Thursday, March 26, nearly 250 member leaders of SEIU 1021—including executive board members, chapter officers, convention delegates, and other rank and file members who have stepped up in organizing and mobilizing—gathered in Vacaville for the third Fightback convening.

“We started convening these trainings and meetings last year because we recognized that unions—and our values, and our entire communities—are facing an existential threat from the Trump administration and its enablers in Congress,” said SEIU 1021 President Theresa Rutherford. “We know that their agenda is divide and conquer; their tactics are shock and awe. The only ones who benefit are those who already have the most money and power. They want us fighting each other for crumbs while they strip us of our constitutional rights and slash what’s left of the social safety net. 

“Every day, SEIU 1021 members across Northern California, from the Sierra Nevada foothills to San Francisco to the Oregon border, provide the crucial public services that make sure our neighbors have housing, healthcare, clean and safe streets and parks, education, and so much more. It’s not just unions that are under attack—it’s also the public services that our communities rely on. We are on the front lines fighting to protect those services. So it’s important that we come together, learn from each other and from our union siblings in other parts of the country, and strategize. They have money, but we have strength in numbers and the collective power of workers, families, and our communities.”

At the third meeting, members heard from Minneapolis SEIU Local 26 President Greg Nammacher, who shared how Twin Cities unions and community groups had organized for months—then sped up their timeline and executed a hugely successful general strike on January 23 following the ICE murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Their strike brought over 75,000 people out in the freezing streets and saw hundreds of businesses closed for the day.

Takeaways included different strategies for different groups. Some union members were able to persuade their employers to shut down for the day. Others got permission to walk off the job for the day without discipline. He advised SEIU 1021 members to think strategically and collaboratively about how participation in a general strike or massive day of action could look different for different workers and how to gauge what their fellow members would be able and willing to do to set ambitious but achievable goals.

Members spent much of the afternoon strategizing on what a massive day of action on May Day could look like for their chapters and regions, setting goals related to turnout, and planning how they could meet those targets through on-the-ground organizing and coordinated outreach.

This year’s May Day—May1, International Workers’ Day—is planned to be a huge nationwide day of peaceful protest and display of worker power. SEIU 1021 is part of labor and community coalitions organizing marches, rallies, and other events around Northern California. Stay tuned for more details on how you can get involved where you live and work!