A Labor Day Message from PCCFFAP’s Organizing Officer Ben Cushing
Happy Labor Day weekend!
What does it mean to celebrate the labor movement at this moment?
I teach sociology, so I’m constantly asking the folks in my classes to consider the social and historical contexts of their lives. So, on this Labor Day, we can look back a century to see a labor movement that fought like hell to challenge anti-democratic concentrations of wealth and power among the rich. The victories they achieved, as incomplete as they were, have been undermined over the past 40 years. Now the rich are richer than ever, the middle class is shrinking and too many folks don’t have enough to get by. It isn’t hard to see the consequences of rising inequality around us today.
But at this historical moment, there is a sense that things could be changing. Workers around the country – from Starbucks baristas to Amazon warehouse workers to healthcare workers, delivery drivers, and teachers – are mobilizing in ways that haven’t happened in decades, and they’re winning!
These victories aren’t just a source of hope, which we surely need. To me, they teach us two crucial lessons:
- Organizing gets the goods. It’s going to be a ton of work, but the more we organize alongside one another, the more power we can build together, and the more we can win the things that we, our students, and our communities need.
- Solidarity can weave our individual campaigns into a movement. We’ve already been doing this! Our members have walked picket lines with striking nurses, Nabisco workers, Fred Meyer workers and others. And other unions have shown up for us, too. I remember standing next to Teamsters (who were PCC alumni!) at our picket at SE last spring.
In the coming year, we will be negotiating a contract with an increasingly top-down administration. We’re going to need each other. And we’re going to have to get organized in new and creative ways.
This Labor Day, let’s remind ourselves of how much we need each other. So, take a minute and do this.
Text any coworker you know: “Happy Labor Day! I’ve got your back.”
Happy Labor Day! I’ve got your back!