Almost 400 workers, including 20 UE members, from all 13 southern states attended the Southern Worker Action Summit organized by the Southern Workers Assembly, a key UE ally and partner, on June 13-15.
The summit was divided between assessing the political climate and the state of the workers’ movement in the region during the first day and developing strategy, organizing tactics, and the broader fight on the second day. Workshop topics included “Building Black and Brown Unity,” “Dark Work: Precarious Labor and the Southern Economy,” “the History of Class Struggle in the South,” “Connecting Tenant and Workplace Organizing,” and “Building Strike Power, Organizing Conversations, and How to Build Workers Assemblies.” On the third day, the summit concluded with a meeting on “Building a Mass Movement to Organize the Unorganized, Fight the Billionaire Class.”
UE General President Carl Rosen addressed the summit, saying, “The fight by our members is both at the workplace and in society. We start in the workplace and build a strong strike threat. We have done it repeatedly this year and it’s what makes a win possible. We have 250 members on a picket line in LA right now. Where our members have had these fights, they've won.”
UE Local 150 Secretary Dominic Harris was on the panel “Building Black and Brown Unity.” Sekia Royall, a member of Local 150 and state worker for the Department of Health and Human Services in Goldsboro, NC moderated a panel on international organizing that included workers from Mexico, Palestine, Cuba, and elsewhere.
“One of my favorite parts of the southern workers summit is that it stretches across the South and connects us to workers across the world,” said Royall. “It reemphasizes the fact that no matter how big your own fight is, there are others across the world that are fighting bigger battles with far less. The summit shows us that there are people throughout the world that are all facing the same struggle. It humbles you and shows you your place among all the workers of the world.”
An international graduate worker from Local 150 at UNC Chapel Hill spoke at the summit during a panel entirely made up of immigrant workers. They spoke about the fights they are engaged in and the effect the Trump administration’s attacks have had on them. The workers also spoke about building solidarity to resist the attacks. The Local 150 graduate worker from UNC Chapel Hill (who would like to remain anonymous because of the current political climate surrounding international students) said, “I greatly appreciated hearing the perspective of experienced organizers on the particular problems faced by labor unions in the South and the solutions that have worked for other past campaigns. I learned a lot that I have brought back to my own union and have already begun to apply.”
Key outcomes from the summit were listed in an article published by Southern Workers Assembly:
- The creation or consolidation of industrial councils in various sectors, including education, gig workers, manufacturing, logistics, public sector, healthcare, and others.
- The formation of state groupings of workers assemblies and worker organizations that are oriented towards conducting coordinated workplace blitzes, identifying strategic industries for workers to get hired into to organize, and planning for state-level worker meetings in late 2025 and early 2026.
- Initial steps to concretize the 16 convening worker organizations and other participating groups into an ongoing formation to raise the ability of workers across the region to coordinate, make interventions, identify organizing priorities, and begin developing plans for mobilizing unorganized workers to participate in May Day 2028 activities.
- The expansion of the SWA political education committee and development of plans to produce studies on the political economy of various southern states to inform organizing strategies.
- Agreement to make coordinated efforts to engage unorganized workers to participate in mass demonstrations against the billionaire attacks, and raising a more visible presence of southern workers in those mobilizations.
Royall said, “I’ve been to several of these summits and it is a great tool to connect grassroots organizations and unions together and shows us all that we are facing the same fight. I have participated in these summits for years now and have always enjoyed them and learned from them.”
This article was updated on August 16 to reflect the fact that the summit was organized by the Southern Workers Assembly. We regret the omission.