In the wake of the pandemic, workers across the economy have the most bargaining power they’ve had in decades and are demonstrating a demand for better quality jobs. But how are workers harnessing their power in this context, and what can this and other recent worker struggles tell us about how we must evolve our ideas about collective bargaining and direct action?

There’s a way in which we think about bargaining rights right now that’s very much codified in law, but we know that the kind of bargaining power we need is in direct negotiation with any entity that has power over our lives - landlords, employers, regulators, financiers - to really make change. So how do we create more of those pathways and redefine what bargaining is while centering race and gender? The leadership of women and women of color is so important in this moment. We must center race, gender, and much more in how we think about our analysis and solutions.

In this session, Erica Smiley, executive director of Jobs With Justice and co-author of The Future We Need, and Jason Tomlinson, the Advancing Black Strategists Initiative (ABSI) coordinator at Jobs With Justice, will explore case studies and theories around collective bargaining in the workforce, focusing heavily on dismantling white supremacy and gender discrimination culture in the labor force and in approaches to building worker power – particularly in the US South. They’ll discuss the critical role of economic power for workers in building a healthy democracy, while exploring new ways to change the collective bargaining process, including diving deeper into the movement that will evolve the legal, policy, organizing, and cultural frameworks of the last century.

Jason is currently the Advancing Black Strategist Initiative (ABSI) coordinator in the research department of Jobs With Justice Education Fund. Jason also coordinates the Labor Research and Action Network (LRAN), which brings together scholars and practitioners to build workplace and economic power for working people. Jason holds a master’s degree in Software Engineering from Stratford University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Arlington. He first joined the Jobs With Justice network in 2017 in Dallas, Texas with Texas New Era Center/NT Jobs With Justice. While there, Jason directed the programmatic arm of Texas New Era Center as the Director of Programs and served as the convener of a coalition of community organizations. He also spearheaded Texas New Era Center’s flagship program, Project Phoenix, which helps first time, non-violent criminal offenders get union jobs to break the cycle of poverty. Jason resides in Texas with his wife and children.