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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Laura McSpedon <a
href="mailto:lauram@jwj.org">lauram@jwj.org</a> <br>
<br>
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=684
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padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:255.15pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right'><br>
Click for <a href="http://www.epi.org/page/-/pdf/200902_epi_ad.pdf">joint
statement</a> <br>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt'> </span> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right;background:#595959'><strong><span
style='color:white'>Contact </span>.</strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right'>Nancy Coleman<br>
Karen Conner<br>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt'><a href="mailto:news@epi.org">news@epi.org</a></span>
<br>
202-775-8810<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right;background:#595959'><strong><span
style='color:white'>EPI Links</span> :</strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right'><a
href="http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/newsroom_index"
title="http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/newsroom_index">EPI Newsroom</a> <a
href="http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/newsroom_describing_epi"
title="http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/newsroom_describing_epi">Describing EPI</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td width=552 valign=top style='width:5.75in;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
height:255.15pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <strong>ACTION URGED TO SHORE UP FAILING LABOR
MARKET</strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><strong>Leading
economists call Employee Free Choice Act </strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><strong>“critically
important” for rebuilding economy</strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>A <a href="http://www.epi.org/page/-/pdf/200902_epi_ad.pdf">joint
statement</a> by some three dozen of the nation’s leading economists
was delivered to Washington lawmakers (and made public as an ad in the <em>Washington
Post</em> on Wednesday, February 25). It makes the economic case that
restoring Americans’ right to join a union and to bargain for their
fair share of the economic pie, through passage of the Employee Free Choice
Act, is essential to rebuilding the economy. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>While the headlines have been dominated by U.S. financial
market failure and the economic free-fall it has set off, the massive and
economically damaging failure of the U.S. labor market has gone relatively
unheralded. This labor market failure has triggered an unprecedented income
decline for the median working-age household for the first seven years of
this century, even in the midst of economic growth, producing an
unprecedented level of inequality, as virtually all of the nation’s
economic growth went to a wealthy few. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The economists’ statement, which was spearheaded by
Harvard economist Richard Freeman, MIT’s Frank Levy, and Lawrence
Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, notes that even though
millions of American workers have said they want a union to represent them in
the workplace, the current system overseen by the National Labor Relations Board
most often thwarts that desire. It describes today’s process as
“drawn out and acrimonious, with management campaigning fiercely to
deter unionization, sometimes to the extent of violating the labor
law.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The statement’s signers represent a broad cross-section
of economic expertise and include not only leading labor market experts, but
also macroeconomic and international trade economists, as well as several who
are Nobel Prize winners. The full text of their statement and brief bios of
all of the signers are below. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>A <a href="http://www.epi.org/page/-/pdf/200902_epi_ad.pdf">PDF
of the statement</a> can be downloaded <a
href="http://www.epi.org/page/-/pdf/200902_epi_ad.pdf">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong>SCROLL DOWN FOR COMPLETE TEXT OF STATEMENT AND
FULL LIST OF SIGNERS WITH BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION.</strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong> </strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong>TEXT OF ECONOMISTS’ STATEMENT</strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Although its collapse has dominated recent media coverage,
the financial sector is not the only segment of the U.S. economy running into
serious trouble. The institutions that govern the labor market have also
failed, producing the unusual and unhealthy situation in which hourly
compensation for American workers has stagnated even as their productivity
soared.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>Indeed, from 2000 to 2007,
the income of the median working-age household fell by $2,000- an
unprecedented decline. In that time, virtually all of the nation’s
economic growth went to a small number of wealthy Americans. An important
reason for the shift from broadly-shared prosperity to growing inequality is
the erosion of workers’ ability to form unions and bargain
collectively.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>A natural response of workers
unable to improve their economic situation is to form unions to negotiate a
fair share of the economy, and that desire is borne out by recent
surveys. Millions of American workers – more than half of
non-managers – have said they want a union at their work place. Yet
only 7.5% of private sector workers are now represented by a union. And in
all of 2007, fewer than 60,000 workers won union status through
government-sanctioned elections. What explains this disconnect?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>The problem is that the
election process overseen by the National Labor Relations Board has become
drawn out and acrimonious, with management campaigning fiercely to deter
unionization, sometimes to the extent of violating the labor law. Union
sympathizers are routinely threatened or even fired, and they have little
effective recourse under the law. Even when workers overcome this pressure
and vote for a union, they are unable to obtain contracts one-third of the
time due to management resistance. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>To remedy this situation, the
Congress is considering the Employee Free Choice Act. This act would
accomplish three things: It would give workers the choice of using majority
sign-up-- a simple, established procedure in which workers sign cards to
indicate their support for a union – or staging an NLRB election; it
triples damages for employers who fire union supporters or break other labor
laws; and it creates a process to ensure that newly unionized employees have
a fair shot at obtaining a first contract by calling for arbitration after
120 days of unsuccessful bargaining. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>The Employee Free Choice Act
will better reflect worker desires than the current “war over representation.”
The Act will also lower the level of acrimony and distrust that often
accompanies union elections in our current system. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>A rising tide lifts all boats
only when labor and management bargain on relatively equal terms. In recent
decades, most bargaining power has resided with management. The current
recession will further weaken the ability of workers to bargain
individually. More than ever, workers will need to act together. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The Employee Free Choice Act is not a panacea, but it
would restore some balance to our labor markets. As economists, we
believe this is a critically important step in rebuilding our economy and
strengthening our democracy by enhancing the voice of working people in the
workplace.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong>ENDORSERS OF ECONOMISTS’ STATEMENT (with
bios)</strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;background:white'><strong>Henry
J. Aaron </strong>is Senior Fellow<span lang=EN> in </span>Economic Studies, <span
lang=EN>The Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Chair,</span> with the Brookings
Institution. A noted health care expert, he focuses on the reform of
health care financing; public systems such as Medicare and Medicaid; Social
Security; and tax and budget policy. Aaron is currently the Chairman of the
Board of Directors, National Academy of Social Insurance (since 1997) and was
President, Association for Public Policy and Management, in 1998-99. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;background:white'><strong>Katharine
G. Abraham</strong> is Professor of Survey Methodology and Affiliate
Professor of Economics with the Joint Program for Survey Methodology at the
University of Maryland, and was Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics for two four-year terms, from 1993 through 2001. Her research
interests include the study of the labor market and economic measurement. She
is co-author of the book <em>Job Security in America: Lessons from Germany</em>,
co-editor of the book <em>New Developments in the Labor Market: Toward a New
Institutional Paradigm</em>, and contributor of numerous articles to
professional journals and edited collections. She is a Fellow of the American
Statistical Association and has testified frequently before Congress.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Phillipe
Aghion </strong>is Robert C. Waggoner Professor of Economics at Harvard
University. His main research work is on economic growth, where he is one of
the world's great experts on the so-called Schumpeterian paradigm of economic
growth, summarized in his joint book with Peter Howitt entitled <em>Endogenous
Growth Theory</em>. Aghion is also an expert on productivity growth and
the business cycle. He has held positions at MIT, the French CNRS, the
University of Oxford, and University College London. In 2001 he received the
Yrjo Jahnsson Award of the European Economic Association. In 1999 he
received the Prix de la Revue Francaise d'Economie.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Eileen
Appelbaum </strong><span class=relatedlinks1>joined Rutgers University as
Professor and Director of the Center for Women and Work in March 2002. She
was promoted to Professor II July 2006. Formerly she was Research Director at
the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. and Professor of Economics
at Temple University. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Kenneth
J. Arrow </strong>is currently the Joan Kenney Professor of Economics and
Professor of Operations Research, Emeritus at Stanford University. He
is also a founding member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. He
won the Nobel Prize in Economics jointly with <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hicks" title="John Hicks"><span
style='color:black;text-decoration:none'>John Hicks </span></a>in 1972.
He is considered as one of the founders of modern neo-classical economic
theory. His impact on the economics profession has been tremendous. For more
than fifty years he has been one of the most listened-to of all practicing
economists. His most significant works are his contributions to social choice
theory, notably “Arrow's impossibility theorem,” and his work on
general equilibrium analysis. He has also provided foundational work in many
other areas of economics, including endogenous growth theory and the
economics of information.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;background:#F8FCFF'><strong>Dean
Baker </strong>is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy
Research. He previously was a senior economist at the Economic
Policy Institute and an assistant professor of economics at Bucknell
University. <span class=pageintro1>His blog, </span><u><a
href="http://www.prospect.org/cs/blogs/beat_the_press"><em><span
style='color:black'>Beat the Press</span></em></a></u><em>,</em><span
class=pageintro1> features commentary on economic reporting. He received his PhD
in economics from the University of Michigan.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;background:#F8FCFF'><strong>Jagdish
Bhagwati </strong>is University Professor at Columbia University and Senior
Fellow in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has
been Economic Policy Adviser to Arthur Dunkel, Director General of GATT
(1991-93), Special Adviser to the United Nations on Globalization, and
External Adviser to the World Trade Organization. He has served on the Expert
Group appointed by the Director General of the WTO on the Future of the WTO
and the Advisory Committee to Secretary General Kofi Annan on the NEPAD
process in Africa, and was also a member of the Eminent Persons Group under
the chairmanship of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso on the future of
UNCTAD. Five volumes of his scientific writings and two of his public policy
essays have been published by MIT press. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Rebecca
M. Blank</strong> <span lang=EN>is the Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow at
the Brookings Institution. Prior to coming to Brookings, she was dean of the
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and
co-director of the National Poverty Center. </span>She served as a Member of
the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, from 1997-1999. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=titletext style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong><span
style='font-size:11.0pt'>Joseph R. Blasi </span></strong><span
style='font-size:11.0pt'>is a professor at Rutgers University’s School
of Management and Labor Relations, where he studies employee stock ownership,
broad-based stock options, management stock ownership, employment
involvement, and corporate governance. He is a member of the Institute
for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, where<strong> </strong>he is a
Mellon Foundation Fellow<strong>.</strong></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=titletext style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong><span
style='font-size:11.0pt'>Alan S. Blinder </span></strong><span
style='font-size:11.0pt'>has been on the Princeton faculty since 1971, taking
time off from January 1993 through January 1996 for service in the U.S.
government—first as a member of President Clinton’s original
Council of Economic Advisers, and then as Vice Chairman of the Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System. In addition to his academic writings
and his best-selling introductory textbook, he has written many newspaper and
magazine columns and op-eds and, in recent years, has presented a
monthly television commentary on PBS’s <em>Nightly Business Report</em>.
Dr. Blinder is a past president of the Eastern Economic Association, and past
vice president of the American Economic Association. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=titletext style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong><span
style='font-size:11.0pt'>William A. “Sandy” Darity, Jr., </span></strong><span
style='font-size:11.0pt'>Cary C. Boshamer Professor of Economics and adjunct
faculty in Sociology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel
Hill. He also serves as Research Professor of Public Policy Studies, African
and African American Studies and Economics at Duke University. He is a Past
President of the National Economic Association and the Southern Economic
Association. He also has been named Editor-in-Chief of Macmillan Reference's
new edition of the <em>International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences</em>.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=titletext style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong><span
style='font-size:11.0pt'>Brad Delong</span></strong><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'> is a professor of economics at the University of California at
Berkeley, chair of the Political Economy of Industrial Societies major, and a
research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He also
served in the U.S. government as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
for Economic Policy from 1993 to 1995. He worked on the Clinton
Administration's 1993 budget, on the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade, on the North American Free Trade Agreement, on
macroeconomic policy, and on the unsuccessful health care reform effort.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;background:white'><strong>John
DiNardo </strong>is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the
University of Michigan. His research focuses on applied econometrics, labor
economics, health economics, political science and econometrics. Most
recently his work has focused on assessing the importance of unions using
financial market data, immigrant and native-born wage distributions, and the
impact of immigrant inflows on the native-born. His publications include four
chapters in J. Johnston and John DiNardo, <em>Econometric Methods</em>,
Fourth Edition (1996). Professor DiNardo previously was on the faculty at the
University of California, Irvine. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Henry
Farber </strong>is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of Economics and a Research
Associate of the Industrial Relations Section at Princeton University. Farber
is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a
Fellow of the Econometric Society and the Society of Labor Economists. Before
joining the Princeton faculty in 1991, Farber was Professor of Economics at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1977-91). He has also been a
Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences
(1983-84, 1989-90) and a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation
(2002-2003). He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in April 2006.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;background:white'><strong>Robert
Frank </strong>is H. J. Louis Professor of Management and Professor of
Economics, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University. He is a
monthly contributor to the "Economic Scene" column in <em>The New
York Times</em>. Until 2001, he was the Goldwin Smith Professor of Economics,
Ethics, and Public Policy in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences. He has
also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Nepal, chief economist for
the Civil Aeronautics Board, fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the
Behavioral Sciences, and was Professor of American Civilization at l'Ecole
des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;background:white'><strong>Richard
B. Freeman </strong>holds the Herbert Ascherman Chair in Economics at Harvard
University. He is currently serving as Faculty Director of the Labor and
Worklife Program at the Harvard Law School. He is also director of the Labor Studies
Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Senior Research Fellow
in Labour Markets at the London School of Economics’ Centre for
Economic Performance, and visiting professor at the London School of
Economics. Professor Freeman is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences and of Sigma Xi and Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science. In 2006 he was awarded the Jacob Mincer Prize for his
contribution to labor economics; in 2007 he won the IZA Prize for labor
economics; in 2009 he was inducted as Fellow in the Employment and Labor
Relations Association.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>James K.
Galbraith is Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr., Chair in Government/Business Relations
and Professor of Government at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University
of Texas at Austin. </strong>Jamie Galbraith is a Senior Scholar of the Levy
Economics Institute and Chair of the Board of Economists for Peace and
Security, a global professional network. He writes a column for <em>Mother
Jones</em> and occasional commentary in many other publications, including <cite>The
Texas Observer</cite>, <cite>The American Prospect</cite>, and <cite>The
Nation. </cite>Galbraith served in several positions on the staff of the U.S.
Congress, including Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee. He
directs the University of Texas Inequality Project, an informal research
group based at the LBJ School.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Robert J.
Gordon </strong>is Stanley G. Harris Professor in the Social Sciences and
Professor of Economics at Northwestern University. He is one of the
world’s leading experts on inflation, unemployment, and productivity
growth. His recent research includes work on the rise and fall of the New
Economy, the U.S. productivity growth revival, and the recent stalling of
European productivity growth. He is a research associate at the National Bureau
of Economic Research (NBER), a research fellow of the Centre for Economic
Policy Research in London, a Guggenheim Fellow, a fellow of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the Econometric Society.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Heidi
Hartmann </strong>is the President of the Washington-based Institute for
Women's Policy Research, a scientific research organization that she founded
in 1987 to meet the need for women-centered, policy-oriented research. She is
also a Research Professor at The George Washington University. <span
class=style61>She lectures widely on women, economics, and public policy,
frequently testifies before the U.S. Congress, and is often cited as an
authority in various media outlets. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=style12 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;color:black'>Lawrence F. Katz </span></strong><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;color:black'>is the Elisabeth Allison Professor of
Economics at Harvard University and a Research Associate of the National
Bureau of Economic Research. His research focuses on issues in labor
economics and the economics of social problems. He is the author (with
Claudia Goldin) of <em>The Race between Education and Technology </em>(Harvard
University Press, 2008), a history of U.S. economic inequality and the roles
of technological change and of the pace of educational advance in affecting
the wage structure. Professor Katz has been editor of the <em>Quarterly
Journal of Economics</em> since 1991 and served as the Chief Economist of the
U.S. Department of Labor for 1993 and 1994. He has been elected a
fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society,
and the Society of Labor Economists. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;background:white'><strong>Robert
Z. Lawrence </strong>is Albert L. Williams Professor of International Trade
and Investment, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Economics,
and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He
served as a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from
1998 to 2000. He has also been a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
His research focuses on trade policy. Lawrence has served on the advisory
boards of the Congressional Budget Office, the Overseas Development Council,
and the Presidential Commission on United States-Pacific Trade and Investment
Policy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>David
S. Lee </strong>is Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton
University, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research
and an associate editor of <em>Review of Economics and Statistics</em>, <em>American
Economic Journal</em> and <em>Journal of Business and Economic Statistics</em>.
He is also the foreign editor of the <em>Review of Economic Studies</em>. Lee
has received the John T. Dunlop Outstanding Scholar Award from the Labor and
Employment Relations Association in 2007 and the Albert Rees Prize from
Princeton University in 2005<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Frank
Levy </strong>joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s
faculty in 1992, and previously taught for ten years each at the University
of California at Berkeley and the University of Maryland at College Park. He
has also been a Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute. For the
last 10 years, his research has focused on the ways that computer technology
and offshoring are reshaping opportunities in the labor market. He has also
done research on U.S. income inequality and living standards and the
economics of education.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Lisa M.
Lynch </strong>is Dean and Professor of Economics at the Heller School for
Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. From 1995-1997 she was the
Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor and she has been a faculty
member at Tufts University, MIT, The Ohio State University, and the
University of Bristol. She is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of
the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, member of the Governor’s Council of
Economic Advisors for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and a member of the
executive board of the Labor and Employment Relations Association. She is
also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the
Economic Policy Institute, and IZA in Bonn, Germany. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=profile style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Ray
Marshall </strong>has served in two presidential administrations. He was
President Carter’s Secretary of Labor and worked for President Clinton
as a member of both the National Skills Standard Board and the Advisory
Commission on Labor Development. He has taught at the LBJ School of Public
Affairs and served as President for the International Labor Rights Fund. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=profile style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Lawrence
Mishel </strong>became president of the Economic Policy Institute in 2002,
having joined the institute as its first director of research in 1987.
As EPI’s research director, and then as vice president and now
president, he has played a significant role in building EPI’s research
capabilities and reputation. He is principal author of a major research
volume, <em>The State of Working America</em>, published every even-numbered
year since 1988, which provides a comprehensive overview of the U.S. labor
market and living standards. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=profile style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Robert
Pollin </strong>is Professor of Economics and founding Co-Director of the
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University
of Massachusetts, Amherst. His research centers on macroeconomics,
conditions for low-wage workers in the U.S. and globally, the analysis of
financial markets, and the economics of building a clean-energy economy in
the U.S. He has worked with the United Nations Development Programme, the
United Nations Economic Commission on Africa, the Joint Economic Committee of
the U.S. Congress and as a member of the Capital Formation Subcouncil of the
U.S. Competiveness Policy Council. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=profile style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>William
M. Rodgers, III, </strong><span class=pagetext1>is Professor and chief
economist at the Heldrich Center. In spring 2006, he joined the graduate
faculty at Rutgers University’s School of Management and Labor
Relations. He is also a senior research affiliate of the National Poverty
Center, University of Michigan. Prior to coming to Rutgers, he served as
chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2000-2001. He was also
the Frances L. and Edwin L. Cummings Professor of Economics at the College of
William and Mary. Most recently, he was elected to the National Academy of
Social Insurance.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Dani Rodrik
</strong>is professor of international political economy at the John F.
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and teaches in the School's
MPA/ID Program. He has published widely in the areas of international
economics, economic development, and political economy. He is affiliated with
the National Bureau of Economic Research, Centre for Economic Policy Research
(London), Center for Global Development, Peterson Institute for International
Economics, and Council on Foreign Relations. He was awarded the inaugural
Albert O. Hirschman Prize of the Social Science Research Council in 2007. He
has also received the Leontief Award for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic
Thought, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Antwerp. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Jeffrey D.
Sachs </strong>is the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of
Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia
University. He is also Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon. From 2002 to 2006, he was Director of the United Nations
Millennium Project and Special Advisor to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
on the Millennium Development Goals, the internationally agreed goals to
reduce extreme poverty, disease, and hunger by the year 2015. Sachs is also
President and Co-Founder of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit
organization aimed at ending extreme global poverty.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Robert Solow
</strong>is Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He was awarded the 1987 Nobel Memorial Prize in economics for contributing to
what is still the standard method of analyzing the mechanics of economic
growth, and for exhibiting the importance of research and technological
innovation in improving economic productivity. In 1961, he received the John
Bates Clark Award, given to the best economists under age 40. In 2000, he was
awarded the National Medal of Science. Mr. Solow also served on the staff of
President John F. Kennedy’s Council of Economic Advisors and was
president of the American Economic Association in 1979. He published numerous
articles in the most salient journals of economics as well as several books.
Since 2000, Solow has been a Foundation Fellow at the Russell Sage Foundation
where his current focus is a comparative study of low-wage work in the U.S.
and Europe. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>William
Spriggs </strong>is Chair of the Department and Professor of Economics at
Howard University in Washington, D.C. Spriggs was a senior fellow at
the Economic Policy Institute in 2004 and Executive Director of the National
Urban League’s Institute for Opportunity and Equality. During the
Clinton Administration he worked in various agencies: he led the staff of the
National Commission for Employment Policy, and worked at the Department of
Commerce and at the Small Business Administration. He has served as a senior
economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress. He is a
past-President of the National Economic Association—the professional
organization of Black economists. He is a senior fellow with the Community
Service Society of New York, and the Chair of the Healthcare Trust for UAW
Retirees of the Ford Motor Company.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Peter Temin
</strong>is a widely cited economist and economic historian, currently Elisha
Gray II Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and former head of the Economics Department. Beginning in the 1960s and early
1970s he published on American economic history in the 19th century,
including <em>The Jacksonian Economy</em> and <em>Casual Factors in American
Economic Growth in the Nineteenth Century</em>, as well as <em>Reckoning with
Slavery</em>, which was an examination of the slave economy and its effects. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Mark Thoma</strong>
is a member of the Economics Department at the University of Oregon. He
joined the UO faculty in 1987 and served as head of the Economics Department
for five years. His research examines the effects that changes in monetary
policy have on inflation, output, unemployment, interest rates and other
macroeconomic variables with a focus on asymmetries in the response of these
variables to policy changes, and on changes in the relationship between
policy and the economy over time. He has also conducted research in other
areas such as the relationship between the political party in power, and
macroeconomic outcomes and using macroeconomic tools to predict
transportation flows. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Lester C.
Thurow </strong><span lang=EN>has been a professor of management and
economics at MIT for more than 40 years. He was dean of the MIT Sloan School
of Management from 1987 until 1993. He taught at Harvard from 1966 to 1968
after a term as a staff economist on President Lyndon Johnson's Council of
Economic Advisers. He is the author </span>of numerous bestsellers on
economic topics. He<span lang=EN> has served on the Editorial Board of the <em>New
York Times</em>, as a contributing editor for <em>Newsweek</em>, and as a
member of <em>Time</em> magazine's Board of Economists. He is a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and served as vice president of the
American Economics Association in 1993.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Laura
Tyson </strong>is the S.K. and Angela Chan Professor of Global Management at
the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. She is a
member of President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board
(PERAB) and a Senior Adviser at the Center for American Progress. She was
previously Dean of the London Business School (January 2002 – December
2006) and Dean of the Walter A. Haas School of Business, University of
California, Berkeley (July 1998 – December 2001). In 1995 – 1996
she was National Economic Adviser to the President and Chairman of the
National Economic Council. From 1993 to 1995 she was the Chairman of the
White House Council of Economic Advisers. she serves on the boards of many
organizations, including New America Foundation and The Brookings
Institution. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>Paula Voos </strong>is
director of credit programs and professor at Rutgers University’s
School of Labor and Employment Relations. Dr. Voos conducts research
regarding the public policy implications of changing labor markets and
collective bargaining arrangements. She edited <em>Contemporary Collective
Bargaining: In the Private Sector</em>, IRRA, 1994, and <em>Unions and
Economic Competitiveness</em>, M.E. Sharpe, 1992 (with Lawrence Mishel). She
has also published numerous scholarly studies of labor law, employee
involvement, and the economics of collective bargaining. She is past
President of the Industrial Relations Research Association.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in'><strong>David Weil </strong>is
a Research Fellow at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and
Associate Professor of Economics at Boston University School of
Management. He is also co-director with Archon Fung and Mary Graham
(both of the Taubman Center) with the Transparency Policy Project at the
Taubman Center, which examines the use of information disclosure as a
regulatory tool. Weil’s research spans the areas of labor market
policy, industrial and labor relations, and regulatory policy. He has
served as an advisor to the U.S. Department of Labor, the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration, and other government agencies, and as an advisor
to labor unions and numerous labor/management initiatives. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:
13.5pt'><strong>Edward Wolff </strong>is a professor of economics at New York
University, a Senior Scholar at the Jerome Levy Economics Institute (since
1995) and managing editor of the <em>Review of Income and Wealth</em>. He is
the author of <em>Top Heavy: The Increasing Inequality of Wealth in America
and What Can Be Done About It</em>, as well as many other books and articles
on economic and tax policy. Wolff’s areas of research interest are the
distribution of income and wealth, productivity growth, and input-output
analysis.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:-.1in;background:#595959'><strong>
<span style='color:white'>About EPI </span></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em>The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is an independent,
nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute – or “think tank”
– that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on working
people in the United States and around the world.</em><i><br>
</i><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><br>
</span>Economic Policy Institute<br>
Communications Department<br>
1333 H Street, NW<br>
Suite 300, East Tower<br>
Washington, D.C. 20005<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:-.1in;background:#595959'><strong>
<span style='color:white'>Hyperlinks</span></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>If the hyperlinks (above) don't work, copy and paste these
addresses into your browser: <br>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Joint statement: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.epi.org/page/-/pdf/200902_epi_ad.pdf">http://www.epi.org/page/-/pdf/200902_epi_ad.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><br>
</span>EPI Newsroom: <span style='font-size:10.0pt'><a
href="http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/newsroom_index">http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/newsroom_index</a></span> <br>
Describing EPI: <span style='font-size:10.0pt'><a
href="http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/newsroom_describing_epi">http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/newsroom_describing_epi</a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> </span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Consolas'>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Consolas'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Win
the Employee Free Choice Act - visit </span></i></b><span style='font-size:
11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a
href="http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/"><b><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/</span></i></b></a></span><b><i><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>, </span></i></b><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a
href="http://jwj.org/freechoice/index.html"><b><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>http://jwj.org/freechoice/index.html</span></i></b></a></span><b><i><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>, and </span></i></b><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a
href="http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion"><b><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion</span></i></b></a></span><b><i><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>TO
UNSUBSCRIBE, send an email to </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a href="mailto:wmjwj@wmjwj.org"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>wmjwj@wmjwj.org</span></a></span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> with a Subject of
"Unsub Workers' Rights" or to </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a href="mailto:street_heat@pvaflcio.org"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>street_heat@pvaflcio.org</span></a></span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> with a Subject of
"Unsub Street Heat".<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>[Workers'
Rights] posts opportunities for you to learn about and show solidarity with
workplace and working class struggles. And these events are opportunities for
JwJ members to fulfill their pledge: </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.jwj.org/pledge.html"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue;text-decoration:
none'>"</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:blue'>I'll be there for workers' rights at least five times a year!</span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue;text-decoration:
none'>"</span></a></span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>
This is the core mission of Jobs with Justice (</span><span style='font-size:
11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.jwj.org/"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>www.jwj.org</span></a></span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>), affirming that
workers' rights are human rights. To subscribe, send an email to
wmjwj@wmjwj.org with a Subject of "Subscribe Worker's Rights".<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Western
Mass Jobs with Justice<br>
640 Page Blvd #101<br>
Springfield MA 01104<br>
(413) 827-0301 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Street
Heat is the AFL-CIO mobilization program. [Street Heat] is the e-newsletter of
the Mobilization Committee of the Pioneer Valley Central Labor Council in
cooperation with the Hampshire/Franklin Central Labor Council. All
Affiliates and Delegates to these CLCs receive [Street Heat] unless they opt
out. Other activists may opt in by sending an email to </span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a
href="mailto:street_heat@pvaflcio.org"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>street_heat@pvaflcio.org</span></a></span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> with a Subject of
"Subscribe Street Heat".<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Pioneer
Valley Central Labor Council<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>640
Page Blvd<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Springfield
MA 01104<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>(413)
732-7970<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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