The quest to improve conditions for working people during and after the COVID-19 pandemic was the focus of a four-day online convention, “Constructing a New Social Compact: A Public Forum on Empowering the Post-pandemic Working Class,” held April 28–May 1.
Nearly 1,200 participants attended the convening, which featured three plenary sessions, twenty-five panels, and 150 presenters from five continents. Attendees heard and discussed issues aimed at reconstructing a social compact in ways that are fairer and more inclusive. Among the topics discussed were the future of workers and democracy, immigration, climate change, the care economy, and approaches to bargaining for the common good.
An arts event included an online screening of Union Time: Fighting for Workers’ Rights, a documentary on the successful organizing of a Smithfield Foods pork-processing plant, and a question-and-answer session with Union Time director Matthew Barr and Gene Bruskin, former director of the Justice@Smithfield organizing campaign....
