The current political situation presents a lot of challenges to the labor movement, immigrants, Black people and people of color, and many other folks in the U.S. The upcoming election carries a lot of weight in defining the few years of this country and the direction our community will take. Surely many of you would like to continue to the larger political organizing efforts—please use the resources below to get involved:

  • Labor Votes! New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO will conduct phone bank opportunities for NYC union members to reach out to other union households both in NYC and in battleground states, every Tuesday and Thursday 5-8 PM EST. Your goal will be to provide voters information on labor-endorsed candidates in their communities, as well as encourage members to call their legislators to ensure COVID-related legislation is passed and signed into law immediately. Sign up here.

  • Text voters: https://votetrumpout.org/.

  • Send postcards to voters: https://postcards.sunrisemovement.org/.

  • Register to be a poll worker: https://www.morethanavote.org.

  • Look up a number of low-effort ways to get involved: https://www.nothimus.org/lets-get-to-work.

  • Fill out the census: https://2020census.gov/en.html. Everyone living in the U.S., documented or not, should participate. It takes only a moment to fill out and is very important in determining how many representatives each State will get in Congress for the next 10 years and how much federal funding communities will receive for infrastructure, education, housing, and social programs.

GWC STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH NYDCC

Graduate Workers of Columbia’s Organizing Committee stands in solidarity with the New York City and Vicinity District Council of Carpenters protesting the university’s intention to once again use non-union contracting companies with documented histories of unsafe working conditions.

In constructing a dorm, Columbia has elected to work with Mamais Contracting Corporation–a company that was sued under Federal and New York State law for underpaying construction workers and failing to pay overtime on a Columbia job–and Trident General Contracting–recently sued in Federal court for racial discrimination and retaliatory firing for their new project on 125th Street. We echo NYCDCC’s demand that Columbia stop undermining, exploiting, and cheating workers.

GWC OC urges our members to sign in solidarity with NYCDCC workers in holding Columbia accountable for putting money into the pockets of contractors who undermine, exploit, and cheat New Yorkers.