John Sweeney, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), will discuss recapturing America for working families and how union members will make the difference in the upcoming 2004 presidential elections, when he delivers the Irving J. Bluestone Lecture at 2 p.m., Friday, April 30 in the Lecture Hall at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). The afternoon's activities also include a social hour at 3 p.m. in the Kresge Court.

The program, in honor of Irving J. Bluestone, former vice president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) and retired university professor of labor studies at Wayne State University, is sponsored by Wayne State's Douglas A. Fraser Center for Workplace Issues in the College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs (CULMA).

Titled "Recapturing America for Working Families: The Challenge & Agenda Ahead," the lecture will focus on the premise that the battle for the White House and control of Congress is crucial for working families. Sweeney says the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress have moved "to take away overtime pay, privatize Social Security and Medicare, shape job-killing trade agreements, gut workplace safety rules, and strip away the rights of workers to join unions." He adds, "Everything we're doing aims to put working family issues front and center in the national debate."

Sweeney believes union members will make the difference in the 2004 national elections and put the democrats back into the nation's highest offices. "Union members are angry and deeply worried about our nation's jobs crisis, we have a more sophisticated and targeted program that's starting earlier than ever before and John Kerry is a strong leader who will make working families concerns a priority," Sweeney says.

Serving his third term as president of the AFL-CIO, a federation of 62 national and international unions, representing 13 million members, Sweeney has spent over 40 years serving in various capacities with both the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO.

He holds honorary degrees from Oberlin College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the University of Baltimore and Catholic University Law School. He is also the author of "America Needs a Raise, Fighting for Economic Security and Social Justice."

For more information about the Irving J. Bluestone Lecture or to RSVP call (800) 218-6401; fax (313) 577-7599 or e-mail w.mckether@wayne.edu Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.

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