Just so you will know who is doing the talking:

The Economic Policy Institute’s mission is to inform and empower individuals to seek solutions that ensure broadly shared prosperity and opportunity.

About EPI. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a non-profit, non-partisan think tank, was created in 1986 to broaden discussions about economic policy to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers. EPI believes every working person deserves a good job with fair pay, affordable health care, and retirement security.  To achieve this goal, EPI conducts research and analysis on the economic status of working America.  EPI proposes public policies that protect and improve the economic conditions of low- and middle-income workers and assesses policies with respect to how they affect those workers.

Board of Directors

Experts | Research Associates | Staff | About EPI

Richard L. Trumka, Chairman
AFL-CIO
Mr. Trumka was elected President of the AFL-CIO in September 2009. He had served as the AFL’s Secretary-Treasurer since 1995. In 1982, he was elected President of the United Mine Workers.

Julianne Malveaux, Secretary Treasurer
Bennett College
Dr. Malveaux is serving as the 15th President of Bennett College. She has worked as an economist, author, and commentator and is now the founder of Last Word Productions. She is an outspoken activist for issues surrounding race, culture, gender, and their economic impacts.

Barry Bluestone
Northeastern University
Dr. Bluestone is currently the Director for the Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University in Boston. He has served as a member of the senior policy staff of Congressman Richard Gephardt. Among his many accomplishments he was the Founding Director of U.Mass.-Boston’s Ph.D. Program in Public Policy. (EPI publications by Barry Bluestone.)

R. Thomas Buffenbarger
International Association of Machinists & Allied Workers (IAMAW)
Mr. Buffenbarger currently serves as the President for the International Association of Machinists. When he was 20 years old he was elected for his first leadership position within IAM as a steward of his apprenticeship group. Ever since then he has worked his way up to the Presidency of the organization, learning from the leaders he closely worked with for many years.