DSA and the Labor Giant are Ready to Fight!

DSA is becoming a true working class organization. Today we are continuing our conversation with three past and present members of DSA’s National Labor Commission, also known as the NLC. The National Labor Commission has several campaigns underway. We have talked about the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee or EWOC on this podcast a number of times.

Ayesha Mughal was an NLC Steering Committee member from 2022-2023 and is currently a staff organizer on the Starbucks Workers United campaign in Pennsylvania.

Sean Orr is a UPS package-car driver and elected shop steward in Teamsters Local 705 in Chicago.

Sarah Hurd is one of the co-chairs of DSA's National Labor Commission which works to build rank and file militancy and solidarity within the labor movement. The NLC launched a campaign called "Strike Ready" which served as a major force in organizing community support for the Teamster's contract fight against UPS.

The 2024 Labor Notes Conference will be held April 19-21 in Chicago. Register by March 1 for a big discount. Labor Notes is both a media project and a network of rank-and-file members, local union leaders, and labor activists who know the labor movement is worth fighting for. They encourage connections between workers in different unions, worker centers, communities, industries, and countries to strengthen the movement—from the bottom up.

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Transcript

Elton LK: [00:00:00] You are listening to class and official podcast to the Democratic Socialists of America National Political Education Committee. My name is Elton lk. This episode is a continuation of our last episode, which is a look back at the US Labor Movement in 2023. This episode. Past and present, DSA National Labor Commission members Sean Orr of the Teamsters, Ayesha of Starbucks, workers United and Sarah Hurd.

Who has been working on the DSA Strike Ready campaign will discuss what is brewing. ​

what can we expect from 2024? What are you excited about with 2024?

Sarah Hurd: I'm really excited about taking the people that we've kind of moved into struggle through strike Ready, um, and getting them kind of . Supported in whatever regional fights are coming up in the next year for them. So it's gonna look different probably for different people in [00:01:00] different parts of the country.

Um, but because there's kind of a toolkit that's been assembled, there's some relationships that have been built, which I think are super important. we're gonna be able to. Spread strike ready out in some interesting ways, uh, in the next year. and we've already been talking to some people with, uh, the new reform movement in Izi about what kind of support we can do with them.

some teacher stuff going on, um, in Twin Cities. That's very exciting. Um, I think that there's, there's gonna be a lot coming up this year, but also, I'm sure things will happen that we . Have not planned for and couldn't predict, uh, . That will also be fun to, uh, respond to in real time. Um, I'm also very excited about DSA, having a presence at this next year's, uh, labor Notes Conference, which I think is going to be even bigger and more fun than the last Labor Notes Conference, which was like the biggest Labor Notes conference ever.

labor Notes brings together, uh, union militants from industries to kind of share insights and learn [00:02:00] from each other. and I'm hoping that the presence at Labor Notes can go hand in hand with some, uh, some more rank and file organizing and helping people get into caucuses and stuff like that.

Ayesha: Yeah, the last Labor Notes was, uh, so exciting. Um, with all of the new organizing going on at Starbucks and, and Amazon, but also obviously. These different reform movements, and there's so many DSA members who've reached out to the NLC to talk about their own unions and how they can start, um, reforming them. I'm not on the NLC steering committee anymore, but Sarah and Sean have lots of work cut out for them. Um, just supporting all of these DSA members, uh, who are union members who wanna get started shaking things up in their own, in their own union locals and in the widely movement.

I'm now a staff organizer on the Starbucks campaign and I talk all the time with the workers about. The UAW fight about UPS, um, and the teamsters fight there. Um, one of my stores did a practice picket before their last strike, um, which [00:03:00] really gave them a lot of confidence and made them feel really good going into the actual, the day of the strike. but also, yeah, with the, with the U aaw fight, talking about, why the sit down strike was made illegal, and then how, you know, the workers. have been so creative with the new standup strike. And then also, you know, all of this news coming out of the standup strike with, um, the raises at, uh, Toyota and other non-Union, auto companies, but not just that now, you know, they're all starting to organize and they're signing cards, um, which is just so exciting because, you know, those workers are like, yeah, we can get more, but also we can fight for more, which is just, that's what. is is what I'm looking forward to for 2024, is just making bosses, uh, sweat a little bit more.

Sean Orr: For me with 2024, I, I think, uh, besides what, um, Sarah and Ayesha have mentioned, the thing that I, I'm excited to see develop is what are we able to do with our chapters [00:04:00] in relation to labor work? Uh, because I think Strike Ready really showed that our chapters. Have a specific role to play in this new labor movement.

DSA chapters as an organization, right? Just like Ewok plays an, an important role in organizing that and organized these. Reform caucuses play an important role transforming these unions from the bottom up. DSA chapters play an important role too. I believe that is that we are gonna be acting as hubs of solidarity for labor unions. A lot of unions are operating from a position of, you know, kind of the back foot, right? They don't have a lot of resources. Uh, some, some unions have really been kind of like islands unto themselves. They've been outside of all these great social upheavals of the past 15 years. They don't have some of the skills.

They don't have some of the connections. They don't have the support that they feel like they need to be able to get a strike across [00:05:00] a finish line. But our chapters have that. Uh, our chapters are full of some of the most talented organizers, uh, in the entire country. who have skills, specific skills that are needed, right?

Whether that is skills that we've picked up from the electoral movement, from, uh, the student movement, uh, from any, any of the spaces that we've been involved in. Uh, those are skills that. My, my coworkers that other workers in this movement, uh, look to need, right? We need, we need, we need friends, we need support out here. Uh, and that's what solidarity is. so I'm excited to see what we can continue to develop Coming outta strike Ready? I think that we have some exciting plans in store for, uh, building out. Permanent structures of solidarity captains on a national level, uh, and continuing to train up, uh, chapters and provide them support to, to stand in solidarity with workers and struggle wherever they are.

Elton LK: and Sean, you, uh, my understanding [00:06:00] is you're also part of an effort to democratize your union, the teamsters. Can you talk about that and, how did the democratization of. Your union play into, that 

Sean Orr: the fight in the Teamsters goes back decades. Um, I'm a member of Teamsters for a Democratic Union, TDU, it's um, uh, a reformed caucus inside the Teamsters, and we've been around since the seventies. Uh, the teamsters have a history of not just being a business, uh, business union. Uh, being very corrupt, being very undemocratic, uh, having, uh, elements of organized crime involved in leading our union. Um, and it's been a very long fight, uh, to change, uh, the directions of the teamsters and it's not done yet. Uh, TDU. Had a big breakthrough, uh, leading a vote, no movement at, uh, my company UPS Uh, five years ago in 2018, we voted down a contract that Hoffa Jr. [00:07:00]Uh, wanted to force on us. Uh, the contract was voted down. He used a constitutional loophole to force it through. Anyways, um, and a few years later, we, uh, participated in a coalition to get him and his kind out of our union. now, union's led by, uh, a, um, an ally of TDU, Sean O'Brien out of Boston, and Fred Zuckerman out of Louisville. Really, you know, the, the, the new leadership at the top of the teamsters are people who are responsive to the rank and file. They're not gonna simply push the rank and file down. They're not gonna ignore them. They're not simply going to go along with what the company wants, uh, the you need to do, which is all that the Teamsters had done for decades. They're going to respond to the demands of the rank and file, and that's what they did at UPS. Uh, we had A huge, list of demands in this contract fight. Uh, and because of all that organizing that happened on the front end, uh, UPS was [00:08:00] willing to roll over on most of our demands, uh, fairly quickly. Um, we had a, uh, two-tier system among our package car drivers. Uh, that was a top demand was to get rid of that. We got rid of that day one of this contract. Uh, we wanted to see a significant pay increase for part-timers. Uh, we won the largest pay increase of part-timers I've ever seen at UPS. I've got some coworkers who are part-timers that got $5 raise a $6 raise day.

One of this new contract, uh, that was life-changing for them. Uh, and, uh, $7 50 cent raised over the course of the contract, uh, which is larger than the past, uh, two contracts combined. We got a lot outta this fight. I think one of the things that we got outta this fight is we learned that UPS is willing to pay a lot of money to avoid a strike. Uh, UPS is a hundred billion dollar company. Uh, we are as important to the US economy as the railroads. Uh, we move about seven to 8% of the GDP of this country every single day. Uh, [00:09:00] they are willing to pay a lot of money to make sure that that business never stops moving. I think that, We are going to continue to build the fight in, in UPS and in the Teamsters, uh, because, uh, learning from our brothers and sisters in the u aaw and elsewhere in the labor movement where we shouldn't just have fights for pay, pay matters, pays incredibly important.

I know my coworkers are very happy with the contract that we've got. Um, but we need to think beyond that. We need to think, uh, as a labor movement. About how can we take, take back some of the power that we've lost by selling our labor to these companies? Uh, the UA W's, thinking about that with their fights over a change in the work week with their fights to strike over plant closures. These are not just questions of money and pockets. These are questions of power. Power in your hands. Um, and I think that we're gonna keep learning, uh, from our [00:10:00] experiences and from our brothers and sisters and the rest of the labor movement. Um, but it's a, it's a long process. We're in. This is a gargantuan union of over 1.3 million members, and UPS is just one corner of that. So, uh, the process is ongoing to transform this union, but it's looking great, uh, and it's looking great because the members want it. The members want to change and they're gonna keep fighting to get it. 

Elton LK: is there a path forward with Starbucks? will there be a negotiated, there be able to negotiate a contract?

Ayesha: Yes. I'm gonna say yes. Um, they, you know, they're already winning things that they're demanding. They won. Things like credit card tips. Last year, they just won after the Red Cup day strike. the ability for shift supervisors to turn off mobile orders, um, which is something they've been asking for for a long time. and the, vice president of Starbucks said that sent an email to the president of Workers United saying that, um, they are going to, uh, negotiate a contract in 2024. The body [00:11:00] of this letter did not really have anything new, but what I do know is that the workers. Keep organizing more workers, and that they're building pressure, both on the shop floor for issues that are going on in their own stores, but also nationally, are, you know, uh, creating plans together. was saying before about workers training each other, um, and they still do that they, you know, are on Zoom all the time, planning their, upcoming actions together. So it's just really exciting to see. All I have to do is just like, provide resources and some guidance and they do all the work.

And I, I think that, Starbucks should be nervous in going into 2024 because when they actually sit down and negotiate this contract, um, they're gonna kick ass and they're gonna have an amazing contract.

Elton LK: you mentioned that, Workers don't like the mobile orders. and then I've also seen, that, Starbucks, workers United is asking for people to, to not use, um, the

gift cards.

Ayesha: Yeah. So that's one of their asks of, [00:12:00] uh, community members is to not buy gift cards this season for the holidays. Um, so, uh. I'm not sure if people know this, but Starbucks has so much money on gift cards and on the mobile app that's just stored that people like keep on there all the time. Um, that they are like in the top 10 of banks of the amount of money stored.

So that is something that, um, can be really effective is, is, you know, telling people to stop, um, just, you know, buying gift cards for teachers or, you know, uh, at Christmas you know, it is, you know, tricky legally to call for a boycott, but this is a, a targeted, um, thing that they're asking the public to do.

Elton LK: what help can people or local DSA chapters get by reaching out to the National Labor Commission?

Sarah Hurd: DSA chapters should request money from our solidarity fund if they have something that they need to get off the [00:13:00] ground. That requires a little . Fusion of funds up top. Um, that's been a huge way that we can help even small chapters really maximize, uh, their returns, uh, in terms of their solidarity work, um, and can kind of help projects get off the ground that maybe other groups, uh, are a little bit afraid of, uh, funding.

So that's always an option. Um, you can always reach out to us, um, for help with organizing tools, uh, for outreach, um, for help with . Crafting materials, uh, stuff like that. Um, and we should be in next month we have a big membership meeting, um, where we should be launching some exciting new projects that we're hoping that people will, will plug into and take part in. 

Elton LK: if people are in a union already, how can they go about. Democratizing their union. 

Sean Orr: I would definitely encourage, uh, if you are a worker in a union and you see what, uh, has happened [00:14:00] in the UAW in the Teamsters, uh, with Starbucks, workers United with Ewok, and. You know that you have a fight to pick and you wanna get that fight going and you wanna get it organized. I would say the best place, uh, to do that would be coming to Labor Notes.

Uh, that is going to be this April in Chicago. Um, it's, there's gonna be thousands of union workers from around the country. Um, probably there will be workers from your own union who will be there. Who will have the exact same desires that you do and the exact same thoughts you do, and Labor Notes is always willing to find a meeting room for workers to get together and figure out how they can get organized to solve their issues.

I know, uh, that there's going to be a lot of those discussions happening. Uh, there is going to be many, many, many, uh, reform efforts, uh, going across the labor movement for a long time. Us in TDU, we've been kind of an island unto ourselves. And then UAWD showed up. [00:15:00] Uh, then essential Workers for Democracy showed up at the UFCW. And I think, uh, many more flowers are gonna be blooming this year.

Ayesha: I'll just add like, you know, in the labor movement up. Obviously a one-on-one conversation is the basis for, you know, all the work we do, whether it's forming a new union, democratizing your union. Um, and that's what's so exciting about DSA is that like we learn that skill and we use it to organize as tenants.

We use it to organize in our communities. We use it to organize against, um, war and imperialism. We're seeing right now. Obviously, um, and we use it, um, at our workplaces. So, um, I think that's also what's really exciting with DSA is like, you know, for myself, I came in, um, after Trump was elected, knowing what he was gonna be doing to immigrants and, you know, I learned how to have conversations and I learned how to, um, get people organized and, and, and fighting against, um, all of that.

And then. Was able to use that, these skills, [00:16:00] um, with organizing tenants and then workplaces. So, um, I think like just coming into DSA and learning skills on organizing around whatever you care about is gonna serve you, um, really well in so many other ways. And that's what's also really, really exciting is that we've been doing all of this work in 2023 and in 2024, it's gonna serve us really well as, uh, members of the labor movement, but also in all of the organizing that we do.

Elton LK: This is Class, an official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America National Political Education Committee. My name is Elton LK. Thank you to Casey Stikker, who deserves a big thanks for sound engineering and theme music. Thank you to Palmer Conrad for editing.

if you're inspired by anything we've been talking about, if you think the system is rigged and democracy is the solution, join DSA. Become a member. I've put a link in the show notes to DSA's website. if you're already a member of [00:17:00] DSA, please share this podcast with your local chapter.

Class is intended to be a resource for chapters and members to articulate, apply, and share socialist theory with DSA and the wider working class. Also, remember to rate and review us on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. As you know from listening to other podcasts, this is an important way to get out the word about class.