Defend Kshama Sawant!

TONIGHT (Wednesday, 3/24) at 5pm Pacific / 7pm Central / 8pm Eastern: join Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants (CWA); Kshama Sawant, Seattle’s Socialist City Councilmember; Keon Liberato-Mercedes, President of Teamsters Local 3012 and member of DSA’s national leadership council; and Jennifer Bates, a leading BAmazon organizer, for an important zoom discussion on the massive opportunities – and challenges – for building a fighting union movement in the US!

This struggle is about more than defeating big business and the right-wing in Seattle. It has national implications, from the historic “Bamazon” organizing drive in Bessemer, Alabama to the fight for a $15 an hour minimum wage and the attempt to pass the PRO Act labor legislation.

We’re excited to hear from Sara Nelson, who was a leading figure in the powerful strike movement by flight attendants around the country that ended Trump’s government shutdown two years ago. She is one of many labor leaders to recognize how crucial  defeating the right-wing recall against Kshama Sawant is for the labor movement, not just in Seattle but also across the country.

As all eyes are on the BAmazon unionization effort in Bessemer, Alabama, we will also be joined by one of the primary on-the-ground organizers in that struggle to establish the first union at Amazon in the US, Jennifer Bates. Jennifer, a warehouse worker in Bessemer, Alabama will speak about how the organizing work in Bessemer began, how it’s going, and what lessons their experience has for the rest of the labor movement and as-yet unorganized workers.

Millions of low-wage, disproportionately Black and Brown workers have been forced to bear the brunt of the COVID crisis and economic turmoil and are urgently looking for a way to fight back. Jennifer Bates and her coworkers are courageously blazing a trail that has the potential to completely transform the labor movement.

With 11 Seattle union locals and over 400 rank-and-file union members already endorsing the Kshama Solidarity Campaign, the best fighters in Seattle’s labor movement are organizing against the right-wing recall attempt to remove socialist Councilmember Kshama Sawant. We’re also proud to be endorsed by many progressive organizations, including recently receiving the endorsement of Democratic Socialists of America’s national organization! At this Wednesday’s discussion, we are also excited to hear from Keon Liberato-Mercedes, President of Teamsters Local 3012 and member of DSA’s national leadership council.

As the DSA says in their statement of support, “Sawant has modeled what a class-struggle candidate is supposed to do: organize with social movements; amplify working-class community voices, and vigorously fight for policies that transfer relief and power to working people. This Recall campaign is a corporate attack rooted in racism and sexism and follows on the heels of Sawant’s staunch support of anti-racist working-class organizing with Black Lives Matter. Democratic Socialists of America stands with Kshama Sawant. We encourage members of DSA and working-class activists everywhere to defend working-class politics. Support the Kshama Solidarity campaign.

Join Sara, Jennifer, Kshama, Keon, and hundreds of other union siblings and activists for a timely discussion on how we can defeat Amazon, the right-wing, and the billionaire class in Seattle, nationally, and worldwide.

Please register now to join us on zoom this Wednesday (3/24) at 5pm Pacific / 7pm Central / 8pm Eastern, and share and invite your friends and coworkers on facebook!

If you’re in Seattle, also come out this Friday at 5pm for a rescheduled BAmazon solidarity rally!