[The Union of Southern Service Workers is organizing food service,
retail and health care workers through direct action against low wages
and historical racism.]
[[link removed]]

A NEW UNION RISES IN THE SOUTH  
[[link removed]]


 

Kelly Candaele
November 28, 2022
Capital and Main
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ The Union of Southern Service Workers is organizing food service,
retail and health care workers through direct action against low wages
and historical racism. _

Workers show signed union cards at a summit for the Union of Southern
Service Workers in Columbia, South Carolina, on Nov. 18., Photos
courtesy USSW

 

NAOMI HARRIS, 21, AND BRANDON BEACHUM, 35, are founding members of
the newly established Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW), who
gathered in Columbia, South Carolina, on Nov. 17 for a three-day
summit to launch their effort. They were joined by hundreds of service
workers from throughout the South who work in home care, retail,
restaurants, fast food and warehouses. They promised to use “any
means necessary” to obtain fair pay, health and safety protections,
equal treatment and fair and consistent work scheduling for the
hundreds of thousands of workers in the Southern service industry.

Inspired by the Fight for $15 movement to raise minimum wage laws and
improve working conditions, they will forgo using the cumbersome and
deeply flawed National Labor Relations Board union election process to
obtain their goals. Direct action and collective power are key to
their approach.

Of the 10 states with the lowest union membership
[[link removed]], seven are located
in the South. In South Carolina where Harris lives, only 1.7% of wage
and salary workers are members of unions. In Georgia where Beachum
works, 4.8% of workers are in unions. It is not surprising that the
South has the lowest minimum wages, $7.25 an hour, of any region in
the country.

The USSW was founded as an intentionally multiracial movement, focused
on breaking through the historical currents of white oligarchical
business and political domination that stymied prior unionization
efforts.

Harris spoke to Capital & Main from Columbia, South Carolina, and
Brandon Beachum from Atlanta.

Note: These interviews have been edited for clarity and brevity.

CAPITAL & MAIN: TELL ME ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES AT WORK AND WHY YOU
JOINED THIS EFFORT TO UNIONIZE. 

BRANDON BEACHUM: I work at Panera, which is a chain restaurant, and
the wages are just criminally low. I make $16 an hour, and I still
live with my parents because I would barely be able to scrape by if I
didn’t. Most of us have to have second jobs. There are people who
have been working there for eight years who make less than I do, and
they have kids and families. It seems like once a week one of my
co-workers comes in limping because they’ve been on their feet 60 or
70 hours a week from the two jobs they have to work to make ends meet.
I’ve asked for a raise but been shot down. Negotiating with a boss
one-on-one has no impact. We have to bargain together as workers
without bosses telling us what they think we need.

NAOMI HARRIS: I haven’t started my new job yet at Quaker Steak and
Lube, which is a car- themed restaurant. I will be making about $2.13
an hour
[[link removed]] because
here in South Carolina they say service workers or tipped workers
don’t need a high minimum wage because we are getting money from
customers. But if you are working on Monday through Wednesday when
people aren’t going out to dinner you don’t make much. But at the
pizza restaurant where I worked before, I went on strike twice over
health and safety issues and discrimination. And we won our demands. 

LIKE MANY OF THESE CHAINS, PANERA IS A CORPORATION DISGUISED AS A
MOM-AND-POP OPERATION. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT CHAIN OF
RESTAURANTS? 

BRANDON BEACHUM: Panera is a $5.6 billion company
[[link removed]],
so it’s not a mom-and-pop operation. I’ve been told the owner of
the store I work at is worth $600 million. They try to cultivate a
homey vibe where you have to smile from ear to ear when a customer
walks in the door. It’s grating on your psyche. 

Naomi Harris speaks at the USSW summit.

YOU HAVE JUST HAD A FOUNDING CONVENTION OF THE UNION OF SOUTHERN
SERVICE WORKERS (USSW) IN COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA. TELL ME WHAT IT
WAS LIKE TO JOIN WITH WORKERS FROM ALL OVER THE SOUTH WHO ARE PART OF
THIS NEW MOVEMENT. 

NAOMI HARRIS: Oh, my goodness, there was so much power in that
building over the weekend. It was inspirational, and I learned so much
from other workers. When I spoke from the stage, I told the audience
that we will fight by any means necessary. We will not stop until the
fight is done and we will fight as long as there is injustice in the
workplace and in our communities. I felt like everyone in the room was
part of the same family and we are going to look out for one
another. 

BRANDON BEACHUM: The South has been in the leadership position of
social movements many times in our history. With service workers there
has been a heightened level of exploitation going on, which is
considerably worse in the South with right-to-work laws and other
union busting tactics. I felt at the convention that we are not just
starting a normal union. We have a community union model where we are
fighting not just for ourselves but for families and young people and
communities. 

IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE LEARNING ABOUT AMERICAN HISTORY AND LABOR
HISTORY AS PART OF THIS MOVEMENT. 

BRANDON BEACHUM: Yes. To be blunt about it, we’re still overcoming
the problems of slavery and Jim Crow, and how Reconstruction after the
Civil War was basically destroyed. The New Deal created union
protections but left out
[[link removed]] farmworkers,
tipped workers, domestic workers. You have a lot of people without
degrees, like myself, who are basically behind the rest of the country
and have been for decades on this in the south. So, this is
historically significant.

NAOMI HARRIS: When I look back on the Civil Rights movement, they
were sprayed with fire hoses, they were tear gassed, they were thrown
in jail, but they never missed a beat — they just kept fighting.
That’s what we are going to do. 

AT YOUR CONVENTION A NUMBER OF SPEAKERS STATED THAT THE ORGANIZING
EFFORTS WOULD BE CARRIED OUT “BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.” WHAT ARE
THE TACTICS AND STRATEGIES THAT YOU EMPLOY?

NAOMI HARRIS: We are going to fight by marching up on the bosses with
our petitions, striking at the right time, getting community support
for rallies. We will organize walk outs, sit-ins and boycotts if we
need to. We will take legal action against wage theft, because
you’re not about to pay me less than I deserve and take money out of
my tips at the same time. We’re going to fight and fight and fight
until we get what we deserve. 

EMPLOYERS HAVE NOTORIOUSLY ATTEMPTED TO PIT WHITE WORKERS AND AFRICAN
AMERICAN WORKERS AGAINST EACH OTHER TO PREVENT THEM FROM JOINING
TOGETHER TO UNIONIZE. DO YOU ANTICIPATE THAT HAPPENING AND HOW ARE YOU
GUARDING AGAINST THAT EMPLOYER TACTIC?

NAOMI HARRIS: One of the rules that we have for our union is that
this is an anti-racism union. We will not allow any type of racism
because we are a family, and we know that major corporations have used
racism to keep our workers apart so that we can’t come together to
build unions. We know we are all getting left out to dry by our bosses
so we have to come together and realize that the fight is not between
each other. We’re fighting the major corporations. I talk to
everyone in my workplace regardless of color and so far no one has
given me any problem because of my skin color. Most of them sign up
for what we are doing. We have to talk to each other and support each
other when the bosses try to keep us separated. 

NEITHER OF YOU SEEMS TO HAVE ANY FEAR AS YOU MOVE FORWARD. WHERE DOES
THAT COURAGE COME FROM?

BRANDON BEACHUM: Basically, I have nothing to lose. If I quit Panera
and go somewhere else, it’s going to be the same problems. It’s
obvious to me that there is no social mobility here. There is nothing
to be gained by being afraid because the bosses will take advantage of
you every single time. I saw at our convention so many people showing
up who are ready to fight. I know I’m not alone, and we outnumber
the bosses. Union activity is more than we’ve seen in decades. So,
all we have to do is right there for the taking. We just have to grab
it. 

NAOMI HARRIS: Life’s too short to be afraid. I don’t have time to
be afraid. If you’re fearful you won’t get to where you need to go
because you will always be scared to take that chance. I want to be in
an America where everybody loves one another and where no one is
discriminated against. Joining the union, I took a chance even knowing
that some people would probably not want to hire me. And I’ve had
nothing but blessings since I joined and I wouldn’t change it for
the world.

_Copyright 2022 Capital & Main._

_Photos courtesy the Union of Southern Service Workers._

_KELLY CANDAELE is a filmmaker, journalist and former trustee of the
Los Angeles Community College District, and was a union organizer for
15 years. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times,
the Nation, the Guardian and the American Prospect._

_CAPITAL & MAIN is an award-winning nonprofit publication that reports
on the most pressing economic, environmental and social issues of our
time. Winner of the Online Journalist of the Year and Best News
Website Exclusive to the Internet prizes at the 2020 Southern
California Journalism Awards, Capital & Main has had stories
co-published in more than 30 media outlets, from USA Today,
Newsweek, The Guardian and Fast Company to The American
Prospect, Grist, Slate and the Daily Beast. _

_Donate to Capital and Main_
[[link removed]]

* Labor
[[link removed]]
* unions
[[link removed]]
* organizing
[[link removed]]
* Southern states
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]