Young Workers’ Workshop: A Second Successful Year

Participants engage in small discussions following the panel presentations.

This Winter, the Labor Guild Young Workers’ Caucus is hosting its second annual “Young Workers’ Workshop” series. The workshop series is underway, and 2019 is proving to be another successful year.

The caucus has organized this workshop series as part of its mission to serve, educate, and mobilize young workers in the Greater Boston Area. The workshops are also being used to promote the upcoming Labor School Spring semester, with all workshop attendees encouraged to enroll. Our hope is that those who attend the workshops will be inspired to continue to pursue their labor education, and will also get involved in the Labor Guild Young Workers’ Caucus.

The first night of the workshop series kicked off with a discussion of “How Unions Can Take on Corporate Power.” Labor movement veterans Rand Wilson(SEIU 888) and Myles Calvey(IBEW 2222) led the session with discussions of the strategies and tactics union members can use to level the playing field against wealthy corporations.

Elizabeth Pellerito(left) and Jen Doe(right) led the session “Fighting Sexism in the Workplace and Beyond.”

The second workshop was led by Jen Doe(SEIU 509) and Elizabeth Pellerito(UMass Lowell Labor Education Program). The topic of the second night’s discussion was “Fighting Sexism in the Workplace and Beyond.” Although the topic was broad, the presenters used thought exercises and the experiences of the workshop participants to generate a compelling and relevant discussion of the multi-faceted nature of patriarchy.

The next panel will feature Chris Smolinksy (Teamsters 25) and two members of the Boston College Graduate Employees Union – UAW. This workshop will investigate the key aspects of organizing Young Workers.

The final workshop will discuss “Wielding Social Media for the Labor Movement,” with a presentation from Jeff Hall of 617 Media.

The Labor Guild Youth Caucus would like to thank Teamsters Local 25 for hosting and supporting this workshop series, and would also like to thank all the speakers for donating their time to the education of Boston’s next generation of labor leaders.