Nearly 400 labor activists from across the United States hustled through a weekend of political bootcamp at the annual AFL-CIO Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference on Jan. 17-19. Among them was a large delegation of USW members, including a sizeable group of fired-up health care activists from Local 7600 in Southern California.
The workers were gathered in the nation’s capital for three days of reflection and action in honor of the slain civil and labor rights hero. Dynamic panels and workshops at this year’s event focused on protecting and strengthening voters’ and workers’ rights, to which Dr. King devoted his life’s work.
Local 7600 member DeJonae Shaw, a nurse for Kaiser-Permanente in California’s Inland Empire, attended the event with her fellow health care members and particularly enjoyed the workshop focusing on women running for elected office.
“It was so powerful,” said Shaw, “and just really beautiful to have been in the room to soak up the love and knowledge.”
Shaw has been incredibly active in the fight for the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, a bill that would require health care employers to create and enforce action plans to protect their workers from violence on the job. Incidents of violence against nurses has increased 30 percent since 2012, one of the many reasons why Shaw has traveled to D.C. on multiple occasions to lobby U.S. Congressmembers for passage of the bill.
To Shaw, there is no line separating her work as a health care professional and her work as an activist.
“We must work together as allies for equity and justice, so that working families will have a chance to thrive once again,” she said.
Along with delving into the many attacks voters across the country are facing when it comes to trying to cast their ballot, Shaw and her fellow USW members created grassroots change during the conference by volunteering with several D.C.-based community organizations. Together they painted walls at a veterans’ center, served breakfast at a nursing home, and delivered groceries to home-bound residents.
USW Vice President Fred Redmond, who oversees the union’s Health Care Workers Council, also attended the conference and addressed the group during the final reception. He reminded attendees to take what they learned that weekend and use it to bolster their unions and communities back home.
“You must leave here committed to do the work of changing our country,” said Redmond, who is also co-chair of the AFL-CIO Civil and Human Rights Committee. “This is our opportunity to build a better future for our children and our grandchildren, and the stakes are too high for us not to do the work.”