Workforce intermediaries are uniquely positioned to help workers and businesses achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Employers desire a workforce development approach that will address their most critical pain points, whereas workers seek opportunities to advance their economic security. In recent years, a wave of organizations has worked to take a “both-and” approach. These pioneers have recognized that job retention and recruitment are often linked to poor job quality, and that worker voice and input are critical to their ability to meet the demands of a dual-customer approach.

Members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) network are among those embracing this approach and leading on job quality and worker voice. The TPM Academy equips employers and their education and workforce development partners with strategies and tools to co-design talent supply chains that connect learners and workers to jobs and career advancement opportunities. And recently, the Foundation and the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program developed a new curriculum focused on job quality to embed within the TPM Academy for businesses and business-facing organizations. The new course will be available this summer.

In this webinar, which took place on July 24, 2024, we hear from two members of the TPM network about how they have tapped into worker voice and worked with employers to drive job quality improvements. Our speakers include Michael Evans (Kalamazoo Literacy Council), Jaimie Francis (U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation), Laurie Mays (Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Foundation), and moderator Matt Helmer (The Aspen Institute).

For more information, including speaker bios and additional resources, visit: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/tapping-into-worker-voice-to-improve-job-quality-lessons-from-the-talent-pipeline-management-network/

For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to EOP’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AspenEOP

Or subscribe to the “Opportunity in America” podcast to listen on the go: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aspeneop

Meat and poultry processing are core to our food supply chain. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the average American consumes about 68 pounds of chicken, 48 pounds of pork, and 56 pounds of beef per year. Meanwhile, health and safety hazards are pervasive, and workers in these sectors face some of the harshest conditions in the US. They endure long hours on their feet, with few breaks, working with sharp tools at fast speeds. And they do so in cold, damp environments where exposure to various chemicals is common. Not surprisingly, severe injuries and even fatalities occur frequently. Adding insult to (literal) injury, many don’t receive the pay or benefits needed to be economically secure. These conditions affect some of our most vulnerable compatriots, including undocumented workers and even children who have been found to be working in these facilities. These challenges are not new — Upton Sinclair famously described them in “The Jungle” over 100 years ago — but they can be solved.

In this conversation — co-hosted by the Aspen Institute’s Food & Society Program and Economic Opportunities Program — panelists discuss the challenges workers face, ideas for improving their jobs and well-being, and the policies and practices to reshape this industry and build a sustainable system where workers, consumers, and businesses thrive together. Speakers include Shelly Anand (Sur Legal Collaborative), Debbie Berkowitz (Georgetown University), Kim Cordova (UFCW Local 7), Dr. Angela Stuesse (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), and moderator Leah Douglas (Reuters).

This conversation took place on March 19, 2024. It is the second event in our series, “The Hands that Feed Us: Job Quality Challenges in the US Food Supply Chain,” in which we explore the challenges food workers face and opportunities to create a sustainable food system where workers, businesses, and consumers can thrive together.

For more information, including speaker bios and additional resources, visit: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/workers-on-the-line-improving-jobs-in-meat-and-poultry-processing/

For highlights from this discussion and others, subscribe to EOP’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AspenEOP

Or subscribe to the “Opportunity in America” podcast to listen on the go: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aspeneop

People in the US spend more than 10% of their disposable income on food each year. About a trillion dollars of this spending goes toward purchasing food to eat at home, much of it spent at grocery stores and supermarkets. Yet, very few people understand or know about how food makes it to this last step of the food supply chain and ends up on the shelves of their local store.

In this book talk, Benjamin Lorr, author of “The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket,” traces the history and evolution of the modern-day supermarket, exposes the grocery supply chain, and reveals the often exploited and underpaid labor that goes into making sure shelves are stocked. Speaking with Food & Society Director Corby Kummer, Lorr paints a vivid picture of how agricultural and meat processing workers, fisherman, truck drivers, and grocery store workers, among others, often endure poverty and sometimes worse as they work to feed our country. Maureen Conway, vice president at the Aspen Institute and executive director of the Economic Opportunities Program, provides opening remarks.

This conversation took place on June 21, 2024. It is the third and final event in our series, “The Hands that Feed Us: Job Quality Challenges in the US Food Supply Chain,” in which we explore the challenges food workers face and opportunities to create a sustainable food system where workers, businesses, and consumers can thrive together.

For more information, including speaker bios and additional resources, visit: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/the-workers-behind-our-groceries-a-book-talk-with-benjamin-lorr/

For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to EOP’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AspenEOP

Or subscribe to the “Opportunity in America” podcast to listen on the go: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aspeneop