Labor Day Conversation With Wayne Langley of SEIU 615: “Unions Need To Recapture Historic Role Speaking For The Public Good”

Unions and their allies across the country delayed cookouts and bargain shopping, at least for a few hours this Labor Day, to hold rallies promoting organized labor and workplace democracy, and call on elected representatives to support prosperity building measures rather than cuts to the social safety net.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 615, representing tens of thousands of Boston-area property service workers, chose to highlight the role played by corporations and universities in an economy that features huge wage and wealth disparities between owners and administrators and working class people at those institutions.

The “Holding Us ALL back From a Renewed Prosperity” event featured a march from Cambridge City Hall to Cambridge Common and speakers from organized labor, politicians, and community groups.

In a conversation on the Friday before Labor Day, SEIU 615 Director of Higher Education, Wayne Langley, spoke with Open Media Boston’s Dave Goodman on the WMBR radio program “What’s Left.”

Langley, responsible for managing collective bargaining with close to 40 colleges and universities in MA and RI, agrees with former Labor Secretary Robert Reich who wrote recently that “we need protest marches rather than parades” this Labor Day.

OMB Audio Conversation with Wayne Langley (Time: 25:07)

Web Resources:
http://www.seiu615.org/

Robert Reich Essay:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/post_2328_b_936579.html