David
Madland

Senior Fellow; Senior Adviser, American Worker Project

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David Madland

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David Madland is a senior fellow and the senior adviser to the American Worker Project at American Progress. He has been called “one of the nation’s wisest” labor scholars by Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. The president of the Service Employees International Union, Mary Kay Henry, says Madland’s work “is creating a North Star for how we increase workers’ power in the economy and democracy.”

Madland is the author of Re-Union: How Bold Labor Reforms Can Repair, Revitalize, and Reunite the United States (Cornell University Press, 2021), which helped put sectoral bargaining on the political agenda, and Hollowed Out: Why the Economy Doesn’t Work Without a Strong Middle Class (University of California Press, 2015), a pioneering critique of trickle-down economics that has helped policymakers understand that the economy grows from the middle out and bottom up—not the top down.

He appears frequently on television programs, including on PBS, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox, and he is a regular guest on radio talk shows across the United States. His work has been cited in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker. He has testified before Congress as well as several state legislatures.

Madland received his doctorate in government from Georgetown University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley. His research about the decline of the U.S. pension system received the “Best Dissertation Award” from the Labor and Employment Relations Association. Madland previously worked on economic policy for Rep. George Miller (D-CA).

To view the work of the American Worker Project, click here.

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Lessons From New Zealand’s New Sectoral Bargaining Law Report

Lessons From New Zealand’s New Sectoral Bargaining Law

Unions and policymakers in New Zealand are seeking a solution to address stagnant wages, rising economic inequality, and low productivity after the failures of worksite-only bargaining—and the United States can learn from their efforts.

the Center for American Progress

David Madland

Worker Rights Are Getting a Major Shake Up In the News

Worker Rights Are Getting a Major Shake Up

David Madland discusses California's FAST Recovery Act, which gives the state's fast-food workers a seat at the negotiating table to help set industrywide standards.

Route Fifty

David Madland

For Unionized Amazon Workers, Lessons From Italy May Hold Key to Success In the News

For Unionized Amazon Workers, Lessons From Italy May Hold Key to Success

David Madland outlines several lessons learned from the historic nationwide contracts that Amazon workers in Italy signed in 2021 and suggests a path forward for unionized workers at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse, who must now try to sign a collective bargaining agreement.

InsideSources

David Madland

Lessons From Italian Unions’ Historic Agreement With Amazon Report

Lessons From Italian Unions’ Historic Agreement With Amazon

Facilitated by worker activism, supportive policy, and a sectoral bargaining system, unions in Italy signed a collective bargaining agreement with Amazon, offering optimism for U.S. workers seeking to negotiate with the company.

David Madland

Business as usual is killing the fast food industry In the News

Business as usual is killing the fast food industry

David Madland explains how California's Fast Recovery Act can provide fast-food workers in the state with a platform to discuss wages and possibly improve working conditions.

the San Francisco Chronicle

David Madland

Worker Boards Across the Country Are Empowering Workers and Implementing Workforce Standards Across Industries Article

Worker Boards Across the Country Are Empowering Workers and Implementing Workforce Standards Across Industries

Worker boards have achieved real momentum in the United States, with four states and three local governments enacting laws since 2018 that bring workers and employers together to recommend standards.

the Center for American Progress

Aurelia Glass, David Madland

Strategies To Build Worker Power in Maine Report

Strategies To Build Worker Power in Maine

Maine policymakers can improve the state’s economy and democracy by enacting these 10 recommendations to build worker power.

the Center for American Progress

David Madland, Malkie Wall

Unions Are Critical to the Democratic Party’s Electoral Success Report

Unions Are Critical to the Democratic Party’s Electoral Success

New CAP Action analysis finds that union members voted for the Democratic Party presidential candidate in much greater proportions than did nonunion members in 2020, cementing President Biden’s electoral victory and offering a path forward for the party to maintain and grow support.

Aurelia Glass, David Madland, Ruy Teixeira

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