Better Together: Worker Rights and Workforce Development
Event
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Should the federal government provide subsidies to companies that violate labor laws? Should our workforce development system educate workers and job seekers about their legal rights?
These two questions are at the heart of the current impasse around the reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the country’s largest job training and employment program. Senate Democrats have introduced a provision into a reauthorization proposal that would require employers seeking public funding for training to disclose any recent violations of federal labor laws. Business lobbyists and Senate Republicans have pushed back against the provision, refusing to move forward with the reauthorization effort until the provision is removed entirely.
Join us on Tuesday, October 29th at 3:00 ET for a lively and informative discussion on why worker rights have made their way into the WIOA reauthorization process—and why they should remain there. The discussion will center around a new Good Jobs Collaborative brief by Alí R. Bustamante and new curriculum on workforce development from the University of Illinois.
- Alí R. Bustamante, PhD, Director, Worker Power and Economic Security, Roosevelt Institute
- Alison Dickson, Senior Instructor, Labor Education Program (Chicago), University of Illinois
- Teofilo Reyes, PhD, President and CEO, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
- Moderator: Morgan Polk, Senior Policy Analyst Center on Education and Labor, New America
