John,
The history of the South is one of resistance, of fights for freedom, and of revolutionary workers. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers that awful day he was killed.
We're carrying on that tradition. We've been organizing as part of Raise Up and the Fight for $15 and a Union for years and now we're joining together in a new union to build and own our power all across the South. The Union of Southern Service Workers is built by and for low-wage workers. Will you help spread the word?
Throughout history, workers like us have been excluded from unionizing. But this country was built on the labor of unpaid enslaved workers, and later, by exploited Black and brown workers excluded from protections like the ones in the New Deal designed to provide relief to other working groups.
I've lived that history firsthand. I worked at Wendy's for more than 20 years. But when I slipped on ice at work, they didn't care about my pain or years of commitment and service. They told me I had to finish my shift. In the end, I needed back surgery.
Jim Crow-era labor laws made it harder for Black and brown folks to organize unions and divided us from white workers. So there wasn’t a union there to have my back. I teamed up with other workers and the Fight for $15 and a Union and now there is a place for all of us – the Union of Southern Service Workers.
Like MLK Jr., we're uniting workers of every race to fight back against the rigged, racist status quo that holds us all back. We're going to transform these low-wage, high-turnover jobs into good union jobs, and we're going to do it by turning up the pressure on the bosses and the CEOs.
We know there's a long road ahead. But the history of the South has always been one of persistence and perseverance. It's central to the future of workers. Now, care workers, retail workers, and fast-food workers have come together to build our union in the South. Learn more about the USSW and share >>
In solidarity,
Mama Cookie
Home Care Worker & Fast-Food Worker
Durham, NC
Union of Southern Service Workers
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