How do we close the inequality gap and restore a potent middle class? The AFL-CIO’s live online discussion yesterday with Robert Reich, former secretary of labor and the Chancellor’s professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, went far beyond the idea of raising taxes on the wealthiest 1%. Worker co-ops, co-determination, reducing student debt, shortening the workweek, campaign finance reform and raising the minimum wage were among the excellent suggestions offered in the seventh in a series of online discussions to help us shape the 2013 AFL-CIO Convention and how the labor movement can meet the needs of working people in the future.

Here’s some of what you had to say. Go to the  discussion  for the full conversation.

Smeagle4T
In the U.S., a good starting point would be requiring at least one worker representative to sit on the Board of Directors of corporations. This, of course, doesn't provide much voting power. However it does prevent the Board of Directors from scheming behind the backs of the workers. That, by itself, would be a hugely influential change.

bob
Without significant and meaningful campaign finance reform, we are just talking to the breeze. Robust Democracy and unregulated capitalism cannot exist in the same environment. The capitalists always find a way to buy out the foundations of democracy.

TomPadgett
While there are several things which can be done to address income inequality I would think absolutely none of them are attainable, from a legal or political perspective, so long as moneyed interests keep paying for gridlock in Washington. I would argue that the first necessary step to addressing this issue is tackling corruption in Washington.

NavyYardLady
Nick Hanauer is out with a great article with a capitalist argument about raising the minimum wage to $15. This won't fix everything but would be huge. We need a national campaign that everyone can get behind on this. Corporations pay the minimum because we allow them to.

Mgolash
We need to renew the fight for the shorter work week to create jobs. We need to figure out where we can wage effective strikes to accomplish this goal. We need not be intimidated by the restrictions of Taft Hartley and other anti-labor laws. All the benefits of the productivity gains of the last two decades have gone to the rich. The fight for the shorter work week can turn this around.

Phyllis Krystal
People need to work with a living wage. A wage they can then afford to pay their expenses with. This rush to the bottom for America's workers can only result in a lop-sided affair, where CEO make 350 times the worker wage, and they worker wage continues to decline.