Race & Labor Work

Fifty-five union members from a wide spectrum of local unions and allies participated in an all-day Race & Labor forum on December 13, 2020. We were pleased to welcome April Sims, Cherika Carter, and Kasi Marita Perreira; Secretary-Treasurer, Political and Strategic Campaign Director and Racial and Gender Justice Director respectively, of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, to facilitate the day for us. You can read about the racial justice work at the WSLC here.

Originally scheduled for March 22, 2020, the pandemic forced the event to be, in the short term, restructured to a 2-hour online forum on the same day, and ultimately rescheduled for a full day but still online on December 13, 2020. The event was jointly sponsored by the Maine AFL-CIO, Maine Education Association (MEA), Maine Service Employees Association (MSEA-SEIU Local 1989), the A. Philip Randolph Institute – Maine Chapter (APRI-Maine), Maine State Building and Construction Trades Council, and the Southern Maine Labor Council (SMLC).

Other work on racial justice at the Maine AFL-CIO has included:

A “Resolution to Work For Racial Justice in the Maine Labor Movement” passed at the Maine AFL-CIO COPE Convention in June, 2020;
Work to establish a Maine chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute
Engagement with the formation of, and holding a labor seat on, the Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Populations
Plans to include specifically race and labor related events in the upcoming Maine AFL-CIO Online Winter Institute.

UPCOMING EVENT:

In developing their plan for racial justice in the labor movement, WSLC worked with Bill Fletcher Jr.to plan and build their program. Bill authored a booklet “Race to Labor” to go with the program.

The Maine AFL-CIO Labor Reading Group, in conjunction with the five organizations that sponsored the December 13 Race & Labor forum, will host a discussion of the Race to Labor pamphlet, hosted by the author, Bill Fletcher Jr. This special discussion will take place Thursday, January 28, from 5:30-7:00pm.