Roosevelt Rundown

A Watershed Year for Labor

September 22, 2023

And how policymakers can keep up.

The Roosevelt Rundown features our top stories of the week.

UAW Strikers Bring Picket Line Rally To Stellantis Headquarters In Auburn Hills

United Auto Workers members and supporters rally at the Stellantis North America headquarters on September 20, 2023, in Auburn Hills, Michigan.


Building on Labor’s Big Year

Call it a labor renaissance.

The 18,000 UAW members now on strike join hundreds of thousands of workers across industries who have striked in 2023—one of the busiest years for labor in decades.

With labor actions and public support for unions continuing to rise, policymaking must keep pace, Roosevelt’s Alí Bustamante argues.

“The resurgence of the labor movement is not a temporary disruption to be weathered; it’s a clarion call for change to be embraced,” Bustamante writes.

“The labor reforms available are wide-ranging: Policymakers can end at-will employment, support sectoral bargaining, center workers in workforce development, and raise the decision-making power of workers and unions.”

Read more from Bustamante, and check out all of Roosevelt’s worker power research.

 

The 2023 Four Freedoms Awards

This Saturday, September 23, at 11 am ET, the Roosevelt Institute will be hosting the Four Freedoms Awards—a biennial celebration of the Roosevelts’ legacy and those who exemplify the freedoms that uphold our democracy.

This year’s esteemed FFA recipients include:

  • The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Emerita of the US House of Representatives
  • Tracie D. Hall, Executive Director, American Library Association
  • Dr. Walter Earl Fluker, Professor Emeritus of Ethical Leadership and Editor of the Howard Thurman Papers Project, Boston University
  • Ady Barkan, Founder & Co-Executive Director of Be A Hero
  • The Honorable Bennie Thompson, US House Representative & Chair of the January 6th Committee

Watch our livestream from the historic FDR Presidential Library and Museum this Saturday at 11 am ET.

 

What We’re Talking About

 

What We’re Reading

Biden Is Unveiling the American Climate Corps, a Program with Echoes of the New Deal – NPR

Wonking Out: Making Manufacturing Good Again – New York Times

The UAW’s Big Asks, Unusual Strike Strategy, and What This All Means for You – Vox

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Note: The Roosevelt Rundown will be on hiatus until October 6.