UFE participated in the Southern Workers School with the Southern Workers Assembly (SWA) in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 17-18, 2024. This powerful gathering of over 170 workers and organizers across the country displayed the power of an organized multiracial working class. 

(Photo credit: Southern Workers Assembly)

Workers Assemblies Across the South

The Southern Workers Assembly was formed in 2012 with the goal of organizing the unorganized sectors of workers across the South. Through political education, collective action, and militant organizing, the SWA has formed 10 workers assemblies across the South. 

From city workers, dock workers, teachers, and nurses, to farmworkers and other labor sectors, the SWA has brought workers from all demographics together to create collective power and challenge unjust centers of corporate power.

Workers and organizers hearing reportbacks from workers assemblies across the South. (Photo credit: SWA)

The Political Economy of the South

What is the relationship between our governing political institutions and our current capitalist economic system? Why are workers in the South such a crucial component in building national and international worker power? Does the two-party system work for the majority of working-class people? These were the difficult questions that organizers at the school debated and contemplated for the political education portion of the agenda. 

“Education For Liberation” — Dr. Abdul Alkalimat from SWA’s education committee talks about the importance of political education. (Photo credit: SWA)

When asked what political economy is, the majority of American workers may not have an answer. Yet, political economy — the relationships between political systems and the ways the economy is organized — dominates our lives as workers. As the economic gap between the bosses and the workers continues to grow and the cost of living skyrockets, we see more workers in more sectors who are getting organized and building worker power. 

But how did this great divide between the rich and the poor get so out of control? What can we do to bridge this gap and create a more equitable society? There is no easy answer, but as was discussed in the school, the first step is to recognize the intrinsic connection between workers’ struggles and our political system that upholds and defends these economic injustices.

Workers in the South play a very important role. With the lowest levels of wages and union membership, Southern workers are the most exploited sector of the national working class. Southern politicians have constantly used intimidation and legislative power to quell all forms of collective worker power. Just recently, six Southern governors issued a joint statement warning workers to not unionize, to not bargain with their bosses and to not strike. 

Yet, workers from all sectors have refused to stay complicit in unjust labor practices and unlivable wages. From the incredible rise of auto workers unionizing for the first time ever to farm workers organizing for water breaks, workers in the South are leading the charge against the capitalist system and the politicians who uphold it.

Workers Stand With Palestine

How is the fight for a free Palestine connected to the fight for worker power? The ongoing genocide in Gaza has been on the mind of millions of people for the last 7½ months. Consistent global protests calling for a permanent ceasefire and an end to this genocide have continued without delay. But what is the role of workers in the liberation of Palestine? 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that “war is the enemy of poor and working people.” The minimum wage in North Carolina is still $7.25 an hour, while over $91 million in tax money from North Carolinians is sent annually to the Israeli military. While millions across Southern states struggle to make ends meet, struggle to afford healthcare, struggle to afford education and are living paycheck to paycheck, billions of dollars are invested in the US war machine at the expense of poor and working class people.

Elder Angaza Laughinghouse, from UE150, Black Workers For Justice and Fruit of Labor, talks about the necessity for workers to stand with Palestine. (Photo credit: Victor Urquiza)

Workers gain nothing from endless war abroad and gain everything in standing with the oppressed across the world. Several unions have joined the call for a permanent and lasting ceasefire, and some have even refused to load shipments of weapons going to Israel.

Internationalism — the solidarity of working-class people across nations — was a guiding principle in our discussions at the Workers School. We talked about how we have more in common with workers across the world, than we do with the rich in our own country. We concluded that, as workers in the United States, we have an important role in the anti-war movement. It is our duty to educate and agitate around the question of Palestine to our fellow co-workers. We say it loud and clear: workers stand with Palestine!

What’s Next For The Labor Movement

The question on everyone's mind after leaving the Workers School was: what is next for the labor movement in the South? How do we take everything we discussed in these three days into the broader working class and continue building worker power across all sectors?

We have seen a revival of the labor movement in the South in the last few years, yet there remain millions of workers who suffer low wages, lack healthcare, and are not part of labor organizations. Organizers must intensify their efforts to reach unorganized workers across the South. With an upcoming election, we must work hard to raise the consciousness of workers and organize them for collective power. We must connect the issues of imperialism, immigrant justice, and women’s liberation to the struggle in the workplace. As we make those connections, we must practice solidarity in ways that make it abundantly clear: an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.

Participant Victor Maximo, an organizer with El Futuro Es Nuestro, a UFE partner and a member group of the UFE-coordinated Raising Wages NC, was asked what his message would be to fellow workers trying to organize. He said, “It’s difficult, but not impossible. If we don’t fight, if we don’t use our voice, we will continue to be trampled on and intimated. Our conditions will never change. My message is for us to support each other. Let’s work together, and demonstrate that we can win better conditions and wages for the workers. I am just one example, and I stand here with my fellow workers who have better lives because we struggled for it and won.” 

We have a long and hard battle ahead of us, but the Southern Workers School was a clear example that a new world is being built. We have a world to win!

To learn more about the Southern Workers Assembly: southernworker.org