We seek the organization of every worker that is now unorganized. We hold meetings, teaching ourselves democratic principles, and host meals, carefully constructing a community that this administration would see disappeared.
But this moment, more than any other in our nations history, demands action, movement, and for us to go on the offensive.
We want every worker to know, every action that you take in your workplace, when it is collective and in solidarity with your coworkers, is an assault on the fascist Trump regime.
When you all sign a letter demanding an end to mandatory overtime, when you hold a meeting to discuss your issues, or even when you just talk to a coworker about your pay, you are attacking the same system that puts kids in cages and breaks families apart.
You are building the worker power we need to end the violence inflicted on our communities.
I want to tell the workers that I know they’re scared. There’s fear in their hearts. We had a sister come by our meeting the other day, she reminded us that the word “union” used to mean something in this country. I’ve been thinking about that ever since.
It didn’t just mean that you had better pay and a retirement, it meant there was dignity in standing up to the bosses. It meant you didn’t have to fear walking out on that strike line because your community would be ready with food for you and all your coworkers.
I’m here to tell the workers that there is still dignity in standing up to your boss. And that your community is still ready to feed your family should a strike come. And not only is there dignity in standing up, it is what – at this moment – is absolutely necessary.
The engine that powers this regime, the donors, the lobbyists, the billionaires; it all starts in the factories, the workplaces, the warehouses. We work, and they profit. The more they put the screws on us, the more they profit. To the workers, challenge every injustice, stand up not just for yourself, but for your coworkers.
It may feel as though you are alone. I promise you, the things that go on in your workplace are the same that are going on in every workplace across Roanoke, across the South, and all over, there is work being done to fix those problems.
We had one young brother come by and tell us about a trailer manufacturer he works for down in Rocky Mount. They weld trailers together, but can’t be bothered to turn the fan on, so the work is done in over 100 degree heat.
At the brand new Amazon Fulfillment Center, a sister told us that the air conditioning is about as good as a 40 year old system would be, and the boxes are being stacked in the same kind of heat that the trailers are being welded in.
And if you’ve ever worked in a kitchen like I have, you know how common a sight it is to see the back doors propped open all summer because the air ain’t never work.
Just that one issue of heat safety, shared across all kinds of workplaces, shared by Roanokers of all kinds, and yet at those places it stays unresolved. Why? Because it makes the bosses more money. Simple as that.
What I want the workers to understand is that it doesn’t matter if you quit and take up some place else, or take a new job title thinking you’ll get some more respect but really all you get is more work.
The bosses have backed us up into a corner, and the only option we have left, is to dig a heel into the ground, grab your brother and your sister and your sibling next to you, and face these fascists head on. Hit them where it hurts.
Put a chokehold on the engine that powers this administration and its donors. Come out to our meetings. We have free food, grown at the urban farm on 10th street*, and tell us your story. Tell us about your workplace.
And I don’t want to only address the workers, I’d like to talk to all the other lovely people gathered here today [at the No Kings Rally] as well.
Roanoke, by all measures of the normal rules of politics, isn’t much. We are a city of 100,000 in a deep red part of a commonwealth whose politics are mainly decided in Northern Virginia and Richmond. But let me bring us back to that whole thing about the engine.
Roanoke is one of the most important logistics hubs in the South, especially for its size. Half our downtown footprint is miles of rail, and it ain’t like that cause it’s pretty. We have manufacturers up and down 81, scrambling for our labor. We are key to the engine that powers this regime. And we must recognize that. We must think strategically about how to attack that.
How do we reach the workers in those workplaces, and let them know the power that they hold? How do we organize them, get them in a room together and get them talking to one another about their pay and about their conditions?
These are the discussions we have at the assembly. But we don’t just talk. At the end of August we took seven volunteers and leafleted workplaces across the valley.
In just one week, we got the contact information of 55 workers, and the stories I’ve told you today come from those workers.
Imagine if we sustained that work over months, and if every one in the crowd here today stood outside of a factory or a warehouse, yelling about better pay and better working conditions.
By God I’ll tell you that we’d very quickly remind this country what the word “union” used to mean.
*The Roanoke Workers’ Assembly now holds social hours and general meetings at Villa Heights, located at 2750 Hoover St. NW. Read more about the move here.
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