(This email has the correct links to donate to the YALL fund. Also includes Chris Smalls!)
Greetings, fellow workers!
We are writing to you today to appeal for your support in sending a delegation of Houston DSA members to the Young Workers Summit this weekend in Round Rock, Texas.
This statewide gathering of the Young Active Labor Leaders will bring together young people from many sectors of the union movement who are working to build the labor movement in Texas.
Houston DSA is funding scholarships for nine members to attend this three-day conference
that will include people from many different sectors of labor, with workshops and strategy
sessions about the building trades, green jobs, and how to organize unions and campaigns.
We’re excited to learn from Starbucks Workers unionizing their stores across Texas, and to
hear from keynote speaker Chris Smalls of the Amazon Labor Union!
To fund these scholarships, we need your help. We set out with a goal of $2000 to cover
lodging, registration, and transportation to the summit. We have raised half of that from
donations and hosting a benefit event at Bohemeo’s. We are reaching out to you and asking
for your help to reach our goal and send young DSA members from Houston to this summit.
Read below to hear from some of our members who are receiving scholarships to attend the summit.
After over a decade of not being a union member, I am so happy to finally be part of the
movement and get involved in the AFL-CIO. Having an opportunity to attend the YALL
Summit is great for both me, and our collective vision for the future of labor.
We know our current labor institutions are too friendly to the Boss, too close to the
Democratic Party, and too reliant on union leadership rather than the workers.
We have the power to change this.
Sending a group of DSA unionists will help us continue our efforts to craft the AFL-CIO into an independent, class struggle focused federation. We are the future of the labor movement, and we will be the ones to usher in a future led by the working class.
Chris W. - Texas Staff Union, Newsguild-CWA 32035
Organized labor is the foundation for any workers movement. Attending this year's YALL summit will equip me with the skills and connections necessary to work towards buildingpower for working class people not only in Texas, but the U.S. as a whole.
I plan on entering the workforce later this year and embarking on a career as a Houston
Firefighter, a union workplace where I hope to further the struggle with the tools gained from this summit.
Any donation is a act of solidarity that I do not take lightly, and will promise to pay forward!
-Enrique "Ricky" Salinas
Becoming a member of the IBEW has not only allowed me to receive a great wage and
benefits, but has given me a sense of dignity and security that I've never felt working for a non-union shop. It has taught me that *every* worker deserves the right to a union.
At the YALL Conference, I am looking forward to learning how to strengthen my union, and
union power in Texas as whole from fellow young labor activists!
-Bennett
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Local Union 716
I am extremely excited to be attending this year's YALL Summit! It would not have been
possible for me to attend without the support of Houston DSA, whose assistance I'm thankful for.
Attending the YALL Summit in 2019 gave me the chance to make connections with people in
the labor movement across Texas and gave me the chance to become an officer in Houston
YALL. I am excited to have the chance to meet up with and learn from the existing labor
movement, and new efforts, like Starbucks Workers as we build a labor movement in
Houston. I'm also excited to be bringing a number of young DSA members who are interested in getting more involved in the labor movement as well.
-Rob B.
Houston Professional Firefighters Association - IAFF 341
Houston DSA Labor WG Co-Chair
You are also welcome to get involved in the work of the Houston DSA Labor Working Group.
We meet the third Wednesday of every month at 7 PM at Bohemeo’s, 708 Telephone Rd.
