Jobs with Justice National Conference: It’s Always Better When We’re Together
Written by Allison McGrail, of UMass Amherst SLAP.
For a student who was pulled into the labor movement in the past year, the summer months pose a unique challenge. Suddenly, I’m not in the cozy bubble of UMass Amherst, I’m not surrounded by my fellow “SLAPatistas,” and the lazy, hazy months of summer stall my academic endeavors, while threatening to temper the passion, love, and frustration that fuel my organizing efforts. At the Jobs with Justice National Conference, however, I was fortunate to be surrounded by passionate advocates, loving caretakers, and frustrated students and workers. I was reminded of my own ire and my own love. After four days of workshops, dialogues, and actions I feel reinvigorated and excited for a year of action to come.
The adventure began on Thursday, a day to reunite with my UMass cohorts, reintroduce myself to friends from past conferences, and to meet new students from around the country at the Student-Labor Pre-Conference. The room was mixed with seasoned veterans of the organizing circuit and newcomers who had just become turned on to the labor movement and wanted to learn more. As someone on the newer side of the scale, I couldn’t have been more fortunate to dive into an afternoon of discussions and workshops with such a funny, engaging, and truly remarkable group.
My own experience with labor organizing as a member of UMass SLAP has been gratifying and exhilarating, if at times exhausting. As a new group we threw ourselves into AFSCME’s unionizing campaign during the spring semester. With relatively little training or preparation, we dove into student-worker interaction and education, as well as a rally. Workshops for strategy and campaigning, however, gave me a chance to step back from our successful blur of action and think about how we will run campaigns in the coming year now that we have more experience and more time. A workshop describing the process of converting a seemingly insurmountable problem to a winnable issue helped me imagine how we could organize larger campaigns, such as the fights for living wages at Georgetown and the University of Pennsylvania, on our own campus. I was able to feed off of youthful energy as we exchanged stories of success, analyzed frustrating failures, and challenged one another to not only fight for workers, but to fight alongside workers. It was an intoxicating environment and an energizing beginning to the Conference.
Friday brought the arrival of labor advocates of the non-student variety. If I had any doubt why I became a member of SLAP or why I committed myself to the labor movement, it quickly disappeared as I began to interact with the hundreds of people joining our fun. Friday was spent with a coalition featuring domestic workers and the recipients of care in the “Caring Across Generations” forum. I had the opportunity to listen to faith leaders and unemployed individuals, workers and disabled beneficiaries of their services. Women from New York who courageously fought for and won a Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights were particularly inspiring, in their humor, optimism, and determination. “Caring Across Generations” excites me because it allows the labor movement to make meaningful, proactive change for those giving and receiving love and to develop new alliances along the way.
While Friday was devoted almost exclusively to a single initiative, Saturday was an eclectic mix of topics and people. Open discussions and interactive seminars allowed me to discuss the growth and strengthening of student involvement in labor campaigns, as well as the importance of rhetoric and framing. Perhaps the most poignant workshop, however, was “Immigration Enforcement and Criminalization: An Organized Attack to Divide Workers and the Grassroots Fight Back.” Dialogue was both honest and scary, as we discussed not only the shared power that would come from uniting the two movements, but also why we have failed to solidify the relationship between the two thus far. It was the only time in the conference when racism and prejudice were discussed not as continuing phenomenon in society, but as continuing phenomenon in our own movement. Brave souls were willing to push the boundaries of the comfortable and acknowledge the internal as well as external impediments to a fairer labor culture. My stomach churned in discomfort. Admitting that the forces we want to combat in society are sometimes reflected in ourselves was terrifying, but a moment that I felt safe having quietly in our space.
That kind of moment is one that I hope to continue to have as I fight for social justice and workers’ rights. I think honesty is the key to humility and compassion, and compassion is a wonderful foundation for a movement. I may be a history major, but I don’t have to look in my textbook to confirm that one. All the proof I need is in the stories and experiences I had the privilege of hearing over those four days.
More than anything, uniting with students, union representatives, workers, the unemployed, and activists from across the country reminded me that when people come together they are capable of incredible things. We shared meals, songs, dance, and faith. We protested in support of Walmart Associates and stood in solidarity with undocumented students. We came together to share, and I re-learned that we should and do have power. After spending four days with people doing great things, I feel as if I have been challenged to harness that power and share in the struggle. I’ll admit, I’m anxious, but I’m also extremely excited for the lessons my fellow SLAPatistas and I can bring back to campus in the fall. I think we just might do some good. “I’m a movement by myself, but I’m a force when we’re together,” is more than just a corny workshop title after all.
