July 23—To gain credibility with people of color, union members must become regularly involved in their communities, said Juliet Huang, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance. “You need to be in the community year round, rather than show up just when an election rolls around.”
Huang was among more than 800 participants at a two-day meeting for the Building Power for Working Families Conference July 23. The conference, held in advance of the AFL-CIO’s 25th Constitutional Convention in Chicago, opened with a day-long National Summit on Diversity. During the morning session, workers from dozens of unions heard from speakers and shared their hands-on strategies for increasing diversity in union leadership, and Huang joined participants as they continued their discussions in the afternoon.
‘Political Power Breeds Organizing Power’
Political power breeds organizing power, said Lou Moye, a UAW member from St. Louis, who recounted how the union helped elect one of its own members to the City Council and used that political base to create alliances with religious and other groups around workplace and other issues.
In an hour-long open discussion, participants also suggested recruiting more women and people of color as union members by actively participating in civil rights and immigrant rights groups, seeking younger members, hiring women and minority organizers and emphasizing the extent to which unions fight racism and sexism.
Participants also heard from Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts, former U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Ida Castro and activist Rev. Addie Wyatt.
The conference is co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO and the Labor Coalition for Community Action, an umbrella group for the federation’s six constituency groups.
Check back for coverage tomorrow as the conference continues July 24 with sessions on organizing, strengthening state and local union movements and democratizing the global economy.
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