Gordon Lafer
Gordon Lafer is a political economist writer who has served as Senior Labor Policy Advisor for the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Labor and has a history of Labor Union activism. He has written widely on labor and employment policy issues[1] and is the author of the books The Job Training Charade[2] and The One Percent Solution.[3]
Gordon Lafer | |
|---|---|
Lafer in 2017 | |
| Born | March 1960 (age 64) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | PhD Political Science, Yale University, 1995 B.A., Economics, Swarthmore College, 1983 |
| Occupation(s) | Political economist, writer |
| Notable work | The Job Training Charade |
He is currently a professor in the Labor Education & Research Center at the University of Oregon and a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute.[4]
Biography edit
Gordon Lafer started his political work as an economic policy analyst in the Office of the Mayor in New York City under Mayor Ed Koch.[5]
He was one of the leaders of the Graduate Employees and Students Organization at Yale, which was on strike several times in the 1990s.[6][7]
Lafer served as Research and Communications Director for the Federation of University Employees at Yale.[8]
He ran a hotel workers' campaign with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142, in Hawaii,[9][10] and wrote about the campaign in the magazine Dissent.[11]
At the University of Oregon, Lafer and mathematician Marie A. Vitulli led an effort to unionize faculty at the University of Oregon beginning in the spring of 2007.[12] This effort eventually led to the formation of the United Academics at the University of Oregon.[13]
He worked for ILWU Local 142, helping coordinate the boycott of the Pacific Beach Hotel,[14] which[clarification needed] was found guilty of multiple labor law violations in federal court.[15] After a ten-year struggle, the hotel unionized in 2013.[16]
Lafer has served as Senior Labor Policy Advisor for the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and the Workforce,[17] a position that made him the top congressional staff member responsible for upholding labor standards in international trade treaties,[18] and he has been called to testify as an expert witness before multiple state legislatures.[19] He was the primary Congressional staff person responsible for the Local Jobs for America Act,[20] a bill that would have created one million decently-paid jobs and restored essential public services that were cut during the Great Recession. The bill was introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce, but never became law.[21][22]
Lafer is a member of the Scholars' Advisory Council of in the Public Interest,[23] a research and policy center promoting democratic control of public goods and services.[24]
He is the founding co-chair of the American Political Science Association's Labor Project,[25] and serves on the board of directors of the Shalom Hartman Institute,[26] a pluralistic center of research and education deepening and elevating the quality of Jewish life in Israel and around the world.[27]
As of 2023, Lafer was Vice Chair of the Eugene School District Board of Directors, to which he was elected in 2019. His term expired June 30, 2023,[28] as he lost his campaign for reelection in the May 16, 2023 Special District Election.[29]
Works edit
Lafer is the author of the books The Job Training Charade and The One Percent Solution: How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time[30][31]
Lafer's work has appeared in The Nation[32] and U.S. News & World Report[33] and has been featured in The Washington Post,[34] The New York Times,[35] Fortune magazine,[36] and other publications.
References edit
- ^ "Gordon Lafer | People | Economic Policy Institute". Epi.org. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "The Job Training Charade". Cornellpress.cornell.edu. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ Lafer, Gordon (2017). The One Percent Solution: How Corporations are Remaking America One State at a Time. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1-5017-0306-5.
- ^ "Gordon Lafer | Labor Education & Research Center". lerc.uoregon.edu. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
- ^ Gordon Lafer (July 11, 2014). "Gordon Lafer | Wisconsin Public Radio". Wpr.org. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "Graduate Students' Union Seeks Official Recognition From Yale". The New York Times. November 17, 1991. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "GESO wins grad vote". Yaleherald.com. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ The Employment of English: Theory, Jobs, and the Future of Literary Studies by Michael Bérubé (NYU Press, 2007) p. 39
- ^ "Honolulu Star-Bulletin Business". Archives.starbulletin.com. January 22, 2001. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "Workers told it's 'crucial time' | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper". The Honolulu Advertiser. September 3, 2002. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "The Other Side of Paradise: Hawai'i's Tourism Plantation". Dissent Magazine. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ Baez, David. "Labor Pains". Eugene Weekly. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
- ^ "Our History". United Academics of the University of Oregon.
- ^ "Pacific Beach Workers Struggle for Justice Victory Report : Seeking a new international solidarity" (PDF). Jca.apc.org. p. 4. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "Pacific Beach Hotel | Longshore & Shipping News". Longshoreshippingnews.com. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ Howard Dicus (January 14, 2013). "Workers approve first Pacific Beach Hotel labor deal – Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL". Hawaii News Now. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "Gordon Lafer | People | Economic Policy Institute". Epi.org. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "Latest "free trade" farce: the "TPP"". Ilwu.org. April 1, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "The One Percent Solution, How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time (Gordon Lafer)". Cornellpress.cornell.edu. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "ILPC 4th–6th April 2017 Sheffield > Previous Conferences > View Abstract". Ilpc.org.uk. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ George Miller. "Local Jobs for America Act (2010; 111th Congress H.R. 4812)". GovTrack.us. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "JFActivist: Jobs Bill Could Open Doors to Employment for PWD". Jfactivist.typepad.com. April 23, 2010. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "Scholars Network". In the Public Interest. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "About Us". In the Public Interest. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "Statement of Dr. Gordon Lafer Before the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, Education and Related Agencies" (PDF). Shopfloor.org. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "Shalom Hartman Institute Board of Directors". Hartman.org.il. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "About Us". Hartman.org.il. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "Board of Directors". Eugene School District 4J. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ "Statement of Votes Cast by Geography". Elections - 2023. Lane County. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- ^ "The One Percent Solution, How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time". Cornell University Press. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ Diane Ravitch. "Big Money Rules". New York Review Books. No. December 7, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ^ "Gordon Lafer". The Nation. September 21, 2011. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "Cutting Wages and Benefits Only Harms the Economy". Usnews.com. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ Konczal, Mike (November 2, 2013). "The tea party's assault on workers". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ Kaufman, Dan (June 12, 2015). "Scott Walker and the Fate of the Unions". The New York Times. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "As paid sick leave gains momentum, some state laws stand in the way". Fortune.com. Retrieved January 17, 2017.