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.
Social Media: New Tools Aid in Organizing
They’re tweeting in Northern California about the Employee Free Choice Act, sharing about health care reform on Facebook in Montana and posting organizing messages on My Space for workers in York, Pa.
Across the country, union members are using the new social media to mobilize workers and share information.
Steve Selby, an Electrical Workers (IBEW) organizer in York, Pa., knows the value of social media. He urgently needed to reach 300 workers at a local Comcast office. Rather than standing outside the office and handing out a flier with different information each day, Selby taught himself how to set up a MySpace account. He handed out one flier directing workers to his MySpace page, where he shared information the workers needed to know.
