15-years As A Union Organizer, Sheila Remembers Her JVC DisO Retreat Banner

I have been a union organizer for the past 15-years with UNITEHERE!, the union for hotel, gaming, airport, and food service workers.  I am currently in Chicago but spent almost a decade organizing in Texas and Florida. My job is to organize workers to find their own power and to teach workers how to use that power collectively to change the systems that keep wages low and keep poor people divided.  To do that we must all learn how to remove the layers of fear and doubt that hold us back from believing in our ability to affect change.  I love what I do.  But it is slow and incremental and can be heartbreakingly frustrating at times.   

The laws in this country are written to protect the rich and powerful, at the expense of the workers who created their wealth. Watching the most marginalized unite and take on the most privileged—and win—despite all the obstacles placed before them is an experience like no other.  Winning wage increases or affordable healthcare or humane workloads changes the day to day life of workers and their families.  Often in profound ways.  But the biggest victory is seeing workers find their power and become set afire themselves.  

This year of the coronavirus has been like living another year of JVC.  When I started organizing, I was electrified and consumed by my work in the movement.  15 years later, marriage, babies, aging parents, etc. my energy is split in so many directions.  But the pandemic has been a powerful re-agitation. The virus has laid-bare the systems that have always existed but can be forgotten in the race to survive.   

Our cruel immigration system, that keeps millions of people without status sometimes for decades, keeps those same people without any access to unemployment benefits during a global pandemic, therefore creating a population desperate for work, no matter what the conditions or pay.  Our system of mass incarceration, which disproportionality affects Black and Latinx communities, forces the formerly incarcerated to list their criminal record on job applications for up to 10 years after leaving prison.  This leads to massive discrimination in hiring and again, a population desperate for jobs, no matter what the pay or conditions. 

It is no coincidence that the majority of low-wage workers in America are from the same communities that are hardest hit by the coronavirus.  When we force people into jobs that don’t provide health insurance or sick days, is it any wonder that those same people are dying at a rate two to three times more than the rest of the population?  When we force people into jobs that don’t pay enough to live, let alone to save, is it any surprise that we are facing one of the biggest hunger crisis in modern America? 

Yet billionaires have only gotten richer during the pandemic.  Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, saw his wealth increase by $25 Billion since January 1, while jobs at Amazon are described as “grueling,” and “inhumane,” and pay at or only slightly above minimum wage.  And Amazon warehouses have been host to some of the worst COVID-19 workplace outbreaks.  Who, exactly, do we think is packing those boxes?  Workers who, quite intentionally, have been left with few other choices.  

I remain committed to continuing to light the world on fire for as long as I am able, and I often think about that banner at DisOrientation from JVC as I continue the fight. Don’t Mourn! Organize!