Durham Dispatch

Dear City Manager Ferguson and County Manager Hager, The Coalition for Affordable Housing and Transit (CAHT) is a grassroots organization with 612 supporters committed to supporting programs, initiatives, and policies that increase affordable housing and public transportation options in Durham City and its surrounding county. Our advocacy encompasses consideration of all social drivers (i.e., housing inventory, rental availability, eviction avoidance, health outcomes, AMI household income levels, environmental impacts, etc.) to promote affordable homeownership, providing neighborhood stability, diversity, and equitable wealth-building, housing security, and safety for all Durham residents. As such, we would like to provide our local government leaders with input on specific items of interest for the FY2025-2026 budget planning process. The four FY2025-2026 City, County, or County-only budget priorities that our organization has endorsed previously and continues to advocate for in this year’s budget process are as follows. Request #1 : Continue funding the GoDurham Free Fares program, which helps alleviate the financial pressure on individuals and families facing economic challenges. The cost would be $1.5 million. Please note that the Coalition also adamantly opposes $2.00 fare proposals, as the increased fares would harm Durham’s struggling residents, who tend to use public transportation. Request #2: Fully fund the HEART program, which provides valuable outreach and tangible support for residents facing eviction and homelessness. Request #3 : Maintain the 2-cent tax increase to the property tax rate implemented in the FY2021- 2022 budget. This increase is needed for: Maintaining progress on developing and redeveloping affordable housing in Durham’s transit opportunity area for households at or below 60% Area Median Income (AMI); Expansion of supportive housing program opportunities; Continuation of the Down Payment Assistance Program for homeownership; Funding the Repairs program for Durham’s low-income seniors; Establishing a contingency fund to enable short-term loans to non-profits and city programs expecting HUD reimbursements; and Implementing a rental assistance program for low-income residents to help offset the loss of federal-funded vouchers and other lost funding, thereby supporting Durham’s most vulnerable citizens. Request #4 : Continue the Low-Income Homeowners Tax Credit Program at its current funding level. Additionally, CAHT requests funding for the following budget items, which are new requests for FY2025- 2026. Request #5 : The redevelopment project for the 505 West Chapel Hill Street police headquarters is progressing slowly. However, the Coalition requests that subsidies be included in the budget to increase the number of affordable housing units in the Peebles Corporation proposal from 110 to 130, representing a 20-unit increase that requires subsidies. Request #6: The allocation of $5 million to thoroughly remediate toxic chemicals (i.e., lead) in the affected parks. We appreciate your consideration of our coalition community budgetary requests and are available to answer any questions regarding the information in this document. Thank you in advance for consideration of CAHT's requests as a member of community of organizations concerned about Durham residents and the area's affordable housing.   Sincerely, Cynthia Williams, Chair of the Coalition for Affordable Housing and Transit of Durham

During April negotiations, Duke University administrators reduced their stipend offer to graduate workers and refused compromise on other key issues, according to the Duke Graduate Student Union (DGSU). The setback for Duke workers comes amid a larger attack on higher education by the Trump administration, which has threatened to cut federal funding and demanded crackdowns on dissent.   On April 1, Duke withdrew a previous stipend proposal of $43,680. Neither the university nor DGSU has disclosed the new offer. One of the main campaigns of the union, which has been recognized since August 2023, has been to achieve annual Ph.D. stipends of $50,000 for graduate workers [ 1 ]. That would amount to a living wage for a two-adult, one-child household in Durham County, according to MIT [ 2 ]. Currently, Duke stipends are $30,000 in the first year and around $40,000 in the second year and onward [ 3 ]. The men’s basketball coach earns about $7 million per year, by comparison.   At an April 1 bargaining session, Duke refused to consider DGSU proposals on protections for international workers against ICE, guarantees for sixth year funding, and safeguards against assault and harassment. Administrators also introduced a “Force Majeure” clause into negotiations, a legal tool that would allow them to violate the union contract at will.   During the next meeting with university officials, on April 10, the DGSU sought to limit the scope of Force Majeure. Workers proposed that the clause would not remove the right to strike, that its use would trigger expedited arbitration, and that Force Majeure would not be exploited to deeply cut stipends (only for cancellation of year-over-year increases), along with other modifications. Duke insisted the clause could be invoked without notice and that the union could not strike in response.   At the April 10 session, the union also reiterated that international students would need increased protection and resources given the government's xenophobic and repressive inclinations. Workers proposed six safeguards that included SEVIS monitoring, legal assistance, and protest protections. Administrators replied only that they were “not looking to walk back anything we’ve committed to”.   In the face of setbacks, DGSU has refocused on “bottom line” demands, which are (1) reinstating the $43,680 stipend offer, (2) securing protections for international workers, and (3) guaranteeing funding security.   Duke has a $12 billion endowment, which undermines any claim it cannot afford a living wage for graduate workers. Inadequate payment of graduate workers persists as an issue not just at Duke but across higher education as a whole. According to CSStipendRankings, the only four universities that pay a stipend in excess of “fees and living” are Brown, Notre Dame, Yale, and Princeton [ 4 ].   Labor discontent at Duke extends beyond the graduate student union. From April 14 to 18, Duke facilities workers with AFSCME Local 77 planned protests outside Cameron Stadium and Duke Facilities Management over alleged contract violations.   Duke’s lower stipend offer coincides with the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education. The president has threatened to withhold federal funds from universities unless they agree to numerous demands that include suppression of anti-war students and admission of more right-wing students. Even before such threats, Duke imposed a new “pickets, protests, and demonstrations” policy that constrained unapproved forms of speech and assembly [ 5 ]. This article was heavily based on DGSU Bargaining Bulletins .   Work Cited   “Duke Graduate Student Union Petitions University to Pay Graduate Workers a Living Wage.”  INDY Week , 12 July 2024,  www.indyweek.com/news/durham/duke-graduate-student-union-petitions-university-to-pay-graduate-workers-a-living-wage . “Living Wage Calculation for Durham County, North Carolina.” MIT Living Wage Calculation .  https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/37063 . “Tuition, Fees, and Ph.D. Stipends.”  Duke The Graduate School , 27 Aug. 2024,  www.gradschool.duke.edu/financial-support/tuition-fees-and-phd-stipends . “CSStipendRankings: PhD Stipend Rankings.” CS Stipend Rankings .  https://csstipendrankings.org . “Duke Deploys ‘Pickets, Protests, and Demonstrations’ Policy to Silence Dissent.”  Duke Academics and Staff for Justice in Palestine , 8 Jan. 2025,  www.dukeforpalestine.org/2025/01/08/duke-ppd-silences-dissent .

On April 5, thousands gathered in CCB Plaza and Five Points Plaza to protest the extreme instability of the first few months of the Trump administration. Organized by the Durham Democrats, the "Hands Off" rally denounced the defunding of federal scientific programs, erosion of civil rights, and the president’s authoritarian tendencies.   Turnout was huge by local standards. Organizers estimated that 2,000 people poured into the area between Corcoran Street, East Chapel Hill Street, and West Main Street. It was the city’s largest political street rally since a 2017 protest against the Klu Klux Klan [ 1 ].   Volunteer marshals kept marchers on sidewalks, but that was the extent of visible coordination. Speakers in CCB Plaza may have tried to address the crowd, but there was no sound system. No progressive groups set up tables, distributed literature, or recruited members. Around 11:30 a.m., the crowd began marching down East Chapel Hill Street and circling the block. With no chant leaders, the shouted slogans were spontaneous and random. Outside of Neomonde Mediterranean, a chant of “this is what democracy looks like” faded, suddenly replaced by Chappell Roan lyrics. (Correction: the chant may have been "H-O-T-T-O-G-O, Trump and Musk have got to go!")   Alongside the crowd in CCB Plaza were several metal racks with used clothing. The “Hands Off” rally conflicted with a flea market, which went ahead as scheduled after the political crowd thinned.   Attendees appeared to skew older and whiter. Movements popular with younger, diverse constituencies such as Black Lives Matter, Ceasefire Now, Democratic Socialism, and the Sunrise Movement have received, at best, a mixed reception from moderate liberals. After years of estrangement, anti-Trump factions may struggle to unite.   A newer liberal group, Bull City Indivisible, helped plan the “Hands Off” rally in Raleigh but not the gathering in Durham. However, Indivisible's national organization created the digital sign-up form. Durham Democrats credited two activists, Julia Borbely-Brown and Christine Barboriak, with organizing the event.   US foreign policy was on the back burner. Palestine or Ukraine received scattered support, but there was no visible protest against the government’s bombing of Yemen or threats of war against Iran. National materials for “Hands Off” events mentioned NATO, but the Western military bloc wasn't a noticeable theme at the Durham event.   The most prominent cause was federal science funding, a key part of Durham’s economy. Many signs and posters supported the NIH and EPA. The Trump administration reportedly plans to dismantle the EPA’s scientific arm, the Office of Research and Development (ORD). Many ORD researchers are based at the EPA's RTP facility, which has around 1,300 employees. Hundreds have recently been laid off from RTI International and FHI 360, which are major Triangle-based nonprofits. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), another crown jewel of RTP, is also cutting jobs. Duke University, Durham’s largest employer, began a hiring freeze in March. In 2024, Duke and RTI received nearly $1 billion in NIH grants, which are now at risk [ 2 ].   Organized labor had little visible presence, although a few people wore AFGE shirts. Advocates of class war might have been mollified by chants of “tax the rich” and posters denouncing billionaires.   Progressive rallies are often criticized for a lack of nationalist symbolism. There was little danger of that on Saturday. Across from Pour Taproom, a group held up a 10-foot American flag with wooden supports. Red, white, and blue decorated the edges of homemade posters and some attendees wore flag-patterned plastic cowboy hats. One marcher toted an obscure banner that turned out to be a Bunker Hill battle flag. Another attendee mistook it for Greenland’s flag.   Near the Marriott hotel, someone waved a hammer-and-sickle flag with Donald Trump’s face printed on it. With equal coherence, one marcher carried the flags of three nations - the US, Israel, and Palestine.   If “Hands Off” protests in Durham wished to escalate, the city's recent history provides striking options. In November 2023, Jewish Voice for Peace blocked the Durham freeway, trying to pressure Rep. Valerie Foushee to support a Gaza ceasefire [ 3 ]. Similar actions could be used to urge Sen. Thom Tillis to oppose various Trump policies.   The April 5 rally drew less than one percent of Durham’s population. In the last city council elections, voter turnout was only 12 percent. Although the Bull City is considered a progressive bastion, it remains largely depoliticized and disorganized as federal politics head in an ominous direction.   Work Cited   DeBruyn, Jason. “Thousands of Anti-KKK Protesters March Through Downtown Durham.” WUNC , 21 Aug. 2017, www.wunc.org/news/2017-08-18/thousands-of-anti-kkk-protesters-march-through-downtown-durham . Snipes, Cameron. “Duke, UNC and One Other Entity Dwarf Rest in Triangle NIH Funding.”  Triangle Business Journal , 27 Jan. 2025,  www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2025/01/27/duke-unc-nih-funds-grants-healthcare-research-trum.html . Gordon, Brian. “Durham Protest Calling for Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Ends, Freeway Blocked for Hours.”  Raleigh News & Observer , 3 Dec. 2024,  www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article281363198.html .

On March 15, approximately 75 demonstrators gathered in Moore Square to protest the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, an anti-war activist from Columbia University. The event featured speakers from UNC Students for Justice in Palestine, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), Jewish Voices for Peace, and other groups. Key topics included threats to freedom of speech, continued Israeli attacks on Gaza, and unexpected support for Khalil among North Carolina's Democratic congresspeople. No elected officials attended the demonstration, which was more heavily surveilled by Raleigh police than previous pro-Palestine rallies.   The rally began with chants such as, “Palestine is not for sale, Donald Trump belongs in jail!” before Hashem Amireh was introduced as the first speaker. Amireh, president of the UNC graduate student union, was suspended in May 2024 for Palestine activism [ 1 ].   “We do what we do for the sake of the oppressed,” said Amireh, “For the sake of Palestinians who have endured almost eighty years of dispossession, violence, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.”   Amireh, who relies on a student visa, noted that he enjoys fewer legal protection than Khalil, a green card holder. He vowed to continue his anti-war activism despite the increased risk of deportation. As Amireh spoke, audience members held signs with slogans like “Jews say, free Mahmoud” and “Fight Nazis, not students.”   The Trump administration is seeking to deport Mahmoud Khalil using the Immigration and National Act of 1952, which allows the expulsion of non-citizens for almost any reason. Khalil’s deportation could be halted if the judicial branch finds the 1952 law unconstitutional under the First or Fifth Amendments. The Immigration and National Act was passed during the Second Red Scare, an anticommunist hysteria used to undermine various forms of domestic dissent. Forward magazine reports that Democratic Senator Pat McCarran introduced the law in part to keep out “Jewish Holocaust survivors suspected of being Soviet agents” [ 2 ].   The second speaker, Rania Masri of the North Carolina Green Party, discussed recent Israeli attacks on Gaza. She said, “In the past 24 hours alone, twelve Palestinians in Gaza were slaughtered, butchered, shredded by US-made weaponry dropped by the Israeli pilots. That was including four children. Nine people were killed this morning in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza while they were trying to distribute aid." According to NPR , eight of Israel's victims in the Beit Lahiya bombing were staff members of the UK-based Al-Khair Foundation, a humanitarian aid organization [ 3 ].   During her remarks, Masri defended her decision to vote for the Green Party in the 2024 presidential election, and also praised people who voted for PSL. Green Party nominee Dr. Jill Stein received 0.4 percent of the vote in North Carolina, while PSL’s Claudia Cruz garnered about 0.01 percent. Vice President Kamala Harris lost the state by 3.2 percent.   A speaker for the Palestinian Youth Movement linked recent Israeli attacks on Gaza and the West Bank to Khalil’s arrest: “These struggles are not far from us and the arrest Mahmoud Khalil is a prime example of that. As we all know now, undercover ICE agents kidnapped Mahmoud and claimed they were acting on State Department orders to revoke his student visa. When he explained to them that he had a green card, they claimed they would revoke that instead.”   Dozens of peace rallies have been held in Moore Square since October 2023. Speeches in the park are often followed by police-escorted marches. However, law enforcement presence seemed heavier at Saturday's event, with multiple officers patrolling the square and motorcycle cops stationed at nearby intersections. Raleigh city government and police have never moved to repress the ceasefire rallies, which have been able to maintain a safe, family-friendly atmosphere.   Sandra Korn of Jewish Voice for Peace addressed the crowd. She said, “What we saw in the last couple of weeks was a state-sponsored kidnapping targeting multiple students who spoke out for Palestinian human rights. All people of conscience, including Jewish people, should be demanding Mahmoud Khalil’s release immediately.”   Korn shared the news that North Carolina congresspeople Valerie Foushee and Deborah Ross had just signed a letter strongly criticizing Khalil’s detention [ 4 ]. The crowd cheered, pleasantly surprised at the move by two pro-Israel lawmakers.   AIPAC spent around $2 million to help elect Foushee in 2022. In May 2024, Foushee and other lawmakers travelled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in May 2024 to discuss plans for continued wars against Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran [ 5 ]. Netanyahu now faces an ICC arrest warrant for alleged war crimes, including starvation and attacks on civilians.   Ross has accepted over $20,000 from AIPAC since 2020 and staunchly refused to support a ceasefire throughout the US-Israeli assault on Gaza. In May 2024, she voted in favor of HR 6090, a bill aimed at suppressing criticism of Israel on college campuses. Though the bill failed in the Senate, similar efforts have succeeded in weakening free speech protections and helped lead to Khalil’s arrest.   The “Free Mahmoud Khalil Now” event concluded with a speaker from Mothers for a Ceasefire, who spoke about other regions where US policies have contributed to ongoing conflicts, such as Sudan, Congo, and Haiti. Circling back to Palestine, she said, “It’s only freedom of speech when they promote a genocide on a nation. However, when we tell our politicians to stop killing children, we are the problem.”   Work Cited   "Something You Can’t Ignore: Q&A with Hashem Amireh, Who Was Suspended Following the Pro-Palestine Protests at UNC."  Indyweek , 12 June 2024,  https://indyweek.com/news/orange/something-you-cant-ignore-qa-with-hashem-amireh-who-was-suspended-following-the-pro-palestine-protests-at-unc/ . Silverstein, Andrew. "McCarran-Walter Act: State Department Plan to Deport Pro-Hamas Students."  Forward, 7 March 2025,  https://forward.com/news/702427/mccarran-walter-act-state-department-plan-deport-pro-hamas-students/ . Lonsdorf, Kat. "Gaza Air Strike: Israel and Al-Khair Foundation."  NPR , 16 Mar. 2025,  https://www.npr.org/2025/03/15/nx-s1-5329257/gaza-air-strike-israel-al-khair-foundation . Foushee, Valerie.  X (formerly Twitter) , 17 March 2025,  https://x.com/ValerieFoushee/status/1901708531016835402 . "Prime Minister Netanyahu to AIPAC delegation of Democratic Congressmen: We must win - there is no substitute for victory."  Israeli PM YouTube Channel , 27 March 2024,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrGI_9FDGR4 .

Image credit: Instagram page of REI Union Durham An REI Union organizer fired in May 2023 has reached a settlement with the outdoor retailer. Steven Pitts, a leader of the union drive at REI’s Durham location, was fired after workers went on strike over withheld benefits. On March 20, REI Union Durham announced the victory and thanked supporters for standing with Mr. Pitts and their cause [ 1 ] [ 2 ]. The workers' statement said, " not only did Steven win what he was owed, but it’s a testament to the power we have when we come together and use our collective voice to stand up for what we deserve!"   Firing employees for union organizing is illegal, but enforcement has been weak since the Reagan administration, allowing companies to dismiss pro-union workers with little consequence. Mr. Pitts’ termination led to increased community support for REI Union Durham and widespread criticism of the company, including by Senator Bernie Sanders [ 3 ].   Since REI Union was founded in May 2022, workers at 11 of the company’s stores nationwide have successfully won union elections. In response, REI retained law firm Morgan Lewis to lead a union avoidance campaign. Anti-union lawyers often make hundreds of dollars an hour in their repellent trade, while the workers they're suppressing make a fraction of that.   Mr. Pitts' settlement was assisted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which took a more worker-friendly stance under the Biden administration, a shift from four decades of heavy corporate bias. Under the Trump administration, the NLRB is being stacked with anti-union figures, including a partner from Morgan Lewis.   REI Union Durham represents workers at the company's location in the Renaissance Center, which is across from the Southpoint Mall. Over the past two years, the local union has managed to find community support and form ties with Durham Association of Educators, CAUSE, Southern Workers Assembly, and other pro-worker groups.   In May 2024, dozens of community members and Durham city council member Nate Baker attended a rally celebrating the one-year anniversary of REI Union Durham [ 4 ]. At the event, supporters called on the company to engage in good-faith contract negotiations. REI has stalled contract negotiations for years, a common union-busting tactic in the US which is illegal in many other countries.   Work Cited   “REI Union Durham post.” Instagram, 20 March 2025, www.instagram.com/p/DHblTvzTHnc/ . “REI Union Durham post.” X (formerly Twitter) , 10 May 2023,  https://x.com/reiuniondurham/status/1656457491629105153 . “Bernie Sanders post.” X (formerly Twitter) , 4 May 2023, https://x.com/BernieSanders/status/1654227536669188105 . “Durham REI Workers Celebrate One-Year Union Anniversary With Community Rally.”  Durham Dispatch , 28 May 2024,  www.durhamdispatch.com/post/durham-rei-workers-celebrate-one-year-union-anniversary-with-community-rally

“As the South goes, so goes the nation.”—W.E.B. DuBois “One thing we do not need is more labor unions.  We have gotten where we are without them, and we do not need them now.”— Henry McMaster, Governor of South Carolina, State of the State address, January 2024 So where exactly have we gotten? Currently, workers in the Southern U.S. have the lowest wages in the country leading to the highest poverty levels; we have the weakest worker protections and badly underfunded public services leading to the worst health outcomes and the shortest life spans; and fewer than 5% of workers have collective bargaining.  One must ask, is this their goal for the rest of the country too? How will the South be organized? The short answer: in the same way that all U.S. working class movements have succeeded. The Southern Workers Assembly was created in 2012 to encourage Southern workers to exercise some degree of power over their work lives and their living situation regardless of their union status. Black Americans account for 20% of the population in the Southern states and more than half of all African Americans in the US live in the south. Black men in particular have the highest rate of unionization among all workers in the US.  African American workers have a history of leading successful social movements and, given the historical role of slavery and white supremacy in shaping the Southern economy, labor struggles by Black workers are inherently political struggles for self-determination and against the whole system of racist exploitation. Therefore, the SWA centers our organizing work on recognizing, promoting, and following Black workers and workers of color, all the while seeking to build solidarity across lines of race, gender, and other social categories. Of course, all workers need collective bargaining, but waiting for lightning to strike and spontaneously light the fire for unionism is not a viable strategy. And neither is relying on the occasional NLRB election for three reasons. Reason One — The Numbers Don’t Add Up The labor movement can’t possibly run enough elections fast enough to make a difference. In the U.S. there are roughly 160 million workers, of which about 135 million are covered by the National Labor Relations Act. Twelve million are already in unions. That leaves about 120 million private sector workers eligible for NLRB elections. While 2024 polling showed that nearly 60 million workers would join a union if they could, only 120,000 workers participated in recognition elections, which turned out to be double the number of 60,000 in 2021. At this rate, in 100 years we will have organized only 10% of the non-union workers. Reason Two — Massive Organizing Happens in Sweeps Not One-at-a-Time During the period 1930 to 1941, social turmoil resulted in mass working class organization and collective bargaining in major U.S. industries. SWA identified the necessary elements that were present in the upsurge and uses those lessons to guide our efforts. The first and most important element is the existence of a committed core of experienced activists and organizers in major workplaces linked together in networks that spread throughout both industrial sectors and geographies. Their common intent was to establish collective bargaining as a democratic necessity and thereby win a better life for the entire working class. Many failures taught them through their practical experience to use sympathy strikes, defy injunctions and use brief sit down strikes to win grievances. Other elements – including sharply defined class politics, new legislation encouraging collective bargaining, a few top union leaders who broke politically and tactically with the moribund AFL by refusing to compromise militancy and gave local organizing efforts a national voice and support— were necessary but not sufficient for success. Without the organized pre-existing network of experienced cadre, ready to act once the breakthrough occurred, in this case the Flint sit-down strike victory, massive organizing involving millions would not have spread. Reason Three — Successful Collective Bargaining Requires Significant Power The objective of collective bargaining and striking is to have and exert sufficient power to establish wages and conditions that materially advance the lives of millions. It is inconceivable that bargaining based on one or two workplaces within a non-union sector or corporation or region could result in meaningful collective bargaining. In today’s world, dependent as we are on the NLRB certification to bargain contracts, we must have a strategy that starts with building organization within the shops and workplaces led by a network of cadre, trained worker leaders and organizers, in many important industries and sectors.  These shop floor or workplace organizations may start as organizing committees with an eye toward conducting multiple NLRB elections and thus bringing to bear sufficient power to negotiate contracts in a coordinated way. Or they may build union organizations that take up struggles and campaigns on the shop floor, winning rights and victories that work toward building power sufficient to demand recognition and collective bargaining. Recent Examples: Recent examples of unions successfully winning union elections in multiple locations in the same employer and using a coordinated strategy in bargaining include the Starbucks Workers United campaign of hundreds of coffee shops and the National Nurses Organizing Committee efforts from 2004 to 2010 to organize nurses in the Southern states. Non-union nurses built a network across many hospitals and in several states resulting in dozens of facilities in two for-profit hospital chains winning elections and union contracts.  The work in both campaigns continues but it doesn’t appear that workers in either campaign intended that one shop would take on these corporate behemoths by themselves. Another version of this strategy is the Black Workers for Justice campaigns in the 1980s and 90s to build functioning non-majority unions in multiple locations in the private sector prior to attempting to conduct elections or by establishing meet and confer in the public sector, as public sector unions proliferated in the last several decades.  The method was to build rank and file committees and make workplace demands which were won with collective actions in the workplace. In the non-union South, BWFJ organizers used these methods to build the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, UE Local 150, where collective bargaining is prohibited by law in the public sector.  Several of these committees and UE Local 150 exist to this day and provide leadership to workers in developing local assemblies in SWA. Southern Workers Assembly Strategy SWA learned from our working-class history and developed a strategy that applies to today’s conditions. We created an intentional and deliberate plan of organization and cadre development in multiple workplaces in discrete geographies to lay the groundwork for a “sweep” of workers forming unions. This not only gets us to scale in terms of the numbers needed to really grow the labor movement but also to exert significant power in negotiations that result from multiple elections. We think that a committee of three to five workers in a shop is sufficient to start. Our method is to establish leafleting brigades of local activists and political allies to reach out to workers at their shift change. Lately we have been using social media as a method of outreach as well. Once there are committees in three to five workplaces, an assembly can be established to engage in collective action — mostly public facing campaigns designed to address workplace issues and develop leaders. Currently, we have a network of 17 local assemblies in four states and are always working on developing more. Once we had a few assemblies, we started to conduct worker schools usually twice a year to meet together, build community and network, develop skills, and strategize campaigns. The worker schools were another featured methodology developed by Black Workers for Justice in its 40 year history of organizing.  Several years ago SWA started to create industrial councils in manufacturing, education, hospitality, logistics, and tourism. Our newest council is being established for gig drivers. We developed a ten-point Southern Worker Power Program creating some cohesion among the demands that assemblies and councils could fight for. The program is based on the idea that as workers we have certain rights and therefore we make demands that enforce and enhance those rights. Pieces of the program include demands related to health care, collective bargaining rights, education, ending all forms of discrimination and providing reparations for Black and Indigenous people, demilitarizing the police and ending unpaid prison labor, and a clean environment and taking steps to counteract the effects of climate change. Experience and activism will inform the local assemblies, workplace organizations, and cadre about which of these issues to take on as well as which strategies and tactics will work; sit downs are not likely to be the preferred strategy but other ideas will occur to people. Efforts will fail and workers will learn, new tactics will be devised. SWA attempts to replicate the elements that we have some control over while paying attention to when other conditions become present for a breakthrough.  When that happens, the organizations and cadre that are working in the many non-union workplaces and industries will be looking for it, they will recognize it for what it is, and they will cause a “sweep” into the unions. SWA’s Newest Project: Electric Vehicle Rank and File Project About 15% of carbon emissions in the U.S. come from cars. It is even higher when you calculate in trucks and other forms of transportation. It is important for the climate that people start to drive electric vehicles instead of relying on combustion engines. It is equally important that the workers don’t lose good quality jobs during that transition to a cleaner environment. Recently, SWA embarked on a new project that is very intentional about developing cadre in the new Electric Vehicle industry and associated manufacturing plants. We have done broad outreach to workers intending to go to work in this new industry and network them together so they can have a coordinated approach to organizing in their workplaces. We identified five cities where we would start based on certain criteria. We want cities that have new construction as well as a cluster of other manufacturing plants and would therefore be hiring lots of people.  We think that makes it easier for people to get hired and also, with an entirely new workforce, nobody is disadvantaged in terms of exerting leadership with their co-workers. We also want locations where SWA has a local assembly so that these workers can be networked together both by industry and geography. We have gotten a good start on this work. One day this industry and the South will be unionized. Looking back at the lessons learned from the creation of the CIO and the elements necessary for success, we can’t control for several of them. But we can influence the most important of the elements. We can build organization, develop cadres of leadership in important industries and we can create networks of these shop floor organizations and leaders and the militant minorities in their workplaces. We can take collective action and learn what tactics are effective and which to avoid. We can pay attention to the objective conditions and when conditions exist to have a major sweep of workers into unions, there will be dozens of geographic areas and several electric vehicle locations ready to be part of that.   This essay appears courtesy of International Publishers in New York . This paper will be published in 2025 in the collection “Square Up: Building Labor’s Power in the Second Gilded Age” by Lorri Nandrea and Tony Pecinovsky. This essay was republished from Southern Workers Assembly .

Fracked gas plant in NC: Image credit: Duke Energy via Creative Commons Today 150 environmental, social justice, faith and youth organizations and businesses from across the country called on North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein to confront Duke Energy Corp.’s expansion of planet-warming fossil fuels and obstruction of renewable energy solutions [ 1 ]. The letter comes after the town of Carrboro sued Duke Energy — the third-largest corporate polluter in the country — in the first-ever lawsuit against an electric utility for harms caused by the company’s decades-long climate deception campaign [ 2 ]. The town’s lawsuit says Duke Energy’s actions have worsened the climate crisis and cost the town millions of dollars. According to the complaint, Duke Energy executives have known for more than 50 years about the dangers of fossil fuels but have facilitated a nationwide campaign to mislead the public about its climate harms and increased reliance on coal and gas for electricity. Now communities across the state are being harmed as fossil fuels drive up utility bills and pollution and worsen the climate crisis. “The nation and the world desperately need bold leaders to step up as climate champions,” said Jim Warren, executive director of NC WARN. “Gov. Stein must break through the continuing Duke Energy deception and help the public understand that North Carolina cannot allow the continued expansion of fracked gas and the suppression of cheaper, faster, fairer solar power at the local level.” Stein has a history of standing up to Duke Energy leaders and other polluters during his eight years as attorney general. As governor, he should use his powerful voice to help the public understand the urgency of phasing out fossil fuels this decade, the groups say. They are urging Stein to use his broad authority to alter Duke Energy’s business practices to stop increasing fossil fuel power generation and suppressing solar power [ 3 ].  “Gov. Stein must stand up to fossil fuel bullies like Duke Energy, whose anti-climate shenanigans are causing widespread harm to people and our planet,” said Gaby Sarri-Tobar, senior energy justice campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “North Carolinians, like millions of people across the country, are facing life-altering fossil fuel-driven extreme weather and skyrocketing utility bills. And it’ll only get worse as Duke Energy expands fracked gas and blocks resilient and affordable renewable energy solutions like rooftop and community solar. Especially now as Trump and his billionaire buddies throw communities and our climate under the bus, we need Gov. Stein to be the first in line to challenge the polluters who are putting lives in peril.” Duke Energy plans to build 9 gigawatts of new fracked gas plants in the Carolinas alone by 2033, which would saddle families with higher utility bills, worsen air and water quality, and fuel global warming and more extreme weather, like heat waves and hurricanes, in the Southeast [ 4 ]. Meanwhile, in 2023, the corporation generated only 1.4% of its power from solar [ 5 ].  For many years, Duke Energy has obstructed local solar solutions, like rooftop and community solar, despite the many community and resilience benefits distributed renewable energy provides [ 6 ]. “Gov. Stein, as our former Attorney General, you are keenly aware of all the work we’ve done to protect our communities and minimize climate change,” said Bobby Jones, President of the Down East Coal Ash Environmental and Social Justice Coalition. “Yet our communities are still reeling from past hurricanes and heat waves. And many are still waiting on Rebuild NC to restore their homes. We are hopeful that you will help change course for North Carolina and protect the people from Duke Energy’s climate-destroying business plan.” NC WARN and the Center for Biological Diversity welcome additional signers as the campaign continues to grow. This article was first published by NC WARN . Work Cited “Concern Regarding Duke Energy’s Decades-Long Climate Deception and Urgent Need for Solutions.” NC WARN and Center for Biological Diversity . 6 Mar. 2025, www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/SteinLetter3-6-25.pdf . “Town of Carrboro v. Duke Energy.” Carrboro , 4 Dec. 2024, www.carrboronc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/15749/Complaint-Litigation- . “Is Gov. Roy Cooper a Climate Change Pretender?" NC WARN , 9 Nov. 2023, www.ncwarn.org/2023/09/is-gov-roy-cooper-a-climate-change-pretender . Ouzts, Elizabeth. “Regulators OK Duke Energy'S Gas-plant Buildout Despite N.C. Climate Law.” Canary Media , 6 Nov. 2024, www.canarymedia.com/articles/utilities/regulators-ok-duke-energys-gas-plant-buildout-despite-n-c-climate-law . " Advancing Toward a Cleaner Tomorrow, Duke Energy Impact Report." Duke Energy , 2023, s201.q4cdn.com/583395453/files/doc_downloads/2024/05/impact-report-2023-final.pdf . “NC Court of Appeals Upholds Duke Energy Attack on Rooftop Solar.” NC WARN , 17 Sept. 2024, www.ncwarn.org/2024/09/nc-court-of-appeals-upholds-duke-energy-attack-on-rooftop-solar-nc-warn-news-release .

More than 300 previously unknown sediment and erosion control violations at the site of a housing development under construction in southeast Durham has prompted Sound Rivers to amend its federal lawsuit against the developer. The original lawsuit against Clayton Properties Group, Inc., d/b/a Mungo Homes, was filed in September of 2023 by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of environmental organization Sound Rivers— an attempt to stop sediment pollution flowing from the 216-acre housing development into nearby creeks. These creeks, Martin Branch and Hurricane Creek, connect through Lick Creek into Falls Lake, a major drinking-water source for Raleigh and surrounding communities. “These issues came to light through a public records request and the discovery process,” said Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop. “In that process, we learned about these additional violations, which are all violations of the Clean Water Act.” The violations listed include sediment flowing off-site, failure to maintain required sediment and erosion control measures and failure to establish ground cover on exposed soil to prevent it from flowing off the construction site and into neighboring waterways. Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop collects a water sample from a sediment-laden tributary of Lick Creek. “These were issues identified on-site by Clayton’s own self-inspections required by their CWA permit, which requires self-inspections, regularly and after certain rainfall events,” Samantha said. “Right now, the site has so much land exposed and not adequately managed that it’s no wonder nearby creeks are suffering.” In addition to the issues reported by these self-inspections, Durham County sediment and erosion-control inspectors also issued another notice of violation to the developer in December 2024, bringing the total of county-issued NOVs for the Sweetbrier site to three. “This is a bad actor,” Samantha said. “They continue to be a bad actor and violate the law, and our water-quality sampling data continues to reflect the impacts this site is having on the tributaries of Lick Creek.” Since 2022, Samantha has been documenting sediment pollution in streams in the Lick Creek watershed. Sediment is the leading cause of water pollution in North Carolina by volume, and is a known threat to aquatic life and habitat. Developers are required to ensure construction activities do not harm water quality for downstream communities, who rely on water sources for a variety of uses including fishing, swimming, boating and drinking-water supplies. “Ultimately, our goal is to hold this repeat offender responsible by requiring them to clean up their site and pay substantial monetary civil penalties under the Clean Water Act for the damage that they’ve done,” Samantha said. Like the work Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop is doing to protect Lick Creek? Donate today to support her work! This article was first published by Sound Rivers .

On Sunday, February 9, our movement lost another giant when our beloved Reverend Nelson Johnson passed away at the age of 81. Based in Greensboro, Rev. Johnson dedicated his life to building a movement of Black, Brown and working class people for liberation, justice and power. His patient, long-term efforts to build our social movement have helped lay the groundwork for our efforts to build UE Local 150 and improve conditions of working class people, and build a truly people-centered democracy. While a student at NC A&T University in the late 1960s, Rev. Johnson was a leader during the 1969 student protests. In the 1960s and 70s, Johnson was a strong fighter for civil rights and Black liberation as part of the Student Organization for Black Unity and later the African Liberation Support Committee. Through this work, he met leaders and organizers that would later be part of founding UE150. In the late 1970s, Rev. Johnson was part of the Workers Viewpoint Organization. WVO and the movement organized low wage workers at Cone Mills, Duke Hospital, textile mills, and other workplaces, along with tenants in public housing in Greensboro. In retaliation for their successful organizing against racism and to build unions, on November 3, 1979, the Ku Klux Klan murdered five of his close comrades in front of news cameras but were never convicted. As a survivor of the Greensboro Massacre, Rev. Johnson organized an international campaign, which included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, for truth and reconciliation. From these efforts, Rev. Johnson went deeper into community and became a pastor, founding the Faith Community Church and the Beloved Community Center in Greensboro. BCC would become a critical hub for organizing against racism and police brutality for several decades, including hosting weekly community roundtable discussions. In the 1980s, Rev. Johnson also played a key role in founding the Pulpit Forum, a group of Black ministers that would support labor and civil rights fights for many years. One of the forum’s important fights was to organize mostly Black women at a local K-Mart. He was one of eight “clergy arrested in labor protest,” which would define the struggle of the workers at K-Mart’s Greensboro distribution center, and capture its contradictions: a labor protest, but with prayer not picket signs, and those in handcuffs were not union leaders, but the pastors of the city’s leading Black churches. It was a significant success for organized labor in the least unionized state in the nation. It resulted in the signing of union contract by a $30 billion corporation that had thwarted prior organizing attempts everywhere else in the country. Rev. Johnson founded the Southern Faith, Labor, and Community Alliance in 2006. This alliance brought together workers, unions and faith leaders from across the South to help build more unions in the region, an effort in which UE150 participated. In 2008, through this alliance, Rev. Johnson played a critical role supporting workers during the Justice at Smithfield campaign to win a union at the world’s largest pig slaughtering plant in the town of Tar Heel. Rev. Johnson also helped bridge the divisions that the bosses created between Black and Latine workers. In 2008, he helped organize the Black and Brown Unity Conference which brought together Latine workers, including farmworkers, and Black workers, including members of Black Workers for Justice, UE150 and others. Latin Kings leader Jorge Cornell attended this conference. Rev. Johnson and Cornell played a critical role in orchestrating a cease fire to stop gun violence, which upset the Greensboro police. Rev. Johnson supported Cornell’s historic bid for mayor of Greensboro. Cornell was later attacked by federal agents and sentenced on bogus RICO charges. Rev. Johnson led an effort to have President Obama commute his sentence. In 2007, as UE150 was expanding from eastern and central North Carolina to organize state mental health workers in the western part of the state, Rev. Johnson hosted the first ever statewide meeting of the UE150 Council for Department of Health in Human Services at the Beloved Community Center. This meeting launched the Mental Health Workers Bill of Rights campaign. In 2016, when UE150 was working to build the Greensboro City Workers Union, Rev. Johnson played a critical role in helping to build relationships with city council members and eventually winning union payroll deduction. It is not possible to list all the achievements and actions taken by Rev. Johnson to help build a thriving movement for social justice across North Carolina, the South, and the country. He has taught us many lessons. His legacy will live in our daily pursuits for the liberation of our labor. Long live Reverend Nelson Johnson!

On February 21st, Professor Davarian Baldwin addressed about 90 supporters of the Duke Respect Durham campaign at SEEDS, an urban garden and kitchen classroom just east of downtown. Baldwin, the Raether Professor at Trinity College, founder of the Smart Cities Lab, and author of a 2021 book called In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower , used the event to urge Duke University to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to local government. Despite its $11.9 billion endowment, Duke is exempt from paying property taxes on most of its properties.   In a recent article, The Assembly  estimated that, “If Duke weren’t exempt from many property taxes, its bill would likely fall somewhere between $11 million and the $50 million the PILOT campaigners calculated”. The same article stated that the university paid around $2 million in property tax in 2024 [ 1 ].    “The top universities are not just institutions of higher learning,” Baldwin said at the event, “They’re in fact the biggest low-wage employers, the biggest landholders, the biggest health care providers, the biggest policing agents, the biggest governmental forces, in our communities.”   Ivy League institutions such as Harvard, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania make PILOTs of $10 million or more to their local governments. In 2021, the “Yale Respect New Haven” campaign pressured the university to pay $23 million per year to the town. Duke Respect Durham has hinted at an even more ambitious goal, asking on its website, “What can Durham do with $50 million a year?” Image credit: Duke Respect Durham Friday’s event was kicked off with brief remarks by Nate Baker, a member of Durham's city council. Leigh Campoamor of the Night School Bar moderated the rest of the discussion. Baker first invited Baldwin to Durham in April 2024 to discuss the concept of a PILOT campaign with a handful of activists, an event which helped lead to the formation of Duke Respect Durham [ 2 ]. The coalition's first rally was held in September 2024 at Asbury Church [ 3 ].   “Teaching and learning are the smallest things that Duke University does,” Baldwin said at SEEDS, “They will tell you that in celebration. They say, ‘We are an economic engine’ and ‘We are a driving force’. Well, if you are that, then there is a need for extra scrutiny and public oversight to what you’re doing in our lives. Then they’ll retreat and say ‘No, no, we’re just a school.’”   Duke is ranked as the country’s sixth-best university by  U.S. News & World Report,  but despite being a world-class beacon of learning, it hasn’t managed to illuminate the schoolhouses right next door. Durham Public Schools ranks 40th among North Carolina school districts   [ 4 ]. If Duke’s attitude towards a PILOT ever changes, it may consider copying the University of Pennsylvania’s $10 million annual contribution to Philadelphia City Schools [ 5 ]. This would be a fitting solution since public schools are primarily funded with local property taxes.   Baldwin also connected Duke’s tax-exempt status to its undemocratic behavior in Durham’s politics, citing the university’s notorious role in derailing the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit (DOLRT) project in 2019 [ 6 ]. After around $157 million was spent on planning the light rail, the university refused to sign a critical cooperation agreement. High officials at Duke such as Tallman Trask III and Vincent Price cited concerns about electromagnetic interference with equipment at Duke University Hospital. At the time, GoTriangle countered that about 20 other U.S. medical centers operate near rail systems without issue [ 7 ].   Baldwin expressed enthusiasm about the progress of Duke Respect Durham, noting that Duke’s defensiveness was a sign of growing pressure. “It was just an idea, but look at us now,” he said. “The university is forced to respond, even in its derision, which tells me we will win.”   The PILOT campaign’s public and political support is significant but not yet overwhelming. Baker, who is strongly identified with the campaign, works with a coalition of 31 groups, including UE Local 150, the Duke Graduate Student Union, and Triangle DSA. County commissioner Nida Allam spoke at the campaign’s September 2024 kickoff event, and elected officials such as Javiera Caballero, Natalie Beyer, Michelle Burton, and DeDreana Freeman have attended its events. The People’s Alliance, while not official endorsers of Duke Respect Durham, provided snacks and refreshments for the SEEDS event.   However, the campaign faces an external challenge. The Trump administration has recently threatened to defund the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which awarded Duke more than $580 million in grants in 2024 [ 8 ]. If NIH funding is significantly cut, the university and Durham could be pushed into a crisis that drowns out calls for progressive reforms.   “Biotech, health sciences, software design, military weaponry,” Baldwin said, counting on his fingers, “Where is the R&D for that work done? On college campuses in their laboratories. Combine the new economy with the property tax exempt status of campus, and what do you have? You got a new-age hustle.”   Many employees driving Duke’s success have unionized under the Duke Graduate Student Union (DGSU). Academic workers voted overwhelmingly, with 88 percent in favor, to join the union in August 2023. Since then, a key demand of the DGSU has been to raise annual PhD stipends to $50,000. Duke’s president Vincent Price, who earned $1.81 million in 2023, has so far rejected this demand as stubbornly as he's refused a PILOT agreement.   Professor Davarian Baldwin's two trips to Durham have helped to shape and energize the Duke Respect Durham campaign. Continued pressure on Duke’s top administrators, who are protective of the university's brand, could push them to pay a fair share of property taxes. Duke Respect Durham has invited all community members to a mass meeting on Thursday, March 6th for a discussion on the coalition's next steps. Work Cited   Gretzinger, Erin, et al. “What Does Duke University Owe Durham?”  The Assembly NC , 6 Feb. 2025,  www.theassemblync.com/education/higher-education/duke-respect-durham . “PILOT Advocate Visits Durham, Encourages Duke University to Pay Fair Share.”  Durham Dispatch , 19 Sept. 2024,  www.durhamdispatch.com/post/expert-on-payment-in-lieu-of-taxes-visits-durham-encourages-duke-university-to-pay-fair-share . “With Strong Backing From Labor, ‘Duke Respect Durham’ Campaign Holds Kickoff Event.”  Durham Dispatch , 16 Sept. 2024,  www.durhamdispatch.com/post/with-strong-backing-from-labor-duke-respect-durham-campaign-holds-kickoff-event . “Durham Public Schools.”  Niche ,  www.niche.com/k12/d/durham-public-schools-nc . Accessed 26 Feb. 2025. Stellino, Molly. “Activists Question Whether Wealthy Universities Should Be Exempt From Property Taxes.”  The Hechinger Report , 18 Dec. 2020,  www.hechingerreport.org/activists-question-whether-wealthy-universities-should-be-exempt-from-property-taxes . Fausset, Richard. “Durham Dreamed of a Transit Line. Duke University All but Killed It.”  The New York Times , 18 Mar. 2019,  www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/us/duke-durham-light-rail-chapel-hill.html . Stancill, Jane. “Thanks to Duke, Durham’s Light Rail Dream Is All but Dead.”  Bloomberg , 14 Mar. 2019,  www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-14/why-duke-killed-the-durham-orange-light-rail-project . Ezzone, Zac. “Trump Policy Would Pummel UNC, Duke Research Funding.”  Triangle Business Journal , 10 Feb. 2025,  www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2025/02/10/trump-nih-indirect-costs-duke-unc-research-funding.html .

Image credit: Roderico Y. Díaz, Iximché Media By Coda Cavalier, 7DS Youth Director Mekuremenchen, kihoe:huk. Mima Coda, mihastik ske:se. Mima Occaneechi Saponi. My name is Coda. I am Occaneechi Saponi from Mebane, North Carolina and I am Youth Director of 7 Directions of Service , a community organization fighting to protect sacred places and phase out fossil fuels. Have you heard of The Great Trading Path ? Many have not, but if you’ve ever driven major roads between the Eno and Haw Rivers, you’ve likely travelled along it.  Image credit: NC Environmental Justice Network The Great Trading Path was exactly what it sounds like. Think of an ancient highway, but even greater: a site of trade between Southeastern tribes, cultural exchange and even human burials for those who died along their journeys. The term “Great Trading Path” refers to the whole system, although there would have likely been many routes that shifted and changed throughout time.  Orange County Register of Deeds Mark Chilton wrote in 2014 that the Trading Path had a well defined route from the Eno River to the Haw River [ 1 ]. West from the Eno River, it more or less followed the current route of Old NC 10, Bowden Road, and Old Hillsborough Road to the present site of the Hawfields Presbyterian Church on NC Highway 119. The Occanechi Saponi were historically in the center of the Path. It connected our ancestors not only to their villages, but to neighboring tribes such as the Catawba and other Saponi in South Carolina and Virginia. The Path was a site of vibrant humanity and exchange before colonization. My ancestors set up camp by its waterways, held ceremonies, ate and shared stories and art, and if anyone died along their journeys, they were there. Originally, my people lived on an island around Roanoke River, and then settled along the Haw and Eno Rivers around present day Alamance and Orange Counties. My ancestors in particular settled in the rural area of Alamance, and our land has been passed down (and we have had to fight for it) for at least 100 years. We are a blend of cultures. Our traditional items included carved weapons and western metal. Our regalia encompassed both leather and cloth. Image credit: Roderico Y. Díaz, Iximché Media Like our ancestors, we continue to fight to protect our unique culture and sacred sites from destruction and erasure. The Mebane City Council recently designated a section of the Great Trading Path for heavy industry, and we are now forced to watch as it is desecrated by giant warehouses and the future Buc-ee’s gas station . Back Creek is situated at the heart of this section, and had provided clean water and a resting place for travelers. Construction alongside the creek has already caused severe sedimentation and runoff, destroying water quality and harming threatened species. Image credit: Roderico Y. Díaz, Iximché Media On January 15, 2025, the World Monuments Watch, a global initiative to preserve endangered heritage sites, announced that the Great Trading Path had been selected as one of its sites of the year, a status that honors the legacy of the Path and will bring greater visibility to the Indigenous histories that defined the Southeastern United States. Check out the Great Trading Path’s WMW page here . Indigenous community members have also been campaigning to demand that the city of Mebane take steps to formally consult and include our communities in land-use and city planning, and to recognize our historical and cultural contributions in meaningful ways. You can sign our petition here . We are living at a time when Indigenous peoples are uniting across Turtle Island to defend our histories and all that is sacred. Our ancestors laid the groundwork for our resilience, and we will always pick ourselves up and continue fighting. Resources The Great Trading Path on World Monuments Watch . Learn more about the 7DS fight to protect the Great Trading Path . Sign and share our petition to the City of Mebane: Respect Native Voices . This article was first published by 7 Directions of Service . Work Cited Chilton, Mark. “Tracing the Trading Path.” OrangePolitics , 24 Feb. 2014, https://orangepolitics.org/2014/02/tracing-the-trading-path .

By Carl Hintz After a successful union card signing campaign, Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment (CAUSE) has secured a NLRB election. On February 10th through February 15th, thousands of Amazon workers at the RDU1 warehouse in Garner, NC will vote on whether to unionize with CAUSE. Amazon has illegally fired some workers for organizing, including the former VP of CAUSE and the current President of CAUSE, and even some workers for simply saying that they plan to vote yes to unionize. Amazon has subjected workers to captive anti-union meetings, attempted to divide the workplace with identity politics, and even had three organizers arrested who were providing free food, but workers at RDU1 remain steadfast. Rev. Ryan Brown is a pastor, co-founder and current president of CAUSE, who was wrongfully fired by Amazon in retaliation for his organizing efforts. To stand in solidarity with the Amazon workers at RDU1, go to amazoncause.com/volunteer-with-us/  and attend CAUSE Community Committee meetings and events. Three years of organizing at RDU1 Answer from Rev. Ryan Brown: The idea for the organizing came to me when I was sent to a part of the warehouse that was a Covid hotspot. In January 2022, I approached Ms. Mary [co-founder of CAUSE] about organizing the warehouse, so we’ve been organizing for three years. A lot of our leaders have developed through one-on-one [organizing conversations]. Some were just natural leaders. Others didn’t realize certain gifts that they had so I’ve watched more people than I can remember develop as leaders right in front of me. Why workers are joining the union People join workplace unions for various reasons—for working conditions, for pay, for more time off. People want to be recognized for their humanity, and not seen as replaceable robots. Workers want to live with dignity and respect and be treated with dignity and respect on the job. Amazon’s disregard for worker safety If you are injured on the job, you have to jump through all of these hoops to get accommodations approved by Amazon. If they keep denying, you have to go back to your doctor. I’ve seen folks return with a letter in hand and be forced to work against [the doctor’s order] and be injured that same day. One of our demands is a one-hour paid lunch break. Everything is speed speed, speed, speed. Even the lunch period, the two 30-minute breaks are not really thirty minutes—all you’re doing is just walking and walking and you may just have ten to fifteen minutes to sit down. If you don’t get back to your station on time, you will be written up. They’ve started exploiting workers another way. Workers that were hired for one department, and now forced to go to departments that don’t feel comfortable or safe. I saw a grown man come down crying from upstairs, from picking, and looking at him, you know he can’t perform the duties upstairs. He’s overweight, out of shape, and he has health chal lenges, and they sent him up there. [Amazon says] “we don’t want the union here because we want to have a direct relationship with you”—so if we have a direct relationship and I’m telling you that my body is in pain, why would you send me back to the same place of pain and failure? We’re starting to see more and more folks bringing weapons into the buildings. Amazon is such a shitty place to work for, who can say that one day you’re not going to tee off the wrong person. They don’t check us coming in, but they check us going out. You talk about safety and security, that whole process is almost like it’s criminal. Amazon’s poverty wages If you start working at Amazon, you start off at $18.50. In three years, as you do the wage step, you will end up at $20.90 and then after that you’re at the mercy of the company if they decide they want to give you a raise. There’s a lot of wealth [at the top] that comes from cheap labor. One of the things that I’ve been trying to educate and preach to, is folks do you see what’s going on? Have you ever heard of the Gilded Age? We’re living in a gilded age 2.0. I honestly went to Amazon for a career. That just ain’t happening. What was very disappointing, when the pandemic hit, Amazon treated us so great. They gave us a two or three dollar pay increase, and double overtime. Unlimited paid time off if you don’t feel good, or if you got a loved one who’s not doing well, just leave, and just report it to us. And in two months, [Jeff Bezos] rolled back all those benefits and became the very first human being to make more than $200 billion. Fighting for language justice At one time there was not even language justice. [Amazon] would put everything in English, and you had a large influx of workers who only spoke Spanish. And when policies were broken, and they didn’t get the memo, [Amazon] would discipline them. Workers have a voice in the union There’s been a lot of times where I, personally, felt there was a wrong vote, but I committed to “hey, this is a democratic process.” But that’s the beauty of CAUSE and a true 100% democratic process, because as we recruit people to join CAUSE and as people get involved, they realize that they actually have a voice. When they go to those captive audience meetings and [Amazon’s] saying that “Oh, the union’s going to decide this and that for you.” No, [workers] realize how the process [of our union] actually works. CAUSE is like family, Amazon is not I think you have to understand Ms. Mary and I, who were the founders of CAUSE and started all of this, we’ve always been organizers in our community. With my expertise with serving as a pastor for so many years and with the black church, with Ms. Mary’s community activities that she does, we tap into the best of our tradition. A part of that tradition, in the black community specifically, is that black people are very loving people. We love everybody. Everybody don’t always love us back. But we love everybody. We have built a culture where we are a family. We’re a family that works together. If a family member is hurting, they’re in pain, we are there for that family member. A lot of the meetings that we have had, those meetings are in our very homes because we want you to feel our souls and the love that we have that’s expressed in our home and in our food and that’s why we call it soul food. We love all people. Ms. Mary used to be a truck driver, I used to do a lot of missionary work around the world and all over the United States. We’ve met a lot of our coworkers in our past experiences on every single level. We were able to connect with people, we were able to recruit them to CAUSE and the structure of being just one big family. In this family, it don’t matter the color of your skin. It don’t matter what your pronouns are, it don’t matter if you’re religious, spiritual or atheist. We’re all a part of the human family. So our rank and file is very diverse. We’re the experts of our own workplace I don’t believe that there is one size that fits all when it comes to organizing Amazon. Every region, every demographic, has its own culture. Our building is majority Black and Hispanic. People of color, and oppressed people, any time that systems have not worked for us that were supposed to work for us and protect us, we’ve always gone outside of those systems, and built our own systems. That’s just organically how CAUSE evolved. When we set out to organize, we didn’t really know anything about unions and organizing workers. But we just organically evolved, and said, hey it’s best that we do this by ourselves because we’re the experts of our own workplace. A community effort One of the ways that the broader community can help is to join or listen in to one of our community committee meetings and start having discussions. We have a community committee, and it’s led strictly by the community. Amazon has gotten so large that at least one of us knows somebody who is a delivery driver or works in one of their warehouses. Ask those people, really, is it as bad as people say that it is? No man is an island unto himself. A lot of how Amazon comes into our communities, you may not be feeling the effects now. But it’s an essential threat to all of us, even with how they mistreat the environment. All of us at this point should have a vested interest in [resisting] this monster, this evil system.