David Madland is a senior fellow and the senior adviser to the American Worker Project at American Progress. He has been called “one of the nation’s wisest” labor scholars by Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. The president of the Service Employees International Union, Mary Kay Henry, says Madland’s work “is creating a North Star for how we increase workers’ power in the economy and democracy.”
Madland is the author of Re-Union: How Bold Labor Reforms Can Repair, Revitalize, and Reunite the United States (Cornell University Press, 2021), which helped put sectoral bargaining on the political agenda, and Hollowed Out: Why the Economy Doesn’t Work Without a Strong Middle Class (University of California Press, 2015), a pioneering critique of trickle-down economics that has helped policymakers understand that the economy grows from the middle out and bottom up—not the top down.
He appears frequently on television programs, including on PBS, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox, and he is a regular guest on radio talk shows across the United States. His work has been cited in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker. He has testified before Congress as well as several state legislatures.
Madland received his doctorate in government from Georgetown University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley. His research about the decline of the U.S. pension system received the “Best Dissertation Award” from the Labor and Employment Relations Association. Madland previously worked on economic policy for Rep. George Miller (D-CA).
To view the work of the American Worker Project, click here.
Union membership not only increases wealth for working-class families but also narrows racial wealth gaps and offers a path to the middle class.
David Madland describes how Congress can support unions.
David Madland explains how the European Union's new law aims to improve working conditions by increasing minimum wages and dramatically increasing collective bargaining.
David Madland argues that the United States should take note of New Zealand's new labor reform law.
Unions and policymakers in New Zealand are seeking a solution to address stagnant wages, rising economic inequality, and low productivity after the failures of worksite-only bargaining—and the United States can learn from their efforts.
Incorporating labor and workforce training standards into this historic climate policy will ensure that the transition to a clean energy economy is built with good jobs.
David Madland discusses California's FAST Recovery Act, which gives the state's fast-food workers a seat at the negotiating table to help set industrywide standards.
David Madland argues that the Inflation Reduction Act has opened the door for future pro-worker policies to pass through the budget reconciliation process.
David Madland explains why Congress should develop a new prevailing wage policy for electric vehicle jobs.
By instituting prevailing wage policies, policymakers can ensure that the jobs they subsidize in one of America's newest industries offer fair wages and benefits.
David Madland outlines several lessons learned from the historic nationwide contracts that Amazon workers in Italy signed in 2021 and suggests a path forward for unionized workers at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse, who must now try to sign a collective bargaining agreement.
David Madland writes about why Congress must prohibit firms from deducting the costs of their anti-union activities from their corporate taxes.
