Dear Friend --
My name is Eva Schultz, and I’m a
UC Berkeley student and Labor Chair of Cal YDSA. Here on campus, we train young organizers
on the nuts and bolts of organizing, from one-on-one conversations to
public speaking. And when the UC tries to squeeze more and more out of
workers for less and less, we always show up on the picket line.
Throughout my time as an undergrad, East Bay DSA has
been there to help me grow as an organizer and to stand with us in
labor struggles. Make
this work possible - start monthly dues to East Bay DSA
>>
(This
is not the same as paying dues to national DSA, which many of you
already do. East Bay
DSA only receives a portion of national dues,
but if you give monthly dues to the chapter,
100% of them will come straight to East Bay
DSA!)
When I was in high school, it was a frightening time to be
a young woman. States started
passing abortion bans, foreshadowing the all-out attack on
reproductive rights that’s ramped up this year. It was a visceral
feeling - that I might not be able to control my own life choices -
and it stuck with me. When I arrived on campus, I joined YDSA, but I
didn’t yet see myself as political at all. But through
organizing with comrades like you, I realized the attack on my
reproductive rights was part of a bigger picture - everyone deserves
free healthcare, and the way we get there is a mass, working-class
movement for democratic socialism.
Now, I’m a committed leader in Cal
YDSA, and we’ve got a high-stakes labor struggle right
around the corner. Our
comrades in the academic workers’ union, UAW 2865, are fighting for
livable wages, since most barely earn enough to live. But the UC loves
to tell these workers that they’re being “paid in experience,” that
they “should be honored” to be exploited by such a prestigious
university. We won’t stand for it. Whatever the academic workers need,
Cal YDSA is ready to throw down.
If a strike comes, for these workers or any workers on
campus, you can bet my YDSA chapter and I will be standing on the
picket line, together with our comrades in East Bay DSA. Help
us students pull off some unstoppable strike support - start monthly
dues now >>
I’m so inspired by East Bay DSA for
the organizing we work on together. I regularly attend the chapter’s
labor solidarity meetings, where we gear up for possible strikes
together. We just partnered on a Night School, working with East Bay
DSA’s Political Education Committee. And I get to talk
about politics and organizing with my mentors, like Daria and Richard,
who help me navigate being a student and an organizer - especially as
the lives of young people like me have been dramatically reshaped by
the pandemic. They support my
leadership and help me think about my future, and I'm so grateful to
them.
I’ve grown so much as an organizer and as a person from
East Bay DSA’s mentorship.
And I hope you’ll make it possible for the chapter to do that for many
more students like me. Support
East Bay DSA’s work developing young organizers like me - become a
monthly donor now >>
Solidarity,
Eva Schultz
Cal YDSA Labor Committee Chair
UC Berkeley Class of
2024
