Gordon Lafer Explained

Gordon Lafer
Occupation:Political economist, writer
Nationality:American
Education:PhD Political Science, Yale University, 1995B.A., Economics, Swarthmore College, 1983
Notable Works:The Job Training Charade

Gordon Lafer is a political economist writer who has served as Senior Labor Policy Advisor for the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Labor and has a history of Labor Union activism. He has written widely on labor and employment policy issues[1] and is the author of the books The Job Training Charade[2] and The One Percent Solution.[3]

He is currently a professor in the Labor Education & Research Center at the University of Oregon and a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute.[4]

Biography

Gordon Lafer started his political work as an economic policy analyst in the Office of the Mayor in New York City under Mayor Ed Koch.[5]

He was one of the leaders of the Graduate Employees and Students Organization at Yale, which was on strike several times in the 1990s.[6] [7]

Lafer served as Research and Communications Director for the Federation of University Employees at Yale.[8]

He ran a hotel workers' campaign with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142, in Hawaii,[9] [10] and wrote about the campaign in the magazine Dissent.[11]

At the University of Oregon, Lafer and mathematician Marie A. Vitulli led an effort to unionize faculty at the University of Oregon beginning in the spring of 2007.[12] This effort eventually led to the formation of the United Academics at the University of Oregon.[13]

He worked for ILWU Local 142, helping coordinate the boycott of the Pacific Beach Hotel,[14] which was found guilty of multiple labor law violations in federal court.[15] After a ten-year struggle, the hotel unionized in 2013.[16]

Lafer has served as Senior Labor Policy Advisor for the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and the Workforce,[17] a position that made him the top congressional staff member responsible for upholding labor standards in international trade treaties,[18] and he has been called to testify as an expert witness before multiple state legislatures.[19] He was the primary Congressional staff person responsible for the Local Jobs for America Act,[20] a bill that would have created one million decently-paid jobs and restored essential public services that were cut during the Great Recession. The bill was introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce, but never became law.[21] [22]

Lafer is a member of the Scholars' Advisory Council of in the Public Interest,[23] a research and policy center promoting democratic control of public goods and services.[24]

He is the founding co-chair of the American Political Science Association's Labor Project,[25] and serves on the board of directors of the Shalom Hartman Institute,[26] a pluralistic center of research and education deepening and elevating the quality of Jewish life in Israel and around the world.[27]

As of 2023, Lafer was Vice Chair of the Eugene School District Board of Directors, to which he was elected in 2019. His term expired June 30, 2023,[28] as he lost his campaign for reelection in the May 16, 2023 Special District Election.[29]

Works

Lafer is the author of the books The Job Training Charade and The One Percent Solution: How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time.[30] [31]

Lafer's work has appeared in The Nation[32] and U.S. News & World Report[33] and has been featured in The Washington Post,[34] The New York Times,[35] Fortune magazine,[36] and other publications.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Gordon Lafer | People | Economic Policy Institute . Epi.org . 2017-01-17.
  2. Web site: The Job Training Charade . Cornellpress.cornell.edu . 2017-01-17.
  3. Book: Lafer, Gordon . The One Percent Solution: How Corporations are Remaking America One State at a Time . 2017 . Cornell University Press . 978-1-5017-0306-5 . en.
  4. Web site: Gordon Lafer Labor Education & Research Center . 2022-06-29 . lerc.uoregon.edu.
  5. Web site: Gordon Lafer . Gordon Lafer | Wisconsin Public Radio . Wpr.org . July 11, 2014 . 2017-01-17.
  6. News: Graduate Students' Union Seeks Official Recognition From Yale . . November 17, 1991 . 2017-01-17.
  7. Web site: GESO wins grad vote . Yaleherald.com . 2017-01-17.
  8. The Employment of English: Theory, Jobs, and the Future of Literary Studies by Michael Bérubé (NYU Press, 2007) p. 39
  9. Web site: Honolulu Star-Bulletin Business . Archives.starbulletin.com . January 22, 2001 . 2017-01-17.
  10. News: Workers told it's 'crucial time' | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper . . September 3, 2002 . 2017-01-17.
  11. Web site: The Other Side of Paradise: Hawai'i's Tourism Plantation . Dissent Magazine . 2017-01-17.
  12. Web site: Baez. David. Labor Pains. Eugene Weekly. 7 March 2018.
  13. Web site: Our History. United Academics of the University of Oregon. March 7, 2018. June 18, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200618225928/http://uauoregon.org/about/our-history/. dead.
  14. Web site: Pacific Beach Workers Struggle for Justice Victory Report : Seeking a new international solidarity. 4. Jca.apc.org. 2017-01-17.
  15. Web site: Pacific Beach Hotel | Longshore & Shipping News . Longshoreshippingnews.com . 2017-01-17.
  16. Web site: Howard Dicus . Workers approve first Pacific Beach Hotel labor deal – Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL . January 14, 2013 . Hawaii News Now . 2017-01-17.
  17. Web site: Gordon Lafer | People | Economic Policy Institute . Epi.org . 2017-01-17.
  18. Web site: Latest "free trade" farce: the "TPP" . Ilwu.org . April 1, 2014 . 2017-01-17.
  19. Web site: The One Percent Solution, How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time (Gordon Lafer) . Cornellpress.cornell.edu . 2017-01-17.
  20. Web site: ILPC 4th–6th April 2017 Sheffield > Previous Conferences > View Abstract . Ilpc.org.uk . 2017-01-17.
  21. Web site: George Miller . Local Jobs for America Act (2010; 111th Congress H.R. 4812) . GovTrack.us . 2017-01-17.
  22. Web site: JFActivist: Jobs Bill Could Open Doors to Employment for PWD . Jfactivist.typepad.com . April 23, 2010 . 2017-01-17.
  23. Web site: Scholars Network . In the Public Interest . 2017-01-17.
  24. Web site: About Us . In the Public Interest . 2017-01-17.
  25. Web site: Statement of Dr. Gordon Lafer Before the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, Education and Related Agencies . Shopfloor.org . 2017-01-17.
  26. Web site: Shalom Hartman Institute Board of Directors. Hartman.org.il. 2017-01-17.
  27. Web site: About Us. Hartman.org.il. 2017-01-17.
  28. Web site: Board of Directors . Eugene School District 4J . 12 May 2023.
  29. Web site: Statement of Votes Cast by Geography . Elections - 2023 . . 2 June 2023.
  30. Web site: The One Percent Solution, How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time . . 2017-01-17.
  31. Big Money Rules . Diane Ravitch . Diane Ravitch . . 4 December 2017 . December 7, 2017 .
  32. Web site: Gordon Lafer . September 21, 2011 . The Nation . 2017-01-17.
  33. Web site: Cutting Wages and Benefits Only Harms the Economy. Usnews.com. 2017-01-17.
  34. News: Konczal . Mike . The tea party's assault on workers . . November 2, 2013 . 2017-01-17.
  35. News: Scott Walker and the Fate of the Unions. The New York Times. June 12, 2015 . 2017-01-17. Kaufman . Dan .
  36. Web site: As paid sick leave gains momentum, some state laws stand in the way . Fortune.com . 2017-01-17.

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