Dear John,

When I think about the new worlds that we’re building, I sometimes get stuck at the question of “but how”? Sometimes, I ruminate on an offering from Octavia Butler: that “there’s no single answer that will solve all of our future problems. There’s no magic bullet. Instead there are thousands of answers—at least. You can be one of them if you choose to be.”

And sometimes, I think about unions. This summer, UPS workers authorized a strike as they demanded more pay and protections, including more safety measures in the face of rising temperatures and climate change – and they won! It’s a clear example of the role that organized people power can play as we fight for a Green New Deal, for healthcare for all, for the care and abundance that we all deserve. There are so many empowering stories emerging from labor movements, and I’m excited to reflect on some of them with you today. 

I hope you are enjoying these first cool, blue days of autumn, and that you are able to find yourself in moments of joy and imagination and community. 

Here’s what we’re reading, watching, and listening to this week.

1. Speaker drama

“If we do not follow through on the consequences of reckless behavior, then we enable that behavior.” I appreciate this video from AOC breaking down the removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, from the “how” to the “why” of it.

2. Writers win!

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike for 148 days, and have now won a contract with better pay, protections, and benefits. Their victory is proof of the power of the people over corporate interests and AI.  

3. Extremist candidates in MN school board races

“We are concerned that a toxic national movement is about to sweep into Minnesota school boards, through elections in a dozen key districts, mostly in the suburbs,” warn teachers. Local elections are crucial, especially in the fight for safe and inclusive schools. Extremist candidates are running for school board this year, including a Holocaust denier in Roseville, Minnesota.

4. The fight for environmental justice in North Minneapolis

“North Minneapolis should not bear the burden of breathing in half the trash of Hennepin County… We are breathing in batteries. We are breathing in plastic. We do not deserve this. This is a continuing crime of environmental racism." The Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) exacerbates decades of environmental racism and would be rendered unnecessary if we reinvested in greener solutions.

5. 75,000 workers have started the largest healthcare strike in U.S. history

“Unions pointed to Kaiser Permanente’s recent profits of $3 billion in the first half of 2023 and decried exorbitant salaries of executives.” Tens of thousands of healthcare workers have begun a 3-day strike across 5 states (and Washington DC), demanding better pay and solutions to understaffing. 

6. Climate change and farmworkers

As extreme heat becomes more common, more farm workers are being forced to work through the night. I was surprised to learn that this change is just as much (if not more) to protect the fruit they are harvesting, rather than the workers themselves. The consequences of this sudden shift aren’t yet known, but are already impacting workers’ lives and safety. 

7. Local Minneapolis labor news

I’ve been following the labor news coming out of my local grocery store for weeks, and was thrilled to learn that after voting to authorize a strike, workers at the Seward Community Co-op have won a contract with the pay, benefits, and protections they’ve been demanding.

8. Back to Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler’s work can stand on its own any day, but I’ve been appreciating this compilation of her work alongside other visionaries from Guante. He calls it a “sampling, a small collection of potential starting points, doorways into movement work … Because crisis often happens (or feels like it happens) all at once; preventing crisis is longer-term, all-the-time work. This is about how we might step into that work.”

9. Loneliness as fermentation and a call for collective care

I’m grateful to Chelsea Cleveland’s brilliant and vulnerable reflections on isolation and connection in an ongoing global pandemic. “I must hold on to a belief in a new world where I can exist without shame, embracing my identities as a disabled, fat, queer, nonbinary and trans, mixed-race Black person—and more … To achieve this, we must keep creating and experimenting—no matter how small the steps may seem.”

10. Taylor Swift and voter registration

"Time and time again young people are showing up and demonstrating they care about their rights and access to the ballot box." However you feel about Taylor Swift, you can’t deny the power of her reach, or the power she recognizes in her fans. Her call to register to vote on National Voter Registration Day drove over 35,000 new registrations.

Is your voter registration up to date? Get ready to vote with TakeAction’s Busy Voter’s Guide.

And that’s a wrap!

Send us what you’re reading, watching and listening to.

In care and solidarity,

Jessie Lee-Bauder (she/her)