Damon Silvers Valuable Conversations with UCL IIPP

Welcome to Valuable Conversations with the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. On this episode, Ph.D. student Nai Kalema and MPA alumni Justin Beirold talk to IIPP Visiting Professor of Practice, Damon Silvers. For over 30 years, Damon has been a leading voice in the US labour movement. He tells Justin and Nai how he got involved in labour activism during the dining hall worker strikes and anti-apartheid protests when he was an undergraduate at Harvard. He talks about how the labour movement has changed over his career, and how we are now at a crucial inflection point for aligning the objectives of unions, environmental activism, and innovation policy. As Damon is also a scholar of constitutional law, he also provides a lengthy explanation of the recent right-wing supreme court rulings in the US, and how we might be able to overcome them. This is a long interview - the longest we have done so far on this podcast. But it is also a really good conversation! So rather than cutting it into pieces, we've provided a few time stamps so you can skip around if you desire. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Damon Silvers! ******* - 3 min 40 sec: Damon's life journey, undergraduate labour activism. - 29 min 30 sec: the anti-apartheid movement - 35 minutes: How Damon started working for unions - 44 min 30 sec: The past, present, and future of the organised labour - 59 min 30 sec: Joining IIPP, and his lectures on "Climate Change, innovation, and the labour movement." - 1 hr 33 min: The US Supreme Court rulings of Summer 2022 ********Guest Bio: Damon A. Silvers a Visiting Professor in Labour Markets and Innovation at the UCL IIPP. He is on sabbatical from the AFL-CIO where is has served as the Director of Policy and Special Counsel for the AFL-CIO. He joined the AFL-CIO as Associate General Counsel in 1997. From 2008 to 2011, Mr. Silvers served as the Deputy Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP. Mr. Silvers has also served on the Treasury Department's Financial Research Advisory Committee, as the Chair of the Competition Subcommittee of the United States Treasury Department Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession and as a member of the United States Treasury Department Investor's Practice Committee of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets. Mr. Silvers led the successful efforts to restore pensions to the retirees of Cannon Mills lost in the Executive Life collapse and the severance owed to laid off Enron and WorldCom workers following the collapse of those companies. He served from 2003 to 2006 as pro bono Counsel to the Chairman of ULLICO, Inc. and in that capacity led the successful effort to recover over $50 million related to improperly paid executive compensation. Mr. Silvers received his J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School. He received his M.B.A. with high honors from Harvard Business School and is a Baker Scholar. Mr. Silvers is a graduate of Harvard College, summa cum laude, and has studied history at Kings College, Cambridge University. Recorded in Summer 2022 *******-Check out Damon's IIPP lectures on Labour, Innovation, and Climate Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u34XWAmzeJ0 -Blog: "The End of the Roberts Court" https://damonsilvers.substack.com/p/the-end-of-the-roberts-court -Follow Damon on Twitter:@DamonSilvers -See Damon's full bio: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/people/damon-silvers Learn about our hosts: - Justin Beirold - https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/justin-beirold - Nai Kalema - https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/nai-lee-kalema -Follow IIPP on Twitter: @IIPP_UCL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/ -Production and music by Justin Beirold