Thursday, July 23, 2009

A New Generation of Labor Activists

The future of the union and social justice movements lies in reaching out to college students, young workers and young voters who are energized by the election of Barack Obama.

Reaching out to young people is a top priority for AFSCME and the AFL-CIO. Speaking at the Texas state federation convention last week, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, a candidate for AFL-CIO president, said:

If there’s anything our labor movement needs, it’s an infusion of younger Americans—the people whose futures are taking a beating at the hands of the Wall Street hucksters and fast-buck artists who’ve driven our economy into a ditch.

We have an opportunity, and indeed an obligation, to continue building stronger worker and student alliances in the fight for worker’s rights. To make the real changes we need, the leadership will come from working with a new generation. AFSCME Local 965 welcomes the next generation of public employees, and we are dedicated to involving this new generation of advocates for working families.




2 comments:

Steven said...

Know this post was from a while ago, but just reading through some. I attended a labor day talk by the AFL-CIO and was amazed at the lack of younger folks. I'd say, I was the youngest there at 30. The speaker said he was 40....and then mostly over 65. Young people don't get it. I'm currently attending a Texas State University and the kids on campus, even the "college democrats" are completely clueless about labor.
Of course it is Texas.

Steven said...

Btw, thanks for the lists of Universities on your blog. I'm applying to Rutgers and Penn State for sure, and looking for a couple of others (for grad school). Just started looking into UMASS.