by Whitney D

The problem for workers in any public service job is that it’s all too common that managers and employers are one of more of the following flavors of failing leadership:

• careerists who will do anything to avoid rocking the boat- including failing their workers and the community – as long as they can stay in good favor with the political and economic power they align themselves with
• idealogues who think the “mission” of an organization is somehow separate from and superior to making sure they take care of their staff
• greedy CEOs who have figured out how to get rich under the pretense of helping others and could care less if they succeed as long as the check clears
• those who lack vision and hope because they are so beaten down by a system that protects and elevates everyone listed above

The people actually DOING the work- whether that’s being front lines in the community or supporting behind the scenes- are people who are there because they are driven by a higher sense of responsibility to the community. We are the ones seeing how the impressive plans that voters and donors and community members hear about come to fruition- or don’t.

And we should be screaming this from the mountaintops every chance we get.

When we are saying that the metaphorical house is on fire, it’s not just because we deserve better compensation and better working conditions (even though we absolutely do)- it’s because we recognize that burnout and compassion fatigue are real; that when bad policies prompt our coworkers to quit in droves and take their institutional knowledge with them, the community suffers; that chronic and intentional understaffing hurts those who we claim to serve; that we can’t properly advocate for the right resources and policies when disproportionate mental energy goes to wondering if we can pay our bills; that fear of retaliation for telling a boss their plan is harmful results in everyone suffering; that terrible working conditions for front line workers reflect terrible caretaking conditions of our most vulnerable; that our mental health suffers when we watch corruption and ineptitude permeate the choices of our bosses.

Two unions that have recently taken hold of this framing and run with it successfully are National Nurses United (NNU) and Austin Pets Alive Workers (APAW). NNU consistently includes addressing staffing shortages and the subsequent risks to patients in every demand and press hit. APAW has successfully framed their need for a union as “our working conditions are their [the animals’] living conditions.” They have taken hold of the narrative to build community support for their demands that extend beyond workers’ rights advocates so that members of the community connect to their cause. If, in these cases, nurses are saying they can’t take care of their patients and animal caregivers are saying animals in their care can’t be humanely cared for, their organizing and mobilizing and demanding now creates an open invitation to support from everyone else who identifies with their cause.

But why do this workplace by workplace when we all know we are stronger united? Austin needs a worker led public servant watchdog coalition. City of Austin and Travis County workers through AFSCME 1624, United Workers of Integral Care, National Nurses United, Texas State Employees Union, Education Austin, Austin EMS Association, Austin Pets Alive Workers, Austin Newsguild, and all other workers in public service and community oriented fields- we need to join together and make it known how our ability to serve the community is a direct result of how we are either empowered and respected or dismissed and degraded as workers. Until we band together and build a coalition of community members who stand by us, we will continue to shortchange our power as workers.

So how do we do this? Good community watchdog coalitions are intersectional, intergenerational, and multicultural. They are built on empowering workers and communities based on mutual interests and don’t make assumptions based on people’s political leanings. A strong coalition is open to people and not just organizations- they post information in public places and invite unorganized workers and nonworking community members to plug in. They stick to their value of community and host town halls where they listen as much as they talk; they conduct surveys to identify the social service gaps that the community has identified; they are constantly messaging their theory of change and using that to cross-pollinate with other groups. Good coalitions stay strong in their messaging that our organizing is just as much for the common good as it is for us as workers. And then they stick to that promise with the demands and campaigns they pursue.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I feel comfortable saying that most of us got into the labor movement to advance the common good and got into public service work to do the same. Let’s spell it out for everyone how the fates of both are inextricably tied and invite them to demand better of our bosses alongside us.

Whitney D has spent 20 years in public service of various kinds: teacher, school support staff, animal welfare non-profits, Austin Public Health and now Travis Country Health and Human Services. Like most public service workers, she (wisely) hasn’t done this with visions of wealth but because she wants to be able to make a respectable living while making a meaningful and positive impact in her community.

The post Public Service Unions Should Build Community Watchdog Coalitions first appeared on Red Fault.

Ed Hinojosa was unjustly fired due to the Board’s incompetence. Last month they demanded that Ed Hinojosa carry out mass evictions across Opportunity Home San Antonio complexes, tenant organizers then pushed back. The Board is scapegoating Ed.

The Opportunity Home waitlist is over 110,000. What solutions has the board provided thus far? Ed’s tenure at Opportunity Home was a stark departure from the housing politics of Cisneros and Castro, which moved to demolish and privatize public housing nationwide.

Ed prevented the demolition of the Alazán-Apache Courts, advocated for the City’s largest housing bond and received the first ever general funding for public housing in San Antonio history. 

Ron Nirengberg is showing his true colors on his way out. He’s turning his back on the housing policies he previously championed now that he doesn’t have an election to win. City Council cannot turn a blind eye to this.

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The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the largest socialist organization in the United States. San Antonio DSA (SADSA) is a local chapter of DSA that operates in San Antonio and the surrounding area. We build and support working-class movements for radical social change, while establishing an openly socialist and anti-capitalist presence in San Antonio through a variety of tactics, from labor organizing to mutual aid to electoralism.

For the past 2 years, our DSA chapter has attended Rock Hill Pride to show solidarity with our queer comrades and share with the broader queer community how queer liberation and socialism are intertwined. 

We recently learned that Rock Hill Pride has hired Shane Windmeyer, aka drag performer Buff Faye, to headline the Pride festival. Windmeyer is the former CEO of Campus Pride. QNotes has reported and Campus Pride officers confirmed that he embezzled over $100,000 in Campus Pride funds, spending money that should’ve gone to building queer friendly spaces to instead build his personal drag performing business.

As socialists, we recognize that bosses dominate our working lives, the resources of our communities, and through this, the public life of our society. The LGBTQ+ community is no different. Socialists organize with our community to reclaim this power and our lives, and it starts by organizing to hold particularly bad bosses in our community accountable. Following a deep discussion with our membership and The Charlotte Gaymers Network (CGN), our leadership voted to join CGN’s calls for vendors to pull support from Rock Hill Pride, so long as Buff Faye skirts public accountability and remains employed by the festival. We hope that Windmeyer can make amends with Campus Pride and the local queer community so that we can stay united at a time of growing hate against queer people.

We do not take it lightly when we call on our members, the community, and other vendors to boycott Rock Hill Pride this year. We recognize that, while Rock Hill Pride and most local Pride events are funded and controlled by corporations and the non-profits they fund, they are refuges for our queer comrades. Our members found solace, joy, and community there in past years and are disappointed they can’t in good conscience attend. But we build our own community. That is why we recommend y’all check out events from queer community groups like CGN and T4T, or other Pride in the area unaffiliated with Rock Hill Pride. Our chapter will be tabling at Salisbury Pride on June 22nd and will host a post-Pride new & prospective member meeting on June 26th and a Socialist Social June 27th! Check out our events calendar for more details!

Happy Pride,

Charlotte Metro DSA

We are pleased to announce that, at our chapter-wide General Assembly in April, members of our chapter overwhelmingly voted in support of a resolution that reinforces DSA San Diego as an anti-Zionist organization both in principle and in practice. The adopted resolution explicitly defines anti-Zionist expectations for both our membership and endorsed candidates. As a [...]

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