Durham Dispatch

We hear stories all the time about unfair write ups and wrongful terminations from our coworkers, maybe you have experienced this yourself. A manager you’ve never met comes up to you to lecture you about making rate (maybe when you’re already doing them a favor by cross-training somewhere else), or the HR system glitches out. It has happened to everyone. But all of this would just be irritating if it didn’t mean people were being wrongfully terminated and then feel isolated and not sure how to fight a trillion dollar company. One RDU1 mom shared her son’s story with Voices of Empowerment about when he was wrongfully terminated while working at UPS. But unlike at Amazon, the difference was that the union had his back. His elected Union Representative got the write up thrown out, his job back and back pay for the time he missed from work. We need this at Amazon. You may have heard that North Carolina is an “at-will” employment state but what does this mean? Contrary to popular belief, this law does not ban unions or prevent you from joining one. At-will employment laws let your boss fire you at any time for any reason as long as it is not illegal (discrimination, retaliation, etc.). This lets your employer fire you even for what you would consider unfair reasons or for no reason at all. The only way we can change this dynamic is with a union and Just Cause Protections. Just Cause Protections means that when your boss disciplines or terminates you, they must do so for a just and fair reason, and they must have a union representative present to advise and advocate for you. It requires management fairly investigates, gives warnings before jumping to more serious discipline (like being fired), provide the employee with proof that they violated a reasonable rule, and treated them equally without discrimination. This is a major way a union at Amazon can make a difference in our lives. This article was first published by CAUSE (Newsletter Vol. 1, No. 12) .

Sign this petition on safe solutions for Po e Hall. The petition was put together by NCSU's Campus Community Alliance for Environmental Justice (CCAEJ), and co-signed by NCSU Graduate Workers Union and the NCSU chapter of American Association of University Professors (AAUP). The NC State Graduate Workers Union understands the university administration’s negligence of PCB chemicals in Poe Hall as a part of a larger pattern of negligence towards students, staff, and faculty. The presence of PCB chemicals in Poe Hall  has contributed to unsafe working conditions for students, graduate workers, housekeepers, faculty and staff alike, with concerns that these chemicals may be linked to a cluster of over 100 cases of cancer  in those who spent extensive time in the building. The silence from the university on its own role in this dangerous environment speaks volumes about its level of care for its employees. Though this news is unsurprising, given the historic lack of concern that NCSU has demonstrated in maintaining safe infrastructure, including exposure to dangerous chemicals in Dabney Hall due to ventilation issues that was not addressed until faculty, staff, and students demanded action  from the university. This most recent issue is just one of many infrastructural failings that the university has yet to address. Graduate workers have spent extensive time in Poe Hall as research and teaching assistants as we train the next generation of North Carolina’s teachers. Many of our colleagues in the College of Education spent years as undergraduates learning in Poe Hall before returning as graduate workers. We know that we are not alone in this experience: maintenance and cleaning staff have also spent years in this contaminated building. Thus far, students, faculty, and staff have not experienced adequate outreach or transparency from university administration. Because we know that solidarity in the face of unsafe working conditions is essential, and for this reason, we support our American Association of University Professors chapter’s pressure  on our university administration in their letter to the Chancellor, as well as their concern regarding the presence of PCBs in other buildings  on campus. After all, we know we all breathe the same air. Furthermore, we feel that the vote of ‘No Confidence’  in Chancellor Woodson, Provost Warwick Arden, and College of Education Dean Paola Sztajn from faculty in the College of Education is rightfully received following their mishandling of faculty’s concerns and failure to release test results in a timely manner. Furthermore, we condemn the decision to halt the CDC’s evaluation, and regardless of whether NC State attributes this decision to NIOSH or not, we recognize that NC State holds the ultimate responsibility  in advocating for this investigation and allowing it to continue. Through their decisions, the university administration, particularly the board of trustees, has shown their commitment to maintaining the institution’s prestigious image and the profit based interests of private industry rather than protecting the people who learn and work at NC State. The board of trustees and upper administration compose the governing body of the university, yet they are not elected by the university, but appointed by a series of third parties whose concerns do not reflect those of our campus community. Knowing this, we call on university administration and leadership to take actionable steps to rectify the harm that has come to those exposed to PCBs in Poe Hall and ensure safe working conditions for all NC State faculty, students, and staff. For these reasons and more, we demand that: NC State work with a neutral third party to identify and contact everyone who has had extensive exposure to PCB chemicals in Poe Hall, regardless of their current employment at the university; NC State conduct testing for PCBs and other health hazards in all other campus buildings; NC State communicates all findings about hazardous chemicals in all campus buildings to students, workers, and alumni; That NC State covers in full the medical expenses of any former students, faculty, or staff whose health was negatively impacted by their exposure to these chemicals. We stand in solidarity with all faculty, staff, and graduate workers who have been impacted by this issue. If you are in need of support, we extend an open invitation for you to reach out to us at ncsugradworkers@gmail.com  to get connected. This statement was first published by NCSU Graduate Workers Union .

Support DGSU's demand for $50,000 per year by signing this petition . Dear Duke University Administration, Earlier this month, Duke's VP for Human Resources, Antwan Lofton, affirmed Duke's commitment to “supporting frontline staff who support this institution and its ability to deliver exceptional patient care, education, and research.” We, the graduate workers at Duke University, are proud to contribute to this mission every day. As integral members of the university community, we teach and mentor undergraduate students, staff key labs and programs, and enhance Duke's reputation through our quality research and scholarly contributions. However, these valuable contributions are not reflected in our wages . Graduate workers still earn less than a living wage in Durham County. According to the MIT living wage calculator, a living wage for a single adult with no dependents in Durham County is $49,531. Factoring in just one dependent brings this figure to $85,292. Graduate workers make only $38,600 annually, while facing housing and healthcare costs in Durham higher than the national average. Last year's historic raise, attained through the organizing efforts of graduate workers, was a measure too little, too late. Fair compensation for graduate workers is a matter of equity and justice, as well as an investment in the university's long-term success. In the last year, higher education institutions across the country have answered the call to recognize the labor of graduate workers with fair compensation. In December, Harvard and Yale raised annual stipends for graduate workers to $50,000 and $49,538 minimums, respectively. Duke's stipends now lag significantly behind its peer R1 institutions. Graduate workers are paid less at Duke than they are at Stanford, MIT, and all but one Ivy League university. Alongside its peers, Duke should recognize that competitive pay is crucial to fulfilling the goal of attracting and supporting a diverse group of talented graduate workers. Fair compensation is key to maintaining the quality of our academic programs and upholding Duke's reputation as a leading research institution. Duke University also plays a vital role in setting labor standards in our community. As the single largest employer in Durham, Duke sets a critical precedent for fair and equitable compensation practices. In January, the United Electrical Workers Union local 150 (UE150), which represents North Carolina Public Service Workers, launched a campaign to demand the dignified wage of $25 an hour, supported by the Durham Worker's Assembly. We join their fight to raise the minimum wage in Durham County to $50,000 per year. Organizations across the Triangle look to Duke to lead as a fair and equitable employer. By ensuring that graduate workers receive a living wage, Duke can lead by example and contribute to the economic well-being of our community. Duke graduate workers are professionals. We are parents and caretakers, responsible for providing for our families. Like all workers, we deserve security and the ability to plan for the future.  Therefore we, the undersigned, urge Duke University to agree to our proposed contract article and increase graduate worker pay to a minimum of the competitive rate of $50,000, with cost of living adjustments and a supplement for dependents. Doing so is a necessary step towards achieving its mission to create a campus accessible to all, where researchers and scholars from all socioeconomic backgrounds can live and thrive.  This article was published first by the Duke Graduate Student Union .

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ) has found that sediment is, indeed, polluting streams surrounding Dominion Energy’s Moriah Energy Center liquified natural gas facility under construction in Person County. “This verifies the legitimate concerns of community members surrounding all sides of the construction site who have seen muddy water in the backyard creeks,” said Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop. NC DEQ’s Division of Water Resources conducted a site visit on May 30 after numerous complaints from Sound Rivers and community members who have observed sediment pollution entering local waterways. NC DEQ found two sediment basins on the site were impacting nearby surface waters. For one basin, Division of Water Resources staff recommended the company remove by hand sediment that has collected in a stream running adjacent to the basin. Evidence was also found that sediment was entering a pond adjacent to second sediment basin, and a third sediment basin was unable to be inspected because of ongoing blasting. Dominion Energy is required by state law to use practices defined by the Erosion and Sediment Control Program to prevent sediment pollution, and DWR has the ability to issue notices of violation if those standards are not being met. According to a DWR representative, the agency pointed out in its communication with Dominion that DWR specifically reserves the right to issue an NOV if these problems are not resolved. “We’ve been told by NCDEQ that Dominion has agreed to strengthen their Sediment and Erosion Control practices onsite, but we don’t know yet what the new protections will be,” Samantha said. The concern is not only muddied waters in the local streams, but potential impacts downstream in Deep Creek and Flat River, both home to endangered species such as the Neuse Waterdog. “We’re going to continue to work with local community members to monitor waters around the construction site and to hold Dominion, and state regulators, accountable for protecting waterways and the communities downstream,” Samantha said.

Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has allowed the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to go in-service. This announcement arrives after a decade of community-led resistance to the pipeline project. MVP has doubled in cost and delayed completion for six years due to failures to comply with environmental protections and resulting legal challenges. Representatives from many of the groups fighting the pipeline issued the following statements: Russell Chisholm, co-director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition (POWHR): “Let this travesty be a lesson to all financiers, government officials and regulators: Stop backing all fossil fuel projects immediately. Every system that claims to protect us has failed. We need real transparency and accountability for corrupt politicians and companies, and we demand a livable future amidst climate change. Our fight is not over: We have 303-miles of failing pipes — with at least 130 identified anomalies — pumping methane gas through our communities, and we are being targeted by new projects like Southgate and the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project. We deserve better and we are never going to stop demanding better.” Autumn Crowe, Interim Executive Director of West Virginia Rivers Coalition: “For a decade, community members have warned about the risks associated with the Mountain Valley Pipeline project, which far outweigh any benefits. This pipeline crossed thousands of rivers and streams, damaging our water resources in the process. The project is far from final restoration when hillsides continue to slip, people lack clean well water, agricultural lands are damaged and streams are clogged with sediment. These problems will persist long after gas is pumping through it. This pipeline snakes through steep, unstable terrain, and heaven forbid an incident occurs because schools, churches and community centers are within the blast zone. We will continue to advocate for the safety of impacted communities and the protection of our lands and waters in hopes that no other community experiences the unjust approval of a project like the Mountain Valley Pipeline.” Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, Co-Founder & Director of 7 Directions of Service: “This shameful and deadly decision by our establishment leaders and regulatory agencies to put MVP into service only reinforces what we’ve known all along: They do not care about our safety. When a fracked gas pipeline fails testing, literally explodes, fails to meet the safety standards its developers agreed to, what are communities on the ground left with? We will continue to demand safety and accountability, while ramping up our efforts to bring down such horrific corruption and instill ethical laws and policies, like the Rights of Nature, to prevent more loss of life and the climate crises from spiraling out of control.” Jessica Sims, Virginia Field Coordinator of Appalachian Voices: “Since developers first proposed the ruinous Mountain Valley Pipeline, their disregard for community and environmental safety has been clear. Community members and environmental watchdogs have pointed out the flaws in this project for years, and these fundamental problems with the pipeline remain. By allowing MVP to advance despite all these serious hazards, the system meant to protect our communities, land and water has failed.” This article was first published by POWHR.

On June 17, the Durham City Council voted to approve $28 million in raises for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2024. Full-time General Step Plan workers will receive an average raise of $8,136 - some more, some less. Workers with more years of service will receive a higher wage increase, some totaling over $15,000. This huge investment in wage increases would have never happened without the collective action of many Durham city workers over the last year, starting in spring 2023, including a six-day stand down by Solid Waste workers, and many rallies throughout 2024. While the minimum wage starting July 1, 2024 will be $19.58, all current city employees will be making a minimum of around $22 per hour. Many of the senior experienced workers in sanitation and public works will receive $12,000-14,000 raises annually. We are also strongly positioned going into next year's budget cycle to win even more structural changes to the pay plan design, including awarding low-wage workers the same annual increase as high-wage earners, as well as amendments to the city's Universal Living Wage ordinance. The city manager's budget included raises for the police, who account for 17 percent of the city workforce, that would be over 30 percent of the total amount spent on raises. Workers in Solid Waste and Public Works in the General Step Plan represent 42 percent of the total work force, but will only receive 34 percent of the salary increase. Management and Professional Staff in the Open Range pay scale continue to get more than front line workers. In early January, we had a difficult meeting with Mayor Leonardo Williams and Mayor Pro Tempore Mark Anthony Middleton. They denied the need for workers to make $25 per hour. When asked about city workers not being able to afford to live in Durham, Mayor Williams stated, "I never promised that city workers would be able to live in the city. It is out of my control." Union leaders met with Javiera Caballero and Carl Rist on January 9, where they vaguely committed to support us, but stated they wanted to wait until the Compensation Study was completed before making commitments. UE150 also met with DeDreana Freeman, Nate Baker and Chelsea Cook on January 23, where they firmly pledged support for our demands, but wanted to gather more information. In our second round of meetings with all of them, we felt that Williams, Middleton and city manager Page were blocking any ability to change the "pay plan design", but wanted to just move the current structure up by "market rates". This limited our ability to change the minimum wage or make the steps more fair. In the second meeting with Cabellero, she stated support for the idea of reclassifying solid waste workers, however she hinted at the need to get HR involved. She also refused to support the $25 per hour demand, stating she needed a "system". When asked about the Universal Living Wage ordinance language they ignored HUD housing data for 2024, she stated it could be looked at "next year" as this was a pay plan design change, and they were not considering plan design changes this year. In our final meeting with Freeman, Cook and Baker on May 13, they pledged to help find the $300,000 needed to reclassify solid waste, but we didn't find the 4th vote. We must continue our fight into the next budget cycle and hold City Council accountable to make the Pay Plan Design changes next year, as they suggested this year. Real lasting systemic change takes time to build. Through this process hundreds of city workers took action, spoke out for the first time, attended their first council meeting, and more. Many joined the union. Let's stay the course, build the union and we shall overcome! This article was published first by UE Local 150.

On Wednesday, June 12, more than 100 workers at the Corning Inc. manufacturing plant in Tarboro, North Carolina voted in a federal labor board election on whether to join the United Steelworkers. The union vote in Tarboro comes as part of a broader push by the USW to organize workers at multiple non-union plants that Corning operates across North Carolina. Corning manufactures, among other items, materials used in fiber optic cable and in solar panel installations. The company is currently experiencing a boom in demand, in part as a result of a federally-subsidized buildout of high-speed internet infrastructure, as well as an expansion of solar energy production. The company operates seven plants across North Carolina. Only one of these facilities is unionized. Workers at the company’s plant in Wilmington are proud members of USW Local 1025. Southern Workers Assembly (SWA) applauds the efforts of workers at the Corning facility in Tarboro to organize a union. We offer our solidarity during their upcoming union election. We hope this will be the first of many worker victories at non-union Corning facilities in this state. The working class of the South must build union power in order to win a better life for our class and advance the interests of workers everywhere. The South is currently experiencing a surge of capital investment in many segments of the manufacturing industry. Workers in this sector are strategically positioned to lead the way in the fight in opposition to exploitation by employers and the efforts of the ruling class to divide working people and pit us against one another. It is in the interest of the entire working class when workers — including our courageous siblings at Corning in Tarboro and beyond — stand up and fight for justice, dignity, and a better life for working people. Victory to Corning workers in North Carolina! This article was published first by Southern Workers Assembly.

Dominion Energy invited the community to an open house about the construction of the Moriah Energy Center last week, but few of their questions were answered, according to Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop. “It was very well attended and a demonstration of the passion and organization of local community members. They had created a plan to engage and had a list of over 20 questions they were prepared to ask,” said Krop. “Unfortunately, Dominion had it set up in a way that they weren’t engaging with everyone together, and when community members requested they have more of forum, Dominion representatives refused. It ended up being a very loud and noisy and chaotic space.” The liquified natural gas (LNG) facility in Person County has caused controversy from its start, when Person County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve rezoning for the facility in front of a large and very vocal NO MEC crowd. Since, clear-cutting 70 acres of land in the pre-construction phase has resulted in sediment pollution of creeks running off the property and through neighbors’ land. The creeks are tributaries of Deep Creek and Flat River, both home to some of North Carolina’s endangered species, including the Neuse Waterdog and several species of mussels. Community members concerned about harm to the creeks and aquatic species attended the open house to get answers. “It was definitely not useful in getting answers to our questions. There was a lot of deflecting. If we had questions about sediment pollution, the response was: ‘Everything on site is in compliance, and we have not been issued any notices of violation,’” said Krop. “If anything, it just further proved how unwilling they are to be accountable and to meaningfully engage with the concerns community members are bringing forth.” Krop said that Sound Rivers will continue to document impacts to creeks in the area. While she has been monitoring turbidity on two creeks since before construction started, this week, she met up with community members to identify more sample sites in the area surrounding the Moriah Energy Center. “We’re working with the community on the ground to keep an eye on the creeks. We’ve got a team of volunteers, and we’re going to continue to document the impacts of sediment runoff and keep sending those reports to the state Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources and the Division of Water Resources,” said Krop. This article was published first at Sound Rivers.

Amid a ghastly global escalation of crippling heat waves, wildfires and superstorms, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said last week that world leaders must quickly find “an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell.” He slammed fossil fuel corporations as the “godfathers of climate chaos.” In North Carolina, one of the largest of those corporate godfathers, Duke Energy, proposes to greatly expand fossil fuel use while strangling the fastest, cheapest and fairest path to slow the crisis: rooftop solar-plus-storage (SPS), also known as local solar and distributed generation. In voluminous filings to the NC Utilities Commission on May 28th, attorneys representing scores of social justice, environmental, consumer, and business groups, along with Attorney General Josh Stein, widely rejected Duke Energy’s Carbon Plan proposal for handling the state’s electricity needs in coming decades. Nearly all parties oppose Duke Energy’s plans to gamble on high-risk, super-costly experimental technologies and to greatly expand the use of methane gas for power generation. Most parties cite the need for a shift to renewable power, with Stein’s lawyers alluding to more solar-plus-storage on homes and businesses. As initial filings are digested, it seems that many groups will explicitly support NC WARN’s proposal for a sweeping expansion of SPS by having it funded through the rate system. Joining NC WARN in presenting that proposal to the NCUC are the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP, Robeson County’s Seeds of HOPE and the Down East Coal Ash Environmental and Social Justice Coalition. At least six other interveners’ refer to the need for more distributed generation including the office of Attorney General Josh Stein, The City of Charlotte, Walmart, the Environmental Working Group, the NCUC’s public staff and more. Sharing Solar Proposal Helps All Customers: Local solar-plus-storage (SPS) could expand across NC quickly, inexpensively and equitably – with priority given to disadvantaged communities and emergency facilities. There’s no cost for customers to add SPS; it would be funded through the rate system – just as we now all pay for dirty power. All homes, businesses and nonprofits benefit – even if they don’t have solar. Solar companies grow, creating thousands of jobs in small towns and cities. Sharing Solar would improve resiliency and provide backup power during outages. It avoids the constant rate hikes and high risks saddling Duke Energy’s plans. In written testimony supporting Sharing Solar, engineer Rao Konidena describes how Duke Energy rigged its modeling to virtually exclude consideration of SPS. He also told the NCUC that, in proposing large generation projects situated far from where power is most used, Duke Energy is “creating a dependency on transmission to deliver that far away generation …”. As the Environmental Working Group told the NCUC, Duke Energy favors large scale power infrastructure over cheaper and more reliable smaller scale alternatives, such as SPS, which can act as “virtual power plants” that allow the utility to draw from customers’ batteries during periods of high, system-wide demand. Among the interveners, there was little support for Duke Energy’s high-risk and secretive plans to risk tens of billions building questionable transmission corridors that might lead to giant solar farms many years from now.* NC WARN and other community groups have predicted that controversy would spring from any attempt by Duke Energy to intrude upon farms, forests and communities in eastern North Carolina while blocking local SPS. The NCUC will conduct a judicial-style hearing beginning on July 22nd in Raleigh. It is clear that the only way North Carolina can finally get aligned with the climate scientists is to rapidly expand local solar-plus-storage. All professed leaders must stop pretending that the Duke Energy Carbon Plan is moving the state toward decarbonization. *A group of co-intervenors filed one expert testimony strongly supporting Duke Energy’s grid buildout. Inexplicably, a second expert witness praised how distributed generation such as SPS could be expanded quickly and inexpensively. This article was published first by NC WARN.

UE Local 150 members from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the University of North Carolina (UNC) held a political action day at the state legislature on Thursday, May 16th to urge their representatives to take action to improve working conditions for public-sector workers around the state. Members gave speeches and chanted outside the capitol on the front lawn to call attention to their unlivable wages and working conditions. “The staff shortages in DHHS are as bad as they have ever been,” said Sekia Royall, President of Local 150 and cook at the O’Berry Center in Goldsboro. “Each facility is looking at at least 30 percent vacancy rate across the state with the nursing staffing agency contracts expiring this summer workers are concerned that the vacancy rate will double. “North Carolina has tried to temporarily fix our staff shortage by hiring temporary workers paying them twice the money that they pay long-term dedicated staff, and we are tired of it. Our demand for a $20 per hour minimum wage is necessary to keep up with the current inflation.” DHHS has been working to address overlapping crises in North Carolina related to mental health and opioid addiction, while also dealing with a shortage of inpatient beds for patients with dementia and developmental disorders. In addition, the state legislature has not addressed the critical staffing shortages at the state’s 13 hospitals. UE Local 150 members said that continued inaction will lead to the loss of more inpatient hospital beds which provide critical services to their most vulnerable residents. The members have urged legislators to act because record vacancy rates are creating more difficult working conditions and stagnant salaries, which are not keeping up with the skyrocketing cost of housing and food. “We know that our state has a $1.4 billion surplus and we want our legislative body to allocate those funds in a way that is consistent with our values,” said Rakesh Patel, a state DHHS worker from Central Regional Hospital. “We are asking for DHHS and the legislative body to appropriate more funds so we can have a 20 percent increase in our salaries or a $20 minimum wage." “We also think there are issues that don’t involve money, which include assigning a safe staffing task force and addressing the chronic toxic workplace culture that we are seeing in our hospitals. State workers come to take care of these patients and we want to see them leave physically intact and emotionally intact.” North Carolina is also set to be the first state to completely eliminate corporate income taxes, draining between $6 and 8 billion from critical public services and jobs. Local 150 members met with over a dozen legislators urging them to raise state workers’ salaries by 20 percent and institute a $20 minimum wage for state workers. They are calling for corporations pay their fair share of taxes, safe staffing, an end to toxic work environments, and a repeal of the ban on public sector collective bargaining in the state. In recent weeks, Local 150 graduate worker members at UNC and NC State University have also been peacefully calling on their university to divest from the Israeli military, which is currently bombarding the people of Palestine. Administrations at the universities responded by violently attacking, arresting, and suspending students and graduate workers. This included UE Local 150’s UNC graduate worker co-chapter president Hashem Amireh, who is Palestinian, while peacefully protesting.  The union is calling for the charges to be dropped and suspensions to be overturned. UNC union members are also calling for an end to parking and graduate worker fees which are paid by campus workers. Videos from the rally and press conference can be seen on the UE Local 150 YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@ue150ncpublicserviceworker5. This article was published first by UE Local 150.

Southern politicians have gone out of their way in word and action to make clear they stand on the side of big business and racism as they’ve recently lamented that the “Alabama [ie – Southern] model for success is under attack” and vowing to “fight unions to the gates of hell.” Nearly two hundred rank and filers who are developing a movement of workers in the South that can build power to make these politicians’ fears a reality gathered in Charlotte, NC on May 17 – 19 for the 2024 Southern Worker School. These meetings are the annual organizing conference of the Southern Workers Assembly network, which includes local workers assemblies, worker organizations, and other workers from various sectors and states throughout the region. As the upsurge in worker organizing and fightback continues to expand – most notably represented in the UAW drives across the auto industry – the 2024 elections loom and the broader social movement to end the U.S. supported Israeli genocide in Palestine widens and spread, the gathering came at particularly timely juncture to assess conditions and develop united plans for advancing in this period. “Being in a room with such a diverse group of workers, we can consider that a real cross section of the American landscape. It felt like a new beginning of the labor movement to me, a room filled with people organizing to achieve justice in the workplace, from all walks of life, to make sure we have justice for everyone regardless of race, gender, etc,” remarked Jamie Muhammad, Vice President of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1414 in Savannah, Georgia. “It was powerful, too, to see so many people wearing keffiyehs and showing solidarity with Palestine. Those are the type of people who look at the news and are aware of everyone’s suffering and want equality for everyone. I’ve never been in a room like that before. When the working people in the South rise up and we come together on a common cause, we can lead the rest of the nation where it needs to go.” This was the largest worker school convened by the Southern Workers Assembly to date, and included delegations and participation from: El Futuro Es Nuestro/It’s Our Future; Siembra NC; United Campus Workers; UAW; ILA Local 1422; ILA Local 1414; Truckers Movement for Justice (TMJ); UE Local 150; UE Local 111; Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW); National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA); Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity & Empowerment (CAUSE); Duke Graduate Students Union (DGSU); National Nurses United; and several locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), among others. Building a movement & worker networks The opening session of the school kicked off only hours after the result of the vote by Mercedes workers in Alabama on whether to join the UAW was concluded. This opening panel discussion sought to offer some assessment of the organizing across the South, while raising some specific examples and practices from worker network building outside the context of a solely NLRB election approach. The panel included Ashaki Binta from Black Workers for Justice (BWFJ); Corey Hill, president of UAW Local 3520 and chair of the Daimler Truck North America Council; Dominic Harris, president of the Charlotte Chapter of UE Local 150; Miranda Escalante, Asheville Food and Beverage Workers United (AFBU); and TaShira Smith, a founding member of the Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW). Ed Bruno, a member of the SWA Coordinating Committee, offered these remarks at the discussion’s opening, saying: “The SWA congratulates the UAW for the election at Volkswagen and Mercedes. The vote counting doesn’t matter. What matters is the workers’ and the UAW’s motivation, willingness, and resources to organize the Southern auto industry.” Bruno continued, noting, “The Southern auto industry will not be organized one election at a time, nor will the hospital industry or logistics or any industry. We encourage other unions to follow their example. The UAW founding in the 1930s was based on sit-down strikes that were multi-corporation, multi-location efforts to organize the entire auto industry. That’s the way the modern labor movement was formed. And that’s the way the South will be organized today.” Ashaki Binta expanded on these points, drawing on the 40 year history of Black Workers for Justice organizing workers in North Carolina, noting, “Through our experience, we learned that traditional methods of trade union organizing would not work in the South. Understanding the political and economic structure of the South, that was built to maintain the region as a cheap labor market for capital, and the oppression of Black people in particular as the basis for that market, impacting all other workers. Sixty percent of Black workers live in the U.S. South. The question of building power for working people has to be the objective and basis of our work. The experience of the UAW is extremely important and we are looking forward to learning all that we can from their work. Even so, there are still millions of workers in the South that need to be organized.” USSW, AFBU, and UE150 worker leaders all contributed lessons of how they’ve developed worker networks that prioritize collective action and movement building, utilizing this central orientation to win on issues and grow their organizations. Joining this discussion just over a week after the record contract won by Daimler Truck North America workers was overwhelmingly ratified, Local 3520 President Hill reminded everyone that, “We won a record contract. But the war has just begun. The thing of it is, they always change the game plan on us to keep us divided. Divided no more we will be. When we stand together that’s where our strength comes from. We took six locals and brought them together. Not the bargaining committee, not the leadership, but the workers won that contract. They proved they could set out and walk that line and do what they needed to do. But we have a lot of work to do.” Higher levels of consciousness, coordinated collective actions The remainder of the weekend focused on deepening sector-based networks, sharing out organizing reports on lessons from workers assemblies and workplace committees, political education, and assessing interventions made by workers across the SWA network in solidarity with Palestine – from organizing contingents in demonstrations, education workers and others building solidarity with student encampments, moving ceasefire resolutions through union locals and city councils, and more. “It was powerful to see how so many other workers are thinking like me and fighting to make change in the workplace,” said Shenika Brown, a truck driver from Memphis, TN, and a member of Truckers Movement for Justice. During the political education discussion, led by Abdul Alkalimat of the SWA Education Committee, attention was given to analyzing and assessing the political economy of the South. Alkalimat broke down the concepts of the base – the productive forces – and superstructure – the consumption of commodities/services, social reproduction, ideas, etc – of the economy. In particular, there are many changes occurring in the base of the Southern economy in this period, with large capital investments in manufacturing and electric vehicle production, that are worth the attention of worker cadre to understand and incorporate into our strategic thinking. In light of these developments, the Southern Workers Assembly has recently launched a program aimed at recruiting workers to get jobs in some of these growing, strategic sectors of the Southern economy. This program was discussed in some detail during the weekend. There was also a great deal of discussion of political power and how it’s developed, in light of the 2024 elections. The Southern Workers Assembly’s nine point Worker Power Program was raised as a way for workers to make independent political interventions that are connected to the primary objective of building organization and power in the workplace. Workers from the logistics, manufacturing, public, building trades, healthcare, education, and service sectors held breakout discussions on Saturday afternoon, during which time they were able to share about the work and fights they’d been engaged in and identify more opportunities for coordination going forward. “At each of the past two SWA worker schools, there’ve been industry breakouts where I’ve met multiple union brothers and sisters from my sector. And these are members who’re already committed, long-term, in seeing a real united working class force in the South. An organization that can pull in building trades workers like that is, frankly, rare. I come away from these weekends with people who live states away but who I can consistently rely on for educated strategies and resources. The value of that is immeasurable,” said Chris Anders, a rank & file member of IBEW LU 666 in Richmond, VA. At the November 2023 worker school, service and education workers formed industry councils that have met on a semi-regular basis since that time, and made plans to continue to coordinate coming out of the most recent school. In addition, public sector workers from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina formed a pubic sector council that intends to meet going forward. “To see teachers and rank and filers from Amazon and other places, even though we work in different industries to see and hear that we have a common thread to be treated with dignity and respect was powerful. We’re all fighting to make our employers recognize our value and to assert that we do have a voice. To see all of us coming together was amazing, united around a basic thread that we want to be treated with dignity and respect and should be paid what we are worth. We’re human beings, not robots,” Mary Hill, vice president and co-founder of CAUSE, reflected. “I was especially encouraged to build solidarity with migrant workers and to see so many young people at the worker school. The group we brought from CAUSE was largely new members. We’re not just fighting our own struggle at different workplaces, we’re building a movement and it’s a legacy we are passing on to the younger generations coming behind us. It gives me hope for the future to see younger generations getting involved in struggles at their workplaces.” The worker school contributed towards advancing the deepening of worker networks across the region, and in addition to providing space for exchanges and coordination among the ten active workers assemblies, workers from more than half a dozen other cities were in attendance and are making plans to begin building assemblies in their cities coming out of the gathering. The movement to organize the South marches forward. This article was published first by Southern Workers Assembly

On Wednesday, May 8, 2024, a crowd of 100 frontline community members impacted by the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and allies gathered in Charlotte to hold the financiers behind MVP accountable for the destruction the pipeline has wrought across Appalachia. This action took place a week after MVP experienced serious pipe failures during hydrostatic testing as it tries to go into service at the end of May. “We face life-threatening conditions on this methane gas pipeline route due to MVP’s recklessness and it’s all made possible by these banks and asset managers. We are in the midst of a climate crisis; these financiers must stop locking their investors into bad deals by backing companies like MVP,” said directly harmed community member and co-director of POWHR Russell Chisholm. Activists, carrying signs that said “Defund MVP”, met in the morning at Vanguard’s offices to call out their continued reckless and immoral financing of methane gas pipelines like MVP which contribute to climate chaos and destruction. Vanguard is the single largest investor of fossil fuels in the world. “Vanguard is often insulated from the ugly impacts of its massive investments in expanding fossil fuel development, but we know that the Mountain Valley Pipeline is a danger to everyday people living nearby, and ultimately, a bad investment for Vanguard. We came all the way from Pennsylvania to act in solidarity with those on the frontlines of this pipeline, and we will be sharing their stories with the growing number of Vanguard customers who are ready to move their money out if Vanguard continues on this dangerous path,” said Lina Blount, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at the Earth Quaker Action Team. The actions continued in uptown Charlotte where 100 Indigenous water protectors, frontline leaders, and allies carrying puppets and signs, and singing songs and chants, delivered letters on the financial risk of MVP to Wells Fargo, Chase, and Bank of America. They conducted a mock-trial in front of the Bank of America headquarters called “The People vs. Bank of America”, to expose the crimes against humanity and the planet. “No human being can survive without clean water, yet Bank of America continues to fund projects like MVP that destroy precious drinking water sources without a second thought. These banks and asset managers must know that MVP continues to wrack up unprecedented violations, including violations of the rights of tribal nations to informed consultation. So long as they choose to keep funding these harms, our multiracial, multi-faith grassroots movement will only keep getting louder,” said Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, co-founder of 7 Directions of Service, Citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, and impacted community member on the Southgate route. This action continues the work that local faith leaders and activists with GreenFaith have been leading against Bank of America including monthly Earth Witness Wednesday events and the most recent protest on April 23 the day before the bank’s annual general meeting. “Our many faiths teach us that we are to care for people and protect the planet.  The financial decisions of big banks are destroying the planet and causing untold human suffering. As people of faith and conscience we know this is wrong, inhumane and also deeply unjust  since so many of these projects disproportionately exploit Indigenous lands and peoples as well as many black and brown communities in the US and the Global South,” said Rev. Amy Brooks Paradise, US Organizer with GreenFaith. Further interviews are available with frontline leaders, including: Dr. Crystal Cavalier Keck (co-founder of 7 Directions of Service and impacted community member on the Southgate route), Russell Chisholm (co-director of the POWHR Coalition and directly harmed community member on the MVP mainline route), and Mariah Clay (MVP organizer with West Virginia Rivers Coalition). This article was published first by POWHR.