In a growing trend, worker allies in the United States and other economically advanced countries are increasingly passing policies to promote sectoral standard-setting as a way to ensure that workers receive good wages and benefits and have a strong voice, as well as to increase economy-wide productivity. In September 2022, the European Union enacted a “watershed initiative” to raise minimum wages and strengthen collective bargaining by promoting sectoral bargaining. In November, New Zealand passed a groundbreaking new sectoral bargaining law. And in December, Australia legislated a new policy that promotes multiemployer bargaining. In related developments, California lawmakers recently enacted one of the “most important” pro-worker bills in decades—the FAST Recovery Act, which will create a sectoral council for fast-food workers. Several other cities and states are considering similar policies.
Please join the Center for American Progress for a virtual event that will explain how and why union leaders in the United States and around the world are successfully promoting sectoral bargaining and related policies such as sectoral councils.
Introductory remarks:
Patrick Gaspard, President and CEO, Center for American Progress
Panelists:
Isabelle Barthes, Deputy General Secretary, IndustriALL European Trade Union
Joseph Bryant, International Executive Vice President, Service Employees International Union
Craig Renney, Economist and Director of Policy, New Zealand Council of Trade Unions
Moderator:
David Madland, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress; author of Re-Union: How Bold Labor Reforms Can Repair, Revitalize, and Reunite the United States