Author Says a Labor-Community Alliance is Needed

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/11898

Lede: A new book makes the case that labor activism and labor power can best be revitalized at the regional level in partnership with community organizations. Doug Cunningham explains.

By Doug Cunningham

In her book A New New Deal Amy Dean says labor-community alliances at the local level are the most effective tools to build power and a voice for working people in the workplace, government and community.

: “The case that A New New Deal makes is that in spite of the tensions at the national level around the labor movement that there is unity and not just unity taking place at the local, state level, but innovation – where labor is expanding its role and its reach, and modernizing itself by having as much technical capacity as the other side has and in some cases even more.”

Dean says to build power labor has got to play a more serious role in economic development decisions – like land-use decisions on local and regional levels.

: “The labor movement must expand its role in economic development decisions. And hundreds of decisions are made every day at the local, regional and state level.”

A New New Deal examines successful labor-community coalitions in Los Angeles, Boston , Denver, San Jose, New Haven and Atlanta – efforts that Dean says are sowing the seeds of a new New Deal.