Workers Convene Sept. 14 To Build Power Behind Demand For Unions For All
Durham, NC – On Saturday, September 14, over 100 low wage workers will gather in downtown Durham to think critically, dialogue and strategize ways to build the collective power of working people across industries and workplaces.
The Worker Power Summit, hosted by NC Raise Up/Fight for $15 and a Union, is being organized by a group of 20 worker-leaders who are helping set the course for lifting up workers in Durham and across the South. North Carolina AFL-CIO president MaryBe McMillan will deliver a keynote address to kick off the summit.
“We need $15 an hour—and we will not stop fighting until we get it—but $15 alone is not a power shift. Higher wages won’t change the power balance between workers at my job and the company I work for,” said Eshawney Gaston, a member of NC Raise Up and the Worker Power Summit steering committee. “Coming together in a union is how we get the political power to make changes in our lives and lift up our communities.”
With the Worker Power Summit, NC Raise Up is continuing its now seven-year effort to organize and unite low wage workers. What started with fast-food workers has grown to a service sector-wide effort to come together and fight for power and union rights in Durham and across the Triangle. The summit comes on the heels of a groundbreaking speech by SEIU President Mary Kay Henry, who called for workers to be able to organize and bargain across geographies and industries.
NC Raise Up’s day-long Summit will include a worker-led, participatory workshop examining connections between poverty wages, current social conditions and the history of union suppression in the South. Workers will also lead a hands-on workshop that illustrates the transformative potential of working people coming together in a union and features an interactive timeline of Fight for $15 and a Union.
WHO: 100+ fast-food workers and low wage workers from Durham and the Triangle; Worker-leaders within NC Raise Up/Fight for $15 and a Union; Keynote speaker MaryBe McMillan, President of the North Carolina AFL-CIO
WHAT: The Worker Power Summit: a day-long convening to educate and organize local low wage workers and build the collective power of working people in the South
WHEN: Open Press Opening Program, Saturday, September 14 from 10-11AM
WHERE: Duke Methodist Church, 501 W Chapel Hill St Durham, NC 27701
Photo Credit: cbs58.com