Workers' Rights in the Wake of a Global Pandemic

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

Please join us for our annual symposium, held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even before COVID-19 exploded in the United States, the worklaw system here had already created levels of wealth and income inequality not seen since the great depression, systematically divesting Black, native, immigrant and other vulnerable communities of wealth and income. The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified these inequities and enhanced the need for a conversation to both expose the underlying structures and to offer paths forward to a healthier future. This symposium aims to create space for that conversation among academics, practitioners, and community advocates to analyze the ways in which the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted safeguards for workers.

SCHEDULE (all times in PST)9:00am/ Opening Remarks<ul><li>Annette Clark, Dean of Seattle University School of Law</li></ul>9:30 am / Panel 1: Workplace Conditions<ul><li>David Seligman: Executive Director, Towards Justice</li></ul><ul><li>Frank LoMonte: Director, Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida </li></ul><ul><li>David Morales: Attorney, Farmworker Unit of the Northwest Justice Project</li></ul><ul><li>Andrea Schmitt: Attorney, Columbia Legal Services</li></ul><ul><li>Johnnie Kallas: PhD student, Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations </li></ul><ul><li>Sepia Coleman: Organizer, Fight for $15 Campaign</li></ul>11:30 am / Panel 2: Worker Benefit Programs <ul><li>Anne Paxton: Attorney, Unemployment Law Project</li></ul><ul><li>Brandi Douglas: Employment Benefits Navigator, Native American Unit of the Northwest Justice Project</li></ul><ul><li>Jeffrey Hirsch: Professor, University of North Carolina School of Law</li></ul><ul><li>Michael Duff: Professor of Law, University of Wyoming College of Law</li></ul>1:00 pm/Keynote Address<ul><li>Rebecca Dixon, National Employment Law Project </li></ul>2:00 pm / Panel 3: Worker Responses<ul><li>Josh Eidelson: Reporter, Bloomberg News</li></ul><ul><li>Kathy Barnard: Attorney, Barnard, Iglitizin &amp; Lavitt LLP</li></ul><ul><li>Rosalinda Guillen: Leader, Community to Community</li></ul><ul><li>Michael Green: Professor of Law and Director, Workplace Law Program at Texas A&amp;M Univesity School of Law</li></ul><ul><li>Richard Bales: Professor of Law, Ohio Northern University </li></ul>3:30 pm / Panel 4: Looking to the Future<ul><li>Bret Bogenschneider: Professor of Business Law, Christopher Newport University</li></ul><ul><li>Jake Rosenfeld: Professor, Washington University in St. Louis</li></ul><ul><li>Malou Chavez: Deputy Director, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project</li></ul><ul><li>Molly Coleman: Executive Director, People's Parity Project</li></ul><ul><li>Ayanna Colman: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Manager, Employment Security Department Washington State </li></ul>

Meet our keynote...

Rebecca Dixon is executive director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP). NELP is a respected leader in federal workers’ rights advocacy and the go-to resource for state and local worker movements, providing unmatched policy, legal, and technical assistance. As executive director, Rebecca leads NELP’s work to build and contribute to a strong workers’ rights movement that dismantles structural racism, eliminates economic inequality, and builds worker power. Rebecca’s motivation for advancing workers’ rights and commitment to economic justice is deeply rooted in her lived experience growing up in rural Mississippi at the intersection of race, class and gender—characteristics that have long defined our ability to participate in our democracy and economy. Rebecca previously served as a New York State Executive Fellow in the Office of the Governor where she worked on labor and civil rights policy. Rebecca earned a B.A. and M.A. in English from Duke University and a J.D. from Duke University School of Law.

More about our journal...

The Seattle Journal for Social Justice (SJSJ) is managed and edited by Seattle University School of Law students in their second and third years of study. The SJSJ seeks to promote critical interdisciplinary discussions on urgent problems of social justice, including exploring the often-conflicting meanings of justice that arise in a diverse society. <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Click here</a> for more information about our journal or follow us on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sjsj.su/?igshid=1jbvdw001kslb" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/seattle-journal-for-social-justice" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">LinkedIn. </a>

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