South African Delegate Joined Young Workers at Next Up Summit
This is a cross-post from the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.
Sisanda Mbokotho, a representative of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the nation’s largest union, led a workshop on global worker solidarity at the AFL-CIO Next Up Young Workers Summit.
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| Sisanda Mbokotho marches with other delegates to the Next Up Young Workers Summit in Minneapolis. Photo courtesy of Workday Minnesota. |
Mbokotho, 30, is an organizer for the South African Commercial, Catering, and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU). As a delegate to the summit, which was held in Minneapolis Sept. 29-Oct. 2, she spoke about the importance of linking young workers across borders and described her own work, organizing workers in the hospitality and entertainment industry. She also talked about the need for joint organizing strategies between U.S. and South African unions for taking on anti-union multinational corporations. South African workers and their unions are demanding that these companies do much more to respect worker rights, preserve jobs, and source from South African producers.
Next Up: Trumka Calls for Young People to Use ‘Critical Imagination’
Emelle Israel, AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow, is in Minneapolis for the Next Up Young Workers Summit and sends us this report.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka came to Minneapolis today to help send off the 800 attendees concluding the Next Up Young Workers Summit. He capped off a successful weekend with an inspiring speech that called for young people to use their “critical imagination,” their ability to look at problems and come up with new and different solutions.
He told the crowd, “America needs a good dose of critical imagination right about now. We need ideas and energy. We need enthusiasm, optimism, that sense that everything is possible.…You are the future of this movement, and all of us—all of America’s working people—need and your critical imagination in a big way.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Next Up Summit Supports Occupy Wall Street Protests
The 800 young workers, activists and students at the AFL-CIO Next Up Young Worker Summit in Minneapolis announced their strong support of the Occupy Wall Street protesters:
”The world in which we live isn’t working for the vast majority of people. The top 1 percent controls the economy, makes profits at the expense of working people, and dominates the political debate. Wall Street symbolizes this simple truth: a small group of people have the lives and livelihoods of working Americans in their hands.
“In the last two weeks, young people have sparked a movement on Wall Street, just as they did through the Arab Spring and in Wisconsin against Scott Walker. Participants at the AFL-CIO Next Up Young Worker Summit left Occupy Wall Street to join with young people in the labor movement to talk about how best to take back our economy for the middle class.
Next Up Young Workers Say: America Wants to Work
Ja-Rei Wang, AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow, is in Minneapolis for the Next Up Young Workers Summit and sends us this report.
The focus stayed on jobs yesterday in Minneapolis on the third day of AFL-CIO’s Next Up Young Worker Summit. After attending workshops organized and led by summit participants, the 800 young workers, organizers and students came together for a town hall to discuss ways to keep the spotlight on the issue on every participant’s mind.
Fred Azcarate, AFL-CIO, led the America Wants to Work town hall and outlined the AFL-CIO’s six-point action plan to put America back to work. Participants built on those plans and brainstormed more ways to take action in their own communities. One of the main goals was to ensure people continue talking about and taking action for jobs. Some suggested using social media more effectively and consistently, which would then also draw the attention of the mainstream press.
Next Up: Young People Take Action to Address Economic Inequality
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| Rally in front of City Hall, Minneapolis | |
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Emmelle Israel, AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow, is in Minneapolis for the Next Up Young Workers Summit and sends us this report.
Along with 800 young workers, students, and activists, I marched down the streets of downtown Minneapolis, calling for “Good Jobs Now!” during the 2011 AFL-CIO Next Up Young Workers Summit.
The march from the summit to the City Government Plaza Light Rail Station was nearly a mile long. Next Up attendees chanted and raised signs to make their demand of “Good Jobs Now!” known the whole way.
Several taxi drivers, postal delivery workers and bus drivers honked their horns in support as the group marched to the light rail station.
Once at the City Government Plaza Light Rail Station, Jessica Hayssen of the AFL-CIO Young Workers Advisory Committee and the Minnesota AFL-CIO MCed the rally. First up was Mike O’Brian a.k.a. OB, from Steelworkers (USW) Local 6500, who performed his original rap, “One Day Longer.” The song was about a strike his union went through and encourages those on the picket line, telling them that “One day longer” makes them “One day stronger.”
Next, Mike Stenberg, a Metro Transit Operator from ATU Local 1005 in Minneapolis, spoke about how the union job he has now improved the lives of him, his wife and their two young children. He said:
I worked jobs before that were non-union. I wasn’t able to support my family… But now with Metro Transit I’m able to supply my family with a better livelihood. My American dream can come true where before I couldn’t see that happening.
Poll: Economic Security the Highest Priority for Young Workers
Emmelle Israel, an AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow, is taking part in the Next Up Summit and sends us this report.
A poll among young people attending the 2011 AFL-CIO Next Up Young Workers Summit shows their highest priorites are economic security, job security and government action to improve the nation’s economy.
More than 800 young workers, students and activists took part in poll in the days leading up to the Summit which is taking place now through Sunday in Minneapolis. The poll was conducted via text message and the results were published this afternoon.
Some 67 percent of participants say they value economic security over economic opportunity
(33 percent), and 41 percent of those surveyed value job security over benefits (32 percent) and wages (27 percent). Read the rest of this entry »
If You’re a Young Worker, Speak Out About Jobs!
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Kurston Cook, with the AFL-CIO, is in Minneapolis and sends us this.
Some 800 young workers from across the country are convening in Minneapolis today through Sunday for the AFL-CIO Next Up Young Workers Summit to discuss topics ranging from the future of the union movement to the future of the economy.
Young Workers Summit attendees are being asked to take a poll via text message about their views on jobs and the economic situation of young people today, in conjunction with Lake Research Partners. Questions include:
- -Does the government need to take a larger role in the economy?
- -How concerned are you that you or a family member will be out of a job?
- -Is economic opportunity or economic security more important to you?
One out of every four participants has already responded in the poll and we expect more before it closes this evening. The results of the six-question poll will be released Friday.
If you are attending the Young Workers Summit, take the poll! Text POLL to 235246 (AFLCIO).
Watch Live Webcast of Shuler and Solis at Next Up Summit
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AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will kick off the second annual Next Up Young Workers Summit in Minneapolis tomorrow. Hundreds of young working people, including organizers and students from across the country, will meet in Minneapolis Sept. 29-Oct. 2 for the Summit, part of the AFL-CIO’s efforts, led by Shuler, to reach out to working people under age 35.
You can watch a live webcast of Shuler and Solis here this Thursday beginning at 5:00 p.m. CDT.
Another highlight of the summit will be appearances by actors Lucas Neff (left), star of the Fox sitcom “Raising Hope” and RJ Mitte (left) from the TV show “Breaking Bad.” Both are members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). In March Neff joined actors Susan Sarandon and Tony Shalhoub in Madison, Wis., for an all-day series of rallies that sent a message to Republican legislators and Gov. Scott Walker that the assault on working people will not stand and their struggle is far from over. Neff told the crowd: Read the rest of this entry »
From Miami to Los Angeles, Union Summer Interns Made a Difference
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When the 45 AFL-CIO Union Summer 2011 interns are asked what they did for their summer vacation, they won’t have any stories about lounging on the beach or backpacking through Europe. But the will tell about making a real difference in people’s lives and about how much that involvement has contributed to their sense of social justice.
The five interns who worked in Charlotte, N.C., can show the video they created showing how they began building a community coalition from scratch, including a creative and funny segment showing how they had to crisscross the city trying to track down the president of the local NAACP.
The Milwaukee contingent will be able to describe how they helped recall two Republicans who support Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-union agenda and how they had to deal with being cursed at and followed by people who opposed their efforts.
Minn. Workers Relieved by Shutdown’s End, Outraged by Budget
Barb Kucera, editor at www.workdayminnesota.org, sends us this from Minneapolis.
While thousands of public- and private-sector workers are relieved to be returning to work after the nearly three-week state government shutdown, they are outraged by a budget that protects millionaires and increases the burden on Minnesota’s most vulnerable residents.
The budget bills, signed Wednesday by DFL Gov. Mark Dayton, incorporate the Republican legislative majority’s provisions to cut programs for the working poor and balance the books by borrowing heavily from local school districts.
In the $34 billion budget, lawmakers are taking $58 million from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, to fund other services, said Linden Gawboy of the Welfare Rights Committee.
