Spring 2009 Events
Annual McBride Lecture
This annual lecture was established in 1977 by the United Steelworkers of America "to better understand the principles of unionism and our economy." It honors the fourth International president of the union, Lloyd McBride, who was president from 1977 to 1983.
Protecting the Planet & Creating Jobs:
A Win-Win Proposition
David Foster, Executive Director of the Blue-Green Alliance
Tuesday, March 24
7:30 p.m.
Hesburgh Library Auditorium
Free and open to the Public
Lectures
Organizing: Getting to the Root of the Problem
Carl Redwood
One Hill Coalition
Friday, April 17
1:00 p.m.
DeBartolo Classroom Building 131
Working for Social Justice:
From the Fields of Immokalee, Florida
to the Fields of Sinaloa, Mexico
Melody Gonzalez ND '05
National Campaign Coordinator, Fair Food Across Borders
Monday, March 30
7:30 p.m.
DeBartolo Classroom Building 131
In support of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Union Forum:
The Role of Unions in Today's Economy
Monday, February 16
7:30 p.m.
Hesburgh Center Auditorium
(on Notre Dame Avenue)
Panelists:
- Gary Wuslich, Vice-President, Human Resources, AM General
- Bob Warnock, Jr., President, AFL-CIO North Central Council
- Bill Purcell, Associate Director, Center for Social Concerns
Both management and labor views on unions, as well as the Catholic Social Teaching. Are unions necessary? Relevant? What does Catholic Social Teaching say about unions?
Free and Open to the Public
Brown Bag Discussion Series
4/20/09
The Struggle for Workers' Rights at the South Bend Housing Authority
Speaker: Gene Knapp, Teamsters Local 364
12 to 1 p.m.
O'Shaughnessy 119
3/16/09
Rethinking the Golden Age of Capitalism: The 1959 St. Louis Newspaper Guild Strike
Speaker: Brian Sarnacki, senior History major
12 to 1 p.m.
Decio 131
3/2/09
US Catholic Labor Priests
Speaker: Fr. Pat Sullivan, CSC
12 to 1 p.m.
O'Shaughnessy 119
2/23/09
Connecting US Labor & the World Social Forum Process
Speakers: Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick, Ph.D. student in Sociology
Ana Velitchkova, Ph.D. student in Sociology and Peace Studies
12 to 1 p.m.
O'Shaughnessy 119
2/16/09
Promoting Community Benefits with Responsible Tax Policy
Speaker: Marty Wolfson, director of the Higgins Labor Studies Program
12 to 1 p.m.
LaFortune Center, Sorin Room (near 1st floor lounge)
Film Series for 2008-2009
Made in L.A. (Hecho en Los Angeles)
October 15, 2008
4:30 p.m. in the Kroc Institute’s Hesburgh Auditorium
Facilitator: Karen Richman, Director at the Institute for Latino Studies
Made in L.A. follows three Latina garment workers through a groundbreaking lawsuit and consumer boycott, as they fight to establish an important legal and moral precedent: American retailers should be liable for the labor conditions under which their products are manufactured. Made in L.A. provides an insider's view into the struggles of recent immigrants and the organizing process itself: the enthusiasm, discouragement, hard-won victories, and ultimate self-empowerment. As director Carracedo concludes: these women struggle, “each of them, in her own way, to stand up and say: 'I exist. I have rights.'"
70 minutes, 2007, In Spanish and English with bilingual subtitles
Director: Almudena Carracedo
Co-sponsored by the Institute for Latino Studies
Maquilapolis (City of Factories)
November 12, 2008
4:30 p.m. in the Kroc Institute’s Hesburgh Auditorium
Facilitator: Jackie Smith, Associate Professor of Sociology & Peace Studies
Filmmakers, working closely with Mexican women employed in the factories of transnational corporations, capture an intimate look at the lives of families struggling to survive on poverty wages in polluted communities. These corporations, at their worst, show little concern for the earth or for their workers, who are treated as commodities that can be bought anywhere in the world for the lowest price. Yet workers are more than commodities; they are human beings who demand to be treated with dignity. While Maquilapolis does, in fact, show the downside to the current global economy, it also shows that organized workers can successfully demand that the laws be enforced.
68 minutes, 2006, In Spanish with English subtitles
Directed and Produced by Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre
Co-sponsored by the Institute for Latino Studies
Where Do You Stand? Stories from an American Mill
February 4, 2009
4:30 p.m. at the Kroc Institute’s Hesburgh Auditorium
Facilitator: Dan Graff, Director of Undergraduate Studies in History and Specialist in Labor History
After a quarter century of struggle, mill workers at Cannon Mills in Kannapolis, North Carolina won the single largest industrial union victory in the history of the South. In Where Do You Stand?: Stories From An American Mill, workers tell of their struggles to unite across racial and gender lines and take on a powerful corporation in a hostile anti-union environment. As labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein has observed, “It is an epic story of the search for human dignity.”
60 minutes, 2004
Producer/Director: Alexandra Lescaze
Newsies
April 1, 2009
4:30 p.m. at the Kroc Institute’s Hesburgh Auditorium
Facilitator: Marty Wolfson, Director of Higgins Labor Studies Program
The 1899 New York newsboys' strike comes to life in this full-scale Disney musical. The film chronicles the struggle of the “newsies” with publishing mogul Joseph Pulitzer, who tried to increase his profits by squeezing their paychecks. Inspired by the strike put on by the trolley workers, Jack "Cowboy" Kelly (Christian Bale) organizes a newsboys' strike. By organizing newsboys throughout the City and gaining support from young sweatshop workers, the newsies are able to successfully challenge the powerful New York establishment.
121 minutes, 1992
Directed by Kenny Ortega. Written by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White
FILMS ARE FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
For more information, call the Higgins Labor Studies Program at 574/631-6934