Pro Bono Research Group

2004 Woodside Speaker Series

Combatting the Global Race to the Bottom: Low-Wage Workers in a Profit-Driven World

• Date: April 5, 2004
• Brochure

"The labor movement means just this: It is the last noble protest of the American people against the power of incorporated wealth." - Wendell Phillips

Attorneys: This event has been qualified for 6 CLE credits if you attend the full day!

In 2003, several highly publicized stories created increased attention on the plight of low-wage workers. Through media coverage of the Wal-Mart raids, the Taco Bell boycott by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, and the 18 Mexican immigrants who died after their driver abandoned their trailer, the public's attention was focused on the issues faced by low-wage workers several times throughout the year.

On Monday, April 5th, 2004 the Michael E. Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University will be hosting a conference entitled "Combating the Global Race to the Bottom: Low-Wage Earners in a Profit Driven World."

The conference will be an engaging, interactive event focusing on raising awareness of the problems faced by low-wage workers and creating innovative, inter-organizational strategies that work continually raise the "bottom" of the international workforce.

The day will consist of four events:

• Introduction Panel: A panel of experts, including representatives from the trade, immigration, safety, health, and freedom of association fields, will define the issues that will be covered throughout the day.
• "Sweatshops and Social Justice: Nike in Indonesia - A Case Study:" Educating for Justice will conduct an interactive multi-media presentation based on a film created by two Americans who lived in an Indonesian factory workers' slum living on $1.25 a day. This two hour event will include slide shows, role-playing, powerful video footage, and a Question-Answer period.
• Attorneys and Advocates Panel: This panel will include local attorneys and advocates who work with low-wage workers. The panelists will discuss their experience advocating for these individuals and share their advocacy strategies.
• Integrated Problem-Solving Panel: In this panel, led by Professor James Brudney, the experts will be given a timely issue dealing with low-wage workers; Each member of the panel will then assess the issue according to their area of expertise. Then, the panelists and audience will collaborate, taking into account the issues raised by the panel members to create a workable, inter-organizational agenda to address the issue.

The speakers attending this event include representatives from the Farmworker Justice Fund, the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, the Worker's Rights Consortium, Youngstown State University's Labor Studies Program and Center for Working-Class Studies, and attorneys from various Ohio law firms or legal aid societies.

"If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves." - Lane Kirkland