Gordon Lafer

Last updated

Gordon Lafer
Gordon Lafer - The One Percent Solution How Corporations Are Remaking America.png
Lafer in 2017
BornMarch 1960 (age 64)
NationalityAmerican
EducationPhD Political Science, Yale University, 1995 B.A., Economics, Swarthmore College, 1983
Occupation(s)Political economist, writer
Notable workThe Job Training Charade

Gordon Lafer is a political economist writer who has served as Senior Labor Policy Advisor for the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Labor and has a history of Labor Union activism. He has written widely on labor and employment policy issues [1] and is the author of the books The Job Training Charade [2] and The One Percent Solution. [3]

Contents

He is currently a professor in the Labor Education & Research Center at the University of Oregon and a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute. [4]

Biography

Gordon Lafer started his political work as an economic policy analyst in the Office of the Mayor in New York City under Mayor Ed Koch. [5]

He was one of the leaders of the Graduate Employees and Students Organization at Yale, which was on strike several times in the 1990s. [6] [7]

Lafer served as Research and Communications Director for the Federation of University Employees at Yale. [8]

He ran a hotel workers' campaign with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142, in Hawaii, [9] [10] and wrote about the campaign in the magazine Dissent. [11]

At the University of Oregon, Lafer and mathematician Marie A. Vitulli led an effort to unionize faculty at the University of Oregon beginning in the spring of 2007. [12] This effort eventually led to the formation of the United Academics at the University of Oregon. [13]

He worked for ILWU Local 142, helping coordinate the boycott of the Pacific Beach Hotel, [14] which[ clarification needed ] was found guilty of multiple labor law violations in federal court. [15] After a ten-year struggle, the hotel unionized in 2013. [16]

Lafer has served as Senior Labor Policy Advisor for the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and the Workforce, [17] a position that made him the top congressional staff member responsible for upholding labor standards in international trade treaties, [18] and he has been called to testify as an expert witness before multiple state legislatures. [19] He was the primary Congressional staff person responsible for the Local Jobs for America Act, [20] a bill that would have created one million decently-paid jobs and restored essential public services that were cut during the Great Recession. The bill was introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce, but never became law. [21] [22]

Lafer is a member of the Scholars' Advisory Council of in the Public Interest, [23] a research and policy center promoting democratic control of public goods and services. [24]

He is the founding co-chair of the American Political Science Association's Labor Project, [25] and serves on the board of directors of the Shalom Hartman Institute, [26] a pluralistic center of research and education deepening and elevating the quality of Jewish life in Israel and around the world. [27]

As of 2023, Lafer was Vice Chair of the Eugene School District Board of Directors, to which he was elected in 2019. His term expired June 30, 2023, [28] as he lost his campaign for reelection in the May 16, 2023 Special District Election. [29]

Works

Lafer is the author of the books The Job Training Charade and The One Percent Solution: How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time [30] [31]

Lafer's work has appeared in The Nation [32] and U.S. News & World Report [33] and has been featured in The Washington Post , [34] The New York Times , [35] Fortune magazine, [36] and other publications.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powell's Books</span> Bookstore chain selling new and used books

Powell's Books is a chain of bookstores in Portland, Oregon, and its surrounding metropolitan area. Powell's headquarters, dubbed Powell's City of Books, claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. Powell's City of Books is located in the Pearl District on the edge of downtown and occupies a full city block between NW 10th and 11th Avenues and between W. Burnside and NW Couch Streets. It contains over 68,000 square feet, about 1.6 acres of retail floor space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Bridges</span> Australian-American union leader

Harry Bridges was an Australian-born American union leader, first with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). In 1937, he led several chapters in forming a new union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), expanding members to workers in warehouses, and led it for the next 40 years. He was prosecuted for his labor organizing and designated as subversive by the U.S. government during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, with the goal of deportation. This was never achieved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patsy Mink</span> American politician (1927–2002)

Patsy Matsu Mink was an American attorney and politician from the U.S. state of Hawaii. She served in the United States House of Representatives for 24 years as a member of the Democratic Party, initially from 1965 to 1977, and again from 1990 until her death in 2002. She was the first woman of color and the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress, and is known for her work on legislation advancing women's rights and education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port of Portland (Oregon)</span> Port in United States

The Port of Portland is the port district responsible for overseeing Portland International Airport, general aviation, and marine activities in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area in the United States. Originally established in 1891 by the 16th Oregon Legislative Assembly, the current incarnation was created by the 1970 legislature, combining the original Port with the Portland Commission of Public Docks, a city agency dating from 1910.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labor market of Japan</span>

The labor force in Japan numbered 65.9 million people in 2010, which was 59.6% of the population of 15 years old and older, and amongst them, 62.57 million people were employed, whereas 3.34 million people were unemployed which made the unemployment rate 5.1%. The structure of Japan's labor market experienced gradual change in the late 1980s and continued this trend throughout the 1990s. The structure of the labor market is affected by: 1) shrinking population, 2) replacement of postwar baby boom generation, 3) increasing numbers of women in the labor force, and 4) workers' rising education level. Also, an increase in the number of foreign nationals in the labor force is foreseen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saudization</span>

Saudization, officially the Saudi nationalization scheme and also known as Nitaqat, is a policy that is implemented in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, which requires companies and enterprises to fill their workforce with Saudi nationals up to certain levels.

Dwight Y. Takamine is an Okinawan-American Hawaii state senator and state representative (1984–2007). A Democrat, he represents the first district on the island of Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minimum wage in the United States</span>

In the United States, the minimum wage is set by U.S. labor law and a range of state and local laws. The first federal minimum wage was instituted in the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but later found to be unconstitutional. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act established it at 25¢ an hour. Its purchasing power peaked in 1968, at $1.60 In 2009, it was increased to $7.25 per hour, and has not been increased since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colleen Hanabusa</span> American politician (born 1951)

Colleen Wakako Hanabusa is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 1st congressional district from 2011 to 2015 and again from 2016 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she ran for her party's nomination for governor of Hawaii in 2018, challenging and losing to incumbent and fellow Democrat David Ige.

Ernesto Mangaoang was a Filipino American labor organizer. A communist and longtime leader of immigrant Filipino laborers, Mangaoang was closely associated with Chris Mensalvas, and was a personal friend of the famous Filipino American intellectual and activist Carlos Bulosan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawaii Democratic Revolution of 1954</span>

The Hawaii Democratic Revolution of 1954 is a popular term for the territorial elections of 1954 in which the long dominance of the Hawaii Republican Party in the legislature came to an abrupt end, replaced by the Democratic Party of Hawaii which has remained dominant since. The shift was preceded by general strikes, protests, and other acts of civil disobedience that took place in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The strikes by the Isles' labor workers demanded similar pay and benefits to their Mainland counterparts. The strikes also crippled the power of the sugarcane plantations and the Big Five Oligopoly over their workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unemployment in the United States</span> Explanation of unemployment in the United States, presently and historically

Unemployment in the United States discusses the causes and measures of U.S. unemployment and strategies for reducing it. Job creation and unemployment are affected by factors such as economic conditions, global competition, education, automation, and demographics. These factors can affect the number of workers, the duration of unemployment, and wage levels.

Aqua-Aston Hospitality, LLC is a Honolulu-based hotel management company operating a multi-branded line of hotels, condominiums and vacation resort properties primarily located in Hawaii. The chain was purchased by Marriott Vacations Worldwide in 2018.

In the United States, despite the efforts of equality proponents, income inequality persists among races and ethnicities. Asian Americans have the highest median income, followed by White Americans, Hispanic Americans, African Americans, and Native Americans. A variety of explanations for these differences have been proposed—such as differing access to education, two parent home family structure, high school dropout rates and experience of discrimination and deep-seated and systemic anti-Black racism—and the topic is highly controversial.

The Hawaiian sugar strike of 1946 was one of the most expensive strikes in history. This strike involved almost all of the plantations in Hawaii, creating a cost of over $15 million in crop and production. This strike would become one of the leading causes for social change throughout the territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Longshore and Warehouse Union</span> Labor union

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is a labor union which primarily represents dock workers on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, and in British Columbia, Canada; on the East Coast, the dominant union is the International Longshoremen's Association. The union was established in 1937 after the 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike, a three-month-long strike that culminated in a four-day general strike in San Francisco, California, and the Bay Area. It disaffiliated from the AFL–CIO on August 30, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Lake Kanahele</span>

Helen Lake Kanahele was an American labor organizer. She was president of the Women's Auxiliary of the International Longshoreman's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) and worked with the United Public Workers union. Due to her labor organizing and opposition to the death penalty, Kanahele was subpoenaed by the Territorial Committee on Subversive Activities in the 1950s.

Ah Quon McElrath was a Hawaii labor reform leader and social activist. She retired in 1981, but spent her career advocating for unions by pushing for equal pay and treatment from the Big Five in Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Hall (trade unionist)</span> American labor organizer (b. 1915, d. 1971)

Jack Wayne Hall was an American labor organizer and trade unionist. He was the Hawaii Regional Director of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

Harriet Anne Bouslog, later known as Harriet Bouslog Sawyer or Harriet Sawyer, was an attorney who practiced in Hawaii. She was well known for her commitment to defending the poor and disadvantaged. and her relation to Stephen Bouslog. She is best known for representing James Majors and John Palakiko in their death sentence appeal in the Morgan's Corner murder, and for representing the Hawaii Seven.

References

  1. ↑ "Gordon Lafer | People | Economic Policy Institute". Epi.org. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  2. ↑ "The Job Training Charade". Cornellpress.cornell.edu. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  3. ↑ Lafer, Gordon (2017). The One Percent Solution: How Corporations are Remaking America One State at a Time. Cornell University Press. ISBN   978-1-5017-0306-5.
  4. ↑ "Gordon Lafer | Labor Education & Research Center". lerc.uoregon.edu. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
  5. ↑ Gordon Lafer (July 11, 2014). "Gordon Lafer | Wisconsin Public Radio". Wpr.org. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Graduate Students' Union Seeks Official Recognition From Yale". The New York Times . November 17, 1991. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  7. ↑ "GESO wins grad vote". Yaleherald.com. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  8. ↑ The Employment of English: Theory, Jobs, and the Future of Literary Studies by Michael Bérubé (NYU Press, 2007) p. 39
  9. ↑ "Honolulu Star-Bulletin Business". Archives.starbulletin.com. January 22, 2001. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Workers told it's 'crucial time' | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper". The Honolulu Advertiser . September 3, 2002. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  11. ↑ "The Other Side of Paradise: Hawai'i's Tourism Plantation". Dissent Magazine. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  12. ↑ Baez, David. "Labor Pains". Eugene Weekly. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Our History". United Academics of the University of Oregon.
  14. ↑ "Pacific Beach Workers Struggle for Justice Victory Report : Seeking a new international solidarity" (PDF). Jca.apc.org. p. 4. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Pacific Beach Hotel | Longshore & Shipping News". Longshoreshippingnews.com. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  16. ↑ Howard Dicus (January 14, 2013). "Workers approve first Pacific Beach Hotel labor deal – Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL". Hawaii News Now. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Gordon Lafer | People | Economic Policy Institute". Epi.org. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Latest "free trade" farce: the "TPP"". Ilwu.org. April 1, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  19. ↑ "The One Percent Solution, How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time (Gordon Lafer)". Cornellpress.cornell.edu. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  20. ↑ "ILPC 4th–6th April 2017 Sheffield > Previous Conferences > View Abstract". Ilpc.org.uk. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  21. ↑ George Miller. "Local Jobs for America Act (2010; 111th Congress H.R. 4812)". GovTrack.us. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  22. ↑ "JFActivist: Jobs Bill Could Open Doors to Employment for PWD". Jfactivist.typepad.com. April 23, 2010. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Scholars Network". In the Public Interest. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  24. ↑ "About Us". In the Public Interest. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  25. ↑ "Statement of Dr. Gordon Lafer Before the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, Education and Related Agencies" (PDF). Shopfloor.org. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  26. ↑ "Shalom Hartman Institute Board of Directors". Hartman.org.il. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  27. ↑ "About Us". Hartman.org.il. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  28. ↑ "Board of Directors". Eugene School District 4J. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  29. ↑ "Statement of Votes Cast by Geography". Elections - 2023. Lane County . Retrieved June 2, 2023.
  30. ↑ "The One Percent Solution, How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time". Cornell University Press . Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  31. ↑ Diane Ravitch. "Big Money Rules". New York Review Books . No. December 7, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  32. ↑ "Gordon Lafer". The Nation. September 21, 2011. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  33. ↑ "Cutting Wages and Benefits Only Harms the Economy". Usnews.com. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  34. ↑ Konczal, Mike (November 2, 2013). "The tea party's assault on workers". The Washington Post . Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  35. ↑ Kaufman, Dan (June 12, 2015). "Scott Walker and the Fate of the Unions". The New York Times . Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  36. ↑ "As paid sick leave gains momentum, some state laws stand in the way". Fortune.com. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.