Organized workers have always been central to struggles for justice, and played key roles in mass movements to abolish slavery and win women's suffrage, the New Deal's reforms, and civil rights. Despite decades of declining union membership, organized teachers, nurses, flight attendants, and construction workers continue to fight not only for better wages and working conditions for themselves, but for better healthcare and housing, police and immigration reform, and food and climate justice in their communities. This panel discussion brings together voices from Maine's labor movement to talk about challenges workers face today in forming unions, pending federal legislation (the Protecting the Right to Organize Act) that significantly addresses those challenges, and what workers can win when they fight together both in and beyond the workplace.

Panelists:

Matt Schlobohm, Maine AFL-CIO executive director and Bates College alum

Chloe Maxmin, Maine State Senator and champion of Maine's Green New Deal

Michaela Flint, Portland Museum of Art gallery ambassador

Chelsea Farrell, UAW Local 2110 organizer

Prof. Mike Hillard, labor historian at U. of Southern Maine

Francis Eanes (moderator), Bates College Environmental Studies Program

Event sponsors: Bates College Harward Center for Community Partnerships