relevance. The name "Bread & Roses" was inspired by a poem/song written by James Oppenheim that appeals for both fair wages and dignified conditions.
Free and open to all!
