Labor = Power

In the first episode of 99 Rising, Host, Max Arias, sits down with rank and file union members of SEIU Local 99 and labor leaders, Cecily Myart-Cruz from United Teachers Los Angeles and Yvonne Wheeler from the Los Angeles Federation of Labor. In this episode we discuss the wins of SEIU 99 along with those of our coalition partners, we delve into how we use these wins to move towards a better future for working people.

Hosted by Executive Director Max Arias, 99 Rising features candid discussions with Local 99 members, community leaders, labor leaders, elected officials, and movement thinkers—all focused on what it takes to build power and win justice for working people.

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:45

Welcome to the Nine Rising, the SCIU Local N9 podcast, where we lift up the voices of education workers, where we also examine the political, cultural, and labor issues that affect our daily lives and our communities. Today we'll be joined by my coalition, brothers and sisters, who all played a vital role in winning that historic contract campaign that we had against LAUSD. Later in the episode, we'll be joined by members of the SAU Local 99 LAUSD bargaining team, as well as the president of LA County Federation of Labor, Sister Yvonne Wheeler. Today's theme is Labor is Power. A conversation on how workers in LA have pushed back against the status quo and redefined what the value of the labor is. But now let me welcome my sister, Cecily Maya Cruz from United Teachers Los Angeles, also known as UTLA. Hello, Cecily. Welcome.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Hey, Max. Thanks for having me here today.

SPEAKER_05 1:46

It's really great to have you here. You know, I always see you everywhere, in the streets, at the district office when we're yelling at them, whatever. And uh and it's good to see you in the setting, and it's great to have you here to have a conversation today.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Well, it's always great to be with you, Max, but with the members of Local 99. Um, that's near and dear to my heart. And so whenever we're in the struggle, we're in the struggle together for respect, dignity, a livable wage, and whatever trouble we can get into. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:17

You know, for the longest time, I know that our members are always fighting for the same fight. Amongst that fight, though, the way LAUSD historically has been pushing back is by trying to divide us, by doing things that they feel may benefit, you know, one group versus the other, or trying to make us feel like if we do something, it affects the other group. But I think, you know, through the struggles and uh we managed, I think, to break through that uh in a way. And and I think the that what we're living now is that moment. So I just want to talk briefly uh from you about you know the history of how SCU Local 99 and UTLA came together for the 2023 strike and how that started changing those dynamics.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Yeah, I mean, it's it seems like a long time ago, but it's so recent. And you brought up, you know, the divide and conquer that the district um normally has. And I call it FUD FUD, fear, uncertainty, and doubt. And really those are the the key points that drive uh a wedge between workers and a boss, but also our members with each other, right? Um, bringing a false narrative, as you will, um to come into play. I I think what was different in 23 was the fact that we are fighting the same fight, um, a little differently, but it the fight is the same. And I think the the pinnacle piece, and I don't know if you remember, um, when you said, like, do you think that UTLA will, you know, strike with us? And like immediately I was like, yes, absolutely. And then I was like, wait, wait, wait, wait. I have to, we have to go ask our members. I was like, I can't just say yes. Um, but I remember going back to our board um at UTLA and you know, talking about what the fight was ahead for local 99 and talking to them about the similarities of our fights. And I remember one specific board member said, you know, I don't think they showed up for us in 2019. And I was like, that's not true. But let me reframe what you're saying. Are you saying that we shouldn't stand in the gap for our special education assistants that are working side by side? Are you saying that we're not going to stand in the gap for cafeteria workers, our bus drivers that greet our our babies early in the morning and take them home late at night? Like, are we saying that as a collective here? And I just like stop talking and I just kind of let it fall. And then folks were like, no, those are that's my family. Those are my family members. And I was like, exactly, because we're all one big family, especially when we're at the school site. So we don't want to talk about whatever happened in the past. We're in this moment, and this moment is dictating for us to actually come together to really show uh what we can do and the power of the two most powerful unions um in the city of Los Angeles, that we could actually bring the district to its knees um by standing together in solidarity. And from that point, I never heard anything else. It was one person. And after that, everyone just said, yes, these are our family members. How do we do that?

SPEAKER_05 6:22

Yeah, I remember 23. Uh, you know, just frame it for our viewers or listeners, it was a sympathy strike. It was uh uh SCAU Local Nine members were doing probably the first strike they've done in their history at that level, and the teachers uh wanted to join selflessly in sympathy. Uh and uh that strike, I remember that moment. Uh, you know, I think what what we captured what was going on already in the field organically, there was already a lot of support in the schools from teachers to our members. And I think uh by doing the work that we did, uh, you know, doing rallies in coalition, really planning in coalition and doing all that work, it really, really cemented what our what both all our members were feeling at the end of the day. We're fighting for the same school community. And I remember that moment how much our members really wanted to support teachers as well. So it was uh really great to see in 23 that we came together. And you know, and that strike had an impact, a serious impact on our members' livelihood. It was uh they got an average of a 30% raise, healthcare for thousands and additional hours, and that also translated into supports for students. That's kind of impact it had for us, and I think the biggest impact it started the coalition, which I feel is still strong right now. Yes, and we're I'm gonna talk a little more about that. Uh, but wanted to ask you in the 23 action, Came of Solidarity, did that in in any way also support your contract demands that you were bargaining at the time?

SPEAKER_02 7:48

Absolutely, because one, we showed solidarity in action. Um, and then it did help to leverage what we were able to get a month later after uh the strike. And so we we were able to um wrap our our things up in a way that I felt was very powerful um to those at that time, 85 bargaining bargaining members. Um we we saw what it meant um to show solidarity, to live solidarity, that solidarity is a verb. Um, it's an action. And um it it is, I do believe that we were able to achieve what we achieved because of the power of the strike. I think this goes around. I mean, we try to be as intentional as possible um around the collaboration, right? Checking in. Um, and I I do feel that the round table that uh SEIU Local 99 um put together with the labor partners, because you really started that um and saying, like, let's come in, let's have these meetings of all the labor partners to see. I mean, it it was kind of like a test, right? To see um a litmus test or, you know, um to see like who is gonna be um down with us for real, for real. Um, but I do feel like it was instructional, um, the conversations that we were having, um, to see like, can we do some things together? And what are those things we can do together? Having those first flower rings and then coming together in December for um like an all-labor partner rally. Um, it was like, okay, we can continue this conversation, but the auntie got raised, right? And I think you were the person to like, you know, call into question, okay, so we've done this and we achieved getting our health benefits. Everyone um gets to have their health benefits for two more years, but we are still in bargaining. Can we also come around this conversation? In the end, it was, you know, local 99, SEIU, UTLA, and a la Teamsters that said, okay, we'll do this. And I do feel um the reason why the district ended up saying, you know, strike aversion is because I do feel someone there was like, this will cripple the city. Like it will come to a screeching halt. And um it goes back to what you said in the beginning around divide and conquer. That's what they were trying to do with us, and they were not able to do it. But I do feel, and that's something that maybe we can have a debrief on, is the other labor partners settling so quickly in the beginning. I do feel like that was a plan. Um, and that was like BC, you know, before Carvalho left, right? And so it's like, okay, all these other labor partners just said, okay, we're gonna end our contract, because I feel like that was going to be a tool to wedge us or to maybe box us in to not be able to go on strike.

SPEAKER_05 11:42

Yeah, I agree. That was clearly one, uh was Union Busting 101. I know you've been uh at it since 2019, the teacher struck, in 2023, the teacher struck, and almost right now uh we we well we technically uh we're there. Uh so what outcomes just share with me, like when you see you know, what outcomes do you see that are possibly for students, for teachers, for workers in general? Just share a bit what what you see.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Well, I mean, having lower class sizes um is what is needed in the schools. Um, having a ban on subcontracting, um, which is something that you and local 99 really focused on is the subcontracting out, like of the BIIs in the special ed department. That's something that's near and dear to our hearts for special ed um educators, um, talking about that subcontracting. But the district likes to use subcontracting as a way to not hire um and not invest in schools. And I feel like we took the the blankets or the covers off of what the district is really doing in regards to subcontracting, um, overusage of vendors and you know, and and so so forth. I think that that was a huge issue that came forward that folks coalesced around um for us really talking about uh the investment in staff. And that's something that, you know, you you were talking about, like, you know, we have to invest in staff. So if we want safe and supportive and clean schools, uh, we need to have the maintenance staff that is going to do this work. And um, you cannot use subcontracting or worse, even ask educators to continue, you know, have students clean the classrooms and so forth. Yes, that's right. And it's just like, why do we do that instead of investing in staff and bringing in folks?

SPEAKER_05 14:10

Yeah, and the subcontracting buddy raised it, they spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year that that money be reinvested into uh, you know, district employees, uh it's gonna go a long way. And you said, as you mentioned, there's still a lot of work to do, yeah, right? And but we do have a powerful coalition, uh, think UTLA and SU 99 and uh and you know, Alla has now joined. And I know uh that our viewers would like to know how is it that we have managed to keep alive this coalition? Because coalition work is is difficult, and I know we're gonna have to keep working hard at it uh at the end of the day, but but we've done it so far. So uh how do you think we managed to keep this uh alliance alive?

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Um you said it. Uh coalition work is difficult. Coalition work is also messy, but I think we have to keep showing up, right? Showing up for our organization, but showing up for each other's organizations. Um, and I think that we have done that, you and I have done that really, really brilliantly, right? Um you can call me anytime, and you have, um, where you're like, hey, this is not right. And I'm like, okay, let's take a step back. You're right. Okay, how do we address the issue in in a in a way that continues to bring us together, continues to show our solidarity. Um, but I know that the same goes for us, right? If there is something I can talk to you and say, look, this is how I felt, and we will have that conversation. It's the struggle moments that I feel reveal what the true character is. And if our intentions are always to look forward together in solidarity, then nothing should be able to shake that foundation because we have a proven foundation that works. And we have to just keep showing up, we have to keep communication alive and being honest um with each other and being able to accept critiques on on both ends. And um, I've shown, you know, to you that uh we are willing to do that um because it's necessary.

SPEAKER_05 16:41

Well, let's talk a little bit about uh how labor is bound so closely to uh social and racial justice, specifically now in these times that the wins uh of the civil rights movement are completely being eroded. Uh, and it seems like it's the last kick of just gonna say white supremacy. When did you first realize this, that this work is so intrinsically aligned? And how has this influenced your work?

SPEAKER_02 17:06

For me, I started my career as a local 99 member um as a teacher's assistant at Rosewood Avenue Elementary. And uh they didn't have a shop steward, and they asked me, Hey, you have you you speak up on a lot of things. Can you be the shop steward? And I was like, sure. Um, and so I remember that, you know, uh one of the coordinators um wasn't giving us um our lunch break and no one was speaking up on that. And I was like, this is unfair. Like we deserve to have our lunch as, you know, as small as it is, we still have our lunch. And I remember, you know, confronting, you know, the person and the person, you know, getting in my face, like, you know, um, you can't do that. And I was like, you can't, you can't talk to me like this. And I remember going to the principal, and the principal was like, you guys haven't been getting your lunch because, you know, she didn't know. And um, that was like a win that we won at that school, not because of me, but a win because of of a collective action, right? That most of our local 99 members are black and brown women, right? That have been in these um, these jobs that have done so much for them, but then also at the same time, it's a slap in the face because you won't pay people what they're worth. And so I see that. And, you know, and most of those um um teachers' assistants at Rosewood were black and brown women. And so it was like we we had a win there. And so to me, um, you know, being biracial, Mexican and black, you know, to me, I I I've lived it my whole life. Um, my dad was very dark skinned, so you know, him being racially profiled by the police um happened a lot, you know, and I was very fair. So they were like, who, like, you know, I remember um the Sixth Avenue liquor store on on Washington and Sixth Avenue. Um they called the police and told the police that this black man had kidnapped um he said a white girl. Um, and so I, you know, I remember we were picking up my mom, we're on the 10 freeway, and uh they pulled my dad over and they, you know, put him, you know, body slammed him on top of the car, and they were like, you kidnapped a girl. And he's like, That's my daughter. And, you know, from an early age, because I think I was like six, um, I I know I live in a racialized society. And so it's it's always been, you know, intrinsic to me to like focus on racial justice. And and today, as we're doing this um podcast here, it, you know, uh today is Malcolm X's birthday, you know, May 19th. And it is, it's uh it's always something in me to think about the work that we have to do on behalf of our members, but really for me, uh the work that we do on behalf of our babies.

SPEAKER_05 20:43

We do live in an economic system, neoliberalism, capitalism, which is really based on exploitation. In this case, it's based on exploiting black and brown people, that's right, and in high proportion of women. So there's no change. And obviously, this erosion is really telling us what they, you know, kind of like, hey, we need a workforce. I think that's what they're telling us all.

SPEAKER_06 21:02

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 21:03

Uh and you're gonna be the workforce. And we we got to push back because when they say you need a workforce, they're saying we need a workforce that's ready to work for almost free or free, which is exactly what white supremacy is trying to achieve.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

That's right. You know, the society that we are now living in that is really um saying, you know, we want a complete erasure of facts and we want to come up with some type of fictional, you know, life that neither of us, you know, have led. It's like, no, we're gonna speak on racial justice in all that we do in every single bargain. How are we showing up for community? How are we showing up for parents? How are we showing up for members? And most importantly, how are we showing up for our babies? Yep. Powerful words, Sister Cecily.

SPEAKER_05 21:55

Anything else you wanna you wanna share with our viewers before we close the uh

SPEAKER_02 22:00

This segment? I would say, you know, for those viewers, like ask questions, get involved, um, get involved in both of our unions, um, to, you know, be able to be out there in the streets with us because we will be back out in the streets at the school board um and causing good trouble, but also standing up uh for our members and um the educators um in Los Angeles. Thank you. Thank you so much for conversation.

SPEAKER_05 22:35

Thank you. Something you may not know, for those of you listening at home, LAUSD is not only the second largest school district in the country, but it is also the second largest employer in LA County. And given that local 99 members are the ones that do the work that keeps the district running, bus drivers, food service workers, uh, people that clean, people that cut the grass, et cetera, et cetera, without our members, there would be no schools. So if our members strike, that would mean there will be no schools, and effectively the city will be shut down. Today we're joined by three bargaining team members, three courageous, exemplary bargaining team members. I want to welcome Yolanda, Santos, and Jennifer. Each of them played a pivotal role in the victory that local nine members had while bargaining with LAUSD. All right, so all three of you were there until two in the morning, actually, probably later, like 2.30 or so, right? Yes. Uh, and all of Los Angeles was holding its breath. I remember like, are we gonna school or not? Right? Our members were texting you. Everybody was wondering, are members gonna walk out on strike to fight for what they deserve or not? Well, can each of you take us to this moment? Start with you, Yelana. What what were you feeling? How how did it feel?

SPEAKER_04 23:58

Well, I was definitely exhausted. I was more exhausted with the results that weren't yielded through this meeting, and also I was anxious. I was anxious because I felt like an end was coming by a little after 2 a.m. But I couldn't see it. So basically I had to I had to lay down. Wherever I could lay down, I laid down and I just left it in God's hands, really, is what I did. I prayed and I laid down, and that's when we they finally called us all back to the room, and boom, we had we came to an agreement.

SPEAKER_05 24:31

All right. Santos.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Yeah, very similar uh experience. Obviously, we're uh same room. So and I did take a small break, uh, power nap. Uh very exhausting. Um, we always had people calling. Uh I've been in the district for over 20 years. So a lot of people who knew what was going on were calling, asking. Um, people were staying up, didn't go to bed till they found out what was happening. It did go to the last uh minute, let's just say, but I believe uh everybody was pretty satisfied at the end.

unknown 25:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Right.

SPEAKER_05 25:05

How about you, Jennifer?

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Like Yolanda said in Santos, this was my first experience of it, bargaining and everything. And I was excited. More a little scared. I was very scared, honestly, because you know, with everything going on and just being around my brothers and sisters, that they kept fighting with me. Back then, we didn't get all our contracts, and this contract really set, you know, things in motion for just me and the rest of the, you know, supervision aides and all the parent reps and everybody. And I'm really glad that I had my team supporting me.

SPEAKER_05 25:39

Let me ask you a question, Jennifer. Why did you step into this leadership role? And how did it change you?

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Well, seeing my mother, my mother's been for the district for the last 28 years, and she's been in the supervision aid, and she's also was getting the two hours, and you know, there was no change, you know, and living with that, I was going through high school, elementary with my mother doing the same, you know, job and having having two hours, and we still manage and everything. But me coming into the zy, you know, into the district and being a supervision aide, I finally said, you know what, I have to step it up. I have to be a voice for not just my mother, for myself and everybody else. So it just made me be more vocal. And, you know, having my brothers and sister, Yolanda and Santos and the rest of my bargaining team to be speak up, speak up, Jen. And I had to speak up, you know, it was the only way because I mean no one else was gonna do it. So I might as well jump into the ball.

SPEAKER_05 26:38

I remember the moment when they were telling you to speak up, and I'm glad you did. It's powerful.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

And it was a scary moment, even telling my team, you know, that I was sitting in front of them, you know, everybody had their seven hours, eight hours, and you know, me just here with the two hours, you know, I was scared to tell them. But, you know, I just put on my big pants, I guess you could say, and just told them, you know, like, hey, I'm only here two hours and, you know, like I want to fight for you guys as well. And, you know, like let them know that, you know, there's probably more of us out there that are not even speaking up or even saying anything. So I needed to be, I needed to be out there.

SPEAKER_04 27:17

I spoke with Jennifer and she called me over and she told me, Yolanda, I only work two hours. I think I started crying immediately, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 27:25

I started crying because I was like, it's impossible. How are you taking care of your child? You, how are you surviving off two hours? Even if you get $100 an hour, that's not enough money. And she was like, I don't know, but I've been doing it and I need more hours. And I think that stuck with me, and I couldn't let go. I couldn't, I I don't think I could let go of that two hours. Just it was mind blowing. And so I kind of wouldn't let go until we got her more hours.

SPEAKER_06 27:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

But I remember um like being at 721 when Max first announced, like with the first strike, and he said, I was like, I found him in the crowd. I was like, Max, Max, what are we asking for? And he was like, 30%. I said, you're right, we're asking for 30%. Because I personally, moving around the schools, I saw that we had the power. I I looked at it and I said, you know what? Just close your eyes and imagine none of us showed up. What would they do here? Caffeine. When I found out the conditions that we live, yeah, I was like, okay, food service, they couldn't feed the kids. Uh campus say they couldn't, you know, no one's gonna be around to secure the kids, no one's building around who's gonna open the school, um, special ed, who's gonna receive the babies from the buses, bus drivers. Oh my god, who's gonna drive them in? I started really calculating all that in my head before I even went to the meeting. So when he said 30%, I was like, finally, what we deserve. Yeah, yeah, and what I feel like we was definitely gonna get. I think I was the only person in that room that believed we were gonna get that 30%.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

Yeah, you know, part of the problem is again, it goes back to we didn't understand our power. Like we didn't know what power we had as a union, as uh classified employees, because we were always told you're worthless. At the bottom. Do you think if you don't come to work? The teachers were telling us who we teach. We have the administrators, right? Right. So what if you don't show up? I was a TA for a while, too. So who cares if you don't show up? The teachers here? That's an important one, by the way. They didn't realize, and we obviously didn't realize at that point yet, that we have a lot of people that we represent that actually do make the district run, like truck drivers, bus drivers, cafeteria people, cleaning people, all of us, all of us actually make it happen. So once we realized that, we're like, oh, that's the key, that's the combo. But we were told, oh, you're worthless. Yeah. If you go on strike, you're gonna starve to death. Yeah. Because you don't even make much anyway. And now they're comfortable.

SPEAKER_04 30:01

How long can you go on strike? Yeah. Now teachers will run around saying, hey, you guys are. We need your support. Yeah. We need you guys' help.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Which is cool, right? I mean, it's all about, again, togetherness, right? That's where all my positivity comes from. If people are together, I'm positive. And if they're not, I'm trying to figure out how we can make it work together.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 30:20

I remember starting at the local, uh, I started in 2015. And uh just looking at uh, and the local had just won a minimum of $15 an hour. But then I looked at the numbers and I saw that the average, taking an average, was $21,000 a year. That's what our members were making in 2015 on an average. And then uh, you know, like really gearing up for what was coming, we understood it was going to be a multi-contract fight. It wasn't gonna be in one contract, and there was a lot of division because how the boss keeps winning is by keeping folks the teachers definitely divided from the work, and our own members divided from each other, right? And then I knew the fight was not about, you know, a lot of times in union, when you're in your union and you're planning a fight, you say, Well, we're making 21,000, but at the district over there in Santa Monica, they're making 24,000. So that's what we're fighting for. We said we can't fight over that. No, we could we gotta fight to get above this. Why are we in below the poverty line? Why are members below the we gotta fight? That's the fight we need to have. And that's where this 30% came in, right? Really understanding the finance of the districts, understanding that they could absolutely afford to get beyond the 30%. And that was the fight I remember. I remember.

SPEAKER_04 31:37

Yeah, I remember and being below the poverty line, it made it hard because us as school workers, we do this because we love, we really do love kids. I mean, I really do. I I love kids. Kids with special needs have such a place in my heart. And it was hard for me to get below the poverty line when I see some of my kids hungry and I couldn't go buy them food. And then when we got that 30%, I think I started I I threw a whole party at my school and fed everybody, not just the kids, but the teachers, the staff, supportive staff, all of the classified staff. I th we threw a big old pizza party and fed everybody after we got our money because we was like, we can do this now. You know, it was hard before for kids to come up to you and say they're hungry, and then you gotta go run over to the cafeteria, and they put everything away, and it's like you guys don't have nothing. This baby is hungry, and they're like, it's all gone, Yolanda. We we put it all away. We're done for the day. And then you gotta go back to the student and say, Sorry, I can't do anything for you. Yeah, that was hard.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

That is hard.

SPEAKER_04 32:44

And we changed that. We changed that with that contract then, and we definitely changed it with the contract now. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not just giving my money away to kids. I require their social security number and their birthday so I can claim them on my taxes. But I do help out those. I do have a personal relationship with certain students, and I know their fight. I know what they're going through. And their struggle is way harder than mine. And I do help out where I can. And that's that's a privilege to me. That's an honor. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Yeah, speaking of that, like with me, you know, my two hours, like I stay there from seven, what's the 8:15 we start to 233, you know, and I wait to that whole time. Like I get there with my daughter and my mother. And, you know, like I volunteer my work in my daughter's classroom or even in her third grade class. Like I could be in fifth grade and third grade, you know, just volunteering my time with the kids. And then, you know, the kids didn't even know. Like kids too, probably still don't even know that I have only two hours, but they see that face. Like, there goes Miss Jennifer. Where's Miss Jennifer? Oh, she's running our copies, or Miss Jennifer's doing this because, you know, the the simple fact that I love doing what I'm doing, you know, like I do it for the kids, you know. At the same time, they're just like, if only they knew, you know. But a lot of the kids, you know, they're understanding, they see it. They're like, Miss Jennifer, can I ask you a question? I'm like, oh boy, here we go. They're like, you're here all the time. Like, you get paid doing this. I'm like, I volunteer, I love doing it, you know. But like I said, it's just that whole loving, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 34:20

You just spoke about the students as being the purpose. Yes. And we fight for clean, safe, supportive schools for all, right? Yes. But ultimately, it is the work that you do that empowers students. So, what did we win? What makes our contract groundbreaking? Well, let's start. Thousands of workers without healthcare throughout these two cycles. We got healthcare for all LAUST. Yes, right? Everybody that didn't have it. Yes, five hours of work. Yeah, minimum baseline of four hours that didn't exist before the 26th. No, it's a baseline of four hours of work, no more two-hour positions, none of that. We won that. We won that. We also won the work, it needs to be done by district employees, not by all of these for-profit corporations. We won that in this contract. We won an end to subcontracting. Yeah, we have to enforce it, but we won that. Yeah, we won 30% race last time in 26 and 20 and 23, and now a 24% increase. We won that. That makes this contract groundbreaking because nobody is winning those types of races. But that is what it takes for our members to catch up, to get above that poverty line, right? Yes, we won that.

SPEAKER_04 35:29

The thing that's closest to my heart is that workers will no one will be under four hours, everyone will get health care. That's it.

unknown 35:37

Awesome.

SPEAKER_05 35:38

Groundbreaking.

SPEAKER_00 35:39

Yeah, I agree. Also, the fact, at least for my support team, I had several IT people dance in front of me. Because the rifts were rescinded, right? And they literally danced and did a whole thing. Because remember, it's not just the technician, right? It's the family, it's the wife, it's the children. Some of our technicians had one of our guys had just become a father. Another one, you know, some people have car payments, some people said, Oh, I want to buy, you know. So there was a lot of fear of what am I gonna do if I get riffs. So to me, one of the best things, and it's kind of selfish, personal, I don't know. It was just that I saw a lot of people feel that their family was gonna stay where it was. Like they were not gonna have to do something different.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Definitely. I was so happy that we got that, you know, no more two hours, no more two hours for no units, you know, and you know, getting that step up, you know, having four hours and up, having the health care, you know, because I mean, I never even had health care to begin with. Yep, that's you know, or just even having that whole step up or just be like, no more two hours, not even three hours, four hours and up.

SPEAKER_05 37:01

Your work is extremely valuable. There is no schools, and that needs to be reflected in a compensation. So while it's better now, we know we're gonna keep pushing, right? Yeah, until until we can't see a difference, and that's gonna take a while. Let's talk about this contract, but also there's been three contracts now 2018, 2023, and now 2026, in which you know, an average between that's 50, what is it, nine percent plus 30 plus 24? That's 54 plus nine. What's that? 6. I'm off 63. Quite a bit. But 60. But the only reason that's unheard of, right? 60 some let's make the calculation. Come on, we're in school. We're in school unit.

SPEAKER_04 37:52

We have here, so it's 30, 24, 34, that's 54 plus plus nine, 63, 63, 63, 63. That's not taking into account.

SPEAKER_05 38:02

Compounding, not taking into account the scales, right? Yes, but it's still just barely catching up, right? You know, that that's what it took. However, it's unheard of unless what? Unless workers understand you. We understand our power, we exercise our power to the max, right? And in places like LAUSD, we have a responsibility to show that power so other workers can also start using it, right? Yeah, uh just share how how how you're feeling, how it's impacted you, Disney Race, and all of that.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Sure. I'll I'll I'll say something about it. You know, it's hard to save when you can't pay your bills. Right. So we need to be able to save a little, at least for a rainy day. A lot of us are not there yet. A lot of our you know, members, district employees, they're not there. You know, they're we're just trying to get out of the hole just to be even. Sorry. Just trying to be even, Steven, just to go just to even. But we do need to bring more pay to the employees, especially the lower paid employees, so that they can have hope. If you can't save for tomorrow, you really don't have a lot of hope. I mean, feels like a dire moment where you're like, you know what, I can't even save for tomorrow. I just figure it out, whatever comes, and it's horrible. I grew up that way, by the way.

SPEAKER_04 39:20

So I'm saying I still kind of live like that. Uncertainty, yes. That's um that's hard on anybody. I grew up with that same type of uncertainty as well, not knowing where the next meal was coming from, not knowing if the lights were gonna be out, and things like that. And I think by us getting this raise that we got, it kind of removes some of that uncertainty from a lot of people's households. Because right now, with the cost of food, cost of everything, cost of living, cost of gas bills, cost of gas, thank you. Anyway, cost of gas and everything else, that the money was a very important part because just daily survival out here in Los Angeles, like even just going back and forth to work, is a lot when you're paying over seven dollars a gallon for gas. And when you're trying to feed your family and you can take two, three, four hundred dollars to the grocery store and leave with three, four bags. That's it. Yeah, you know, that's hard. And by us getting the raise we got, hours that was necessary for the people that were below four health care coverage, every every single thing, all the way down to the boot allowances is gonna make a difference in everybody's life and make this walk a little more easier.

SPEAKER_00 40:33

Yeah. Absolutely, I agree.

SPEAKER_05 40:35

Yeah. So why should this victory teach us, not just us at the district, but in general, as a society, on how we fight against all forms of oppression?

SPEAKER_04 40:46

I think that excuse me. I'm gonna take this. Yeah, I think that um what our district showed the world is that united we stand period. If we um first realize the power that we do have, which the people are the ones that changed everything from the beginning anyway, they changed all the laws, voter rights, all that stuff. So the people is what it's gonna take to change it again or to stop what's com what's happening right now in this nation. It's pretty disgusting, if you ask me. And I feel like that the generation coming up, like people are speaking, and I've I've helped career this generation that's coming up, and I know they're not, they're not quiet, they're not complacent, they're not just accepting anything, and they are even as children speaking up about this stuff, and they're not happy. And so with the older generation that's going away, unfortunately, um, this new generation that come up, they already they watch us, they see that we know we have the power, and we also empower them coming up. So I think they're ready for whatever this nation has, and they're ready to fight back. So this nation can try whatever it wants to try to change the things that my family and parents fought to put in place, but this nation is not going for it.

SPEAKER_05 42:19

You you know, you just made me think of something that's like the there's 500,000 students. I know 400,000 in district schools, 100,000 in charge, but there are 500 young people that just saw you, you and your coworkers take that courage and say we're not putting up with this enough. I think that is something that that's that's important to remember. How all those young people saw that and lived it too, and we're actually a lot of them supporting you and living it with you. Definitely. They were ready to go on strike as well.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

Yeah, you say that I I like to comment on that because so I'm an on-site technician, so I uh look for customers to support them. So I go to a lot of schools. Some of the high schools, they're the kids were remember they're protesting, right? They're doing walkouts against ice, they're doing walkouts against stuff. So and they're supporting us, right? So they're involved civically, which which to me is great to see because that means that they care. So there is something there. So we always cannot underestimate or underexpect from them because they see what we do, they watch us, right? They learn from the adults. Good things or bad things. So we try to teach them good things. How do you stand up for yourself? How do you organize? Understand that numbers is power, the power is in the people, but you have to work together, that kind of stuff. And when I saw that action, the activity, I'm like, you know what? That's cool. Now, if nobody was coming out, it'd be like, oh, nobody cares anymore, like that's not good. But to see the kids out there and participating and doing what they did. I think it's a great sign that society is still understanding or or is learning more that togetherness and the powers in the people. And as long as we work together to a goal, we will attain it. Remember, there's more poor people than rich people.

SPEAKER_05 44:14

Absolutely. And the ones that think the rich are closer to the poor than they know. They know.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

I have my daughter, she goes to the same school I work at. And she's having fifth graders, fourth graders coming to her, like, hey, where's your mommy at? Where's your mommy at? She's like, Oh, my mommy's in an important meeting. So my daughter already knows I'm on the bargaining team. So she's telling them, you know, like, you know, that's a reason why my mommy didn't go out because she's fighting for us. She's fighting for the classified. And I'm like, classify, how do you know I'm classified? She's like, mommy, I know you're classified.

SPEAKER_04 44:47

And it really gives you hope in the future. Yes. Like I like a lot of times at work, people be like, oh my God, these kids are so disrespectful. They'll say anything. And I'm smiling in the background, like, these kids are so disrespectful and they'll say anything. Yeah. Because I love the fact that we taught them. I say, you guys, we did this. We taught them to advocate for themselves. We taught them to stand up for something that's not right. We taught them where to go to even write people up or speak to the principal. I taught my kids to go talk to the principal. She's here for a reason. You speak to her. So by us empowering those kids and to see it coming to fruition, it's like I got hope in our future. I really do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:30

Yeah. Well, you three give me a lot of hope for the future. You three, the leadership you represent, the people, thousands of people that follow your leadership, the other thousands of leaders. It's it's like a movement being built, and you give me a lot of hope. And I think the rest of the country should take hope from the fight that you waged, and we need to continue waging more fights. Because when we fight, we win. We just heard about how education workers at LAUSD learn that their labor is their power. Their labor combined, we give it freely, but we can also take it away in an organized fashion. And that shows what the value of our work is. Imagine what would happen if workers all across California did this. But what would happen if workers all across the country did this? This work is not done alone. This work takes all of us, and it takes all the labor. And I can't think of a better person to have this conversation with that with my labor sister, Yvonne Wheeler. Yvonne represents over 800,000 workers and is a president of the LA County Federation of Labor. She is no stranger to being a bull champion for the working class. She's a lifelong civil rights advocate and an ally for all Angelinos. Welcome, Yvonne. Really appreciate you coming on board.

SPEAKER_03 46:50

I look, I'm honored to be here with you all today.

SPEAKER_05 46:53

Yeah, I wish you remember when we met, you know, that that uh shared with you my first uh time I came to the U.S. when I was we were exiled, it was in New Orleans, Louisiana, and then you told me you're from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I am from born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Yes, I am. Yeah, so that's really great. I remember when I met you two, well, a few times, but we were sitting in some restaurant, you were telling me about the plans uh for Labor Federation, uh, that you wanted to reactivate it and reinvigorate it. Yeah. And I think, you know what, you achieved that. I mean, I know we got to keep going, but it feels different. It feels like, you know, the the AFL, the the Los Angeles Council Federation of Labor is an ally to labor, and it's like it's really uh supporting and organizing, which is extremely important at these times.

SPEAKER_03 47:40

Absolutely. We we have a I when I work for the national AFL CIO, they would call them either uh agenda-driving labor councils. And so I organize different labor councils. I that's what's my role with the AFL CIO. Having been in the labor movement, born and raised in Baton Ridge, Louisiana, been an activist working for a father who was in the labor movement, uh, and then coming here, and I've worked for practically every union in the private and public sector. So arriving in this position, I one of the things I wanted to make sure is that what it was inclusive, that everybody had a seat at the table, that you felt like this was your labor movement, not just mine, because I've been in those situations where there was it was as if we didn't belong in certain sectors. I wanted everybody to feel like they belong. And so your agenda is my agenda. And I always say that we work for you all. We represent 800,000 union members. I have 300 bosses, including you at local 99. So we're very clear about that. Yeah, very clear about that.

SPEAKER_05 48:49

Hey, you know, and you've been uh instrumental in our campaign, uh, both our campaigns in 23 and right now in 26, which uh with LAUSD. And as we finalize the second back-to-back historical win, it seems like we found like a formula, which is not anything new. It's really solidarity. It is, you know, using the power of labor. Uh, and you've been supportive and been part of this all along. So how do we extend what we have learned throughout our campaigns across the broader labor movement?

SPEAKER_03 49:20

Let me just share. It's been a privilege standing shoulder to shoulder with local 99, SEIU Local99, UTLA, and just recently, AALA, uh Teamsters Local 2010. You brought in the principals. And throughout this historic campaign, you have something that was quite different than most, because one of the things we we noticed is that you can't start coalition building when it's contract time, when you when your contract expires. It has to be something permanent, it has to be something ongoing. And not only do you all have the unite around issues, but to bring that coalition of labor of unions together, it's hitting out of the education unions together, but also the parents, the students, the community organizations, we're in a historic campaign, but to bring all those factions together around that campaign and have them owners have ownership of it. And then it was member driven. And to do that is that that's the formula for success. So if you duplicate that each time and it got better the first time, I think you didn't have the principals in. But the second time you brought the principals in and the first time the mayor was involved. I've never seen a mayor get involved in any collective bargaining uh uh any contract campaigns. And for her to step up and say, look, I understand that this is important. She made it serious that, I mean, she took the serious that if these workers didn't have the opportunity to have decent wages, better working conditions, that it it resonates across the whole city. She got that. She got the formula. You all laid down the foundation, but it was you, Max, taking the lead. And I think I'd share with that with you. I said, I've been around a long time, but you changed local 99. You gave these workers dignity and respect on their jobs, you elevated it to a level we had never seen before. It's uh it's uh uh teamwork. Well, we know that there's individuals behind the scenes, but as the leader of this labor of that local, I've known local 99. I've been there do the good and do the bad. But when you came in and you took it to a whole nother level. Thank you, sister. You did.

SPEAKER_05 51:44

And we'll keep growing. And in coalition, we'll keep growing more and more. Yes. You know, I your father was big in the labor movement in the South, right? Uh-huh. Can you expand on his career and the impact that he had on you and how you you carry that forward?

SPEAKER_03 51:58

So I shared, uh, I shared that story all the time. My father was a lot. I know he was a union man. At the time, he had four daughters. Uh, we have, I have, and so one of the things he asked all of us to do when we went to school was to number one learn how to type and to speak French. My maiden name is Francois.

SPEAKER_06 52:18

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 52:19

So what I did was all of them learned how to, all four of us learned how to type. The other three learned French, learn how to speak French. I took Spanish. That was the first sign of rebellion. I didn't know it at the time. But the difference in us was they would type whatever he had, and they didn't read it. I would read it. And I later found out I was typing his grievances. He was a letter carrier. And I talk about my mother too, because there's a commonality here. So he was a letter carrier, worked for the, and my mother was a school cafeteria worker. She didn't have the benefit of a collective bargaining agreement, but my father did. And now you've elevated classified worker, she would be considered today as a classified employee. But my father, one of the things when I would read his grievances, there was one guy who always resonated with me. And at the time I didn't know what I was just typing. I didn't know it was a grievance there years later. Uh, his name was Bobby Johnson. He was an alcoholic. So if you're a letter carry, you have to drive government vehicles. And they would fire Bobby all the time because he was he was an alcoholic. And my father would fight for him to get his job back. And I went to my father one day and I said, Why do you continue to fight for this guy? Because, you know, clearly he has some problems. And my father said one thing that resonated with me today. He said, if a man didn't have a job, he could not provide for his family, he had no dignity. And that resonated with me. And so those were so just a few of the lessons and examples of my father. He was deeply involved in the labor movement in the South during the time, once some during the most dangerous times of uh periods in American history. But he taught us that labor rights and civil rights were not separate struggles, they were intertwined. And he also talked about organizing and fair wages and how it can cost you at that time your livelihood. And so, being black workers, especially, understood that unions were often the only vehicles they had, the challenge to economic exploitation that they experienced and the racial injustice simultaneously. He understood that. My father marched with Martin Luther King Jr. He understood that labor rights, but also civil rights were intertwined and that they were something that he focused on and he taught all of us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 54:51

Seems like those teachings uh are extremely important at this moment in time again. So we're kind of like uh going back to those times where we need to fight. And you know, his legacy and teaching is uh inspired you. And how has that inspired you and how you lead or how's that and you lead the LA County Federation of Labor of 800,000 strong, of which of which you are the first African-American woman to lead the the AF uh first black woman. Yes, I am, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:20

And so it was the inspiration from my father, but also, you know, leading by one of my, I believe if thoroughly, and leading by example, but I also always place myself in other people's shoes. I want to feel what you feel in. I came from the rank and file. So clearly that was something that also shaped how I I view the labor movement because I had the same struggles that you workers and your members experienced today. And so that coupled with what my father taught me about labor rights and civil rights were intertwined. That's my North Star. That's what leads me and guides me in this movement.

SPEAKER_05 56:00

And then as we just spoke about what, you know, the era your father was fighting in, really dangerous. Oh, very dangerous. Now it's starting to feel that we're going there. So, where does the movement need to go to achieve radical change to our systems today, applying some of those lessons and whatever else that we need to do?

SPEAKER_03 56:17

You know, I and I I want to share too. Uh, not only was I, so I was the first black woman president of my local union, CWA Local9586, and I worked at representing uh the communications industry. And I had 5,000 members, and at that time, that's pretty big. It was not what you have, like 30,000 members, right? It went up 70,000 now. Oh, I'm scared, I apologize. 70,000 union members was unheard of years ago. And so, but I also was the president of the Philip Randolph Institute. And they Philip Randolph who shaped my vision of what a labor leader should be. And working for, he was the he organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Carters, all first all black unions. And he would always say, at the banquet table of nature, there are no reserve seats. You get what you can take, you keep what you can hold, and you can't take anything without organizing. And so he shaped what I am. And I always tell Sherid with everyone that I talk to that I'm a dice disciple of A. Philip Randolph. I work for the AFL CIO, and I would tell people, I say, and it's original in the AFL original constitution, it excluded Negroes. And he desegregated the AFL CIO. But he's always, he was also the architect behind the March on Washington. Though Dr. King got the credit, it was a Philip Randolph and Barrett Ruston who actually organized the March on Washington. So my organizing and community outreach and and building coalition was formed out of the Philip Randolph Institute. You led the Los Angeles chapter of the Philip A. Randall Institute. Yeah. I was the president of the A the LA chapter with Mr. James Kidd. Oh, Mr. Kidd. That's where I met James Kidd. Yeah, he was the vice president. And he would keep us our meetings very orderly.

SPEAKER_05 58:16

James Kidd, for those of you that may not know, is still in Local 99. I know. Actually, he's leading the work of representation.

SPEAKER_03 58:23

Yes, James, that's where I met Mr. James Kidd. Yeah. And so, yeah, I was the president of the Los Angeles chapter, the California State Chapter, and I served on the National Executive Board.

SPEAKER_05 58:34

And how did those teachings, and you know, like not only the teachings from Philly Randall, but your experience leading the institute, what what do those tell us about how we should approach the current obstacles that we're facing?

SPEAKER_03 58:45

Look, we can't shrink to what we see here locally that's going on. I mean, I don't think any of us could ever envision that we would be living in basically an authoritarian government. Uh and it with the recent Supreme Court ruling uh cutting cutting the Voting Rights Act to Project 2025, uh one of the things that we learned, and I still learn lessons, is that we have to fight more, we have to organize more, and that we have to register people to vote. Don't stop voting. I think that's the most important element because if they take away your voice voting, then we have no voice. We have to be, we have to stay in, I mean, our democracies and and you know, facing the worst challenges that we've ever seen.

SPEAKER_05 59:42

And that's where they're going right now, right? Stripping voting rights.

SPEAKER_03 59:45

They're stripping it, yeah, they're stripping black people's rights. Exactly. Across the South. We see it every day. I mean, there well, there wasn't a reenactment of the Selma March just recently, on May 16th. They convened at Selma at the Edmund Perry Pettis Bridge and marched to Montgomery, Alabama, reenacting what John Lewis did when they was trying to enact the Voting Rights Act. And so the reenactment of it, I don't think any of us could have ever envisioned that we would be in this place today, where immigrants are being under attack, where our liberties are being stripped from us, where our democracy is being taken away from us. We're not under, and we're working living under an authoritarian government. I don't think any of us could have envisioned this. And that's why May 1st was so important for us. To show that, demonstrate our power, that we still have power, to demonstrate that we as a labor movement will not shrink, not under this administration, and that we're prepared to fight back by any means necessary.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:55

That's great. And I think you're connecting my next question, which is what is the role of labor fights, the fights that labor has for just immigration policy, equitable voting rights, and civil liberties.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:06

Yeah. Look, let me just say this, and I'll I can talk from our perspective and what we've done at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. So after the November 1st election, I mean first election, when we realized that he was going to be president, we formed, and I think you were involved in it, where we brought together great, rightest minds in the country and said, what can we do? And out of that, we talked about how we would start doing know your rights training. We held the largest uh nonviolent direct action training in history. 1,400 people showed up in the convention center, preparing them to fight, how to fight peacefully, how to protest peacefully. Because we when we knew when he deployed 4,000 troops and 700 Marines into Los Angeles, not to protect us, but to intimidate us, we knew that we had to stand tall and fight back. And so some of the tactics that we learned in the nonviolent training with application of those that we had to get peacekeepers, uh, we trained 200 peacekeepers that came out of that. But uh what we learned and what we apply is how to fight back, but fight back in a civil way, in a peaceful way, because we don't want to end up, you know, what they said, oh, we that we're uh creating discord. When we had the uh May Day, and it was considered a general strike, but we called it an economic blackout because we couldn't say that literally, because we didn't want to get sued. But we knew that we had to shut this city down, and I think we were very successful in doing that. So using tactics like that, yeah that we have to have a general strike. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:52

Billionaire class, right? They continue to get wealthier. They only get wealthy because we all continue to work and and the wages continue to go down because they don't keep up with inflation. So literally are going down.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:03

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:04

Uh, and and they're and we're seeing what they're what you know, status quo is trying to do is trying to create conditions for us, all black, brown, women, to do all the hard work for basically no wages so they can continue to get wealthier.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:17

So the LA Fed was the first one to host a poverty and homelessness summit. And I what we gathered and what we found is that 70% of those, we seven, well, 75,000 Angelinos were going to sleep in LA County unhoused, 46,000 in LA unhoused, 1.4 living in poverty. Poverty is the fourth leading cause of death, and 70% was a black, brown, and immigrant. We realized we had a problem. And so we came up with a solution for that, not only to create good plan union jobs, get these people off the street, but first we used Measure A. We passed Measure A. And that was to create $1.56 billion per annually to go into housing, to substance abuse, to programs that would help get people off the street. We realized that they we just couldn't take them off the street unless we provided some substance change, some change or some relief for them, and some uh programs to help them to come out of housing and get them into good union jobs. And so we realized that there were several steps coming out of homelessness that we had to provide. And those programs are in place right now. We know that here in Los Angeles, we have a problem, but not only just Los Angeles, but across the country with the house, because of all this federal government has taken away all the programs. They, you know, I know childcare is at risk of losing funding, education is at risk of losing the funding. Uh, everybody's, you know, Medicare, Medicaid, all of those on the chopping block. So we have to be creative of how we do things and how do we operate and programs that will supplement those programs as well.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:14

So just I just want to uplift how you uh uh you represent 800,000 union workers, but you're talking about the community, you're talking about unhoused, you're talking in general. At the end of the day, I think it's important to lift how you think because that's the only way we're gonna get out of we have to think about our community, our our cities, and not just specifically because you know people tend to think, oh, we think it's about a race and all that, but you're showing us different.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:42

This is what we I I think we had an awakening, and that's why we had the poverty and homelessness summit. Because we could no longer turn a blind eye to what we saw on the streets every day when we went to work, we went to visit our families. We couldn't turn a blind eye to it. And so we had to embrace it, and but we also had to. Realize that many of our members are unhoused. We think about it. And when we talk about the community, it's not abstract for us. We live in the communities. We all live in these communities. Our members live in these communities. So we uplift the community, we uplift our members, we uplift the communities as well. But we have to do it. I mean, we if we don't do it, who will?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:24

Well, exactly. Nobody. Yeah. Yeah. And then a lot of our members are also going through that. I know in Local 99, you know, we have members that have suffered from food insecurity, housing insecurity. Absolutely. And it was a shock for the community to learn that these are workers that work in schools, caring for kids.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:38

I think the biggest shock for me was when I found out that some of your workers were working two hours today. That was the biggest shock. And so how could they survive on two hours of salary? Two hours. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:51

When you ask them, they don't know. They say, I don't know. We just do it. But it's not. It's unsurvival. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:57

Because you either have to worry about what I do I put food on my table, a roof over my head, how do I pay my bills? Do I pay the light bill? Do I pay the utility bill? What do I pay? And members shouldn't be forced to make those choices.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:14

Those are impossible choices.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:15

No, those are choices, you know, that they are forced to make. And so as labor leaders, we have a responsibility and obligation to not only be there for our members who live in the communities, but the for the community as well.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:28

It's really inspiring listening to your past, um, you know, how you think about things, uh, having worked at Philip A. Randolph Institute, that all of that. And it's really inspiring to have you here. And we'll continue to work with you and follow your leadership uh thank you here together in LA until we we just achieve that just society. Um, we're just gonna keep fighting.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:48

But I'm so inspired by Local 99. I'm so inspired by the work that you do, and I'm so inspired by how you have elevated your membership and brought them out because you know, we talk about bringing people out of the shadows. It that doesn't just apply to immigrants, but that applies to low-wage workers as well. Yes. And you have fought for those members. You say you and your team here have done an extraordinary job, and I'm just impressed every day. Yeah, thank you, Mr. What you do.

unknown 1:08:17

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:18

Thank you, sister. All right.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:19

Over the next year, we'll continue to have conversations with students, labor leaders, electeds, creative people, and all of the people that make up the fabric of our communities. We just had a big win at Local 99 here at LAUSD. However, the fight is beyond us. Uh as we see the federal government weaponizing itself against its people, uh, targeting minorities, uh, targeting black and brown communities by using ice uh to harass people in their communities, to harass students in their schools, uh, while they continue to work to erode the rights that we have fought so hard to achieve. So it is not time to sing any type of victory. It is really time to continue to organize and continue to build coalitions and really achieve what we need to achieve. We hope that this podcast serves its purpose to be part of the broader push to move the needle towards a just society that we want to see. A just society in which all communities thrive. The fight is not over.