Worker Power Leadership School – Field Notes Vol. 2

We have news from Worker Power, where we recently funded a student so they could attend the Worker Power Leadership School.  It looks like Worker Power will be sharing their weekly newsletter with us over the 4 weeks of Leadership School.  This is the second I have received.

This is a helpful reminder to me that good things have been happening this week, which will pay off in the fall and for years ahead, even we have been mostly focused on the drama of these past few weeks.

You guys said you are interested in these, so here you go!

Reminder:oOne of the students from this year’s school will be leading the team we will funding for 3 weeks in the fall.  We don’t know who our team leader will be in the fall, but won’t it be fun if it turns out to be one of the students that is featured here?

Excerpts from the newletter

Welcome to Field Notes, our newsletter highlighting students and faculty of the second Worker Power Leadership School, a month-long program dedicated to training the next generation of progressive leaders who will run winning campaigns for working people.

In this volume of Field Notes, we have a faculty spotlight on Fernando Roman, who led a workshop last week on “Reversing Runaway Inequality,” and a student spotlight on Daniel Espinoza, a student from Orange County, CA. Sunari Weaver-Anderson, a student from Los Angeles, shares her experience connecting this week’s classes to her work talking to voters at the doors.

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Faculty Spotlight: 

Fernando Roman has been a Communications Workers of America (CWA) member for 27 years. Fernando built his career installing broadband and developing into a leader in his union. “I never thought I’d be up here, talking about history and politics and teaching people. I just install broadband! But this stuff is important. As union members, we have to understand how we got here.”

The training that Fernando brought to Leadership School students, “Reversing Runaway Inequality,” is based on a book by Les Leopold, “Runaway Inequality.”

CWA formulated the training to address a specific organizing challenge within the labor movement: how do you unite people of different political beliefs in a shared understanding of income inequality and the fight before us?This training gives students a thorough understanding of how we arrived at the income inequality they see today and space to talk across differences about a vision for progress.

“CWA has taken on this training because we felt it was necessary. Building a union is about everyone. It’s not about being a Democrat or Republican. In this movement, we have people who support both sides, and the fight isn’t against Republicans or Democrats. It’s against corporate greed,” said Fernando

At the end of the 8-hour training day, students imagined a world without inequality and drew pictures in groups of what that world might look like. “That’s my favorite part of this training,” says Fernando. “You don’t know my background, I don’t know your background, but as long as we have an open mind, we’ll realize that we all want the same thing.” This shared vision for a better future inspires us in our fight against inequality.

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Student Spotlight: Daniel

Daniel Espinoza comes to Worker Power Leadership School from Anaheim, California, where his mom has been a housekeeper at Disneyland Hotels, and a strong leader in the hospitality workers union UNITE HERE Local 11.

“I first got involved with the labor movement and canvassing when my mom told me, ‘We’re going to go do this and stand up for workers’ rights.’ It wasn’t a question, she wasn’t asking, she was TELLING me we’re doing this,” says Danny. “But I stayed involved because it felt good to do something that made a difference, with everything at stake.”

There’s a lot at stake for Danny and his family in this election. “My little cousin had DACA, but waited and waited and still couldn’t get full status as a citizen because the process is so long. She finally moved back to Mexico because it was taking so long. Other family members also don’t have status. I got lucky–my mom got citizenship when she was pretty young–but I never take my citizenship for granted because I’ve felt what it’s like to have part of your family separated by a border. This election is crucial for immigrant families like mine. That’s why I keep fighting; that’s why I keep knocking on doors.”

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Voices from the Doors: Sunari

Sunari Weaver-Anderson comes to the Leadership School from Los Angeles, California. She recently graduated from Occidental College, where she helped unionize fellow student workers under SEIU 721.

“This isn’t my first time canvassing,” Sunari reports, “but it is my first time canvassing in Arizona, and it’s been very different at the doors here than in California or Philly, and frankly, a lot more difficult to get people to open up.

I’ll start my conversations with, ‘There are a lot of reasons why people are heading to the polls this year and a lot of important issues in our communities. What issue is most important to you?’

The answers have been all over the place, and over the last week or so, people have been more excited to talk about candidates than I would have expected.”

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As I said last week, the work we do on Balloon Juice with our fundraising efforts – supporting great groups like this who share our goals for the future – is a big part of what helps keep me grounded when the road gets rocky.  I hope I’m not alone in that.

i plan to start sharing updates from the organizations we have been funding.  You can find this post and other reports from our organizations and even some of our BJ peeps in Reports from the Field at this link or by clicking on 2024 Activism in the top menu bar of Balloon Juice.

Reminder: we have Zoom with our new group North Carolina Black Alliance this Tuesday at 7 pm blog time.

Send me email to RSVP.  I hope you all join us – I get excited and inspired every time I talk with them.

Open Thread.