Welcome to the first edition of the CSLI Weekly Roundup, a regular look at what we’re publishing, what we’re reading, and ideas worth revisiting about worker voice, labor standards, and the future of work.
We’re especially glad to send this first edition after a successful launch week for the Center for State Labor Innovation and our Labor Innovation (LI). Thank you to everyone who read and shared our work, offered feedback, helped us get the word out, or contributed to getting CSLI to this point. We’re grateful for the warm reception and excited to keep building from here.
CSLI is officially online. The Center for State Labor Innovation website is live, with more about who we are, why states have an important role to play in labor policy innovation, and the leaders, scholars, advocates, and practitioners behind the project.
LI launches with “Labor Has to Innovate, Too.” In our launch essay, CSLI’s steering committee makes the case that the institutions that built the American middle class still matter, but that workers also need new tools capable of reaching the scale of today’s private-sector economy. That means experimenting with practical approaches that can strengthen worker voice, improve job standards, and create a more stable playing field for responsible employers.
Read "Labor Has to Innovate, Too"
Also at LI, Andy Stern and Sohrab Ahmari: In “A Coalition of the Uncomfortable,” Ahmari and Stern make the case for an unlikely alliance around building worker power and economic security.
Read "A Coalition of the Uncomfortable"
What We’re Reading
Can changing wage norms help reduce inequality? Economists Ellora Derenoncourt and David Weil argue that decades of wage stagnation have helped drive income inequality, and examine what recent employer wage-setting practices can teach policymakers about creating durable wage gains for workers. Read “Raising Wages by Changing Norms: Work Policy for the Long Game”
Australia sets new minimum standards for gig workers. Australia’s Fair Work Commission has approved minimum pay and insurance standards for food and grocery delivery workers. The new rules are notable because they establish standards across a category of work, rather than relying on workplace-by-workplace bargaining, and were developed with support from both the Transport Workers Union and major platforms including Uber Eats and DoorDash. Read more from Reuters
Sectoral standards and the cost of living. The Center for American Progress looks at how sector-wide pay standards can raise wages while limiting some of the price pressures associated with other approaches. The analysis examines policies including prevailing-wage requirements and California’s fast-food wage standard, and makes the case for setting standards across markets where employers compete. Read more from the Center for American Progress
Throwback Thursday
Oren Cass on worker power in the labor market
Five years ago, CSLI advisory board member Oren Cass argued that a healthy capitalist economy requires workers and employers to possess enough power to advance their respective interests. His proposal called for moving beyond an exclusively workplace-by-workplace model and giving state and local policymakers room to experiment with broader forms of worker representation. It’s worth revisiting now because many of the questions he raised are the same ones animating CSLI’s work today. Read “A Better Bargain: Worker Power in the Labor Market” at American Compass
That’s it for our first roundup. Thanks again to everyone who helped make launch week a success. We’ll be back next week with more from CSLI and Labor Innovation, along with what we’re reading about worker voice, labor standards, state experimentation, and labor-market power.
