AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff.

Change to Win Federation Chair Anna Burger.

On February 11, 2005, the UCLA Labor Center assisted the L.A. County Federation of Labor in organizing a forum on the future of the American labor movement. Nearly one hundred and fifty key labor leaders of Los Angeles attended the event.

The forum began with a slide show by UCLA Labor Center Director Kent Wong outlining the challenges facing the labor movement in the face of the reelection of President Bush, declining union density, and growing economic inequality. A panel of labor leaders presented their unions' proposals to change the AFL-CIO. The panelists were Harold Schaitberger, president of the Fire Fighters Union; UNITE-HERE's President of Hospitality John Wilhelm; and SEIU's Executive Vice President Gerald Hudson. The panel was chaired by L.A. Weekly Editor Harold Meyerson.

Following the panel, four strategy breakout sessions were convened to discuss the implications of the national debate to the local labor movement. Los Angeles has emerged as a focal point of the new American labor movement because of its significant political and organizing victories. There was a strong consensus among the participants that unions locally should continue to work together regardless of the outcome of the national debate.