Looking forward with solidarity and strength

By Fabrizio Sasso
Executive Director, Sacramento CLC

As 2024 draws to a close with anxiety and trepidation for our future, I want to take a moment (and a deep breath) to highlight some of the many victories and achievements we had this year.

While the election may have not ended with the result many of us wanted, it was not the mandate that MAGA wants us to believe. Less than 50% of the popular vote went to Trump, giving him a narrow margin of support that leaves the midterms uncertain—something we need to keep in mind as we refocus our fight in 2025.

We also had our own victories this year, though, including building a stronger Labor movement here in Sacramento.

We held two organizing institute trainings, which helped us train more than 100 new organizers. We also helped support our affiliates in their internal and external organizing campaigns, including IBEW’s efforts with Siemens and SEIU 1000’s internal campaign.

We supported our newest affiliates, NUHW and the Sacramento County Attorney’s Association, in their strike actions.

And we established a Retiree Council at the Central Labor Council to keep retirees active in the Labor movement and added a Board position for the Retiree Council.

Our Crab Feed and Salute to Labor Dinner sold out and raised more money than ever to support our work for the coming year—nearly $250,000.

And perhaps most importantly, we were instrumental in electing Labor candidates to important local offices. Kevin McCarty will be our new mayor of Sacramento, filling the enormous shoes of Darrell Steinberg. Roger Dickinson, a decades-long champion of Labor, will serve on the Sacramento City Council. Martha Guerrero was elected as Mayor of West Sacramento, along with Norma Alcala for the West Sacramento City Council. That helps us build pro-worker majorities across our six-county region.

Next year, we plan on keeping this momentum going.

We’ve recently added two new staff members to the Central Labor Council. Mat Cusick is our Community Impact Director, handling communications and community services. Ellen Bezanson has joined us as an Organizer.

These two new hires will make our Council stronger than ever. Mat will be updating our website, handling our social media, helping us create new marketing materials and ensuring you, our members, are informed in new ways including a newsletter, podcast and a public access television show that is currently in development.

We’ll be rolling out a Labor Lending Library with books, training guides and materials our affiliates may need for actions, events, and strikes.

We will also be developing a Solidarity Action Team consisting of dedicated Union member activists to provide solidarity and support on strike lines and actions.

All this is about organizing, communication and continuing to build our strength. This election has proven that we must have conversations with people year-round, talking about economic issues and the everyday things that are important in our lives, our families and our communities. We can’t just stop when the election is over.

So we will be hiring more organizers to canvas across our territory, to continue our work of building an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few, and building that strength and solidarity to meet whatever challenges come.