Upcoming Events

Wednesday, June 11 (6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): New Member Happy Hour at Zeitgeist (In person at Zeitgeist, 199 Valencia)

Thursday, June 12 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Rescheduled – Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (Zoom)

Thursday, June 12 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigrant Justice Working Group Meeting (Zoom)

Saturday, June 14 (12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): 2025 DSA SF Chapter Convention Day 1 (Zoom and in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Sunday, June 15 (12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): 2025 DSA SF Chapter Convention Day 2 (Zoom and in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Monday, June 16 (10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.): Family Shelter Hearing (In person at SF City Hall Room 250)

Monday, June 16 (5:50 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Socialist in Office + Electoral Board Meeting (Zoom)

Monday, June 16 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

Tuesday, June 17 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (Zoom)

Tuesday, June 17 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigrant Justice Working Group & East Bay DSA: Know Your Rights & Immigration 101 Training (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Wednesday, June 18 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): What Is DSA? (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, June 19 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.): Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom)

Friday, June 20 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): Maker Friday (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, June 21 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Monthly Food Service (In person at Castro & Market)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates.

Events & Actions

Chapter Convention This Weekend!

Our 2025 Chapter Convention will be held this weekend on June 14th and 15th at Kelly Cullen Auditorium (220 Golden Gate Ave) and will take the place of our June Regular Meeting. At convention we will debate amendments to our bylaws, select our 2025/2026 chapter priorities, re-charter chapter bodies, and elect new leadership. RSVP at dsasf.org/convention-RSVP. The Convention Packet with reflections on our work from the last year and proposals for the next year can be viewed at dsasf.org/packet2025.

Supporting Sup. Fielder’s Family Shelter Stay Policy

DSA SF’s Electoral Board is organizing this campaign to support Supervisor Jackie Fielder’s proposed ordinance to extend the stay of families in shelters to 1 year. Mayor Daniel Lurie and the Department of Homelessness have been enforcing a harmful policy of limiting the stay of families with children to 90 days which is not long enough to secure permanent housing. Please use this link to submit a letter to your supervisor in support of families getting to stay sheltered.

You can also attend the Family Shelter Hearing in person on June 16th at 10:00 a.m. at City Hall to show your support!

Email electoral@dsasf.org with any questions.

IJWG & EBDSA: Know Your Rights + Immigration 101 Training

Join the DSA SF Immigrant Justice Working Group and EBDSA Migrants Defense Working Group for a joint Know Your Rights + Immigration 101 training! We will be discussing the current political moment, a brief history of immigration in the U.S., and important Know Your Rights information, including the difference between a judicial and administrative warrant and how to exercise your rights or intervene as a bystander in various scenarios. The training will take place on Tuesday, June 17, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister St.

Maker Friday on June 20

Join us for Maker Friday on June 20 at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister from 7:00 p.m. to  9:00 p.m.! Come make some art and connect with comrades. All are welcome. See you there!

Summer Social(ist) Events!

Mark your calendars for our Summer Social(ist) event series!

• June 22nd, 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Picnic @ Dolores Park! Bring some food or drinks, bring your dog, bring your friends, bring your friend’s dog! We will be in the Northeast corner by the tennis courts.
• June 25th @ 7:00 p.m. – Screening of They Live at Roar Shack (34 7th Street) – Let’s watch the classic monster movie inspired by the scariest monsters of them all (Ronald Reagan and Capitalism)!
• July 6th @ 11:00 p.m. – Screening of The Room at the Balboa Theater! We’ll meet outside at 10:30.
• July 11th @ 7:30PM – Comrade Karaoke at the Roar Shack (34 7th Street) – Come hang out and do some FREE karaoke with your fellow DSA SF comrades or cool people you want to impress with your incredible singing voice! No songs refused, no entry denied! Suggested Donation: $10. Drinks: Wine + Beer Available / BYOB
• July 27th @ 1:05PM – Oakland Ballers vs Northern Colorado Owlz baseball game + “Halloween in July Night” (at Raimondi Park) – RSVP here by July 13th so that we can put in a group order of tickets! Group tickets are are $15 per ticket, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds!

EWOC: How to Talk About Organizing

EWOC (Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee) is a project of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and DSA working to build a distributed grassroots organizing program to support workers organizing at the workplace. To learn more about the work EWOC does, come by the DSA SF office to pick up a copy of Unite and Win or tune into the Labor Board’s weekly meetings every Monday at 7 p.m. on Zoom.

The next EWOC event hosted by DSA SF features EWOC staff members conducting a training on generating workplace leads and conducting organizing conversations on July 17th from 6:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m. Let us know in if you can make it! Hope to see you there!

Know Your Rights Canvass Reportback

On Saturday, June 7, a group of DSA and non-DSA members gathered to distribute red cards and Know Your Rights (KYR) information for business brochures between 30th St and Cesar Chavez. The event had a good turnout with many new members who were eager to get involved as the Trump administration continues to escalate its attacks against immigrant communities across the country. The Immigrant Justice Working Group (IJWG) will continue holding monthly canvasses and other events. Stay tuned for the next one! If you would like to get involved in KYR canvassing or are interested in joining the IJWG, reach out at immigrantjustice@dsasf.org or join the #immigrant-justice channel on the DSA SF Slack!

Socialist in Office Meeting Summary – June 2

At the June 2 Socialist in Office (SiO) meeting with Jackie Fielder’s office, DSA SF members received key updates on the city’s budget and pressing policy fights.

Budget and Social Services
The Mayor’s proposed budget expands police and sheriff overtime spending for next year, even as social services like legal aid services, food stamps and elder care face deep cuts. Jackie’s office highlighted the opaque budget process and the challenge of influencing it, as they are not on the budget committee.

The mayor is seeking to redirect Prop C funds from permanent affordable housing to temporary shelter beds, a move that would prioritize reducing visible homelessness over creating real homes. This reallocation requires a supermajority at the Board.

Family Shelter Policy Win
Jackie’s Family Shelter Ordinance is being heard at the Rules Committee June 16th. On June 9th, Jackie, Faith in Action Bay Area, and the Coalition on Homelessness presented a plan to the Mayor’s budget office to end family homelessness for $66.5M. We are in active discussions with the Mayor’s office about this policy proposal and also his upcoming proposals around families who are living in RVs.

Next Steps
Members discussed holding a July session to demystify the city’s budget process for the chapter. Jackie’s office continues to build coalitions with labor and community groups to fight for transparency and social priorities.

Stay tuned for action opportunities, and join us at SiO next week to stay engaged with our efforts at City Hall!

Behind the Scenes

The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.

To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.

By Dan Albright, with additional reporting by Siobhan M.

How will the labor movement and the left more broadly respond as Trump takes unionists for political prisoners and threatens martial law?

BOSTON, MA – Hundreds rallied at City Hall Plaza on Monday in solidarity with actions across the nation demanding the release of Los Angeles union leader David Huerta, president of SEIU United Service Workers West, jailed by ICE Friday for protesting a workplace raid.

“As ICE conducted terror raids against workers across Los Angeles on Friday,” said David Foley, SEIU Local 509 President, in an interview with Working Mass. “Among the protesters was my brother, David Huerta. They pushed him to the ground, beat and detained him. We’re out here to demand an end to the ICE raids and to demand immigration justice.”

ICE’s actions in Los Angeles on Friday – targeting day laborers outside a Home Depot, lining up and cuffing garment workers indiscriminately at a Fashion District wholesaler, firing flash grenades at protesters as they marched in full military garb along with hulking armored tanks, as well as detaining Huerta – inflamed the community and spurred massive protests over the weekend and continuing this week. President Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard and 700 Marines on standby as protesters escalated the rebellion, briefly shutting down a major freeway and setting several ICE-allied vehicles and robot-operated taxis aflame.

Huerta, 58, is a prominent leader in the California labor movement and Latino community. He represents 45,000 janitors, security officers and airport service workers in California, many of whom are immigrants. Huerta was serving as a community observer at one of the Fashion District raids when he was arrested. He faces up to six years in federal prison for “conspiracy to impede an officer.”

Shortly after the Monday rally, Huerta was released on $50,000 bail. However, the protests in Los Angeles are raging, and criticism of ICE is intensifying, with more and more solidarity rallies and marches taking place nationally.

Boston-based SEIU Local 509, representing 20,000 health and human service workers and educators in Massachusetts, organized Monday’s rally at Government Center. This spring, Local 509 made national headlines as it condemned the fascistic ICE imprisonment of its member Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University graduate worker. Her sole “offense” was in 2024 writing an op-ed criticizing the college’s complicity with genocide in Gaza; one year later, plainclothes agents kidnapped her in Somerville and shipped her to a Louisiana prison cell for six weeks.

In a parallel, Huerta was among the SEIU leaders who advocated for pro-Palestine resolutions in the union, helping put the highly influential 2-million-member Service Employees International Union at the forefront of Palestine solidarity within the labor movement.

Other union members and leaders have been targeted too, taken as political prisoners in what can only be seen as overt suppression of organizing workers across national origin: Lewelyn Dixon, 10-year SEIU Local 925 member in Seattle detained by ICE February 28; Mahmoud Khalil, a former member of the Student Workers of Columbia (SWOC), UAW Local 2710, detained in New York March 8; Lelo Juarez, Washington state farmworker organizer taken March 25; undergraduate worker Mohsen Mahdawi in Vermont, April 14. Of them, concerted campaigns by UAW and SEIU helped contribute to Dixon and Mahdawi’s later release.

“We are facing an enormous amount of repression right now,” Foley continued at the Boston rally Monday, “The billionaire class is trying to divide working people based off of immigration status and documentation status. We will not tolerate it, and we’ll continue to escalate. We’ll disrupt as much as we can to end these terror raids. Free David Huerta. Free them all.”

Leaders from all SEIU unions in the Massachusetts State Council, including 32BJ SEIU, 1199SEIU, SEIU Local 888 and CIR/SEIU, also spoke at the Boston rally, as well as Chrissy Lynch, Mass. AFL-CIO state federation president, Darlene Lombos of the Boston AFL-CIO Central Labor Council (GBLC), and Chaton Green, Business Agent of the Greater Boston Building Trades Unions. Members from various area unions, community groups and socialist organizations made up the crowd.

“Community members need to know they are not alone,” said Tefa Galvis, co-chair of the Boston chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). “Whether we’re in a union or not, socialists or just capitalism-critical, or whether this is the first time you’ve felt activated, Boston DSA is here to lend a hand to those itching to take action.”

As the rebellion unfolds in Los Angeles – and as the nation anxiously anticipates martial law, Trump’s promised turning of the military against the American people – time will tell how the labor movement and the broader left will meet the moment. Will we buy the billionaires’ narrative that rebellion is unlawful, anti-patriotic, or detrimental to “shared” progress? Will we be inspired by our LA brothers and sisters’ courage and organization, or will we sit this one out and fade further into cultural irrelevance?

The established national labor movement in recent years has, in a sea-change from past nativist stances, started to embrace immigrant workers. The SEIU was one of the leaders in this effort in the early 2000s, which partially culminated in the SEIU departing the AFL-CIO in 2005, particularly through the Justice for Janitors campaign beginning in 1990. Low-wage immigrant workers were crushed by L.A. cops in the same streets as the rebellion today in the Battle for Century City, which then led to a long-term base-building campaign beyond the limits of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) process to build immigrant worker power under the SEIU umbrella. David Huerta began his career as an organizer for Justice for Janitors, and since leading SEIU in California, has overseen organizing campaigns involving thousands of janitors and English classes for union members to integrate immigrant workers. Meanwhile, the largest federation has also traveled far: today, the national AFL-CIO distributes Know Your Rights, organizing resources, and hosts immigrant worker working groups.

Nonetheless, accountability for union-backed politicians engaging in anti-immigrant politics has been limited. Though the tactics and optics may be different, President Biden oversaw more deportations (4 million) than Trump did in his first term (1.9 million), and Trump’s current pace of deportations still lags Biden’s. Biden and congressional Democrats increased ICE’s budget by 20% in Biden’s term; Kamala Harris’s campaign even sought to outflank Trump on immigration ”toughness.”

In a telling irony, many unions distributing the AFL-CIO’s new Know Your Rights cards have found themselves in a dilemma. The cards instruct the user to hand the card to the enforcement officer if approached. The bottom of the card has a fill-in-the-blank spot for the number of a local immigration defense lawyer or advocate. But immigration lawyers are so overwhelmed and unions so under-resourced that local unions often don’t have a number they can reliably list there. This dilemma, though, also points to a solution: less reliance on legalistic strategies by unions, and greater investment in organizational strength, i.e., to what extent is the membership prepared to flex the basic, collective union power of shutting down business-as-usual to win demands? And further, to what extent are we organizing across divisions of language, immigrant and documentation status to build power that shatters capitalists’ ability to divide and conquer?

While unions represent only about 10% of the workforce, trending downwards even in recent years as public approval of unions has risen, the labor movement still represents the best hope in the fight against fascism. Unions, at their best, go beyond the negotiation of wages and benefits and give workers a real say in how things are done in the workplace. The workplace, where we spend most of our lives, is otherwise a site of unrestricted authoritarian dictatorship (of the boss). When workers act in unity across worksites, even if often largely illegalized in America, ever larger demands and grander victories are possible. Labor history shows unions’ greatest rise – and, subsequently, working people’s highest point of prosperity – came at a time of widespread, technically illegal, strike action. The corporate media, then, as today with the LA protests, often cast and derided these strikes as violent.

As Trump’s administration presses union-busting full throttle, gutting what’s left of a broken NLRB and attempting to slash public sector bargaining rights, legalistic defenses seem unlikely to hold organized labor’s fort, and with it, democracy itself. Vice President Vance recently advised the President that if the courts stopped him, he should make “like Andrew Jackson” and tell the courts to raise their own army to enforce it. Maybe, at this moment, working people need our own kind of army, too.

Dan Albright is an editor of Working Mass, union media producer and organizer, DSA member, and Recording Secretary of IUPAT Local 939.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this report listed Mahmoud Khalil as past president of the Student Workers of Columbia; he was a member. Mohsen Mahdawi was listed as a grad union member; he is an undergraduate.

The post Boston Unions Take to the Streets Against ICE, Arrest of Los Angeles Labor Leader appeared first on Working Mass.

[[{“value”:”An SEIU union member addresses the Boston rally demanding the release of Los Angeles union leader David Huerta from ICE detention, June 9, 2025. Photo credit: Dan Albright / Working Mass

By Dan Albright, with additional reporting by Siobhan M.

CITY HALL PLAZA – Hundreds rallied in Boston on Monday in solidarity with actions across the nation demanding the release of Los Angeles union leader David Huerta, president of SEIU United Service Workers West, jailed by ICE Friday for protesting a workplace raid.

“As ICE conducted terror raids against workers across Los Angeles on Friday,” said David Foley, SEIU Local 509 President, in an interview with Working Mass. “Among the protesters was my brother, David Huerta. They pushed him to the ground, beat and detained him. We’re out here to demand an end to the ICE raids and to demand immigration justice.”

ICE’s actions in Los Angeles on Friday – targeting day laborers outside a Home Depot, lining up and cuffing garment workers indiscriminately at a Fashion District wholesaler, firing flash grenades at protesters as they marched in full military garb along with hulking armored tanks, as well as detaining Huerta – inflamed the community and spurred massive protests over the weekend and continuing this week. President Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard and 700 Marines on standby as protesters escalated the rebellion, briefly shutting down a major freeway and setting several ICE-allied vehicles and robot-operated taxis aflame.

Huerta, 58, is a prominent leader in the California labor movement and Latino community. He represents 45,000 janitors, security officers and airport service workers in California, many of whom are immigrants. Huerta was serving as a community observer at one of the Fashion District raids when he was arrested. He faces up to six years in federal prison for “conspiracy to impede an officer.”

Shortly after the Monday rally, Huerta was released on $50,000 bail. However, the protests in Los Angeles are raging, and criticism of ICE is intensifying, with more and more solidarity rallies and marches taking place nationally.

SEIU Local 509 President David Foley addresses the crowd. Photo credit: Dan Albright / Working Mass

Boston-based SEIU Local 509, representing 20,000 health and human service workers and educators in Massachusetts, organized Monday’s rally at Government Center. This spring, Local 509 made national headlines as it condemned the fascistic ICE imprisonment of its member Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University graduate worker. Her sole “offense” was in 2024 writing an op-ed criticizing the college’s complicity with genocide in Gaza; one year later, plainclothes agents kidnapped her in Somerville and shipped her to a Louisiana prison cell for six weeks.

In a parallel, Huerta was among the SEIU leaders who advocated for pro-Palestine resolutions in the union, helping put the highly influential 2-million-member Service Employees International Union at the forefront of Palestine solidarity within the labor movement.

Other union members and leaders have been targeted too, taken as political prisoners in what can only be seen as overt suppression of international worker solidarity: Mahmoud Khalil, former president of Student Workers of Columbia, UAW Local 2710, detained March 8; Lelo Juarez, Washington state farmworker organizer, detained March 25; Local 2710 member Mohsen Madhawi, detained April 14.

“We are facing an enormous amount of repression right now,” Foley continued at the Boston rally Monday, “The billionaire class is trying to divide working people based off of immigration status and documentation status. We will not tolerate it, and we’ll continue to escalate. We’ll disrupt as much as we can to end these terror raids. Free David Huerta. Free them all.”

Photo credit: Dan Albright / Working Mass

Leaders from all SEIU unions in the Massachusetts State Council, including 32BJ SEIU, 1199SEIU, and SEIU Local 888, also spoke at the Boston rally, as well as Chrissy Lynch, Mass. AFL-CIO state federation president, Darlene Lombos of the Boston Central Labor Council (GBLC), and Chaton Green, Business Agent of the Greater Boston Building Trades Unions. Members from various area unions, community groups and socialist organizations made up the crowd.

“Community members need to know they are not alone,” said Tefa Galvis, co-chair of the Boston chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). “Whether we’re in a union or not, socialists or just capitalism-critical, or whether this is the first time you’ve felt activated, Boston DSA is here to lend a hand to those itching to take action.”

As the rebellion unfolds in Los Angeles – and as the nation anxiously anticipates martial law, Trump’s promised turning of the military against the American people – time will tell how the labor movement and the broader left will meet the moment. Will we buy the billionaires’ narrative that rebellion is unlawful, anti-patriotic, or detrimental to “shared” progress? Will we be inspired by our LA brothers and sisters’ courage and organization, or will we sit this one out and fade further into cultural irrelevance?

Photo credit: Dan Albright / Working Mass

The established national labor movement in recent years has, in a sea-change from past nativist stances, started to embrace immigrant workers, with the AFL-CIO even sharing “Know Your Rights” and community defense resources this year. Yet funding for organizing in immigrant communities and accountability for union-backed politicians has been limited. Though the tactics and optics may be different, President Biden oversaw more deportations (4 million) than Trump did in his first term (1.9 million), and Trump’s current pace of deportations still lags Biden’s. Biden and congressional Democrats increased ICE’s budget by 20% in Biden’s term; Kamala Harris’s campaign even sought to outflank Trump on immigration ”toughness.”

In a telling irony, many unions distributing the AFL-CIO’s new Know Your Rights cards have found themselves in a dilemma. The cards instruct the user to hand the card to the enforcement officer if approached. The bottom of the card has a fill-in-the-blank spot for the number of a local immigration defense lawyer or advocate. But immigration lawyers are so overwhelmed and unions so under-resourced that local unions often don’t have a number they can reliably list there. This dilemma, though, also points to a solution: less reliance on legalistic strategies by unions, and greater investment in organizational strength, i.e., is the membership prepared to flex the basic union power of their ability to shut down business as usual to win our demands?

While unions represent only about 10% of the workforce, trending downwards even in recent years as public approval of unions has risen, the labor movement still represents the best hope in the fight against fascism. Unions, at their best, go beyond the negotiation of wages and benefits and give workers a real say in how things are done in the workplace. The workplace, where we spend most of our lives, is otherwise a site of unrestricted authoritarian dictatorship (of the boss). When workers act in unity across worksites, even if often largely illegalized in America, ever larger demands and grander victories are possible. Labor history shows unions’ greatest rise – and, subsequently, working people’s highest point of prosperity – came at a time of widespread, technically illegal, strike action. The corporate media, then, as today with the LA protests, often cast and derided these strikes as violent.

As Trump’s administration presses union-busting full throttle, gutting what’s left of a broken NLRB and attempting to slash public sector bargaining rights, legalistic defenses seem unlikely to hold organized labor’s fort, and with it, democracy itself. Vice President Vance recently advised the President that if the courts stopped him, he should make “like Andrew Jackson” and tell the courts to raise their own army to enforce it. Maybe, at this moment, working people need our own kind of army, too.

Dan Albright is an editor of Working Mass, union media producer and organizer, DSA member, and Recording Secretary of IUPAT Local 939.

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by Portland DSA’s Immigrant Justice Working Group

Portland DSA stands in solidarity with immigrants and all the people of Los Angeles as they face the oppression of militarized federal ICE forces and the National Guard. 

We condemn the Trump administration’s use of violence—including tear gas and rubber bullets—to suppress protests against its illegitimate deportation regime. 

In 2020, the Portland community experienced the same violence from the same forces and under the same president. 

The rebellion in Portland, which lasted for more than 100 days, was a clear response to the daily violence experienced by colonized peoples across the United States. 

We stand with immigrants in the face of these reprehensible and unconstitutional attacks and call on the people of Portland to join us in condemning and resisting this violence. 

Through a diversity of tactics, we speak with a united voice:

Abolish ICE!

No one is illegal on stolen land! 

¡Se ve, se siente, el pueblo está presente!

The post Statement on Trump Administration Violence in Los Angeles appeared first on Portland DSA.

In recent weeks Seattle has seen an outrageous escalation in dangerous tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On Thursday, June 5th at the Seattle US Immigration Review Court, community members were detained and dragged through the hallways of the courthouse by masked men in plainclothes. Seattle DSA rejects this continued use of intimidation and dehumanization. These extrajudicical arrests and the implications they create for those with upcoming court dates is tantamount to psychological terrorism against the immigrant population, both in Seattle and across the country.

The silence from Seattle’s public officials is disgraceful and yet another example of their failure to provide the leadership this moment requires. Their prioritization of funding for new police surveillance technologies over legal and housing assistance for immigrants, and their use of our city as a hunting ground for Gestapo-style goon squads should infuriate us all and send shivers down our spines.

Under current conditions, the designation of Washington as a so-called “sanctuary state” for immigrants is not only meaningless, it’s offensive and disingenuous. The Seattle US Immigration Review Court is where people must go for immigration appointments and for ICE contractors to encroach upon this space in a confrontational and violent way does massive harm to our community. It is critical that Washington provide meaningful efforts to improve immigrants’ material welfare. 

We encourage all Seattleites to contact Mayor Bruce Harrell, your council member, and your state legislator. Tell them we do not accept this inhumane treatment and that ICE is not welcome here. If you’d like to get involved in direct action in supporting immigrant welfare, we encourage you to follow Superfamilia KC, La Resistencia, and the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, and for Seattle Democratic Socialists of America members to join our Immigrant Justice Working Group. We refuse to take these advances of state violence sitting down.

by Gregory Lebens-Higgins

“We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe.” ― Frantz Fanon

In April, ROC DSA participated in no less than ten rallies or protests: The anti-Trump “Hands Off” protest on April 5, organized by Indivisible and endorsed by National DSA. The pro-LGBTQ+ “Greater Rochester Rally for our Freedom” on April 6, endorsed by ROC DSA. On April 19, the 50501-organized “Day of Action,” supported by ROC DSA. On April 21, a rally with the U of R Graduate Students Union. 

In coalition with Rochester Grants Pass Resistance on April 22, “Housing Not Handcuffs” against carceral anti-homeless measures. Another rally with the U of R Graduate Students Union on April 25. “Hands off the Students” on April 26 to protect international U of R students. “Finals Not Fascism” on April 28 to protest student deportations at RIT. 

When Trump border czar Tom Homan visited Rochester on April 29, “Fight for our Sanctuary City.” A rally at City Hall in coalition with Rochester for Energy Democracy on April 30. All culminating in a massive (until the rain) rally for International Workers’ Day on May 1.

ROC DSA also hosted a “Socialist Sunday School” political education event, a cookout and canvass training session, a board game social, an art-making party, a new member orientation, general meeting, regular organizing group meetings, and livestreams of Speak to Council and a two-night Rochester Candidate Forum. All while supporting a slate of six candidates for City Council and Mayor with canvassing and fundraiser events.

This is an impressive feat, demonstrating the energy of membership and an appetite for politics beyond the limits of liberal capitalism. Yet while experiencing growth, we must remain self-critical to ensure we are building a mass working-class movement.

Shortcomings of Protest

In its raw form, protest is an outburst; the collective rage of the masses spilling onto the streets in response to events. Such spontaneity has no structure, no binding program beyond rage. The “Hands Off” rally, for example, was united by opposition to Trump, but guided by irreconcilable ideologies. Signs proclaimed everything from ‘Not Left, Not Right, But Center,’ to ‘Eat the Rich.’ No lasting coalition can be created on the basis of these contradictions. 

Spontaneity becomes a substitute for organized action. But protest cannot be sustained, and ultimately becomes a spectacle of weakness. Unable to achieve our demands, we resort to merely expressing our displeasure. This experience of catharsis dissipates energy from the movement, and as fractures begin to appear in the coalition, participants tire of their limited impact while congratulating themselves for showing up. 

With no collective program for building a better future, and no democratic process to see it through, spontaneous protest cannot confront the ruling class. Street protest will not remove Trump from office nor stop the deportations. The strength of the masses must be directed into focused demands informed by critical analysis.

Beyond Protest

As part of an organized campaign, protest can be a useful tactic. It acts as a “structure test,” measuring the level of support. Who will turn out in response to the organization’s call? And how will those in power respond? Protest can also be an act of disruption, placing our bodies upon the gears. The strength of the working class is in our numbers, and we can flood the streets and halls of power or halt the means of production.

Protest must be in service of our objectives. This requires an understanding of the tasks at hand to advance the cause of socialism. What can we achieve now to lay the groundwork for a socialist horizon? Our work must center demands which clearly highlight the path to victory and resonate with the masses.

A revolutionary organization has many responsibilities: Administering the organization in a democratic and effective manner. Educating the populace and instilling working-class consciousness. Ensuring the social cohesion of its members. Effectively planning events. And developing member skills. These priorities cannot be lost in an effort to keep up with the spontaneous energy of the streets.

The Role of ROC DSA

The role of ROC DSA is to organize spontaneity. To create lasting formations of working class power, the energy of the masses must be directed into campaigns that can achieve a transformative material basis for society.

At our latest chapter convention, ROC DSA voted to prioritize three campaigns: The formation of an Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC), resisting the criminalization of homelessness, and supporting a socialist slate for city council and mayor. As a democratic decision of the chapter, we must stand behind these priorities.

The chapter also has a platform. As elected officials, our endorsed candidates will legislate in favor of these policies. But we cannot wait for electoral victory to bring our platform to life, it must be woven throughout ROC DSA’s work.

To demonstrate the possibilities of a socially-organized society, we must embody effective cooperation in this moment. As we have recognized, “the Chapter’s capacity for planning and organizing outward-facing events is fundamental to successful member recruitment and retention, as well as laying the groundwork for a future socialist society.” We must establish working-class formations capable of governing.

The first ROC DSA event* I attended was the 2022 No ReAwaken America Tour (“No RAT”) Teach-In, held in Batavia and planned by a coalition of groups across Western New York. Following a curated program of speakers who contributed perspectives from history, education, and religion, trained facilitators led small-group discussion on the roots of enchantment with the right. In this tense political moment, a team of marshals reassured our safety. As a new member, I was impressed with ROC DSA’s capacity for organizing such a skillfully-run event. 

When other newly-radicalized liberals are seeking the next steps in their political development, ROC DSA should be the guidestar for getting involved in robust, capable campaigns with a plan to win. New members will be onboarded directly into work that advances our cause if it is understood as a worthwhile time commitment.

This is not to say there were no compelling reasons to participate in these April protests. ”Hands Off” and “Day of Action” offered opportunities to promote socialism to Democratic voters seeking another option. Rallies with the Graduate Student’s Union strengthened connections with the labor movement. “Housing Not Handcuffs” represents the work of a priority campaign. Others were held in response to far-right encroachments on civil liberties during Trump’s first months in office.

Perhaps the frequency of these April protests can also be tacked up to the coming of warm weather. Whatever they signify, they must become part of a broader strategy. Protests are not the only form of structure test, and awareness is not the only benefit to be achieved. Our tactics must always be calculated to strengthen working class power. We have a world to win.

*Shout-out to our newly-formed Genesee County DSA branch for its contribution to the teach-in’s success.

The post Beyond the Streets first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

On June 4, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained at least 15 individuals, including a 3-year-old and other children, at court check-in appointments in San Francisco. This attack on our community members came just a week after the arrest of four asylum seekers after their hearings at S.F. Immigration Court. These actions are part of a nationwide escalation in immigration enforcement where ICE agents coordinate with court officers to identify and harass migrants and interfere with their cases to fast track their deportations. The Democratic Socialists of America – San Francisco (DSA SF) condemns this continued debilitation and criminalization of displaced migrants under the undemocratic U.S. border regime.

ICE’s presence inside courtrooms, their coordination with prosecutors, and their terrorizing of already vulnerable migrants represent a dangerous rise in state repression. Fear mongering at the courthouse keeps migrants in a perpetual state of panic and “under control.” Deportations are then enforced to deal the final blow to expel the racialized migrant class. Both debilitation and exclusionist tactics serve to solidify the racist idea of a homogeneous nation-state that keeps the working class divided and the capitalist class in power. This is why these expedited removals are not just an attack on our migrant neighbors, but an attack on all of the working class.

As democratic socialists, we are building an independent political movement that fights for the working class majority. We believe that we must end the U.S. war machine and economic warfare. We must fight for freedom of movement, allowing people to freely cross borders without restrictive immigration controls. We must demilitarize the border, end all immigrant detention and deportations, grant immediate amnesty for all immigrants regardless of current immigration status, and provide access to jobs, labor, rights, and social services to all immigrants. We must abolish all repressive capitalist institutions like ICE and establish a working class democracy.

The courts are not safe. It is only through mobilizing for community defense initiatives, such as Know Your Rights resource-sharing, accompaniment to immigration appointments, and community rapid response, and building democratic organs of popular power like people’s assemblies that we can protect our working-class community. Join DSA SF to defend our migrant neighbors and build the independent political movement needed to win the battle against fascism.

In solidarity,

DSA SF

Union busters are hired in two thirds of organizing campaigns. Make sure you know how the “persuader” industry works.

The post How does the union-busting industry work? appeared first on EWOC.

By: Jake S

WORCESTER, MA – United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 1445 represents almost 1,100 hospital workers across four campuses at UMass Memorial Medical Center. Workers include lab technicians, phlebotomists, scientists, anesthesiologists, housekeeping, food service, and supply chain. Despite the necessity of their labor to the hospital’s operation, union members say the hospital has yet to address serious workplace issues at the bargaining table for their next contract: abuse of non-union per diem and traveling staff which undermines their collective bargaining agreement; low wages and equality of wages across appointments to the same job title; and employer-subsidized health insurance for part-time workers.

At the same time as denying workers their needs, in June 2024, UMass purchased a research and development facility in Holden for support services. Then, in October, UMass acquired the Milford Regional Medical Center. After unveiling its $220 million North Pavilion in January, UMass is currently planning a building expansion to the tune of an additional $27 million. In 2023, UMass Memorial Health’s CEO, Eric Dickson, received a total compensation package of $3.12 million, placing him as the highest-paid nonprofit chief executive in Central Mass for the third year in a row. His pay has more than doubled since he was appointed to the role. Including Dickson, UMass Memorial Health executives accounted for 6 of the 18 highest-paid nonprofit executives in Central Mass in 2023.

On May 27, UFCW members rallied at Regatta Point Park. The following day, members launched informational pickets about their contract fight. Those have run for ten hours every day since. This past Friday, Local 1445 gave its official 10-day notice for strike action to UMass management.

Jake S, a Working Mass contributor and member of Worcester DSA, met with two members of the union’s bargaining committee at their picket – James, who has fixed equipment for the housekeeping department for 18 years, and Mikki, a support tech and phlebotomist of 8 years – to discuss what these expansions have meant for hospital workers and what they need in their next contract with UMass. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

—–

WM: What’s the most important contract issue on the table right now?

MIKKI: Health insurance and wages – we want a fair contract and the respect that we deserve.

JAMES: And protecting the jobs, not outsourcing them. I work in the housekeeping department, so, years ago, they wanted to outsource us, which would have meant we would have had to work for the company that our managers work for. That’s a different company, not UMass. We don’t want to work for that company, we want to work for UMass.

MIKKI: Yes, that would be technically eliminating our [union] positions.

JAMES: We have 1,100 members – if we outsourced the kitchen staff, that would be almost 600 members cut, which would make our union weaker.

WM: I heard UMass has been lamenting that the hospital’s CEO will only be getting a 1% raise this year – that is, 1% of $3.1 million or more. How does that make you feel?

MIKKI: That’s terrible – we wish we could get that type of money. You know, it’s hard when you’re a single parent. Some people can’t pay rent, can’t buy food. We’re out here struggling – health insurance is big, the wages are big. The cost of living is constantly going up, we need our wages to match that.

JAMES: It’s very disrespectful. We have a lot of housekeepers that can’t afford to pay their rent, they can’t afford to put food on the table. They struggle – I came to work the other day, and I see a housekeeper crying because they can’t pay their rent this month. It’s disgusting.

MIKKI: We have someone sleeping in their car right now, but [CEO Eric Dickson] has a yacht. He can sleep on the yacht. I wish we could sleep in a yacht.

WM: What do you know and how do you feel about the hospital’s recent acquisitions and plans for building expansions? Why do they cry poverty to you if they’re able to do things like that?

JAMES: They just bought Milford Regional; they’re trying to buy Nashoba Valley now to take over the ER; they just built the North Pavilion, and an extension is going to cost $27 million.

MIKKI: It’s very insulting, and it’s adding more work for us without any increase in pay. The Pavilion added a bunch of rooms, which adds new critical conditions that I only have a certain amount of time to report; now we have to rush to get through them and get them called out in a certain amount of time. But the wages don’t match.

WM: Do you think workers should have a right to control more about how the hospital is run?

MIKKI: Absolutely. We’re the ones in the jobs, we’re doing it every day, and they [hospital executives] don’t know much about the jobs.

JAMES: Yes, I think we should have a say in it, because we’re the ones doing the jobs, and they have no idea.

—–

Tomorrow, June 6, workers will vote on the hospital’s current offer. If that offer does not move in the direction union members need it to, a strike authorization vote will be requested, and workers will potentially prepare to launch a strike starting Monday, June 9.

Follow us for updates.

Jake S is a member of Worcester DSA and the United Auto Workers (UAW). He is a contributor to Working Mass.

The post UMass Hospital Staff Consider Striking for Strong Contract, Workers Interviewed appeared first on Working Mass.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, June 4 (6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): New Member Happy Hour (In person at Zeitgeist, 199 Valencia)

Thursday, June 5 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.): Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom)

Saturday, June 7 (1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.): Know Your Rights Canvassing (Meet at the intersection of Mission and Cesar Chavez)

Saturday, June 7 (1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Outreach and Training (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, June 9 (10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.): Family Shelter Hearing (SF City Hall Room 250, 1 Dr. Carlton B Goodlett Plaza)

Monday, June 9 (5:50 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Socialist in Office + Electoral Board Meeting (Zoom)

Monday, June 9 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (Zoom)

Monday, June 9 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Tenderloin Healing Circle (In person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate)

Monday, June 9 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, June 9 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

Wednesday, June 11 (6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): New Member Happy Hour at Zeitgeist (In person at Zeitgeist, 199 Valencia)

Thursday, June 12 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigrant Justice Working Group Meeting (Zoom)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates.

Events & Actions

Immigrant Justice Know Your Rights Canvass

Join the Immigrant Justice Working Group on Saturday, June 7th at 1:00 p.m. for Know Your Rights (KYR) canvassing! We will be distributing red cards and KYR posters to businesses and community members on Mission between Cesar Chavez and 30th St. Our meeting point will be at the intersection of Mission & Cesar Chavez St. New to canvassing? No worries! There will be a brief how-to training before we go out in pairs or small groups.

Family Shelter Hearing on June 9

Hello all, there will be a hearing on June 9th about the family shelter evictions, and it is in need of YOUR support! Jackie is proposing to extend the stay of families in shelters to 1 year. The mayor would like to limit the stay to 90 days, which is not long enough to secure permanent housing. Come speak at the public comment in support of families getting to stay sheltered, or just cheer on Jackie!

Chapter Convention Updates

Our 2025 Chapter Convention will be held on June 14th and 15th at Kelly Cullen Auditorium (220 Golden Gate Ave) and will take the place of our June Regular Meeting. At convention we will debate amendments to our bylaws, select our 2025/2026 chapter priorities, re-charter chapter bodies, and elect new leadership. RSVP at dsasf.org/convention-RSVP. The Convention Packet with reflections on our work from the last year and proposals for the next year can be viewed at dsasf.org/packet2025.

EWOC Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing Reportback

EWOC (Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee) is a project of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and DSA working to build a distributed grassroots organizing program to support workers organizing at the workplace. This week local organizers-in-training met at the DSA SF office to wrap up Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing, a four-module EWOC course, with a lesson on preparing your coworkers to counter against bosses’ anti-union rhetoric, also known as inoculation. Bosses utilize rhetoric like “the union doesn’t represent you” or “we’re all making sacrifices” as a way to incite fear, division, and complacency among workers. Inoculation helps ensure that bosses’ messaging doesn’t further exploit workers and keeps the focus on the positive power of union organizing.

To learn more about the work EWOC does, come by the DSA SF office to pick up a copy of Unite and Win or tune into the Labor Board’s weekly meetings every Monday at 7 p.m. on Zoom. The next EWOC event hosted by DSA SF features EWOC staff members conducting a training on generating workplace leads and conducting organizing conversations on July 17th from 6:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m. Let us know in if you can make it! Hope to see you there!

Behind the Scenes

The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.

To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.