Workers face new problems in today’s global economy that need to be solved with new ideas, history professor Joseph McCartin said on Nov. 10 during the launch of Georgetown’s new Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.

Led by McCartin, the initiative will draw upon Georgetown’s academic and research capabilities and its commitment to service to find new approaches in improving labor and workplace relations.

“Today’s labor movement stands at a crossroads,” explains McCartin, an expert on the social and labor movements of America’s 20th century. “After decades of declining strength, this is a moment to explore new ideas and encourage a new generation to take on these critical challenges. The time is right for an innovative initiative such as this.”

The initiative will explore a range of issues, from the large structural concerns viewed by the general workforce to specific problems experienced by low-wage workers. It also will address the realities that beset workers in the contemporary economy through research, pilot projects and the promotion of ongoing collaboration among employers, unions and policymakers.

McCartin says the broad issues to consider include the way globalization has changed work and the way technology accelerates that change.

“The global economy is affecting workers at all levels, from white-collar workers to manufacturing workers in the factories that still remain in the United States,” he says. “Workers and employers alike are being held back by our system’s lagging response to problems involving workplace representation, the lack of affordable health care and securing a decent retirement among other issues.”

Georgetown students are already working on a pilot project through the initiative to provide English-speaking skills to immigrant laborers who are combating the problem of “wage theft.” Often experienced by day laborers, wage theft occurs when workers have no recourse for not being paid at all or given checks that bounce.

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