Hey comrade — welcome to the latest edition of Chapter Notes!

We’re coming off the success of an enlivening May Day demonstration in Downtown St. Pete. We had a great turnout, and it was truly inspiring to see so many local comrades hit the streets to say, in one unified voice, “NO!” to capitalist exploitation, imperialism, and Trumpist fascism.

That said, a one-day demonstration of worker power isn’t nearly enough to win the world we want to see. Marches and demonstrations can briefly rattle the financiers, defense contractors, tech-eugenicists, and fossil fuel moguls that compose the Epstein class. But, they’re not going to overthrow them. To achieve that, we need sustained, militant action to build a movement capable of activating the whole of the working class.

That’s the movement we’re building — every meeting attended, rally organized, door knocked, number texted, sign painted, and fist raised brings us that much closer to achieving our dream of a just, free, socialist society. Read on to learn about our next steps!

April Highlights

This month, we officially announced that we’d reached an incredible milestone — there are now more than 300 active, dues-paying members of our chapter!

In April, our members kept up with the work of canvassing in support of PDSA member Richie Floyd, who is running for re-election to the District 8 seat of St. Pete City Council. While members continue to collect additional signatures for added security, we’ve now crossed the threshold for Richie to secure his spot on the ballot!

The members of our International Solidarity Working Group organized a No War With Iran March on April 19. Alongside our comrades from Progressive Peoples’ Action and other local organizers, we took to the streets to demand an end to US aggression against the Iranian people.

Our comrades from the Ecosocialist Working Group, who’ve spearheaded our highly successful Dump Duke campaign for well over a year now, were on the move as well. They brought the call to “Dump Duke Energy!” to the Eco Market, the Earth Day Every Day event at St. Pete Distillery, and to a presentation at Outcast Brewing Company.

CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Re-Elect Richie Floyd

As mentioned above, the campaign to re-elect PDSA comrade Richie Floyd to the District 8 seat of St. Pete City Council has achieved a new major milestone: we’ve now collected the 500 signed petitions needed for Richie to qualify for a place on the ballot.

“Why did we need those petitions signed?” you ask?

If you’re interested in running for a seat on St. Petersburg City Council, there are multiple ways for you to secure your name on the ballot. One option is to simply buy a slot. This is the path that most of the developer- and corporate-friendly candidates that throw their hat into the ring in every election cycle tend to go.

But, Richie is not one of those bought-and-paid-for candidates; he’s the first socialist elected to public office in Florida in a century. So, as we did for Richie’s first election in 2021, we opted to go the grassroots path, and qualify for ballot access by pounding the pavement, week after week, and knocking on doors to ask the residents of District 8 to sign our petition!

Now, this is crucial: even though we’ve secured 500 signatures, remember that each of those signatures needs to be officially verified. The reality is that some of those signatures will almost certainly be tossed out. So, even though we’ve surpassed our stated goal, we still need to keep plugging away and collect as many signatures as possible!

Go to richiefloyd.com/volunteer-rsvp to volunteer for an upcoming canvas!

CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Dump Duke

The organizers behind Dump Duke have been working hard this past month as well.

As our enemies start to recognize the Dump Duke campaign as more of a genuine threat to their interests, they’re shoveling more and more resources into dark money, astroturf groups like the Clearwater Energy Alliance and St. Pete Energy Alliance. They have a lot of money, and can buy a lot more ads than our grassroots campaign can buy.

If we can’t beam our message into peoples’ homes at the same scale as Duke Energy, then we need to go where the people are, which our campaign organizers have done by participating in multiple public events.

Dump Duke had a presence at Earth Night Soundsystem Culture Day, a collaboration celebrating Earth Day and the worldwide DJs for Climate Action initiative, where we tabled and shared information as part of the Eco Market. We also tabled at the Earth Day Every Day: Party For The Planet event, which was a music and art festival attracting hundreds of attendees. We also collaborated with The St. Pete Eco Club, presenting the details and aims of the Dump Duke campaign to their members during their monthly meeting at Outcast Brewing Company.

To see what’s next for the campaign, go to dumpdukefl.com.

Upcoming Events

We have more than a dozen political events, working group meetings, and social outings scheduled in April. You can always view our full calendar of upcoming events, along with the most up-to-date times and locations, on our website: https://www.pinellasdsa.org/home.

Health Justice WG Meeting

Monday, May 4 from 7:00–8:30pm. Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). Meet in the Hybrid Room!

Housing Working Group & St. Pete Tenants Union Joint Meeting

Tuesday, May 5 from 7:00–8:30pm. Meeting of the Pinellas DSA Housing Working Group and St Pete Tenants Union to decide action on tackling the exploitative capitalist housing system. Meet in the Hybrid room at Allendale UMC.

Bylaws Committee Meeting

Thursday, May 7 from 6:30–8:30pm. Location TBD — check the Discord for more details.

TBISN Art Build

Friday, May 8 from 7:30–8:30pm. Come build and paint materials for upcoming public actions on behalf of the Tampa Bay Immigrant Solidarity Network. Location TBD — check the Discord for more details.

Canvass for Richie Floyd & BBQ

Saturday, May 9 from 3:00–5:30pm. Meet at Jorgensen Lake Park (37th St. N. & 11th Ave N. in St. Petersburg). RSVP here.

Richie Floyd Campaign Concert & BBQ

Saturday, May 9 from 5:30–8:30pm. RSVP here for full info.

International Solidary Working Group Meeting

Monday, May 11·from 6:30–7:30pm. This will be a virtual-only meeting. The Zoom link will be provided in the Discord.

Article Study: AI as a tool of Capitalism

Tuesday, May 12 from 7:00–8:00pm. Check the Discord for more details. Here’s a link to the article.

Lit Drop for Richie Floyd

Saturday, May 16 from 10:30am — 1:30pm. Meet at Jorgensen Lake Park (37th St. N. & 11th Ave N. in St. Petersburg). RSVP here.

May General Meeting

Sunday, May 17 from 2:00–4:30pm at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg).

Bylaws Committee Meeting

Monday, May 18 from 6:30–8:30pm. Location TBD — check the Discord for more details.

Lit Drop for Richie Floyd & Pizza Party

Saturday, May 23 from 10:30am — 1:30pm. Meet at Jorgensen Lake Park (37th St. N. & 11th Ave N. in St. Petersburg). RSVP here.

Dump Duke Town Hall Outreach

Sunday, May 24 from 10:30am — 12:30pm. Outreach for the upcoming Town Hall at the Sunshine Center. Check the Discord for more details.

International Solidary Working Group Meeting

Monday, May 25 6:30–8:00pm. This will be a virtual-only meeting. The Zoom link will be provided in the Discord.

Town Hall: Electric Bills 101

Wednesday, May 27 from 6:30–8:00pm. At the Sunshine Center (330 5th St N. in St. Petersburg). Understand your bill and what’s driving rising costs ahead of the upcoming vote on public power. Go to dumpdukefl.com to RSVP.

Canvass for Richie Floyd

Saturday, May 30 from 10:30am — 1:30pm. Location TDB. RSVP here.

New Member Orientation

Saturday, May 30 from 2:30–4:00pm. In the Hybrid Room at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). New to DSA? Come out to our monthly new member orientation! RSVP here.

NOTE: All dates and times are subject to change, so check the website regularly for updates!

If you would like to create an event on the Pinellas DSA calendar, please submit a Meeting & Event Request Form no later than two weeks prior to the requested event date. You can always check the ttps://www.pinellasdsa.org/">Pinellas DSA website for our full chapter calendar and email us with any questions at dsa.pinellas@gmail.com.

We hope to see you at some upcoming events!

Follow us on social media:

Instagram: @pinellasdsa
Twitter: @pinellasdsa
Bluesky: @pinellasdsa.bsky.social
Facebook: facebook.com/pinellasdsa
YouTube: @pinellasdsa

Note: This article reflects only the views of the author and not Portland DSA.

You just got home from work on Tuesday, May 19, and it’s the last day to turn in your ballot. You’re frantically thumbing through the Oregon voters guide to finish your ballot. Yes, you heard that ballots get lost in the system and that the vote-by-mail system is under attack by Trump, but perhaps you live in a district with only uncontested primary races, or maybe there’s just not much to get excited about. While you leaf through the rather anemic voter’s pamphlet, you pass the section on… Measure 120? And it has a whopping 28 “No” arguments vs 7 “Yes” ones? Oh, this is that Gas Tax thing that’s been in the news for a year? It’s not even clear how you should vote on it, AS a socialist!

What if I told you that this might be the most impactful vote many Oregonians make this year? 

First, we should establish what Measure 120 even does. After the failure of our state government to pass a transportation package last summer, Governor Tina Kotek called a special session and successfully passed a less ambitious package, House Bill 3991. Although 3991 was heavily compromised to secure the support of the most conservative Democrats and to prevent Republicans from walking out, Republicans played to win and gathered enough signatures to refer *elements* of it to the voters. 

A “Yes” vote simply allows the legislature to enact the bill they passed. A “No” vote cancels some chosen elements of the package, while retaining others. Which ones? 

Well, you have to follow some legislative horse-trading to figure out what’s at stake with Measure 120. Democrats once again succumbed to GOP “bait” during the recent session, when they agreed to water down the spring session’s attempt at a transportation package to get something through (transit funding, sidewalk funding, raising the gas tax enough to make up for inflationary losses). Concessions in hand, the Republicans then executed the “switch” and referred the parts they didn’t like to the ballot anyway.  

A “No” vote on 120 erases specifically any benefits for our side, but retains the parts of the deal we don’t like. It’s just not a good deal! On that alone, a “Yes” vote should be the obvious choice.

While Portland DSA takes no position on Measure 120, the chapter’s May 2026 Voter Guide (comingn soon!) offers excellent guidance for evaluating ballot measures, when it asks voters to consider 3 benchmarks:

1. Whether a ballot measure is endorsed by member-led organizations or unions.
2. Whether a ballot measure increases funding for broad public services, like public schools, fire departments, or public transit;
3. That a ballot measure does not support or empower local, state, or federal police.

For Measure 120, the answer to all three questions is “Yes”!

Tepidly, the Portland Mercury agreed: 

“We encourage a “yes” vote because Oregon is in desperate need of more funding in order to provide basic transportation services to its residents, and because the debate here has been exploited by Republicans who are misrepresenting the Oregon Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) accountability problems for their own political purposes. But we aren’t going to try that hard to convince you to vote for this, either—why would we, when Oregon Democrats aren’t even putting in the effort to campaign for the bill they worked so hard to pass?”

Just like the progressive, tax-the-rich ballot measures socialists have championed in the past, the referral tells a narrative: state and local governments are flush with cash, they just need to have waste and inefficiency rooted out (this usually ends up meaning cuts to programs used by people of color & lower-income people, with the preservation of programs used by whiter & more affluent people). When your suburban municipality serves as a tax haven for Portland wealth, it’s very easy to look around at your well-maintained, sparsely used roads and assume everyone else is doing just as well.

If you know me for any one thing, it’s probably my single-minded dedication to transit funding. Maybe you’ve heard that the package will affect Trimet Revenue. Candidly, the Democratic Party of Oregon has already sacrificed transit funding at the altar of bipartisanship. If you followed the 2025 Transportation Package from beginning to end (sorry), you might remember the initial ask by Trimet of a 0.4% bump to the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF). That would go on to be negotiated down to a 0.2% bump in the final package, which would tragically fail. The governor’s special session again negotiated the bump down to 0.1%, and to add insult to injury, sunset that meager 0.1% after 2 years. 2 years of additional funding for a transit agency is not very useful; you aren’t going to hire new bus drivers for 2 years! 

The HB 3991 transit funding is just treading water until a comprehensive transportation package can (hopefully) be passed in 2027. Transit is too important for me to pretend that life raft doesn’t matter.

To talk just about transit funding ignores the framing, very deliberately done by OR Republicans, of this as a referendum on the Gas Tax. Many socialists have, rightfully so, recoiled at the idea of an increased gas tax but from the left. It conjures ideas of out-of-touch enviros unilaterally imposing their priorities on priced-out working families. Besides, why doesn’t the state just… Tax the Rich? I want to tax the rich more than anyone! I fight for that frequently myself, but the issue of the gas tax cannot be neatly sorted into the box of “Regressive Tax” and wholly discarded. I’ve collected a few miscellaneous thoughts about road funding that I think are highly relevant:

• The gas tax is a static value charged per gallon. Because of inflation, a dollar today is worth what 97 cents was a year ago. Every year the gas tax isn’t increased, it’s actually going down. At the same time, we create more roads every year and our existing ones fall into deeper, more expensive disrepair. The 2025 Transportation Package attempted to index the gas tax to inflation, but the bipartisan austerity agenda would not have it.

• Other countries use methods other than the Gas Tax, but they all tend to be charges for “road usage”; if you drive your heavy vehicle on the road, that damages the road, and so you pay for the damage you’ve done to the road. There are more progressive ways to do this (Congestion Pricing)! For example, most states charge up-front registration and title fees so that the burden is not placed disproportionately on those who drive the most (e.g. rural households). The failed 2025 Transportation Package attempted to institute a “New Vehicle Fee” which would charge the wealthier buyers of new vehicles specifically, and a charge on distance traveled rather than gas usage, to relieve the burden on poorer owners of older vehicles.

• Wealth and income taxes are great for funding new capital projects (like Seattle’s social housing developer!) or for programs that only some of the population use at once (like universal preschool!). They are less sustainable for services that are used by most people for sustained periods. This is why Social Security is gathered from everyone’s wages, and then distributed back to everyone; broad public services need broad, stable funding. The same is true for roads, which literally every living person relies on daily.

• One example to my “Broad Services, Broad Funding” rule is school funding. Schools are funded by a mix of local property taxes, state funding, and federal funding. When you only consider the local portion, schools are funded along lines of segregation, and those in poorer neighborhoods are not funded like those in more affluent areas. This is where state funding comes in and redistributes from the richer areas to the poorer ones (if you have a functional state government, of course). Building a functional system means balancing “broadness” with redistribution. So, how does one “redistribute” transportation revenue from richer areas to poorer ones? Let’s get into that.

• Where you live, where you work, and how you get there *is* political! If it weren’t, the Columbia river wouldn’t separate the highest per-capita DSA membership from perhaps the most right-wing, ICE-loving, war-hawk democrat in congress. Wealthy residents and businesses threaten to move out of the municipality, “opting out” of taxes and shared responsibility, while still traveling into it for business and services. Portland’s ruling classes have not lived in the city center for decades; they may work here, but they live in Lake Oswego or in Clark County! This is the rationale for regional tolling, something which is very controversial on the west coast, and apparently detonated the 2025 Transportation Package (although it wasn’t even being proposed). I am not sure whether intra-state regional tolling will happen anytime in the near future, but I hope you can at least see the vision.

None of this is to say that these additional taxes and fees won’t hurt. None of this is to say that we can’t strive for a world where the rich pay to maintain our public works. I’m just saying that roads are really expensive; our decision, as a society, to make everyone drive everywhere has resulted in a lot of pavement which self-destructs if not maintained regularly. One can’t “opt out” of this responsibility, unless you consider bent wheels and longer commutes “free”. We can’t deliver socialist programs if our government can’t deliver basic governance and pave the roads.

To be crystal clear: I am not writing this in uncritical support of HB 3991 or ODOT. Just because I want to avoid a “DOGE Mentality” where cuts are always the cure, doesn’t mean that the state transportation system is totally accountable and a wise steward of tax revenue. A lot of work remains to fight for true reform in transportation, and that probably would look like fewer freeway megaprojects and more bus service. The opportunity to fight for those things is next spring, in the 2027 Long Session. We will need your energy to fight for the future we deserve and not just scraps. A “Yes” vote on 120 just ensures we can tread water until that next fight takes place.

Jordan Lewis is an Ecosocialist Working Group Co-chair and an elected member of our Socialists in Office Committee.

Name is running for Position. Bio here.

Name is part of a slate of candidates in the Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash fundraising project!

Name is running for Position. Bio here.

Name is part of a slate of candidates in the Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash fundraising project!

Name is running for Position. Bio here.

Name is part of a slate of candidates in the Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash fundraising project!

Download print version DSA San Diego offers the following guide for select local, regional and statewide races in California’s June 2026 primary. Recommendations are not comprehensive, as a substantial share of contests are effectively uncontested; in California’s top-two primary system, most offices will see a Democrat and Republican advance to the general election. While moderate [...]

Read More... from DSA San Diego’s June 2026 Primary Voter Guide

The post DSA San Diego’s June 2026 Primary Voter Guide appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America | San Diego Chapter.

The Pinellas Democratic Socialists of America Condemn Florida Redistricting & Recent SCOTUS Decision as Attack on Democracy

The membership of the Pinellas County chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America strongly condemns the recent congressional redistricting imposed by Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Republican Party, alongside the ongoing erosion of the Voting Rights Act by the US Supreme Court. These actions represent a coordinated assault on democratic representation in Florida and across the United States.

Over the past several days, we’ve witnessed some of the most severe attacks on voting rights in recent memory, both in Florida and the United States more broadly. First, the redrawing of Florida’s congressional districts by Governor DeSantis and the Florida Republican Party, which we condemn as explicit gerrymandering and which is in direct opposition to the Fair Districts Amendments to the state constitution. Second, the US Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act, which threatens to disenfranchise minority communities across the nation. These measures are part of a broader effort to consolidate political power and silence anyone opposed to the Trump regime’s agenda.

SCOTUS’ gutting of the Voting Rights Act will allow Republicans to strip representation from non-white people in their latest efforts to reassert the rule of white oligarchs over the dispossessed millions across the US. Meanwhile, DeSantis’ gerrymandering of Florida seeks to subvert democracy by ensuring that Florida is represented at the federal level by legislators that do not represent the interests of the vast majority of Florida’s population, and who are dedicated to preserving rule by the capitalist class.

While these measures most explicitly target Black political power, they will have consequences for the entirety of the working class, including restrictions on reproductive freedom for women, attacks on the right to organize and collectively bargain, and the veritable elimination of freedom of speech and assembly. These developments are not isolated incidents, but part of a long-standing pattern. For decades, the far right has used state and federal institutions to curtail democratic participation and undermine collective political power. Now, as the capitalist class perceives the power of the working class growing, and feels their grip on power loosening, these measures further accelerate the stripping away of our freedoms; a desperate gambit to preserve class rule, and the logical outcome of a political system that prioritizes elite control over genuine democracy.

The state government of Florida, which has seized for itself the privilege to determine how votes are apportioned in opposition to our own state constitution, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States, both represent undemocratic arms of class rule. We must confront these institutions head-on if we wish to truly accomplish the aims of Reconstruction, which remain unfinished more than 150 years after the end of the Civil War.

In response, the members of the Pinellas County chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America call for the new Florida congressional map to be rescinded, and for the reinstatement of the guidelines outlined in the Voting Rights Act prior to SCOTUS’s narrowing of the definition of discriminatory intent for the drawing of legislative lines.

Events & Actions

Tuesday May 5 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM) Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting and Charter Planning! (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday May 7 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM)  Social Committee (zoom)

Thursday May 7 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM)  Education Board Open Meeting (zoom)

Thursday May 7 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM) Public Bank Project Meeting (zoom)

Thursday May 7 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM) Immigrant Justice Regular Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday May 8 (9:30 AM – 10:30 AM)  District 1 Coffee with Comrades (2 Clement St)

Saturday May 9 (12:00 PM – 1:00 PM)  Yoga with DSA SF at Dolores Park (Mission Dolores Park)

Saturday May 9 (1:00 PM – 3:00 PM) Know Your Rights canvass with Immigrant Justice Working Group (Rossi Park)

Saturday May 9 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM) No Appetite for Apartheid Consumer Canvass (Dolores Park)

Sunday May 10 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM)  Physical Education + Self Defense Training (William McKinley Monument)

Sunday May 10 (5:00 PM – 6:00 PM)  Tenderloin Healing Circle Working Group (zoom)

Monday May 11 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM)  Tenderloin Healing Circle (zoom and in person at 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Monday May 11 (6:00 PM – 7:30 PM) Labor Board Meeting – Office Hours (zoom)

Monday May 11 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM) Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (1916 McAllister)

Monday May 11 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM)  DSA Run Club (McLaren Lodge)

Tuesday May 12 (5:30 PM – 7:00 PM) Social Housing Working Group (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Tuesday May 12 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM)  Public Transit Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Wednesday May 13 (6:45 PM – 9:00 PM)  DSA SF General Meeting (zoom and in person at 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Thursday May 14 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM) Public Bank Project Meeting (zoom)

Friday May 15 (9:30 AM – 10:30 AM)  District 1 Coffee with Comrades (2 Clement St)

Saturday May 16 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM) HWG Food Service (Castro St & Market St)

Monday May 18 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM)  DSA Run Club (McLaren Lodge)

Monday May 18 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM) Labor Board Meeting – Existing Union Support (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

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

Join us next Saturday, May 9, for our No Appetite for Apartheid Consumer Canvass. We will be talking to our consumers about our BDS campaign and gathering signatures.

We will be meeting in Dolores Park by the Miguel Hidalgo Statue at 11am, and canvassing until 1pm. Look for the keffiyehs and/or DSA shirts.

RSVP here

Join the DSA SF Immigrant Justice Working Group at Rossi Park this Saturday May 9 at 1 PM as we talk to workers and small business owners about their rights in case of an immigration raid.

May Day Reportback

May Day activities were well attended by our chapter members. They showed up to two of San Francisco’s big May Day marches. During the first march, Comrade Anya gave an impassioned speech about the dire state of the city budget and the need to fight against local officials who cater to the wealthy of this city and forget about the working class and the most vulnerable.

The big action this past May Day though happened at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in which around at least 500 people from organizations and unions around the Bay Area showed up to shut the airport down for airport workers struggling for a fair wage and to demand that ICE stay out of SFO. DSA SF chapter members, especially those from the immigrant justice working group, showed up to help the with the protest that brought airport traffic to a halt for up to two hours.

USWW – SEIU union airport workers have been fighting United airlines for a fair living wage. Many of the workers are immigrants. At the same time, United airlines has been supportive of the Trump agenda, which  uses ICE to detain and deport immigrants. SFO recently was the place where a Guatemalan mother and her daughter were captured by ICE and deported. 

Thanks to the comrades that showed up to help workers and immigrants on this most important day!

EWOC Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing Week #1

Last Sunday we held our first session of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) course Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing, a four week course that goes into the basics of organizing: from organizing committees to inoculation against the boss. We met in person at 1916 McAllister to watch the course plenary before diving into a discussion about the material we covered. This week’s topic was “Developing Leadership” and we heard from a federal worker organizer at Glacier National Park. They showed the group their workplace chart, which is a tool used to keep track of not only who works somewhere but also relevant information: what their issues are, who they know in the workplace, what their job is, where to find them, etc. For the Glacier National Park organizers, having this workplace chart was key in being able to identify leaders in each spread out department. After the plenary, we discussed how to start talking to coworkers with the goal of eventually bringing them into the Organizing Committee. Important takeaways from that conversation were that talking outside of the workplace can make people feel more comfortable and getting to know your coworkers will better inform what matters to them both inside and outside of work.

The next session will take place on Sunday, May 10th at 12PM, hosted at 1916 McAllister. It’ll cover the steps of the the arc of the campaign, including how campaigns decide their next step.

If you’d like to get involved with the SF local chapter of EWOC, reach out to the lead coordinator Caitlin S or email labor@dsasf.org. EWOC is a standing topic at meetings of the Labor Board, which are held every other Monday at 7:00 PM, both in-person at 1916 McAllister and over Zoom. Anyone is welcome to attend, and we’re always looking for people interested In workplace lead canvassing, organizer trainings, and volunteer outreach. If you’re interested in organizing your workplace and would like to be connected with an EWOC organizer, fill out the request form here.

Join DSA SF on May 1st – May Day!

Join the DSA SF Action Network and pledge NO WORK, NO SCHOOL, NO SHOPPING on MAY DAY 2026!! Fight for workers over billionaires, say NO to ICE, NO to War!!

Join one of the following May Day events. Sign up pledges and RSVP available in the Action Network here!

There will be DSA SF Signal groups set up for each one of the May Day events:

• May 1st – 11am – SFO – Protest to demand better working conditions for USWW union airport workers, many of them immigrants.  Also demand ICE out of SFO and for the airport not to be used to detain immigrants!! Say no to greedy airlines profiting off the working class!!
• May 1st – 2pm – Rally and march starting at Civic Center – organizations participating include those fighting for immigrant rights, housing for the under privileged, a fair SF city budget, SFUSD students, and many others.
• May 1st – 4pm – Starting at Embarcadero – San Francisco Labor Council program and march for unions and workers across the city.

Kind words from chapter foes, Piker rallies with endorsees, and more in the April edition of Chapter and Verse.

The post More Than 170 Chapters Take May Day Action appeared first on Democratic Left.

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By: Travis Wayne

SOMERVILLE – Somerville and its new mayor face a test from organized labor as the city’s executive sits across from a burgeoning municipal workers’ union: Somerville Workers United (SWU) – AFSCME 93, whose members are joining a union representing 45,000 state, county, and municipal workers across New England.

The new city workers’ union, which seeks to represent around 220 non-union workers in the city including both the bulk of the city’s administrative staff and positions of lowest compensation, hovers near the 50% threshold of cards needed to formally request voluntary recognition from the mayor. 

The union crosses the threshold after taking the unusual organizing decision to announce their intent to unionize to the public before reaching a 50% majority — which led only to more support, both externally and internally. Compensation and rising austerity in the city government were common themes in conversations between city workers and Working Mass. 

Rising Anxiety and Opaque Compensation 

Multiple non-union employees that Working Mass spoke with shared that feelings of destabilization in their jobs began in late 2024, but were exacerbated in 2025. Non-unionized city workers have felt increasingly unstable as Greater Boston continues to lose tens of thousands of jobs – a trend that has only worsened. 

ICE’s early descent on Somerville did not help in making workers feel safe. 

As workers’ vulnerability increased, the need to protect their employment collectively did, too. Individuals’ requests and questions regarding stability and compensation were often punted under former Mayor Ballantyne’s administration. Workers were asked to wait for a Compensation Plan to be released in 2025, the summer before the city elections. But upon its release, the Plan did little except unlock deep dissatisfaction in much of the non-union workforce. According to Josh, one city worker and SWU organizer: 

While the base rate was increased for the the lowest-paid employees, the top line pay for directors also increased – and the way they paid for this was a giant step and grade system in the middle for the vast majority of non-union employees.

The sheer complexity of the Plan makes its meaning entirely opaque to many employees looking for critical information on their own employment terms. Many employees have no idea what step and grade to expect at any given time. In effect, the policies are obscured by a wall of legalese that increase barriers to entry for workers just trying to put food on their tables.

Luis, a strategic planner with the city, also added that the Compensation Plan didn’t include any mention of gender parity or Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increases – even as gas soars and rent rises. Layoffs also remained firmly on the table. 

There was another layer, too, which fundamentally impacted the nature of the labor done in the workplace. Non-union city workers had seen their job descriptions slowly divorced from requested responsibilities and compensation. “All non-union employees were doing other duties, one-off pet projects of the mayor or whoever the city manager was at the time,” said Josh. Directors can press rank-and-file workers for assignments entirely outside their job realm and hold them accountable for that work and workers shared between departments. As Luis indicated:

It’s very difficult to figure out what to do when no one can come to agreement on what my job actually is… and we do what they need us to do at any given time.

New Austerity Suffocates City Workers Further

Mayor Jake Wilson has stated values that are aligned with many of the same priorities as Somerville workers. He supports the development of social housing and calls for the city to be a “guinea pig” in the fight against displacement. And when Mayor Wilson reported in the Cambridge Day that administrative restructuring has occupied much of his effort since taking office, he said “we’re building a team” as his biggest accomplishment of his first one hundred days in office. 

Many workers have been made to feel they are decidedly not inside that team.

First, city workers already anxious about their employment since 2025 heard silence from the mayor. According to multiple sources, Mayor Wilson did not contact or introduce himself in any way to the workforce, not even an email. “To this day, we haven’t been properly introduced to the Cabinet of the new Mayor’s Office,” said Luis, shaking his head. Other workers that spoke to Working Mass confirmed that they also had not seen the mayor once.

Then, the mayor fired Arts Council Director Greg Jenkins. The same “departmental reorganization” that created the Cabinet never introduced to workers was enough to end someone’s career after 25 years. In that case, multiple sources speculated to Working Mass that the mayor showed up in-person to introduce himself to workers (one of the only times reported) to assuage their anxieties after their direct manager’s abrupt firing.

But larger concerns than just the remoteness of the mayor were top of workers’ minds: namely, cuts. One SWU organizer shared with Working Mass that every department is expected by the administration to cut a position from their department, as of the end of April 2026. This is after they fired a staff person working in housing, an “active and essential organizer,” in late April 2026. Workers expressed the broader feeling the cuts underscored: that their labor was not valued, with dire consequences to residents. Josh said:

 The nature of our job is policy implementing for the public good. It’s a real problem we have no voice in crafting the policies we are charged with implementing.

For example, the city’s portfolio of complex permits is overseen by just three staff members charged with the enforcement of all zone ordinances and inspection in Somerville. In just one department, then, an austerity pattern towards staff from the Mayor’s Office can decrease access to direly-need services for tenants and protection from abusive landlords. Luis summarized the effect of the cuts on the already-squeezed staff:

You start to think of yourself as a number. The perception of how the administration treats us is just as a number in this work: a producer of outputs. People are still passionate about the work.

In lieu of investing in the workers who actually hold relationships with residents and can serve their needs most effectively, the Wilson administration has been characterized so far by what two workers called “a tech bro approach.”

In the Cambridge Day, the mayor underscored a “performance measurement tool” that turns many of the key calculations workers make in policy implementation into an automated dashboard for metric tracking. The mayor is also forcing workers back to work in person, following the same pattern as corporations after the pandemic. 

Meanwhile, the labor movement in Somerville beyond City Hall also signaled dissent to the austerity of the new administration impacting non-union city workers. According to the Somerville Educators’ Union (SEU), the mayor aims to take funds from Somerville schools: 

Mayor Jake Wilson has asked the district to prepare for up to $1 million in reduced funding, which is well below level-service. This is to account for the projected $5.3 million deficit in the City’s budget.

The mayor has asked for these cuts despite, as the teachers’ union pointed out, the fact that the City of Somerville holds 23.8 million in “Free Cash” and $15 million in a Stabilization Fund. Those funds not only can be utilized to float education, but also support city workers.

Organizing the Union of the Formerly Non-Union

Within the city government, around 220 non-union employees make up the workforce that SWU seeks recognition to represent. The organizing drive took off across multiple non-union departments after the Compensation Plan’s release, but especially revved up as workers felt the need to ensure their own jobs’ stability as the city administration changed. 

The Office of Sustainability and Environment was among the first centers of agitation. According to SWU organizers, department workers’ direct feedback was met with coldness by their director, leading to further dissatisfaction exacerbated by micromanagement that followed. Any projects that needed directorial approval were stonewalled and access limited. 

The Office of Sustainability workers were the first to sign union cards, with three members of the original Organizing Committee (OC) from that department, because of both that stonewalling and another key factor: the employees’ own deep experiences. Workers in the office included a federal employee purged from the Environmental Protection Agency and a former member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), equipped with union experience, while another employee was a community organizer hired to work in community development for the city due to their organizing background.

Other departments proved more challenging to reach and build solidarity with, because they were more remote, more autonomous, and better-managed by their director than others. 

Non-union workers share a workplace – tasks, relations, ideas – with unionized colleagues. Thus, even in departments without workers with labor or organizing experience, workers had exposure to the major differences between their contracts and those of union workers. The Somerville Municipal Employees Union (SMEU) was unaffected by the Compensation Plan and, when union employees saw benefits won, non-union workers also observed increases due to the city’s requirement for parity. The difference became stark.

City workers first sought to organize into one of the city government’s existing unions that inspired so many of their ranks. Ultimately, that choice seemed less possible over time for workers’ needs, according to Josh. Despite SMEU President Ed Halloran’s support, the reception of SMEU membership to their coworkers’ unionization was frostier than they hoped. Controversy between other parts of the Somerville labor movement and SMEU around the reinstatement of one union member that led to the 2024 resignation of library workers was also not encouraging.

We started having these amorphous conversations… those of us who were former municipal workers began reaching out to SMEU, the Steelworkers, UAW, and eventually AFSCME 93… their expertise with the public union process was on display in a way the others in a technical space weren’t… and many felt SMEU would not yield in their challenges, and the time it would take to activate leadership would be too long for workers.

In the end, 75% of the nascent union chose to affiliate with AFSCME 93. 

Going Public 

Somerville Workers United (SWU)’s demands are, in the end, simple.

“We need a seat at the table,” Josh told Working Mass. “We need clear policies and procedures in the handbook, like overtime, flexibility, offboarding, steps and grades made transparent, position reclassification.”

The union chose to go public on March 10, before reaching the 50% threshold, largely because one obstacle they encountered was hesitancy from their coworkers to join in any clandestine effort. In a city where so many unions bargain with the city, some non-union city workers felt uncomfortable organizing with Somerville Workers United till the union was open about its work. 

According to SWU organizers, the strategy of going public early was successful. Going public allowed the union to speak to more and more of their non-union coworkers openly. Questions of dignity, compensation, and stability unfolded in conversations from City Hall to the most remote corner, with organizers conducting one-on-ones department by department. 

The mayor’s office did not interfere or in any way communicate its notice of the new union. On April 10, 2026, SWU had reached 70 union cards signed out of around 220. The union held a series of socials for workers and their allies in labor and beyond: a St. Patrick’s Day social at the Burren, building-level tabling at the Annex and City Hall, a potluck picnic in Winter Hill, an art build at Aeronaut Brewery. Workers signing on steadily grew, till by the end of the month, the union hovered near the 50% threshold needed for climactic action. 

On May Day, as workers rallied in socials and events across Greater Boston, SWU coordinated with the Somerville Educators Union on their rally to “demonstrate solidarity across public sector workers in the face of looming budget cuts” in their final stretch push for recognition from the city government. The action signals an important shift from seeking recognition as a union to acting as one, as part of and connected to the fight for recognition – in this case, representing workers’ interests in unity with Somerville’s teachers’ union facing the city to reject the notion of a zero-sum game between schools and services.

“To some extent, to be the union is the point,” Josh said. SWU has certainly become the union. It’s up to the mayor whether he will recognize the workers as the union they already have become, or not. 

Travis Wayne is a union organizer in Somerville and the managing editor of Working Mass.

The post Somerville City Workers, Facing Opaque Pay and Austerity, Unionize with AFSCME 93 appeared first on Working Mass.

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