The University of Michigan SID Speaker Series continues on Thursday, February 2, from 6:00 - 7:30pm with its second installment – Do Unions Still Matter in Detroit?

In this prolonged period of economic crisis, workers of all stripes from both the public and private sectors seem to bear the brunt of the overall burden when it comes to the solutions being proposed.  Here in Detroit, at least 1,000 city workers anticipate layoffs beginning in February in an effort to balance the city’s budget.  Many more unionized workers in Detroit are being pressured from all corners to accept additional wage and benefit cuts. 

In arguably the most important birthplace for the American labor movement, this begs an important question here in Detroit: Do unions still matter?  If they don’t have much power in our city, how can we expect them to survive in the rest of the country? 

This important panel discussion features Bob King, UAW President; General Baker, Retired UAW Activist; Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes Magazine and Yolanda Acosta, Secretary of the Association of Professional and Technical Employees. The panel is moderated by Lolita Hernandez, Lecturer of Creative Writing at the University of Michigan and a retired UAW activist and writer.

For more information on this, or other U-M Detroit Center events, please contact:

detroitcenter@umich.edu / (313) 593-3584