Video short: Aspen Institute puts Fair Food Program center stage…

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“For the first time we as workers have a voice…”

Last month, the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program held a public forum in Washington, DC, entitled “The Future of Worker Voice” with a distinguished panel of speakers.  Included on that panel were two representatives of the Fair Food Program, Cruz Salucio of the CIW and Judge Laura Safer Espinoza, Executive Director of the Fair Food Standards Council.  

The Aspen Institute is an organization that, for over 60 years, has worked to foster “enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless ideas and values, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues,” with perhaps its best known event being the annual “Aspen Ideas Festival,” which has become a much-respected marketplace of new ideas on the social, economic, and cultural issues facing the world in the 21st century.  The panel discussion last month in DC focused on the challenges facing workers today as they seek to have their voices heard at work and protect their fundamental human rights:

The future of workers’ voice in shaping their jobs today and tomorrow is at a crossroads. Are traditional labor unions able to successfully represent workers today — especially those in fast-growing, low-wage service sector jobs — or have they been too weakened? What are the new models and organizations that have started to emerge over the last two decades? And fundamentally, how can the nation hear from workers themselves and understand their experience of work today if there is no organized voice that brings their perspective to public and private discussions about jobs and work?

The video above is a quick sample of the Fair Food Program’s contributions to what was truly a deep and wide-ranging discussion of the changing world of labor today.  To watch a video of the entire panel — moderated by Harold Meyerson of the American Prospect and featuring Sarita Gupta of Jobs with Justice, David Rolf of SEIU, and Ruth Milkman of CUNY, along with the CIW and the FFSC — visit the Aspen Institute website here.