Labor & Employment Law

New Union Plus Book Club Announces First Selection

By Mike Hall

Our friends at Union Plus have just launched the Union Plus Book Club that will delve into the latest publications by leading experts on vital working family and workplace issues. The books will be available at the AFL-CIO’s The Union Shop Online^TM and chosen every two months by union leaders based on their interest and expertise in a subject.

The club’s first selection, from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, is Up From Wall Street: The Responsible Investment Alternative, by Thomas Croft.

In the forward to the book, Trumka writes that Croft ”uses real life stories” to show how

responsibly investing savings assets, pensions, insurance funds and other trusts can generate positive social, economic and environmental benefits, while bringing solid financial returns.

Up From Wall Street, lays out high-road alternatives to the reckless loans and dicey short-term bets that have savaged the economy and ravaged working people’s savings and pension funds.

The book makes a strong case that there are strategic and union-friendly investment paths that have the capacity to rebuild our economy and infrastructure, reinvigorate our cities, and finance a clean energy economy that creates and retains good jobs.

The Union Plus Book Club’s goal is to “create labor movement dialogue about current issues and to inspire thought-provoking conversations within our union community.”

Upcoming topics and selectors include:

• Young Workers (AFL-CIO Secretary/Treasurer Liz Shuler).
• Communications and Partnerships (AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker).
• Innovation (Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen).
• Organizing (UNITEHERE! President John Wilhelm).
• Green Jobs (United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard).

Remember, go to The Union Shop Online.^TM for Up from Wall Street and future selections and after you’ve read the book, share your thoughts and questions on the Union Plus Facebook Fan page.

We’ll keep you posted on each new selection.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 05, 2010 (boomark / email).