The SCLC is a model for the Labor Movement

By Fabrizio Sasso
Executive Director, Sacramento CLC

Happy New Year. I hope 2023 is starting off with strength and solidary for everyone in our Labor family.

This year promises to be an exciting and busy one for the Sacramento Central Labor Council. I am proud to announce that our Council has been chosen as one of ten across the country—five regional councils and five state federations—to be visited by our national AFL-CIO as part of a new effort to harness the skills and power of local and state labor organizations.

At last year’s national conference, delegates passed Resolution 2, which created the Commission on Strengthening State Federations and Area and Central Labor Councils.

As the resolution explains it, “We are living in a moment of profound economic change and political polarization. From the local level to the national stage, the labor movement is actively reimagining a new ‘future of work,’ including changes in policies, public investments and who benefits from economic activity. We are reimagining a world where all people can have a better life, where one job is enough, and where all have access to affordable and quality health care and secure retirement.”

This new commission includes representatives from state and local bodies and is charged with examining best practices for organizing impactful programs and actions, governance, structure and increasing participation.

The SCLC was chosen as one of the five Labor Councils to be examined because of our strength and success in all of those areas. I couldn’t be prouder to have the opportunity to share our beliefs and our accomplishments with members from across the United States.

And we have many accomplishments to share. Over the past few years, we have proven that this Council punches above its weight. We have always been at the forefront of both labor and social issues, fighting not just for better working conditions, but better futures for everyone in our community.

We helped envision the UC Davis expansion of Aggie Square as not just a school, but an engine of economic equality for workers and those who live nearby.

We were instrumental in the fight to raise California’s minimum wage, especially important for workers in industries such as fast food. That wage increased again on Jan. 1, bringing more stability to families living in economic vulnerability.

We have fought for rent control and affordable housing. We have elected political leaders at all levels who share our values and our mission. We have a labor-friendly City Council now, thanks to those efforts, that will help us take our goals even further.

In the coming year, along with our central focus on workers’ rights, we will once again lean in on the issues that affect us all. Homelessness is a crisis, and a daily tragedy of poverty and trauma that plays out on our streets every day. We will put our might behind finding solutions that offer dignity and hope.

We will also fight for workers’ rights that are necessary to making our jobs work for our lives. That includes better access to child care, and rules about scheduling that protect our ability to care for our families and ourselves.

Members of the Commission on Strengthening State Federations and Area and Central Labor Councils will visit us sometime early this Spring. I will keep you posted on when they will arrive.

But know this: It is our delegates and volunteers that make our Council what it is, and you are the power and vision behind everything we do. When the Council arrives, it will be my great pleasure and honor to highlight all the hard work and effort you have put into making the SCLC what it is today.

There is really no mystery to what makes this Council great: It’s the people who show up to do the work.