Committed to training the next generation

By Fabrizio Sasso
Executive Director, Sacramento CLC

It has been one stellar year for the Labor Movement, here in Sacramento and across the country.

What has become known as Hot Labor Summer didn’t disappear when the weather changed. The passion, organization and momentum that brought strikes and organizing across the country remains as strong as ever. It is unlike anything we have seen in at least a generation.

Our president, Joe Biden, even joined United Auto Workers members on the picket line, a first in history for a sitting president. How amazing it that, that support for working families goes all the way to the Oval Office?

It is proof that workers, especially young workers, are fed up with economic inequality, inflation and CEO pay that never seems to stop rising. Unions are polling at 88% popularity with younger Americans and 71% nationwide. That is a kind of support that is incredibly rare for any cause or organization.

And the energy of young workers isn’t just reserved for the workplace. Our young people are fighting to save democracy, to save our planet from climate change and to build a better world for future generations.

And those of us here in Sacramento, at the Central Labor Council and beyond, have been here for all of it.

We were there for Kaiser healthcare workers when they walked the picket line and won a new contract despite months of stonewalling by the company.

We were there for home care workers fighting for a fair contract with the county.

We were there for striking actors and writers when they went up against one of the most powerful industries in the country, as they were threatened with their work being replaced by artificial intelligence.

We were there for state workers, when they demanded that the governor reinstate the California Dream with fair wages and good working conditions.

And we will be there for coming fights. It is what we do.

But we need to do more than show up and fight. We need to ensure that the next generation has the skills and support they need to continue the fight.

It is essential that we capitalize on this remarkable moment in history and harness this union energy to make sure that the power of the people isn’t just a slogan, but our collective future.

Here at the Sacramento Central Labor Council, we are meeting this moment with a new program to train the next generation.

One of the most frequent concerns I hear from unions is that they don’t have enough good organizers. That is why the CLC piloted a training program for young organizers this year and in 2024 will be launching an organizing apprenticeship program.

This organizing apprenticeship program will accept people interested in organizing in the labor movement and train them through our organizing institute. And they’ll get paid while they’re doing it.

Once trained, they will be loaned out for months to unions conducting external organizing campaigns, contract campaigns, issues and strategic campaigns. Our goal is to help our affiliates build organizing capacity by creating a larger pool of organizers to choose from.

And if these young people don’t end up landing a job within the movement, they will at least have learned how to talk to workers, perhaps organizing within their workplaces in the future. They’ll better understand worker and class struggles, and what role labor plays in creating economic justice.

We want organizers everywhere, because that’s what will make our movement grow and that is what will make our society better. Because once people understand the power of organizing and of collective action, they see how it can work in every aspect of society, not just the workplace.

They understand that politics, climate change, even issues such as housing and homelessness do have solutions if we work together.

That is the true power of unions, and the power this Council is determined to pass on — the knowledge and skills to change the world.