Donna Edwards, Paul Krugman Among Panelists at AFL-CIO Economic Forum at DNC

by James Parks, Aug 22, 2008

Donna Edwards
Paul Krugman

Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux, economist Paul Krugman and journalist Robert Kuttner are set to take part in an AFL-CIO economic forum at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka also will join in the Aug. 26 panel, titled All Boats Rising: Transforming the American Economy,” to discuss the key economic actions needed to ensure that the economy works for working people. Co-sponsored by The American Prospect and the AFL-CIO, panel moderators are Ezra Klein, associate editor at The American Prospect, and Harold Meyerson, a editor at large for the magazine.

It’s clear that the 2008 elections will be all about the economy. More than 400,000 U.S. jobs were lost in the first half of 2008, as the unemployment rate worsened to 5.7 percent—from 4.4 percent in March 2007. Economists expect unemployment to reach 6.4 percent in 2009. Millions of America’s workers are losing their homes to foreclosure, and millions more are struggling without needed health care because they cannot afford it.

If you will be in Denver and would like to attend the forum, call 202-637-5297 or e-mail DNCinfo@aflcio.org.

The forum is part of the union movement’s active agenda at the convention. Some 25 percent of the more than 4,200 delegates to the convention are current or retired union members or union household members. Many of them will take part in a Labor Caucus event Sunday spearheaded by the AFL-CIO.

On Tuesday night, Sweeney will address the convention in a speech scheduled for between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern Time (between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Mountain Time).

Other AFL-CIO leaders also will have key roles at the convention. On Monday, the newly elected president of AFT, Randi Weingarten, will address the convention, as will National Education Association (NEA) President Reg Weaver. On Wednesday, Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) and chairman of the Union Veterans Council, will speak at a reception for union members and veterans attending the convention.

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