Past Events – CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies

The Murphy Institute is known for its public programming, bringing thinkers, leaders and policymakers together to discuss the issues vital to making change in our city and our world.

We’re excited to share our archive of past events at the Murphy Institute with you. Stay tuned as we add more information and footage over the coming months.

The Joseph S. Murphy Scholarship for Diversity in Labor Program is dedicated to the purpose of fostering diverse leadership in the labor movement and in the academic discipline of labor studies.

Past Public Programming

Civic Engagement

“Energy from Unlikely Sources: Opportunities for New Organizing” Speakers: Lauren Jacobs, Executive Director, Partnership for Working Families, Marilyn Sneiderman, Executive Director, Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers University, Larry Cohen, Chair, Board of Directors, Our Revolution, former president of CWA, Maritza Silva-Farrell, Executive Director, ALIGN: The Alliance for a Greater New York. Moderated by Penny Lewis, CUNY School of Labor & Urban Studies (Oct 12, 2018)

“Divided Results: Voting and Partisan Gerrymandering” Speakers: David Daley, author, Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America’s Democracy and former Editor-in-chief of Salon.com. Lauren Jones, National Civil Rights Counsel at the Anti-Defamation League. Michael Li, Senior Counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. Deuel Ross, Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. Jerry Vattamala, Director, Democracy Program, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Moderator: John Mollenkopf, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, CUNY Graduate School and consortial faculty, Murphy Institute (September 15, 2017).

“Democracy in Chains: A Conversation with Nancy MacLean” Speakers: Nancy MacLean, Professor of History and Public Policy, Duke University and author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America (September 19, 2017).

“Resistance: A Talk with Frances Fox Piven” Speakers: Frances Fox Piven a Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology, CUNY Graduate School, and Distinguished Lecturer in Labor Studies at the Murphy Institute. (March 23, 2017)

“Messaging: A Crucial Step to Mobilize Voters” speaker: Eli Valentin, Political Advisor and Consultant. Co-sponsors: New York City Central Labor Council and the Latino Leadership Institute (February 28^th 2015)

“NYC Latino Civic Engagement”, speakers included: Henry Garrido, Tomas Lopez, Gerson Borrero. Co-sponsors included: Citizen Action of NY, Make the Road NY, Brennan Center, Common Cause, and Bridge Roots (December 5^th, 2014)

“The Other America: A 50^th Anniversary Celebration” speakers: Jane Gornick, Political Sicence, The Graduate Center, CUNY, William Kornblum, Sociology, The Graduate Center, CUNY, AI-jen Poo, National Domestic Workers Alliance and Maria Svart, Democratic Socialists of America (September 10, 2012)

“Can the Labor Movement and Occupy Wall Street March Down the Same Road?” speakers: John Samuelsen, President, Transport Workers Union, Local 100, Tammy Kim, Member, Occupy Wall Street Immigrant Worker Justice Working Group, Mario Dartayet-Rodriguez, Organizing Director, AFSCME DC 37: and Member, Labor Outreach Committee of OWS, Amy Muldoon, Member, CWA, Local 1106, and CWA District 1 Liaison to OWS, Steve Fraser, Author, Labor Will Rule: Sidney Hillman & the Rise of American Labor (January 27, 2012)

“Who Gets the Vote? The 2012 Election & Voting Rights Restrictions” speakers: Ryan Haygood, Director of Political Participation, NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, Pierrette Talley, Secretary Treasurer, Ohio AFL-CIO, Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center. Moderator: Josh Freeman (February 27 2012)

“Athletes as Social Activists: Pushing the Boundaries of the Sports World”IU speakers: Dave Zirin, Author of Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports and What’s My Name Fool?: Sports and Resistance in the United States; Toni Smith, protested the war in Iraq as Co-Captain of the Women’s basketball team at Manhattanville College in 2003; and Peter Kaufman, Professor of Sociology, SUNY-New Paltz, Research Fellow, Center for the Study of Sport in Society (June 22, 2007)

“Gauging the Political Impact of the Latino Vote in 2008” speakers: Dr. Gabriela D. Lemus, Executive Director, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Rodolfo O. De la Garza, Eaton Professor of Political Science, Columbia University (April 24, 2008)

“Race Redistricting and Voting Rights” speaker: Nydia Velazquez, Member of United States Congress, (12th Congressional District) (May 12, 1997)

“The Emerging Power of the Latino Vote” speaker: Angelo Falcon, President, Institute for Puerto Rican Policy and editor of Critica: A Journal of Puerto Rican Policy and Politics (February 28, 1997)

Climate Change

“Climate Leadership Immersion for Union Officers and Staff” Speakers: Sean Sweeney, International Program on Labor, Climate and Environment, Murphy Institute, Jill Kubit, International Program on Labor, Climate and Environment, Murphy Institute (March 2-4^th 2016)

“Temperature Rising: Labor & the Climate Justice Movement” speakers: Bill McKibben, Founder, 350.org, Christopher Erikson, Business Manager, Local 3 IBEW, Jill Furillo, Executive Director, NY State Nurses Association, and Estela Vazquez, Executive VP, 1199 SEIU. Co-hosted by Cornell GLI/Worker Institute (October 31, 2014)

“Confronting the Climate Crisis: Can Labor Help Shape an Effective Strategy?” Dr. James Hansen, Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, David Coles, President, Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union, Canada, Bhairavi Desai, Executive director, New York Taxi Workers Alliance and Hector Figueroa, President, Local 32 BJ SEIU. Moderator Sean Sweeney, Director Cornell Global Labor Institute (January 17, 2013)

“Resist Recover Rebuild: Labor Speaks out After Sandy” speakers: Kevin Harrington, Vice President, Rapid Transit Operations, TWU Local 100, Nastaran Mohit, Occupy Sandy and the Laundry Workers Center, Michael Premo, Occupy Sandy, Judy Sheridan-Gonzales, NYS Nurses Association. Moderator Amy Muldoon, CWA Local 1106 (December 7, 2012)

“Green the Ghetto First: Why, How, and What Happens if We Don’t” speaker: Majora Carter, Executive Director, Sustainable South Bronx (September 19, 2007)

“New Energy for New Jobs” speakers: J.J. Johnson, editor of Our Life and Times published by 1199 SEIU; Howard Styles, Training Director of Local 94 of the International Union of Operating Engineers; and Lee Smith, Managing Director, National Photovoltaic Construction Partnership (December 16, 2005)

“Gulf Coast Reconstruction: 40 Acres and a Boat?” speakers: Adam Green, Professor of American Studies and History at NYU; Tanya Harris, Louisiana Representative of ACORN; and Rosalyn Pelles, Director of the Civil, Human, and Women’s Rights Department, AFL-CIO, (October 28, 2005)

Corporate Structures and Policy

“Reworking Labor: The Case of Uber and the Gig Economy” Speakers: James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute, Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director of NY Workers Alliance, and Katie Unger, former Deputy Commissioner of the Mayor’s community Affairs Unit, consultant, writer and long-time NY labor activist. (April 6^th, 2016)

“ClothesLined: Stopping Walmart’s Dirty Supply Chain Moves” Speakers: Stephanie Luce, The Murphy Institute, Stephanie Ehmsen, Rosa Luxembourg Stiftung – NYC Office, Ashim Roy, Asia Floor Wage Alliance, Erica Smiley, Jobs with Justice, Moderator, Kalpona Akter, Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, Sunrith Ham, Cambodian Labor Education Center Sheheryar Kaoosji, Warehouse Workers Resource Center, Organization United for Respect at Walmart, Annanya Bhattacharjee, Garment Workers Union/Asia Floor Wage Alliance Co-sponsors: The Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office, Jobs With Justice, and the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (June 25, 2015)

“Better Wages and Corporate Accountability for Workers in the Global Supply Chain” Speakers: Steven Greenhouse, former New York Times labor journalist, Judy Gearhart, Executive Director, International Labor Rights Forum , Jeff Hermanson, Director of Global Strategies, Workers United-SEIU, Sarah Labowitz, Co-Director, Center for Business & Human Rights, NYU Stern School, Atish Saha, Bangladeshi photojournalist, prize winning series “The Ghosts of Rana Plaza” Moderator: May Chen, Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies (May 28^th, 2015)

“Should Workers Climb Inside The Big Box” speakers: Rep. Charles Barron, Council Member, District 42, Ademola Oyefeso, Political Action Director, RWDSU, John Marshall, Senior Capital Markets Economist, Capital Stewardship Program, UFCW. Moderator: Dorian Warren, Assistant Professor, International & Public Affairs, Columbia University (December 7, 2011)

“The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a New World Business “ speakers: Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History and Director, Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy, UCSB, Nick Allen, Campaign Coordinator, Strategic Organizing Center, Change to Win, Emily Stewart, Special Assistant to the Organizing Director, United Food & Commercial Workers, a book talk (September 25, 2009)

“Wal-Mart: Template for Twenty-First Century Global Capitalism” speaker: Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History at the University of California at Santa Barbara and editor, Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First Century Capitalism; author of State of the Union: A Century of American Labor and Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, (February 8, 2006)

“The Enron Scandal: Corporate America on Trial?” speakers: Ron Blackwell, Director of the AFL-CIO’s Corporate Affairs Department, and Tyson Slocum, Research Director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and the Environment (April 5, 2002)

“What Can the United States Learn from the European Union’s Experience in Controlling and Reducing Corporate Subsidies?” Kenneth P. Thomas, author of Competing for Capital: Europe and North America in a Global Era (March 16, 2001)

“The Battle After Seattle: How Can Labor and its Allies Wrest the WTO & Global Trade Policy from Corporate Control?” speakers: Thea M. Lee, Assistant Director for International Economics in the Public Policy Department, AFL-CIO, and Tim Shorrock, Analyst of the U.S. and International Labor Movements and the U.S.-Asian Trade Policy (January 4, 2000)

“Jobs and Training Programs: Who Benefits?” speaker: Gordon Lafer, former Assistant Deputy Mayor for Economic Development in New York City (December 2, 1994)

Economics

“Is Democratic Capitalism Possible?” Speakers: J. Phillip Thompson, NYC Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives, Kim Phillips-Fein, Associate Professor, NYU Gallatin School, Maurice Weeks, Co-Executive Director, Action Center on Race & the Economy (ACRE). Moderated by Frances Fox Piven, Professor of Political Science and Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center (Sept 14, 2018)

“The Future of Capitalism and the Future of Work” Conference. Co-sponsored by the NYC Chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network (May 4, 2018)

“The Next System Project” Murphy Institute (March 11-12^th 2016).

“A Back –room Deal for the 1%: The Trans-Pacific Partnership” speakers: Arthur Stamoulis, Executive Director, Citizens; Trade Campaign, and Celeste Drake, Trade and Globalization Specialist, AFL-CIO (October 25, 2013)

“Capitalism in Crisis: How Should Organized Labor Respond?” speakers: Steve Fraser, Author, Wall Street: America’s Dream Palace, Editor-at-Large, New Labor Forum, and Stephen Lerner, Director, The Private Equity, Bank, and Financial Reform Projects, SEIU (November 20, 2009)

“Nice Work if You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times” (NYU Press) speakers: Andrew Ross, Professor of American Studies and Chair of NYU’s Department of Social & Cultural Analysis, and Sara Horowitz, Executive Director, Freelancers Union a book talk: (April 23, 2009)

“Learning from the ‘90s: How Poor Public Policy Choices Contributed to Income Erosion in New York City and What We Can Do About It “ speaker: James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist of the Fiscal Policy Institute (October 11, 2002)

“The Triangle Fire Today: Sweatshops and the Global Economy” John Sweeney, President of AFL-CIO; Jay Mazur, President of UNITE; and William Greider, author of One World Ready or Not (March 27, 2001)

“Defeating Casino Capitalism: Community and Labor Strategies for Taking Control of the Economy” speaker: Dan Swinney, Executive Director of the Midwest Center for Labor Research (January 8, 1999)

“The Global Economic Meltdown and the Failure of Neoliberal Economic Policy” speaker: Bill Tabb, Professor of Economics at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate School, (November 20, 1998)

“Global Unemployment: Myths and Realities” speaker: John Eatwell, Professor of Economics, Cambridge University and the New School for Social Research; member, British Labor Party and member, British House of Lords, (April 12, 1996)

Economic Democracy

“Reconstructing Economic Development for People and Planet: Stories of Just Economic Democracy from Jackson to PR to the Bronx” Co-sponsored by Democracy at Work NY Michael Menser, Brooklyn College, Gabriela Alvarez, Liberation Cuisine, Kali Akuno, Cooperation Jackson, Yorman Nunez, Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative (May 11, 2018)

“From Economic Crisis to Economic Democracy: Lessons and Strategies from the Black Community” Speakers: Naceo Giles from Skedaddle Pest Control, a worker owned cooperative in Brooklyn; Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Associate Professor of Community Justice & Social Economic Development in the Department of Africana Studies at John Jay College, CUNY and author of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice; and Roger Green, Director, Dubois-Bunche Center on Public Policy, Medgar Evers College and the Coalition to Save Interfaith. Moderated by Dario Azzellini, Murphy Institute visiting scholar, political scientist and lecturer at Johannes Kepler University. (February 24, 2017)

“Worker Cooperatives & Workforce Development: A Strategic Conversation” Cosponsored by the Democracy at Work Institute Speakers: Steven L. Dawson founding president of PHI, the nonprofit affiliate of the 2300-employee, Bronx-based Cooperative Home Care Associates, the largest worker cooperative in the United States; Adria Powell, Executive Vice President at Cooperative Home Care Associates. (November 18, 2016)

“Solidarity Economies: Worker Coops” Speakers: Amy B. Dean, Editorial Board Member, New Labor Forum; Fellow, The Century Foundation; Co-author, a New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement, Roger Green, Director, Dubois-Bunche Center on Public Policy, Medgar Evers College; collaborating on a conversion of hospitals to cooperative ownership models, Adria Powell, Executive Vice President, Cooperative Home Care Associates, Melissa Risser, Attorney, Urban Justice Center’s community Development Project; co-founder of 1worker1vote.org (December 4^th, 2015)

“Building a Blueprint for Economic Development in New York City Forum” speakers: Annette Bernhardt, Co-Director of the Economic Justice Project, Brennan Center for Justice and Brad Lander, Director, Pratt Center for Economic Development (November 29, 2007)

“What’s Driving the Widening Wage Gap?” speakers: Heidi Shierholz, Economist, Economic Policy Institute, Co-Author, “Don’t Blame the Robots: Assessing the Job Polarization Explanation of Growing Wage Inequality.” Stanley Aronowitz, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center, Consortial Faculty Member, The Murphy Institute (January 24, 2014)

“Spreading the Wealth: The Challenge for the New Millennium” speaker: Melvin Oliver, Vice President of the Ford Foundation, and co-author of the award-winning book, Black Wealth/White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality (May 1, 1998)

“Regulating the Poor Revisited: Challenging Current Welfare Policy Assumptions” speaker: Frances Fox Piven, Ph.D., Professor, City University of New York, author of Regulating the Poor (February 25, 1994)

Electoral Politics

“Blue Wave or Red Tide: 2018 Post-Election Reporters Roundtable” Speakers: Esther Kaplan, Editor and Journalist, The Investigative Fund; Co-host, Beyond the Pale on WBAI Radio, John Nichols, National Affairs Correspondent, The Nation; Contributing writer, The Progressive and In These Times, Basil Smikle, Distinguished Lecturer, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies; commentator, CNN, MSNBC, The Hill. Moderated by Daryl Khan, Distinguished Lecturer & Director of the Urban Reporting Program, Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY; NY Bureau Chief, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange and Youth Today (Nov 16, 2018)

“Election Debrief: Reporters’ Roundtable” Speakers: Laura Flanders, author and broadcaster; Jamilah King, senior staff writer at Mic.com, former senior editor at Colorlines, associate editor of WireTap, and Murphy Institute alumnus; Harold Meyerson, editor-at-large of The American Prospect; and Julio Ricardo Varela, Digital Media Director and Political Editor for Futuro Media, founder of LatinoRebels.com, and frequent LatinoUSA contributor. Moderated by Ed Ott. (November 18, 2016)

“The Elections 2014: Organized Labor, Progressives and the Democratic Disaster” speakers: Juan González, co-host, “Democracy Now!” and columnist for The Daily News Sarah Jaffe, journalist whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Nation, and who serves columnist for New Labor Forum, Errol Louis, political anchor, NY1 TV and host, “Inside City Hall” Michael Hirsch, former UFT staff writer whose work has appeared in The Village Voice, Labor Notes, The New Statesman, and other publications. Moderator: Ed Ott, Distinguished Lecturer, Murphy Institute (November 14, 2014)

“Elections 2012: Implications for U.S. Workers” speakers: Gordon Lafer, Associate Professor at the University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center, Adolph Reed, Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, Hettie Rosenstein, New Jersey director of the Communication Workers of America and Ed Ott, distinguished Lecturer, Murphy Institute (November 16, 2012)

“Greek Unions, Greek Elections, and the European Economic Crisis” speakers: George Mavrikos, General Secretary of the World Federation of Trade Unions, member of the Greek Parliament and former General Secretary of the Greek General Confederation of Labor, Arthur Cheliotes, President of CWA, Local 1180, Ed Ott, Distinguished Lecturer, the Murphy Institute and Cristina R. Vazquez, International Vice President, Workers’ United, SEIU (July 23, 2012)

“The 2012 Elections: Is a Multi-Racial Working Class Coalition Still Possible?” speakers: Ruy Teixiera, Senior Fellow, Center American Progress, Author, Red, Blue and Purple America: The Future of Election Demographics, Thomas B. Edsall, Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore, Professor of Journalism, Columbia University, Author, Building Red America, Dorian Warren. Moderator, Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia (April 20, 2012)

“Taking Stock of the Midterm Elections” speakers: Bob Master, Legislative & Political Director, CWA District 1, Jeffrey Plaut, Global Strategy Group, Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor, The Graduate Center, CUNY and James Steele, Distinguished Lecturer, The Murphy Institute (November 12, 2010)

“Forecasting the Fall Elections: Obamacrats vs. the Tea Party” New Labor Forum 2010 Luncheon Fundraiser, speakers included: Robert Kuttner, Co-Founding Editor, The American Prospect, Gary Younge, Columnist, The Nation, Marcus Jackson, Author, Neighborhood Register, Lynne Procope, Co-author, Burning Down the House (May 13, 2010)

“Parsing the Polity: An Analysis of Election 2008” speakers: Karen Ackerman, Director of Political Action, AFL-CIO, Mark Crispin Miller, Professor of Media Ecology, New York University, and Patricia J. Smith, Nation Columnist and Professor of Law, Columbia University with Ed Ott, Executive Director of the New York City Central Labor Council (November 7, 2008)

“Race and Gender in the Change Election” speakers: Patricia Williams, Dohr Professor of Law, Columbia University and Nation Columnist, Leon Wynter, Author, Journalist and host of the blog, The American Race speaking (February 29, 2008)

“Election 2004: Debriefing and Prognosis” speakers: Ed Ott, Director of Public Policy, NYC Central Labor Council, and James Steele, Special Assistant to Congressman Gregory Meeks (November 12, 2004)

SPECIAL SERIES: “Envisioning a New City: The 2005 NYC Mayoral Primary Election” Charles Barron, Councilman (April 2, 2004) Anthony Weiner, Congressman (March 12, 2004) William C. Thompson Jr., New York City Comptroller (February 27, 2004) C. Virginia Fields, Manhattan Borough President (January 30, 2004) Fernando Ferrer, Former Bronx Borough President and President of the Drum Major Institute (December 12, 2003) Brian McLaughlin, President of the New York City Central Labor Council and member of the New York State Assembly (November 21, 2003) Honorable Gifford Miller, Speaker of the New York City Council (September 19, 2003)

“Election 2004: The Union Program” speaker: Karen Ackerman, Political Director of AFL-CIO, (November 7, 2003)

“New York City Elections: Who won? Who lost? Why? What does it mean for labor?” speakers: Angelo Falcon, Senior Policy Executive and Director, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund; Gerry Hudson, Executive Vice-President, 1199 SEIU, and Ruth Messinger, President, American Jewish World Service (October 19, 2001)

“Immigrant Scapegoating and the Upcoming Elections” speaker: Muzaffar Chisti, Esq., Chair of the National Immigration Forum, and Secretary of the National Coalition for Haitian Refugees (September 20, 1996)

Feminism and Gender Politics

“Promising Practices: Labor and Community Fighting Sexual Harassment in the Era of #MeToo” Conference. Co-sponsored The Worker Institute, Cornell

“#MeToo & The Food We Eat” Co-sponsored by the Student/Farmworker Alliance Speakers: Lupe Gonzalo of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (March 2, 2018).

“Work vs. Family: Making the Workplace Family Friendly” speakers: Jody Heymann, Founder and Director, Project on Global Working Families, Ellen Bravo, Author, Taking on the Big Boys: Why Feminism is Good for Families, Business, and the Nation and Carol Joyner, National Policy Director, labor Project for Working Families. Moderator: Ruth Milkman, Professor of Sociology, Murphy Institute and CUNY Graduate Center (June 2, 2011)

“Does Labor Have a CLUW? Unions and the Feminist Agenda” speakers: Alice Kessler-Harris, Professor of American History Columbia University, Niki T. Dickerson, Assistant Professor School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University, and Heidi Hartmann, President, Institute for Women’s Policy Research speaking (January 25, 2008)

“Sisters on the Frontline: Organizing Women, Building Power,” speakers: Carolyn Jacobsen, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Priscilla Murolo, Sarah Lawrence College, Kate Bronfenbrenner, Cornell ILR, Bhairavi Desai, co-founder and organizer, Taxi Workers Alliance, Maria Elena Durazo, Secretary-Treasurer, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Laura Unger, President, CWA 1150, Ai-jen Poo, Domestic Workers United, Yanira Merino, LIUNA. A three-day conference (March 30 – April 1, 2007)

“Is Organizing Enough? Issues of Race, Gender, and Union Culture in a “Revitalized” Labor Movement” speaker: Bill Fletcher Jr., Assistant to the President of AFL-CIO, and Richard W. Hurd, Professor and Director of Labor Studies at Cornell University (May 12, 2000)

“Women in the Civil Rights Movement” Zita Allen, Associate Editor at the Public Employees Press (AFSCME, DC37) and author of Black Women Leaders of the Civil Rights Movements (June 27, 1997)

Future of Labor

“The Next Generation: Young Workers Building Movements” Speakers: Arsenia Reilly-Collins, Writers Guild of America-East & CUNY-SLU faculty, Jedidiah Labinjo, Retail Action Project (RAP)/RWDSU & CUNY-SLU graduate student, Kim Kelly, Teen Vogue & Vice Union, Moderated by Diana Robinson, Union Semester Coordinator, CUNY-SLU (Dec 6, 2018)

“The Future of Capitalism and the Future of Work” Conference. Co-sponsored by the NYC Chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network (May 4, 2018)

“New Labor Forum’s 20th Anniversary: The Unmet Promise of Labor’s Resuscitation and the Future of Mass Organizing” Speakers: Stephen Lerner, fellow at Kalmanovitz Initiative, Georgetown University Phil Thompson, Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT Liza Featherstone, labor journalist and contributing writer for The Nation (December 8, 2017).

“Janus and Beyond: The Future of Public Sector Unions” Conference. Co-sponsored by the Worker Institute, Cornell (November 17, 2017).

“Was Organized Labor Once a Poor People’s Movement and Can It Be Again?” speakers: Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center, Consortial faculty member, Murphy Institute, Alethia Jones, 1199. Moderator: Steve Fraser, Editor-at-Large, New Labor Forum (February 21, 2014)

“The Uncertain Future of the NLRB and the Survival of Collective Bargaining” speakers: Wilma B. Liebman, Chair National Labor Relations Board (2009-2011), Cynthia Estlund, Catherine A Rein Prof. of Law, NYU Law School (September 23, 2011)

“Is Conventional Trade Unionism Obsolete?” speakers: Amy Dean, former Chief Executive Officer, south Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, Janice Fine Assistant Professor of Labor Studies and Employment, Rutgers University, Gerald Hudson, Executive Vice President, SEIU co-founder, Emerald Cities Project, and Aijen Poo, co-founder and Director, Domestic Workers United (October 23, 2009)

“The Big Rift: Labor Ventures Into the Unknown” speakers: Jonathan Tasini, President of Economics Future Group, President Emeritus of the National Writers Union, and blogger; Ruth Milkman, Professor of Sociology and Director of the University of California’s Institute of Industrial Relations; and Jeff Crosby, President of IUE-CWA Local 201 and President of the North Shore Labor Council (September 30, 2005)

“Labor at the Crossroads: Competing Visions, Alternative Strategies, and the Future of the U.S. Labor Movement” speakers: Larry Cohen, Executive VP, CWA, Gerald Hudson, International Executive VP, SEIU, Gregory Junemann, President IFPTE, Bruce Raynor, General President, UNITE HERE, Ron Blackwell, AFL-CIO, Karen Ackerman, AFL-CIO, Miguel Contreras, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Jeff Hermanson, AFL-CI Solidarity Center, Katie Quan, UC Berkeley. A two-day national conference (December 2 – 3, 2004)

“Next Stop on the Freedom Ride” speakers: Hector Figueroa, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 32B-J, SEIU, and Dan Clawson, author of The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements, (October, 23, 2003)

“Challenges for the Future, Perspectives from the Past: Lessons for New York City’s Labor Movement from its Post-War Heyday” speaker: Joshua Freeman, Professor of History, Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center, author of Working Class New York: Life and Labor in New York City, (December 8, 2000)

“The Role of the ILO in the Twenty-First Century” speaker: Juan Somavia, Director General of the International Labour Organization (September 5, 2000)

“Looking Backward, Looking Forward: Lessons from the Labor Movement for the 21st Century” speaker: David Montgomery, Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University (September 24, 1999)

“Continuum or Watershed?: A Conference on the Future of the AFL-CIO,” speakers: Tery Alaimo, Vice President, 1199 National Health and Human Service Employees Union, Steve Early, International Representative, CWA, Denise Perry, Senior Associate, Organizing Institute, AFL-CIO;George Kourpias, President, International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, Ed Ott, Political Director, CWA, Local 1180, Elaine Bernard, Executive Director, Harvard Trade Union Program, Jose LaLuz, Associate Director of Education, AFSCME, Bill Lucy, Secretary Treasurer, AFSCME, Ron Carey, President, IBT. A two-day national conference (October 21 – 22, 1995)

“Labor and the New World Order” speaker: Tony Benn, MP House of Commons (United Kingdom) (October 7, 1993)

“Prospects for Progressive Social Legislation” speaker: Michael Dukakis, former Governor and Presidential candidate (May 7, 1993)

“The Prospects for Labor Law Reform” speaker: Richard Warden, Department of Labor, former chief lobbyist for the United Auto Workers (April 23, 1993)

Healthcare

“The Affordable Care Act: How Is It Working for Working People?” speakers: Barbara Caress, former director, strategic planning & Policy, SEIU Local 32BJ Consultant; on health care policy to unions and workers organizations, Kurt Edelman, Chairs the SEIU member Health Care Task Force. Moderator: Justin Laird, Health Policy & Administration Faculty The Murphy Institute, (March 26, 2014)

“On the Brink of Health Care Reform: Labor’s Role” Dennis Rivera, President, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East; Marie Gottschalk, author of The Shadow Welfare State: Labor, Business, and the Politics of Health Care in the United States; and Ed Ott, Executive Director, NYC Central Labor Council (May 31, 2007)

“Charting Progressive Health Care Reform” speaker: Joanne Lukominik, M.D., Columbia University School of Public Health, and member of the White House Task Force on Health (November 19, 1993)

Immigration

“Immigration in the Trump Era” Co-sponsored by the Scholars Strategy Network (NYC Chapter) Speakers: Muzaffar Chishti is the Director of Migration Policy Institute at the NYU School of Law. Mae Ngai is Professor of History at Columbia University and Lung Family Professor of Asian American Studies. Esther Lopez International Secretary-Treasurer of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Eliseo Medina is former International Secretary-Treasurer of Service Employees International Union. Gonzalo Mercado is the NYC Regional Coordinator for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON). Javaid Tariq is co-founder and Senior Staff at the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Modesta Toribio is Senior Organizer at Make the Road New York. Anu Joshi is Deputy Director at NY State Immigration Action Fund, Abraham Paulos is former Executive Director of Families for Freedom. Donna Schaper is Senior Minister at Judson Memorial Church. Monica Sibri is founder of CUNY DREAMers and New York Fellow at IGNITE National. Moderated by Ruth Milkman, Ed Ott and Els de Graauw, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Baruch College, CUNY. (May 11, 2017)

“Dreams Deported: Immigrant Youth & Families Resist Deportations” Kent Wong, UCLA Labor Center, Denise Romero, Brandworkers & Dream Summer Alumni, Sonia Sendoya, Special Project Coordinator, Internationals Network, Moderated by Ruth Milkman (October 5^th 2015)

“The Right to Stay Home: Justice for Migrants & Sending Communities“ David Bacon, an illustrated presentation about immigration and the labor movement. Co-sponsor, Graduate Center, CUNY (May 13^th, 2015)

Film Screening: “The Hand that Feeds” by Robin Blotnik and Rachel Lears Gritty story of immigrant sandwich makers organizing at Hot and Crusty restaurant in New York City. Filmmakers and worker-organizers on hand to discuss the campaign. (May 8^th, 2015 6:30 – 830 pm)

“The Politics of Immigration Reform” speakers: speakers: Ana Avendano, Assistant to the President and Director of Immigration and Community Action, AFL-CIO, Muzaffar Chishti, Director, Migration Policy Institute at NYU School of Law and Amy Sugimori, Policy Director, SEIU 32 BJ. Moderator: Ruth Milkman, Academic Director of Labor Studies, Murphy Institute (November 20, 2013)

“Undocumented and Unafraid: Voices from the Immigrant Youth Movement” speakers: Kent Wong, Director UCLA Labor Center, Sofia Campos, National Chair, United We Dream Network, Razeen Zaman, Advocacy and Education Not Deportation (END) Coordinator, NYS Youth Leadership Council (September 27, 2012)

“Immigration Reform: What’s at Stake for Labor?” speakers: Eliseo Medina, International Secretary-Treasurer, SEIU, Frank Sharry, Founder and Executive Director, America’s Voice and Ruth Milkman, Professor of Sociology, The Murphy Institute and the CUNY Graduate Center (April 14, 2011)

“Underground Undergrads: Undocumented Immigrant Students Speak Out” speakers: Kent Wong, Director, Center for Labor Research and Education, UCLA, Matias Ramos, National Activist for the DREAM Act, Graduate, UCLA and Walter Barrientos, Co-Founder, NYS Youth Leadership Council, Graduate, Baruch College, CUNY (June 15, 2009)

“Immigrant Workers in Peril: Finding Solutions to the Health & Safety Crisis,” speakers: Pico Ben-Amotz, Deputy Commissioner for Worker Protection, NYS Department of Labor, Nadia Marin, Executive Director, Workplace Project, Guillermo Linares, Commissioner, Mayor’s Taskforce on Immigrant Affairs; Sekou Siby, Restaurant Opportunity Center-New York, John Delgardo, Business Manager, LIUNA Local 79, Carmen Calderon, Safety & Health Specialist for Immigrant Workers, NYCOSH. A one-day conference (April 21, 2007)

“Shifting Borders: Immigrant Lives and the Policies that Shape Them” speakers: David Bacon, journalist, photographer, and author of The Children of NAFTA and Communities without Borders: Images and Voices from the World of Migration; Margarita Vasques, Smithfield former worker and campaign activist; Siddhartha Sanchez, Community Liaison for Immigration Affairs in Congressman Jose E. Serrano’s Office; and Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor of The Nation (February 9, 2007)

“Guest Workers in the House of Labor? Unions Debate Immigration Reform” speakers: Muzaffar Chishti, Director, Migration Policy Institute at NYU Law School; Ana Avendano, Director, AFL-CIO Immigrant Worker Program; and May Chen, International Vice President, UNITE-HERE!, (March 31, 2006)

International Labor

“Radical Film Network NYC: A Global Gathering” Co-sponsored by Radical Film Network, Workers Unite! Film Festival, Murphy Institute with additional supporters (May 3-5, 2017)

“Dilma Rousseff: The Attack on Democracy and Human Rights in Brazil” Co-sponsored by the Defend Democracy Brazil and the Murphy Institute, CUNY Speakers: Dilma Rousseff was Brazil’s former president, impeached in August 2016 in what many have called a “soft coup” based on what analysts almost universally have described as minor and highly irregular charges − will discuss the attack on, and current efforts to defend, democracy, labor rights, and social and economic justice in Brazil. (April 14, 2017)

“Migrant Labour in China: A Post-Socialist Transformation” Speaker: Pun Ngai, received a PhD from the School of Oriental and African studies at the University of London in 1998. She is currently a professor in the social science department at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She has written extensively about labor and gender issues in China. Her book MADE IN CHINA: WOMEN FACTORY WORKERS IN A GLOBAL WORKPLACE was the winner of the C. Wright Mills Award in 2006. Moderated by Ruth Milkman, Murphy Institute Co-sponsored with the Asian American/Asian Research Institute (February 23, 2016)

“Better Wages and Corporate Accountability for Workers in the Global Supply Chain” Speakers:Steven Greenhouse, former New York Times labor journalist, Judy Gearhart, Executive Director, International Labor Rights Forum , Jeff Hermanson, Director of Global Strategies, Workers United-SEIU, Sarah Labowitz, Co-Director, Center for Business & Human Rights, NYU Stern School, Atish Saha, Bangladeshi photojournalist, prize winning series “The Ghosts of Rana Plaza” Moderator: May Chen, Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies(May 28^th, 2015)

“Afghanistan and Labor’s Agenda” speakers: William Hartung, Director of the Arms and Security Initiative, New America Foundation, Marilyn Young, Professor of History, NYU, and Michael Zweig, Professor of Economics, SUNY Stony Brook (December 10, 2010)

“APALA on Vietnam in Transition” speakers: Kent Wong, Author of Organizing on Separate Shores: Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans Union Organizers, Ramon A. Rodriguez, Former Vietnam veteran and NY Education and Development Coordinator for 1199SEIU, UHE Greg Mantsios, Executive Director of The Murphy Institute. Moderator: May Chen, Former International VP, Workers United/SEIU and National Executive Board member, (April 15, 2010)

“Voices of Iraqi Workers: U.S. Solidarity” speakers: Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President, Iraqi Electrical Utility Workers Union (June 18_, 2007)

“Fast Boat to China” speaker: Andrew Ross, Professor of American Studies and Director of Metropolitan Studies Program at New York University (April 28, 2006)

“Working-Class British Seamen on the Trans-Atlantic Route: Ambassadors of American Style”, The Filmmakers and the Cunard Yanks present the documentary film, Liverpool’s Cunard Yanks (April 23, 2004).

“El Taller, a Workers’ Theater Group from Mexico, performing La Otra Historia de King Kong de Atlixco (The Other Story of King Kong of Atlixco)” Moderator: Jeff Hermanson, Senior Advisor of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center (July 30, 2003)

“Rethinking U.S. Labor’s Policy Toward China and its Unions” speakers: Elaine Bernard, Director of Harvard University’s Labor and Worklife Program and Trade Union Program, and Kent Wong, Director of the Labor Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles (December 13, 2002)

“Building Peace and Democracy in the Americas: What Role for Organized Labor?” speaker: Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Peace Laureate (April 6, 2001)

“What Does the Defeat of the PRI and Its Lock on Mexican Unions Mean for Building a North American Labor Alliance?” speaker: Jeff Faux, President of the Economic Policy Institute (January 26, 2001)

“Free Association? The Attack on Internationally Respected Workers’ Rights in the U.S.” speaker: Lance Campa, author of “Unfair Advantage: Workers’ Freedom of Association in the United States Under International Human Rights Standards” a report in Human Rights Watch (October 20, 2000)

“Organizing for Workers’ Rights in the Maquiladoras” speaker: Manuel Mondragon, Director of the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, (October 6, 1999)

“The War in Kosovo and the Chances for Democracy in the Former Yugoslavia” speaker: Bogdan Denitch, author of Trade Unionist and Expert on the Balkans (April 16, 1999)

“Latinas in Brazil and the U.S.: Engendering and Coloring Labor Unions” speaker: Mary Garcia Castro, Professor of Sociology and Cultural Political Studies, University of Bahia and University of Campinas (March 26, 1999)

“The Roots of Caribbean Radicalism in the Early 20th Century United States” speaker: Winston James, Assistant Professor of History at Columbia University and author of Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia: Caribbean Radicalism in Early Twentieth Century America (June 12, 1998)

“The Liverpool Lockout, Global Solidarity and New Labor” speakers: Terry Southers and David Cotteri, Leaders of the Liverpool Longshoremen’s strike (March 20, 1998)

“The Post-Civil War Guatemalan Labor Movement” speaker: Marco Vinicio Hernandez, founding member of Guatemala’s National Teachers’ Union and coordinator of the national training commission of his country’s 12-year old, 72-union member labor federation, UNSITRUGUA, (March 13, 1997)

“After Yeltsin: What Next for Russia and its Labor Movement” speaker: Boris Kargalitsky, Russian labor activist and political dissident (February 23, 1996)

“French Workers Defend the Public Sector: An Eye-Witness Account” speaker: Arthur Cheliotes, President, and CWA Local 1180, (January 26, 1996)

“India’s New Economic Policy: Joining the Battle Against Privatization and Deregulation” speaker: T.A. Francis, National Secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (April 21, 1995)

“The Thirty-Five Hour Work Week: A Labor Victory in Germany?” speaker: Jakob Moneta, former editor of Metall, the German metal workers’ newsweekly (March 10, 1995)

“Unrest in Europe: Responding to Privatization, Layoffs and Sub-Minimum Wages” speaker; Louis Viannet, President, Confederation Generale du Travail (France) (April 11, 1994)

“Labor in the South African Freedom Movement: Winning in the Electoral Arena” Mike Mabuyakhula, officer, National Union of Metalworkers and African National Congress candidate for Parliament (South Africa) (February 17, 1994)

“Political Education in Brazil: Use of Popular Culture” speaker: Augusto Baol, playwright, Workers’ Party representative, and member City Council, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) (February 2, 1994)

“Union Member Based Response to Privatization: A Global Perspective” speaker: Andrew Banks, Education Officer, International Trade Union Secretariat (Geneva) (January 28, 1994)

“Jewish-Palestinian Cooperation in Defending the Legal Rights of Palestinian Workers” speaker: Amira Hass, journalist (Israel) (April 16, 1993)

Political Action

“Puerto Rico: Facts and Realities of Living Under PROMESA” Cosponsored by NYC LCLAA Speakers: Jose La Luz, Public Policy Director of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) and a veteran trade unionist; Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan, president of the National Lawyers Guild and Associate Counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF; Nelson Denis, author of “War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror In America’s Colony,” attorney, playwright, film director, and former representative to the NYS Assembly. (December 2, 2016)

“Labor, the Working Class and the Democratic Party” Speakers: Larry Cohen, Making Progressive Politics Work, and former President, Communications Workers of America , Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers, Juan Gonzalez, reporter for Daily News and co-host of Democracy Now! Basil Smikle, Executive Director, New York State Democratic Party , Moderated by Ed Ott, Distinguished Lecturer, The Murphy Institute (September 18, 2015)

“Identity Politics: Key to New Coalitions for Radical Change” , speaker: Barbara Smith, Black Feminist Organize, Joo-Yun Kang, Director, Communities United for Police Reform, Gerry Hudson, Executive Vice President, SEIU, George Gresham, President, 1199SEIU opened the panel, Moderator: Alethia Jones, 1199SEIU UHE Education Director, Chirlane McCray, First Lady of NYC attended and offered remarks.(March 13, 2015)

(March 26, 2014)

“The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC):Enacting Corporate Free Reign.” speakers: Gordon Lafer, Associate Professor Labor Education & Research Institute, University of Oregon, Nancy Guyott, President, Indiana State AFL-CIO. Moderator: Joshua Freeman (December 5, 2013)

“Discounted Jobs: Breakfast Policy Forum” speakers: Ruth Milkman, Academic Director, CUNY Murphy Institute, Tamara Green, Member Organizer in Training, Retail Action Project, Carrie Gleason, Executive Director, RAP, Dorian Warren, RAP Board Directors, Fellow Roosevelt Institute, and Assist. Professor, Columbia University, Stephanie Luce, Associate Professor, CUNY Murphy Institute, Kimberly Ortiz, Member Organizer Lead, RAP, Cherone Bellinfantie, Member Organizer in Training, RAP, Stuart Applebaum, President, RWDSU, UFCW, Carrie Nathan, Shop Steward, RWDSU Local 1-S Macy’s, and RAP, Gustavo Rivera, NYS Senator, D, WF-Bronx, Naoki Fujita, Policy Associate, RAP (April 13, 2012)

“A Labor Strategy of Counter the ‘Jobless Recovery” speakers: Leo Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers. Moderator: Ed Ott, Distinguished Lecturer, The Murphy Institute (October 7, 2010)

“New Labor Forum Fundraiser Luncheon: A New Politics: Transforming Crisis into Progressive Action” speakers: Gerald Hudson, Executive Vice President, SEIU; Marie Gottschalk, The Shadow Welfare State: Labor, Business, and the Politics of Healthcare in the United States; Omar Friella, Executive Director, The Greenworkers Cooperative; Ed Ott, Executive Director, NYC Central Labor Council, AFL—CIO; Angela Glover Blackwell, Executive Director, Policy Link; Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the Nation’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, Poetry Presentation: Thulani Davis My Confederate Kinfolk; All The Renegade Ghosts Rise (May 15, 2009)

“Is This A Watershed Moment in U.S. Politics?: New Labor Forum 10^th Anniversary Forum” speakers: Ed Ott, Executive Director, NYC Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher, The Nation, Bill Fletcher, Jr. Author, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice, Mae Ngai, Author, Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America, and Juan Gonzalez, Columnist, The New York Daily News (March 14, 2008)

“Redistricting and the Labor Movement” speakers: Esmeralda Simmons, Executive Director, Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College; Juan Cartagena, General Counsel, Community Service Society of New York; and Evan Stavisky, Consultant, NYC Central Labor Council, moderated by James Steele, Associate Director, Queens College Labor Resource Center, (February 22, 2002)

The Terrorist Attacks & Their Aftermath: Labor’s Response & Role in a New Environment (PART I) Kimberly Crenshaw, Professor of Law, Columbia University, speaking on “Homeland Security and Its Implications”; Steve Shalom, Professor of Political Science, William Paterson University, speaking on “America and the World: Context and Challenges”; Mark Levinson, Director of Research and Policy, UNITE, speaking on “The Economic and Political Impact on the Labor Movement”; and Barbara Bowen, President, PSC-CUNY, Local 2334, AFT, speaking on “How Do Unions Keep Their Issues from Being Trivialized?” (November 30, 2001)

“Building Peace and Democracy in the Americas: What Role for Organized Labor?” speaker: Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Peace Laureate (April 6, 2001)

“What’s at Stake? What can Labor Do?” speaker: James Steele, Director, Civic Participation Incubator, Medgar Evers College, CUNY, (June 17, 1999)

Labor History

“C. Wright Mills and the Role of Public Intellectuals” speakers:Michael Merrill, Dean, Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. Center, Empire State College (SUNY), Andrew Ross, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, NYU, Kathryn Mills, editor (with Pamela Mills), C. Wright Mills: Letters and Autobiographical Writings, Stanley Aronowitz, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center will respond. Moderator: Joshua Freeman, Professor of History at Queens College and CUNY Graduate Center, A Discussion of Stanley Aronowitz’ Taking it Big (February 15, 2013)

“Madison: The End or The Beginning?” speakers: Phil Thompson, Associate Professor of Urban Politics, MIT, John Nichols, Washington Correspondent, The Nation, and Stephen Lerner, Member, SEIU International Executive Board. Moderator: Stephanie Luce, Associate Professor of Labor Studies, The Murphy Institute (May 13, 2011)

“Out of the Smoke and the Flame: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and its Legacy” speakers included: Steve Fraser, New Labor Forum, The Murphy Institute, CUNY Frances Fox Piven, Graduate Center CUNY, Sarita Gupta, National Executive Director, Jobs with Justice Saskia Sassen, Columbia University & London School of Economics. A one-day national Conference (March 24, 2011)

“From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks” a one-man play about the life of Harry Bridges. Moderator: Ian Ruskin, founder of the Harry Bridges Project in San Francisco. A special labor history event (October 5, 2007)

“Homeland Insecurity: The War on Terror and the War on Labor” speakers: William D. Hartung, Director of the Arms Trade Resource Center of the World Policy Institute, New School University (May 14, 2004)

“Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform” speaker: Derrick Bell, author, Visiting Professor of Law, New York University (September 10, 2004)

“Labor in a Time of War” speakers: Bob Muehlenkamp, Co-founder of U.S. Labor Against the War and former Executive Vice President of SEIU 1199; Charlene Mitchell, Assistant to the President of Local 371, DC 37/AFSCME and long- time civil rights and labor activist; and Leslie Cagan, Co-chair of United for Peace and Justice (March 28, 2003)

“Hubert Harrison: The Father of Harlem Radicalism” speaker: Jeffrey Perry, editor of Hubert Harrison: An Introductory Reader (Wesleyan University Press) (June 8, 2001)

“Race Repression and Workers’ Rights: The Case of the Charleston Five” speakers: Bill Fletcher Jr., Assistant to the President of AFL-CIO, and Ken Riley, President of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1422 (March 30, 2001)

“The Role of the ILO in the Twenty-First Century” speaker: Juan Somavia, Director General of the International Labour Organization (September 5, 2000)

“The Old Guard Hangover and Labor’s Challenge in the Sweeney Era” speaker: Paul Buhle, author of Taking Care of Business: Samuel Gompers, George Meany, Lane Kirkland and the Tragedy of American Labor (June 16, 2000)

“The Other America”: Michael Harrington’s Legacy & Relevance” speakers: Maurice Isserman, Professor of History, Hamilton College; Frances Fox Piven, Professor of Political Science and Sociology, CUNY Graduate School; and Charlene Mitchell, Executive Assistant to the President, Local 371, DC 37 (March 24, 2000)

“Labor, Culture and the Cold War Revisited” Ellen Schrecker, Professor of History, Yeshiva University, and Walter Bernstein, screenwriter (March 12, 1999)

“Walter Reuther: Architect of His Own Failure?” speaker: Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History at the University of Virginia, and author of Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, (May 7, 1996)

Labor Law

“The Taylor Law in Perspective at 50” Co-sponsored by the Roosevelt House, Hunter College, CUNY Speakers: Joshua Freeman, Kimberly Phillips-Fein, Ashwini Sukthankar, and Terry Melvin (September 26, 2017).

“Working Without Laws: Employment and Labor Law Violations in New York City” speakers: Annette Bernhardt, Policy Co-Director, National Employment Law Project, Terri Gerstein, Deputy Commissioner of Labor for Wage Protection & Immigrant Services NYS Department of Labor, Ana Maria Archila, Co-Executive Director, Make the Road New York and Pat Purcell, Assistant to the President UFCW Local 1500 (January 29, 2010)

“The Time is Now: Pass the Farm Worker Fair Labor Practices Act” speakers: Michael Aronson, New York Daily News Editorial Board, Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, Aspacio Alcantara, United Food & Commercial Workers Organizer and former farm worker, The Reverend Richard Witt, Rural & Migrant Ministry Executive Director. Moderators: Stuart Appelbaum, President, RWDSU and Alan Lubin, Executive Vice President, NYSUT, A Luncheon Forum (October 15, 2009)

“Developing a Progressive Response to the Dunlop Commission” speaker: James Rundle, Labor Education Coordinator, Cornell University and author of The Debate over Employer-Dominated Labor Organizations: What is the Evidence? Moderator: Nick Unger, ACTWU. (June 3, 1994)

“Prospects for Progressive Social Legislation” speaker: Michael Dukakis, former Governor and Presidential candidate (May 7, 1993)

“The Prospects for Labor Law Reform” speaker: Richard Warden, Department of Labor, former chief lobbyist for the United Auto Workers (April 23, 1993)

Municipal Politics

“The City Is the Factory: Discussion and Book Party” Speakers: Penny Lewis, Murphy Institute, CUNY. Miriam Greenberg, University of Santa Cruz. Shannon Gleason, Cornell University. Melissa Checker, Queens College, CUNY. Stephanie Luce, Murphy Institute, CUNY.(November 3, 2017).

“Participatory Budgeting in New York City” Speakers: Celina Su, Political Science, CUNY, Nando Rodriguez, Brotherhood/Sister Sol, 2015 District 7 Winning Project, Gianpaolo Baiocchi, NYU-Gallatin, Co-founder Participatory Budgeting Project, Josh Lerner, Director Participatory Budgeting Project (November 18^th, 2015)

“Violence & the City” speakers: Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center, Marie Gottschalk, Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania, Ruth Gilmore, Professor of Earth & Environment Sciences and American Studies, and Director of the Center for Place, Culture and Politics, CUNY Graduate Center, Mimi Abramovitz, Bertha Capen Reynolds Professor of Social Policy, Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, Lawrence Mead, Professor of Politics, New York University, Paul Jargowsky, Professor of Public Policy and Director of Center for Urban Research and Urban Education, Rutgers University-Camden, John Mollenkopf, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Urban Research, CUNY Graduate Center.(May 8^th 2015)

“Facing Gentrification; Reclaiming Community”, speakers: Sharon Cromwell, Political Policy Analyst, SEIU Local 32BJ, Monique “Mo” George, NYC Chapter Director of Organizing, Community Voices Heard, Andrew Padilla, East Harlem Documentary film maker, Fitzroy Christian, CASA: Community Action for Safe Apartments Leader, member of the Real Affordability for All Coalition, Moderator: Eddie Rosario, AFSMCME Local 375/DC37.(March 24, 2015)

Film Screening: “Wisconsin Rising”, by Sam Mayfield (September 17, 2014)

“The Municipal Budget 2002” speakers: Preston Niblack, Deputy Director, NYC Independent Budget Office; Glenn Pasanen, Associate Director, The City Project; and James Parrot, Deputy Director and Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute (March 22, 2002)

New York Unions

“Getting Back on Track: New York Transit Crisis” Speakers: Kafui Attoh, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, Murphy Institute. Robert Paaswell, Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, City College of New York and Director Emeritus, University Transportation Research Center (UTRC). Pierina Ana Sanchez, Director, New York, Regional Planning Association. Andrew Bata, Regional Manager North America, International Association of Public Transport (UITP). City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Chair of the Committee on Transportation. John Samuelson, President, TWU International (October 13, 2017).

“Is There a Future for Low Income Housing in New York City?”, speaker: Brent Meltzer, Assistant Commissioner, NYC Department of HPD, Ismene Speliotis, Executive Director, Mutual Housing Assoc. of NY, Carlton Brown, president, Full Spectrum Construction, Lavon Chambers, Greater NY LECET, Moderator: Eve Baron, Urban Studies Program Manager, The Murphy Institute(February 20, 2015)

“What’s the Matter with New York?” speakers: Brad Lander, NYCCM and Chari of the Progressive Caucus, John Mollenkopf, Distinguished Prof. , Political Science and Sociology, Center for Urban Research, Bertha Lewis, President of The Black Institute, Edward F. Ott, Distinguished Lecture, The Murphy Institute. Moderator: Tom Robbins, Investigative Journalist in Residence, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism (October 19, 2011)

“Green the Ghetto First: Why, How, and What Happens if We Don’t” speaker: Majora Carter, Executive Director, Sustainable South Bronx (September 19, 2007)

“Assessing the New York City Transit Strike of 2005,” speakers: Saskia Sassen, Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago and Centennial Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics, Joshua Freeman, Author of In Transit: The Transport Workers Union in New York City, Frances Fox-Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology, CUNY-Graduate Center, Adrianne Shropshire, Executive Director, New York Jobs with Justice, Roger Toussaint, President, TWU Local 100, Stanley Aronowitz, Distinguished Professor of Sociology-CUNY Graduate Center, Barbara Bowen, President, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY. A one-day conference (September 28, 2006)

“Issues of Equity in Rebuilding New York” The Terrorist Attacks & Their Aftermath: Labor’s Response & Role in a New Environment (PART II) speakers: Gregory Meeks, Member of United States Congress; Gifford Miller, Member of NYC Council, 5th District, representing Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg; Mitchell Moss, Advisor to Mayor-elect and Professor of Urban Planning, NYU; and Lee Saunders, Administrator, District Council 37, AFSCME, (December 14, 2001)

“Hubert Harrison: The Father of Harlem Radicalism” speaker: Jeffrey Perry, editor of Hubert Harrison: An Introductory Reader (Wesleyan University Press) (June 8, 2001)

“Developing a Progressive Housing Agenda” speaker: John Atlas, Attorney, President of the National Housing Institute, and Clinton appointee to the Resolution Trust Corporation. Commentators: Delores Thomas and Andrew Scherer (October 29, 1993)

Political Parties

“The Left-Wing of the Possible” Speakers: Steve Cobble, National delegate coordinator for Jesse Jackson for President 1988, Political Director for the National Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; co-founded Progressive Democrats of America, the organization that started the “draft Bernie” effort and the first national organization to endorse Sanders for President; Mark Winston Griffith, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Brooklyn Movement Center, a New York State Sanders delegate, and long-time community organizer and activist; Bob Master, Legislative and Political Director for CWA District One of the Communications Workers of America, co-chair of the New York State Working Families Party, and New Labor Forum author; Nina Turner, Former Ohio State Senator, a national surrogate for Senator Bernie Sanders, and Chair of Party Engagement at the Ohio Democratic Party. (September 16, 2016)

“Public Sector Unions on the Line: Right-Wing Attacks and Labor Movement Responses” Speakers: Ruth Milkman, Academic Director of Labor Studies Murphy Institute, Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor, CUNY, Speakers: Josh Freeman, Joseph Slater, University of Toledo Law School, Gordon Lafer, University of Oregon, Jennifer Laird, University of Washington Saqib Bhatti, Roosevelt Institute, Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect, Stephanie Luce, Murphy Institute, SPS CUNY, Jesse Sharkey, Vice President, Chicago Teachers Union, Pierrette Talley, Secretary-Treasurer, Ohio AFL-CIO, Barbara Bowen, President, PSC-CUNY, Joel Rogers, University of Wisconsin and COWS, Bob Master, CWA, Stephen Lerner, labor organizer (March 25^th, 2016)

“Labor Under Obama” speakers: Bill Samuel, Director of Government Affairs, AFL-CIO, Anne Marie Lofaso, Associate Professor of Law, West Virginia University College of Law (January 21, 2011)

It’s My Party: Two Leading Think Tanks Debate the Future of the Democratic Party speakers: Jason Furman, Director, The Hamilton Project, Mark Levinson, Senior Fellow, The Economic Policy Institute, and Ed Ott, Executive Director, NYC Central Labor Council (March 23, 2007)

“Donkey Days: The State of Labor’s Union with the Democratic Party” speaker: David Moberg, journalist and a Senior Editor of In These Times (November 17, 2000)

“Labor and the Clinton Economic Plan” speaker: David Gordon, Professor, New School for Social Research, economist and author of After the Wasteland (May 21, 1993)

Public Sector Unions

“Janus and Beyond: The Future of Public Sector Unions” Conference. Co-sponsored by the Worker Institute, Cornell (November 17, 2017).

“Crisis in Public Higher Education” Speakers: Joseph K. Awadjie, Chairperson of the CUNY University Student Senate, Stephen Brier & Michael Fabricant, CUNY faculty and co-authors of, Austerity Blues: Fighting for the Soul of Public Higher Education. Michael Fabricant also serves as the First Vice President of the Professional Staff Congress; Nivedita Majumdar, Associate Professor of English at John Jay College and serves as the secretary of the Professional Staff Congress; Penny Lewis, Murphy Institute, serves as a university-wide officer and in the Graduate Center faculty chapter leadership for the Professional Staff Congress. (November 4, 2016)

“Public Sector Unions on the Line: Right-Wing Attacks and Labor Movement Responses” Speakers: Ruth Milkman, Academic Director of Labor Studies Murphy Institute, Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor, CUNY, Speakers: Josh Freeman, Joseph Slater, University of Toledo Law School, Gordon Lafer, University of Oregon, Jennifer Laird, University of WashingtonSaqib Bhatti, Roosevelt Institute, Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect, Stephanie Luce, Murphy Institute, SPS CUNY, Jesse Sharkey, Vice President, Chicago Teachers Union, Pierrette Talley, Secretary-Treasurer, Ohio AFL-CIO, Barbara Bowen, President, PSC-CUNY, Joel Rogers, University of Wisconsin and COWS, Bob Master, CWA, Stephen Lerner, labor organizer (March 25^th, 2016)

“Under Attack: The Future of Public Sector Unionism” speakers: Joseph a. McCartin, Associate Prof. of History, Georgetown Univ., Arthur Cheliotes, President, Local 1180 CWA, Greg Floyd, President, Teamsters Local 237, Diane Savino, NYS Senator, District 23. Moderator: Joshua Freeman, Author, Working-Class New York Life and Labor Since World War II on (September 24, 2010)

Racial Justice

“Confronting the Tragedy: Law Enforcement, Unionism, & Communities of Color” Conference. (April 28-29, 2017)

“Confronting the Tragedy: Law Enforcement Unionism & Communities Of Color” Speakers: Carmen Berkeley, Director for the Civil, Human and Women’s Rights Department at the AFL-CIO., Joo-Hyun Kang is the Executive Director of Communities United for Police Reform, Eugene O’Donnell, Professor at the CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Dorian Warren is a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, an MSNBC Contributor, and Board Chair of the Center for Community Change. He is the Host and Executive Producer of “Nerding Out” on MSNBC’s digital platform, shift.msnbc.com. Moderated by Ed Ott, Murphy Institute. (October 21, 2016)

“How Should We Reform Criminal Justice?” a Debate: Michael Fortner, The Murphy Institute (December 10^th 2015)

JSMI “Scholarship for Diversity in Labor Fundraiser Forum” speakers: James B. Milliken, Chancellor, CUNY, John Mogulescu, Dean CUNY, School of Professional Studies, Milly Silva, Executive Vice President, 1199SEIU, Maria Castaneda, Secretary Treasurer 1199SEIU, and Marvin Holland, Political Director, TWU Local 100: (May 29^th 2014)

“The U.S. Prison Industrial Complex: Is it a Labor Issue?”speakers: Eric Lotke, Senior Research Analyst, Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Heather Ann Thompson, Professor History, Temple University, Nicole Porter, Advocacy Director, The Sentencing Project. Moderator: Ed Ott, Distinguished Lecturer, Murphy Institute (April 18 2013)

“The Great Recession and the Battle for Good Jobs in the Black Community” speakers: Steven C. Pitts, Author, Job Quality and black Workers-A Multi-City Report, Center for Labor Research and Education, University of California-Berkeley, David Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer, Community Service Society of NY (December 4, 2009)

“A Century of Struggle: Labor and the Civil Rights Movement—Marking the Centennial of the NAACP” speakers: Benjamin Jealous, President and CEO, NAACP, William Lucy, International Secretary Treasurer, AFSCME, AFL-CIO Founder and President, Coalition of Black Trade Unionist, and Steven A. Reich, Associate Professor of History, James Madison University (June 17, 2009)

“Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform” speaker: Derrick Bell, author, Visiting Professor of Law, New York University (September 10, 2004)

“Failed Reconstruction, Reparations, and Their Implications for Organized Labor” speaker: Honorable Charles Barron, New York City Council Member (January 31, 2003)

“Do Buy American Campaigns Save Jobs? The Class and Racial Politics of Protectionism” speaker: Dana Frank, Associate Professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz, (December 5, 1997)

“Organized Labor and Affirmative Action” speaker: Richard Kahlenberg, Center for National Policy fellow and author of The Remedy: Class, Race, and Affirmative Action (September 26, 1997)

“Labor Wars/Culture Wars: Why Cultural and Community Struggles Matter” speaker: Robin D. G. Kelley, Professor of History and Africana Studies, New York University, and author of Race Rebels: Culture, Politics and the Black Working Class, and Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression (June 21, 1996)

“From Freedom to Equality: The Politics of Race and Class” speaker: Manning Marable, Professor of History and Director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University, author of Black Leadership; How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America; Black American Politics; Race, Reform, and Rebellion; and Beyond Black and White (March 29, 1996)

Social Justice

“Solidarity Divided: The Crisis In Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice” speakers: Bill Fletcher, Co-founder of the Center for Labor Renewal, Past President of TransAfrica Forum and former Assistant to the President of the AFL-CIO (June 13, 2008)

“Labor in the Pulpit: The Power of Faith-based Alliances in the Struggle for Workers’ Rights and Social Justice” speakers: Reverend Jim Lewis, Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice; Marilyn Clement, Executive Secretary for Economic Justice; and Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director of New York City’s Labor Religion Coalition (February 25, 2000)

“Civil Rights and Social Justice” speaker: Lani Guinier, Professor of Law, Harvard University and author of Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback into a New Vision of Social Justice (April 3, 1998)

“Prospects for Progressive Social Legislation” speaker: Michael Dukakis, former Governor and Presidential candidate (May 7, 1993)

The Great Recession

“The Lopsided Crisis: The Ongoing Impact of the Great Recession” speakers: James Parrott, Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute, Algernon Austin, Director, Race Ethnicity and Economy Program, EPI, Ruth Milkman, Academic Director of Labor Studies, Murphy Institute, Laura Gottesdiener, independent journalist and policy analyst. Moderator: Ed Ott, Distinguished Lecturer, Murphy Institute (September 27, 2013)

“Young Workers & Organizers: Confronting a Failed Economy,” speakers included: David Pedulla, Doctoral student, Dept. of Sociology, Princeton University Tamara Draut, author of Strapped: Why America’s 20- and 30- Something’s Can’t Get Ahead, and Nelini Stamp, Organizer, Occupy Wall Street; Working Families Party. A one-day conference (November 5, 2011)

“The Jobs Crisis and What to do About It “ speakers: Katherine Newman, Director, Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, David Pedulla, Dept. of Sociology and Social Policy, Princeton University, Philip Harvey, Professor of Law & Economics, Rutgers School of Law, Gertrude Goldberg, Chair, National Jobs for All Coalition (March 26, 2010)

“Freefall: Assessing America’s Recovery Plan for A Failing Economy” speakers: William Tabb, Professor Emeritus, Queens college, City University of New York and Ron Blackwell, Chief Economist, AFL-CIO (March 5, 2009)

“The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker” speakers: Steven Greenhouse, Labor and Workplace Correspondent for The New York Times, Héctor Figueroa, Secretary-Treasurer SEIU 32BJ and Jonathan Tasini, Executive Director, Labor Research Association (May 8, 2008)

Union Democracy

“Organizing 2.0” Conference. (April 13-14, 2018)

“Organizing 2.0” Speakers: A skills sharing conference for community activists and organizers to develop skills in online organizing, digital strategy and use of online tools. (April 7-8, 2017)

“Organizing the Academic Precariat: Perspectives on National Trends and Recent Successes” Speakers: Stephen Brier, CUNY Graduate Center and the Murphy Institute; Luke Elliott-Negri, PhD Student, CUNY Graduate Center and Chair of the GC PSC chapter; Steven Hurlburt, Senior Researcher, American Institutes of Research. Malini Cadambi Daniel, Director for Higher Education, SEIU; Jonathan Karpf, Lecturer, California Faculty Association; Sonam Singh, Barnard Contingent Faculty-UAW Local 2110. (March 24, 2017)

“Organizing 2.0” A skills Sharing Conference for Community Activists & Organizers, Charles Lenchner, Organizer, Murphy Institute, Co-sponsors NY AFL-CIO, NYC Central Labor Council (April 10 & 11 2015)

“Take It to the Streets! Organizing in the New Labor Economy” speaker: Melissa Mark-Viverito, New York City Council Speaker. Moderator: Ed Ott, Distinguished Lecturer Murphy Institute (April 11, 2014)

“Drowning in Debt: An Organizing Challenge” speakers: Andrew Ross, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, NYU, Leina Bocar, writer and organizer, Chris Kasper, artist and organizer, Suzanne Collado, labor and student community organizer, NYU. Moderator Stephanie Luce, Murphy Institute for Worker Education (November 30^th 2012)

“A New Wave of Organizing: Academic Workers Challenge the Corporate University” speakers: Julie Kushner, Director of the UAW, Region 9A; Kitty Krupat, NYU graduate teaching assistant and GSOC organizer; and Kimberly Johnson, NYU graduate teaching assistant and one of GSOC’s founders (June 2, 2000)

“Organizing for Workers’ Rights in the Maquiladoras” speaker: Manuel Mondragon, Director of the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, (October 6, 1999)

“The Detroit Newspaper Lockout” Bob Ourlian (reporter), Charlie Porter (driver), Randy Carpinen (driver), and Mike Zielinski (union staff), representing striking workers from the Newspaper Guild and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 372 (April 14, 1997)

Youth Organizing

“Building Bridges Across the Generation Gap: The Shared Struggles of Millennials & Boomers” Co-sponsored by Young Invincibles, PSC-CUNY, NYC Chapter, Alliance for Retired Americans, NY StateWide Senior Action Council, NYC League of Woman Voters Speakers: Kevin Stump from Young Invincibles, Ruth Milkman from CUNY Graduate Center and Murphy Institute. Ed Ott from Murphy Institute. Kate Aronoff from In These Times. Doris Welch from NYC Chapter of NYS Alliance for Retired Americans. Luba Cortes from Make the Road New York. Lorraine Barcant from AFSCME 375. Eric Kingson from Syracuse University. (May 19, 2017).

“Culture Clash: How the Labor Movement Eats Its Young” speakers: Liza Featherstone, The Nation journalist and author, and Channing Hawkins, Generation S Coordinator, SEIU and staff of Jobs with Justice (March 9, 2003)