Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Politics at Work
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.hertelfernandez.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2017049608
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2017049608
HEADING: Hertel-Fernandez, Alex, 1986-
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046 __ |f 1986-10-10 |2 edtf
100 1_ |a Hertel-Fernandez, Alex, |d 1986-
400 1_ |a Fernandez, Alex Hertel-, |d 1986-
400 1_ |a Hertel-Fernandez, Alexander W., |d 1986-
400 1_ |a Fernandez, Alexander W. Hertel-, |d 1986-
670 __ |a Politics at work, 2018: |b ECIP t.p. (Alex Hertel-Fernandez) data view ( Fernandez, Alexander Hertel, b. Oct. 10, 1956, Assist. Prof. in Columbia University’s School of Int’l. and Public Affairs. A scholar of lobbying, business-gov. relations, and public policy, Hertel-Fernandez received his PhD in Govt. and Social Policy from Harvard Univ. in 2016. His research has appeared in the American Prospect, Democracy Journal, the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Washington Post, as well as numerous scholarly journals)
PERSONAL
Born October 10, 1986; son of Adriela Fernandez and Thomas W. Hertel; married Nathaniel Fuller West (a lawyer), 2017.
EDUCATION:Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, B.A., 2008; Harvard University, A.M., Ph.D., 2016.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, New York, NY, assistant professor, 2016–.
MEMBER:National Academy of Social Insurance
AWARDS:Grants from National Science Foundation, Russel Sage Foundation, Dirksen Congressional Center, Columbia University, Harvard Center for American Political Studies, Harvard Weatherhead Center, and Harvard Kennedy School; Scholars Strategy Network Graduate Fellowship, 2012-13; Harvard Benjamin Bainbridge Tregoe Graduate Fellowship, 2015-16.
WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals, including Bulletin of the World Health Organization; Health Affairs; Social Service Review; Perspectives on Politics; Studies in American Political Development; Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law; PS: Political Science & Politics; and Journal of Politics. Contributor to books, including (with Theda Skopcol) Congress and Policymaking in the 21st Century, edited by Jeffrey Jenkins and Eric Patashnik, Cambridge University Press, 2016.
SIDELIGHTS
Political scientist Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, an assistant professor at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, studies the U.S. political economy. In particular, he examines how organized interests and wealthy donors shape national and state policy. Hertel-Fernandez graduated from Northwestern University in 2008 with a degree in political science, and earned a Ph.D. in government and social policy from Harvard University in 2016.
Hertel-Fernandez’s first book, Politics at Work: How Employers Deploy Their Workers to Shape American Politics and Policy looks at the ways in which employers in the United States have increasingly sought to control workers’ political stances and voting behaviors. As the author explained in an interview with Matt Terry posted on the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs Website, business managers recruit employees into politics “to help company bottom lines.” Using data from surveys and interviews, Hertel-Fernandez examines the how prevalent this practice is, how workers respond to it, and how it affects public policy and elections.
As Hertel-Fernandez explains in the book, it is legal for private employers to require their workers to volunteer for political campaigns on pain of losing their jobs. It is also legal for a company to inform its workers of which political candidates it supports and to suggest that these candidates’ defeat could result in undefined negative consequences for company employees. Companies can also require workers to attend campaign rallies, without pay, or to lobby for policies that would benefit the employer. What is more, the author points out, “there are no federal legal protections for employees who are fired or retaliated against for refusing to participate in political activities.”
While increasingly prevalent in the twenty-first century, employer meddling in workers’ political activities dates back to the 1896 presidential race between populist William Jennings Bryan and pro-business candidate William McKinley, whose supporters told workers that companies could not stay in business unless McKinley were elected. While the practice continued into the 1900s, it abated until the 2000s when new technologies, increased unemployment, and political polarization sparked increased efforts to control the political agenda through coercement of employees. Hertel-Fernandez discusses the actions of GE, Georgia Pacific, and pharmaceutical companies–one of which has created a points system by which employees can win free vacations by collecting points for each of their political activities. He also discusses the implications of the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that the government could not restrict the amount of money that corporations and unions could spend on ads and other campaign tools. In essence, the decision gives companies and unions the right to spend as much as they wish on materials intended to influence voting.
The author concedes that employer political recruitment can push more people to get out and vote. Even so, he argues that the practice presents real threats to the democratic system because workers are often pressured into political activity and are reluctant to object because of the economic power that their employers hold over them. He explains that, for their part, companies view this type of political mobilization as a more effective means of influencing politics than contributing money to political campaigns or buying election ads. Hertel-Fernandez ends the book with ideas for reform, and a call to end the business behaviors that are “most coercive and troubling.”
A writer for Kirkus Reviews found Politics at Work “often dry” but also “remarkably important.” In Publishers Weekly, a reviewer considered the book’s message “eye-opening and timely,” and praised the author for having performed “a great public service with this accessible and rigorously documented study.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Hertel-Fernandez, Politics at Work: How Employers Deploy Their Workers to Shape American Politics and Policy, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2018.
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2018, review of Politics at Work.
New York Times, April 16, 2017, “Weddings: Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Nathaniel West.”
Publishers Weekly, October 30, 2017, review of Politics at Work, p. 67.
ONLINE
Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs Website, https://sipa.columbia.edu/ (March 20, 2018), Hertel-Fernandez faculty profile; Matt Terry, interview with HHertel-Fernandez.
Alexander Warren Hertel-Fernandez and Nathaniel Fuller West were married April 15 at the Ivy Room, an event space in Chicago. Sarah Hertel-Fernandez, the sister of Mr. Hertel-Fernandez and a Universal Life minister, officiated with Anna West, the sister of Mr. West, who led the exchange of rings.
The couple met in 2008 at Northwestern, from which they graduated.
Mr. Hertel-Fernandez (left), 30, is an assistant professor of international and public affairs at Columbia. He received a master’s degree in government from Harvard, from which he also received a Ph.D in government and social policy.
He is the son of Adriela Fernandez and Thomas W. Hertel of West Lafayette, Ind.
Mr. West, also 30, is a litigation associate in the New York law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges. He received a law degree from the University of Michigan.
He is the son of Dr. Melissa J. West and John C. Sierk of Minneapolis.
Print Marked Items
Politics at Work: How Companies Turn
Their Workers into Lobbyists
Publishers Weekly.
264.44 (Oct. 30, 2017): p67.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Politics at Work: How Companies Turn Their Workers into Lobbyists
Alexander Hertel-Fernandez. Oxford Univ., $29.95 (360p) ISBN 978-0-19-062989-2
Hertel-Fernandez, a Columbia professor of international and public affairs, provides an eye-opening and
timely look at the increased role of private-sector employers in American politics. He instantly demands
attention with examples of employer behavior that is currently legal--for instance, requiring subordinates to
volunteer for political campaigns as a condition of employment. There are also less-overt, but nonetheless
still coercive, practices, as when paper manufacturer Georgia Pacific distributed a list of candidates it
supported in national and local elections accompanied by the warning that their defeat could trigger negative
consequences for employees. These examples are supported with chilling details, such as "employer
messages ... [that] reduce worker support for the minimum wage." Hertel-Fernandez traces the history of
these practices back to the 1896 presidential campaign pitting the pro-business William McKinley against
the populist William Jennings Bryan, in which managers told their workers that staying in business hinged
on McKinley's election. He offers cogent legislative reforms to protect workers from political coercion by
their bosses, in the hope that these reforms can "remedy one important and growing symptom of the
troubled relationship between democracy and corporate capitalism." Hertel-Fernandez has performed a great
public service with this accessible and rigorously documented study. (Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Politics at Work: How Companies Turn Their Workers into Lobbyists." Publishers Weekly, 30 Oct. 2017, p.
67. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A514357780/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e5bcc2e5. Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A514357780
Hertel-Fernandez, Alexander: POLITICS
AT WORK
Kirkus Reviews.
(Jan. 15, 2018):
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Hertel-Fernandez, Alexander POLITICS AT WORK Oxford Univ. (Adult Nonfiction) $29.95 3, 1 ISBN:
978-0-19-062989-2
How American corporations are recruiting employees into politics.
In his first book, Hertel-Fernandez (International and Public Affairs/Columbia Univ.) seeks to
"systematically assess" the many ways in which companies mobilize workers to vote and lobby in their
interests. A pharmaceutical company asks employees to lobby for an extension on patents. A chemical firm
urges workers to contact legislators regarding pending action on chemical storage. A coal company
mandates that miners attend (without pay) a campaign rally for a GOP presidential hopeful. Using websites,
posters, emails, and other modes of communication, such "widespread" corporate practices have become a
"new means of shaping elections and policy debates." The political messages--received from their bosses by
a quarter of all workers--often carry "a potential threat of retaliation." They are proving effective in shaping
public policy and helping elect business-friendly GOP candidates, and as the author points out, "there are no
federal legal protections for employees who are fired or retaliated against for refusing to participate in
political activities." Based on substantial original data--including national surveys, interviews, and archival
research--on a topic seldom explored by academics, the book recounts earlier company efforts to mobilize
workers (GE in the 1950s, etc.) and the dwindling of such activity until the 2000s, when technological
advances, increased regulation and labor unrest, and the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision spurred
an outburst of corporate action. Hertel-Fernandez covers most aspects of these practices, including one drug
company's incentive program under which employees earn points for each political activity in which they
participate. The employee in each sales region with the most points at the end of the year wins an allexpenses
paid trip to Washington, D.C. The author urges reforms to curb "the most coercive and troubling"
practices.
Replete with charts and lengthy appendices, this academic study is often dry, but it is also a remarkably
important trove of new information for specialists and anyone else interested in the forces at work in
modern politics.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Hertel-Fernandez, Alexander: POLITICS AT WORK." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2018. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A522642884/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6e79405f.
Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A522642884
Q&A: ALEXANDER HERTEL-FERNANDEZ
The political scientist spoke with SIPA News about his research into how organized interests shape public policy.
APRIL 27, 2017
Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, an assistant professor of international and public affairs, studies the political economy of the United States with a focus on organized interests, government, and social policy. The Indiana native, who earned a PhD in government and social policy from Harvard University, joined SIPA in fall 2016. He recently spoke to SIPA News about his current work.
What is your academic focus? What kind of research are you engaged in?
I study how organized interests shape public policy—at the national and especially the state level. I also study the interaction between wealthy donors and democracy.
My current research encompasses a few areas. The first is employer recruitment into politics, which is where managers mobilize their workers to participate in politics to help company bottom lines. I also study business coalitions and interest groups involved in lobbying, at both the state and national level I'm looking at how the political network directed by the two wealthy industrialist “Koch Brothers”—Charles and David Koch—has developed, the way they've made decisions about what to focus on, and their effect on policy, elections, and the parties. And I'm comparing Koch efforts with a similar left-wing network that's developed more recently—the Democracy Alliance –a donor consortium of left-leaning millionaires and billionaires. Lastly, my research looks at the labor movement and how public sector labor unions have come under fire in their ability to bargain and participate in politics in recent years. I’m studying both how conservatives have changed the opportunities available to the labor movement and how unions have responded to those changes.
What are some of your findings?
There is a growing trend of employers recruiting their employees into political involvement and even pushing them to adopt specific political stances. I have just finished a book on this topic called Politics at Work, which uses new survey and interview data to answer questions about how common employer recruitment is across the American economy, how workers interpret such efforts, and what it means for American elections and public policy.
In my other research, I've studied coalitions of business groups and political activists that lobby across all 50 states at once. These interest groups impact legislation across the country by focusing their efforts at the state level rather than the federal level. Conservative organizations have had a head start with these efforts and have invested more in developing their infrastructure. The left has been less successful historically, but that may be changing in very recent times as liberals realize that they are losing ground across the states. It depends on whether they can learn from their own mistakes as well as learn from the right's successes.
What have you been teaching here at SIPA?
I teach Politics of Policymaking: American Institutions in Comparative Perspective, which is a core course in the MPA program. This class looks at how policymaking is done in the United States and other advanced democracies. The goal of the class is to help students to see how the structure of the policymaking process in a country sets the incentives for, and preference of, political actors – and how those institutions ultimately affect practical policy outcomes. We also focus on developing students’ policy analysis and policy memo-writing skills.
I teach another course called U.S. State Politics and Policy: The Promises and Pitfalls of American Federalism, which examines policymaking at the state level in the United States.
These courses both include units on the labor movement, but going forward I will be teaching a new seminar about labor policy and the workplace in the United States.
You're affiliated with the Urban and Social Policy concentration. Why is SIPA a good place for that?
The USP concentration is a great place to have an academic home. Ester Fuchs, the director, is very supportive, and having former practitioners like Mayor [Michael] Nutter on the faculty is a terrific resource.
There is a practical perspective that SIPA students bring with them to class discussions. A lot of them are thinking about state and local politics, or about how they relate to federal policy, given their future career interests. That helps to ground our conversations every week.
The concentration also provides great opportunities for collaborating with other disciplines. I love having the chance to be surrounded by political scientists, economists, and lawyers alike. It's fantastic to get perspectives on my research from such a diverse group of scholars and practitioners.
You're finishing up your first year at SIPA – tell us about the experience of teaching and being here generally. How do you like New York City?
As teacher, it's great to have master’s students who have a clear sense of purpose and mission as well as past work experience. It really focuses our discussions on the practical elements of public policy.
The Trump dynamic also makes for an interesting teaching experience. I lectured the day after the 2016 election in the Politics of Policymaking class, and we held an open discussion about what can we expect from this election based on the history of politics, institutions, and populist uprisings. Even though we were tired—many of us had stayed up till the wee hours of the morning, myself included—it was a great opportunity to apply material we had learned in real time.
In general, my experience here has been great. I love meeting and working with the students, the faculty, and SIPA’s terrific array of political practitioners. Attending a lunch with former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, for instance, was a great opportunity. I also am trying to enjoy everything New York has to offer—running in Riverside Park, Broadway shows and plays, and the museums. I feel fortunate to be living in a such a great city!
— Matt Terry MIA ’17
Interview has been edited and condensed.
SIPA News Magazine
The School of International and Public Affairs' print publication features articles by faculty, students, and alumni, as well as current news about SIPA's programs, events, and alumni.