Despite laws like the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH), there remain significant challenges to protecting workers in traditionally dangerous occupations, such as construction and agriculture, as well as in industries like retail and health care. The COVID-19 pandemic not only underscored the need for worker protections across sectors; it also demonstrated the need for the government to play a role in setting standards, monitoring workplaces, enforcing regulations, and educating and training employers and employees on risks and risk prevention. The rise in temporary work, the expansion of the gig economy, and the use and misclassification of independent contractors who are excluded from OSH have all created additional challenges in protecting workers. In this event, panelists discuss what we can learn from the history and implementation of OSH, and how we can address these inequities to build a safer workplace for all workers.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act made it illegal to discriminate in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, or religion. Despite this, however, racial and gender wage gaps persist, discrimination still limits opportunity for many, and harassment continues to make many workplaces unproductive and unsafe. In this event, panelists discuss ongoing progress to realize equal opportunity at work, given the ever increasing diversity of the workforce. As we look to address the issues of today, and build toward a better future, what can we learn from the history and legacy of Title VII?

In this event, Erica Smiley and Sarita Gupta, the authors of “The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century,” argue that collective bargaining can be used to help improve work, address discrimination, and improve the health of our democracy. They explore the struggles of work today and explain how new forms of collective bargaining and worker organizing and power can help build a healthy, multiracial democracy with an economy that works for all.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 established the federal minimum wage and overtime pay, created a standard work week, and prohibited children’s employment in dangerous conditions. But the FLSA doesn’t cover everyone — the legacy of biases against professions largely occupied by women and people of color — and it has suffered setbacks over the years. In this event, panelists discuss what what lessons we can learn from the FLSA, innovations to create a more just economy that rewards work fairly, and how we can restore the commitment to a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.

In recent years, headlines have been filled with stories of workers from various industries on strike and attempting to unionize. The roots of these efforts lie with workers in the 1800s and early 1900s who first attempted to organize and used strikes to protest low wages and poor working conditions. Those early labor movements contributed to the passage of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935, which gave workers the right to organize into unions and made it the official policy of the US to encourage collective bargaining. Although union membership surged after its passage, the NRLA had less of an impact for women and people of color, whose main occupations in agricultural and domestic work were deliberately excluded from the law, exclusions that still negatively affect millions of workers today. And the impact of NRLA in supporting collective bargaining has also waned over time, as membership declined from 35% of wage and salary workers in 1954 to just 10% in 2022. As panelists discuss in this event, the future of work and job quality rests in part on workers having the ability to influence their work and workplace, and the NLRA provides the legal foundation for workers’ right to exercise that agency. As we look to shape the future of work, what lessons can we learn from the NLRA’s history, impact and effectiveness today?

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, companies faced pressure to improve factors that contribute to job quality, including wages, benefits, workplace safety, racial and gender equity, and opportunities to learn and grow. But often overlooked is the content of the work — how does what we do align with who we think we are? In this event, Eyal Press, author of “Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America,” explores the toll of moral injuries at work, highlighting the working conditions of jobs that typically go unseen and raising disquieting questions about our society and its dependence on these jobs.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the important role that benefits play in workers’ lives. Paid leave, health insurance, workers’ compensation, and retirement plans cushion life events and equip workers to live safe and dignified lives. Our current system of benefits, though, leaves millions of workers behind. In this event, panelists discuss how to make work-related benefits accessible to more people, including public and private sector approaches to portable and universal benefits. We hear from leaders who have worked on innovative benefits programs for workers, covering a range of sectors and benefits. Each speaks about their efforts to expand benefits to more workers, shares lessons learned, and offers insights for others interested in developing new approaches.

This event serves as a capstone to a year-long study on how the events of 2020 and 2021 — including the COVID-19 pandemic and heightened attention to racial inequality — affected businesses, including their operations, skill needs, hiring, human resources, and education and training programs. Panelists discuss what they learned from employers and what can and should be done to help workers build the digital skills needed to advance in the workplace.

One year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, about half of non-retired adults said its lingering consequences would make it harder for them to meet their financial needs and goals. This event focuses on what companies can accomplish when they strive to improve the financial health and resilience of their workers. Senior executives from major companies discuss how they came to prioritize this issue, some of the surprises and challenges encountered, and lessons that others can build on. The companies represented on the panel are part of the Worker Financial Wellness Initiative, which was launched in October 2020 by PayPal and JUST Capital, in collaboration with the Financial Health Network and Good Jobs Institute.

Universal benefits are accessible by everyone who works, regardless of work arrangement or sector. A universal, portable safety net could better deliver benefits to individual workers, encourage a dynamic labor market, and promote economic security for all. This report explains how universal, portable benefits can contribute to a more accessible, equitable safety net and more dynamic economy; summarizes the current conversation around portable benefits; and offers actionable steps toward more portable, universal benefits.