Organizing City Workers Across Virginia
Donation protected
“Trash is what we do, it’s not who we are,” stated Red McClenny.
On August 19, over 100 sanitation workers in the City of Virginia Beach shut down work for the day, refused to load into their trucks, demanding hazard pay. Amidst this global COVID-19 pandemic, essential workers everywhere deserve to be paid for risking their lives to come to work. They then packed City Hall, spoke out and won $1,500 hazard pay bonus -- but there is still so much more they deserve.
This is also a historic moment. There was both a strike and a change in the law in Virginia that will allow city workers to COLLECTIVELY BARGAIN starting in May 2021. This is an opportunity that public workers in NC and VA have NEVER had and was taken away during the Jim Crow era. This is especially important as the rising movements against systematic racism are advancing because these are workplace composed of mostly Black workers.
UE has been undergoing new strategies of pre-majority unionism across North Carolina and Virginia for over 20 years, but now needs the support of the movement to garner resources to organize municipal workers in Virginia Beach and across the state. This could be a watershed moment for public sector workers in the South and we don't want it to pass by without a serious organizing campaign.
The Southern Workers Assembly appeals to you to reach deep, to make a donation to support organizing municipal workers in this strategic Southern state.
On August 19, over 100 sanitation workers in the City of Virginia Beach shut down work for the day, refused to load into their trucks, demanding hazard pay. Amidst this global COVID-19 pandemic, essential workers everywhere deserve to be paid for risking their lives to come to work. They then packed City Hall, spoke out and won $1,500 hazard pay bonus -- but there is still so much more they deserve.
This is also a historic moment. There was both a strike and a change in the law in Virginia that will allow city workers to COLLECTIVELY BARGAIN starting in May 2021. This is an opportunity that public workers in NC and VA have NEVER had and was taken away during the Jim Crow era. This is especially important as the rising movements against systematic racism are advancing because these are workplace composed of mostly Black workers.
UE has been undergoing new strategies of pre-majority unionism across North Carolina and Virginia for over 20 years, but now needs the support of the movement to garner resources to organize municipal workers in Virginia Beach and across the state. This could be a watershed moment for public sector workers in the South and we don't want it to pass by without a serious organizing campaign.
The Southern Workers Assembly appeals to you to reach deep, to make a donation to support organizing municipal workers in this strategic Southern state.
Organizer
Dante Strobino
Organizer
Durham, NC