Book Talk Brings "Big Picture" to AFSCME Members
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)A recent meeting of the Library of Congress
Professional Guild, AFSCME Local 2910 covered subjects beyond the traditional
agenda items of grievances, collective bargaining and working conditions. On
Thursday, May 29, Local 2910 sponsored a Book Talk for its members and the
general public featuring Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith, author of "Who
Stole the American Dream?”
Smith spoke about the origins in the 1970s of the efforts by the corporate
elite to counter the gains of citizens’ movements – including organized
labor
-- and the development of “shareholder capitalism” in which
making
super profits for CEOs and large shareholders became the primary
goal of corporations and their massive army of business lobbyists.
Encouraged by recent Supreme Court decisions, Smith said that the
nation’s elite – the “One Percent” targeted by the Occupy movement --
have
“polluted our political system with money and derailed the American Dream of
joining the middle class.” The Book Talk was attended by over eighty Library
of
Congress employees, fifty of whom purchased books which were autographed by Mr.
Smith after the event. Free copies were provided to any employee who
joined the union, which resulted in a number of new members.
photo: Smith (left) with AFSCME Local 2910
member Bob Dardano, who organized the Book Talk; photo by Nan Ernst