Southern Worker Action Summit

Call to Action

* En Español abajo *

The U.S. and global economy does not move without the labor of Southern workers. We have tremendous power, not only to fight for control in our workplaces, but to lead movements for broader social change, as Southern workers have time and again throughout history. 

Now, we face an unprecedented period. We are experiencing a declining quality of life as the price of basic necessities soar, even as the corporations we work for earn record profits, working longer hours, taking on extra jobs, but still not having much to show for it. The Trump administration and the reactionary clique of billionaires they represent and have put in charge are unleashing attacks on migrants and many other sections of the working class, attempting to take a hammer to every measure of social progress won through struggle over the last century.

How do we harness our power into a driving force to fight back against the billionaire class’s agenda, build working class organization, and take on the urgent challenge to organize the South and advance a progressive vision for society?

The 2025 Southern Worker Action Summit will bring together rank and file workers from sectors and workplaces across the South to address these questions. We’ll discuss, debate, exchange, train, and strategize about how to build a militant, independent, fighting workers movement in the U.S. South. 

This gathering aims to advance a higher level of unity and consciousness that leads to coordinated collective action and expanded efforts to build committees at unorganized workplaces, workers assemblies, and other forms of organization to build power across industries in the South.  Social, economic, and political power can only be realized through targeted organizing of Black, Brown, and all workers in the South.

The Southern economic model is rooted in racism, and has resulted in workers here earning the lowest wages, having the lowest levels of unionization, and the lowest measures of quality of life across the board, impacting Black and Brown communities hardest.

The states of the South, dominated by some of the most reactionary politicians, are the epicenter of legislation targeting migrant workers and trans youth, severely limiting the right to access abortion, attacking basic voting rights, banning public sector collective bargaining, privatizing education and restricting what can be taught in classrooms, and more. As public services are cut, trillions are spent on war. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. The key question to addressing these and other challenges faced by the working class is power and the type of organization we can build to exercise it to turn the tide. 

Throughout history, workers in the South have often faced some of the most repressive and challenging conditions. Despite this, Southern workers have led some of the most militant struggles for social progress, harnessing the power of broad alliances between workers and the community to develop creative and potent methods to fight back. It’s this spirit and long history that we must draw on and channel to confront the crises the working class faces today.

It will take determination and a higher level of solidarity, uniting workers across lines of race, gender, nationality, immigration status, sexual orientation, ability, and every other social division the bosses exploit to keep us divided and weak. 

Unorganized workers, organizations focused on organizing the unorganized, and rank and file union members who see the necessity of building power from the shop floor up should plan to join us in Spartanburg, SC, on June 13 – 15 for this gathering. There’s no time to waste.

Initiated by: Southern Workers Assembly

Co-Conveners:

Asheville Food and Beverage Workers United
Black Workers for Justice
Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity & Empowerment
Charleston Alliance for Fair Employment/Charleston Workers Center
Chester Worker Empowerment Center
El Futuro Es Nuestro/It’s Our Future
International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1422
Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights
National Domestic Workers Alliance/We Dream in Black
Southern Human Rights Organizing Network
Truckers Movement for Justice/TAMEXUN
UE Local 150, NC Public Service Workers Union
Union of Southern Service Workers
Venceremos
Virginia Caucus of Rank and File Educators

Program

Below is a preliminary program for the Southern Worker Action Summit. This will become more detailed in the days and weeks ahead – check back for updates!

Friday, June 13

10a: Registration & tabling

11:30a: Lunch

12 – 1:30p: Why we need a workers movement – The Current Situation and Our Tasks

2 – 3:30p: Workshop Block 1

• Organizing 101 Training (Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, EWOC)
• Struggles for racial and economic justice in Spartanburg, SC (Spartanburg Initiative for Racial Equity Now (SIREN) & Lifeworks)
• How to build a workers assembly (Southern Workers Assembly)
• Public Rail Now (Railroad Workers United)

4 – 5:30p: Workshop block 2

• Building Strike Power (Venceremos, Union of Southern Service Workers, UE Local 150, Amazonians United)
• Queer Labor Forum (Virginia Caucus of Rank and File Educators)
• Dark Work: Precarious Labor and the Southern Economy (Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights, Beyond the Bars, National Domestic Workers Alliance)
• The History of Class Struggle in the South: Yesterday and Today (Mike Goldfield, author of The Southern Key)
• Tactics for Building Power (Labor Notes)

6p: Dinner

6:45p – 8p: Building Fighting Unions to Defeat the Billionaires and Trumpism

8p: Social

Saturday, June 14

9 – 10:30a: Plenary – An Injury to One is an Injury to All – Building Solidarity to Fight the Attacks on Migrant Workers 

10:45a – 12:15pm: Workshop block 3

• Building Black & Brown Unity (Union of Southern Service Workers, El Futuro Es Nuestro, UE Local 150, Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity & Empowerment)
• How to Build a Workers Assembly (Southern Workers Assembly)
• Organizing 101 Training (Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee)
• Fight to Make It Fight: Building Rank and File Leadership (Virginia Caucus of Rank and File Educators)
• Independent Working Class Politics in Practice

12:15p: Lunch

1:15p – 2:30p: Plenary – A Workers’ Social Movement: Tactics, Strategies, and Building for May Day 2028

3 – 4:30p: Sector breakouts

• Public sector (federal and state)
• Education workers (K-12 & higher education)
• Gig workers (rideshare, food delivery, etc.)
• Manufacturing
• Logistics (Amazon, dockworkers, warehousing, trucking, etc)
• Healthcare
• Service
• Building trades
• Agricultural/Meatpacking/Food Processing
• Tech/media

5p – 6:30p: State breakouts

6:30p: Dinner

7:30p – 8:30p: From the US South to the Global Economy, Solidarity in our Common Struggle

• Featuring participation from workers in Canada, Mexico, Palestine, Trinidad, and more TBA!

8:30p: Social

Sunday, June 15

10a – 11a: Worker Action Assembly

11a – 12:30p: Plenary – Where do we go from here? Building the movement to organize the unorganized and fight back against the billionaires’ attacks

General Information

If you have other questions that are not addressed below, please feel free to contact us at info@southernworker.org

Summit Programming

All programming will take place at 1881 Events in Spartanburg, SC. Hotel blocks are available in adjacent and nearby hotels. A link to view and book hotel reservations is available on the registration form, will be emailed to you upon completing registration, and is accessible here.

Travel & Lodging Support

If you need lodging support, an organizer will be in touch with you to coordinate on that in the upcoming weeks.

All meals are included with your registration.

Language Access

Security

More specific guidance on travel recommendations for people with mixed immigration statuses forthcoming.

Childcare

Childcare will be provided for free by professional childcare workers during the duration of the Summit. Use the registration form to indicate if you will need childcare during the gathering.

Other Accessibility Considerations

All spaces that will be used throughout the Summit are accessible and ADA compliant. If you have more specific questions around access or other considerations, please contact us at info@southernworker.org

Register