Maine AFL-CIO, APRI Maine & IAM Local S6 Members Attend MLK Conference on Race, Immigration & Labor

PHOTO: APRI-ME President Garrett Stewart (Left) with Machinists Local S6 Human Rights Committee members Archie Latham (chair), Tarra Sheerer and Garrett Stewart Jr.

Several Mainers attended the AFL-CIO Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Civil and Human Rights conference in Austin, Texas last weekend. Maine attendees included Maine AFL-CIO President Cynthia Phinney, APRI-Maine President Garrett Stewart, Maine State Nurses Association President Cokie Giles, Katie Schools from USM’s Scontras Center, Asia Pacific ALA (APALA) Executive Director Sandra Engle, IAM President Brian Bryant, IAM Eastern Territory General Vice President Dave Sullivan and the whole IAM Local S6 Human Rights Committee.

The annual event brings together union members, labor leaders, elected officials, community allies and representatives from faith groups to build on the deep roots of solidarity to lead the fights ahead. With a new presidential administration rapidly approaching attendees discussed how to prepare to fight back against attacks on our rights, neighborhoods and hard-fought contracts.

The event featured workshops and panel discussions on how to advance Dr. King’s vision of collective action, reinforce the longstanding bond between the labor and civil rights movements and channel our strength and energy into substantive action to build worker power. Speakers included Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Fred Redmond, APRI President Clayola Brown. Union members also attended workshops about collective bargaining, organizing, women’s and trans rights, LGBTQIA+ issues and immigration.

“It was the best conference I've ever been to. It was very uplifting,” said APRI-Maine President Garrett Stewart. “There was a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood.”

Stewart’s son Garrett Jr. (IAM S6), who works as a sandblaster at Bath Iron Works, attended as a member of his union’s Human Rights Committee. The committee handles complaints from members at the shipyard who have been harassed or discriminated against on the basis of race, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation and more. It then meets with the company to address the issues and enforce rules regarding discrimination and harassment. Stewart said the highlight of the conference for him was attending a breakout group on issues impacting immigrant workers.

“Hearing different stories of people’s trials and tribulations just really opened my eyes to how big this problem is for people in this country and how I can bring this knowledge back home to try to help people, especially in our workforce,” said Stewart.

One of the ideas he learned from the workshop was to find translators to bridge the language gap for workers who don’t speak English as a first language. Local S6 Human Rights Committee member Matthew Wooten also attended the immigration workshop.

“Up here in Maine we see and hear about immigration and the issues people face from mass deportation and dreamers with DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] status," said Wooten. "But hearing first-hand from Dreamers who are facing deportation and being sent to countries where they’ve never really lived in, it was powerful.”

Garrett Stewart Sr. said APRI-Maine is also working with Local S6 leadership to create a committee for Black, indigenous and other people of color where they can freely talk about issues impacting them. As a Black man who started working at Bath Iron Works in 2003, Stewart said racism was prevalent at the yard to the point that a friend quit after experiencing racism in the workplace. However, he says the climate there has improved a lot in the past 22 years. Now a larger and growing percentage of the workforce at the shipyard are people of color.

Stewart said APRI-Maine has a lot of plans going into the new year to organize and educate workers about issues impacting workers of color. Last fall the group held a popular education workshop on race, immigration and labor with Local S6 and plans to hold more courses for unions and labor councils.

“I really feel like the A. Philip Randolph Institute-Maine is getting some traction and our name is getting out there,” he said.