Dear Friends,
At CIWO, our New Year is off and running - we already have so much to share with you! Since our last letter, we launched our CIWO Advisory Committee, hosted a Global Strategy Session in South Africa, our Workers Innovating New Strategies (WINS) Series has been showcasing transformative work happening all around our economic justice movements (including a powerful Bargaining for the Common Good panel with Minnesota labor leaders), and Build the Bench hosted its 9th Annual Retreat in Baltimore, MD! There is always too much happening to fit in this newsletter, so with that in mind, please enjoy some highlights of our 2024 so far.
With gratitude,
Marilyn Sneiderman, Sheri Davis, and the CIWO team
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Announcing the new CIWO Advisory Committee
We had an inspiring first meeting! Click here to read more.
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CIWO Advisory Committee Members (pictured above):
Top row: Anna Branch, Rutgers University, Brittney Cooper, Rutgers University, Cedric de Leon, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Jen Disla, Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice at CUNY, Adrienne Eaton (Ex-Officio), Rutgers University SMLR
Middle row: Kathleen Gaspard, Institute for Policy Studies, Marjona Jones, The LIFT Fund, Neneki Lee, Service Employees International Union, Darlene Lombos, Greater Boston Labor Council, Andrea Mercado, Florida Rising
Bottom row: Liz Perlman, AFSCME 3299, Danielle Phillips-Cunningham, Rutgers University, Kyle Serette, National Education Association, Erica Smiley, Jobs with Justice, Angeles Solis, Make the Road NY
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CIWO hosts Global Strategy Session in Cape Town, South Africa
CIWO, Labour Research Service (LRS) and allies convened 31 labor educators, facilitators, activists, and leaders working in highly feminized & low-wage precarious sectors, as well as building trades, in Cape Town, South Africa. Collectively, this group represented 22 organizations and 15 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and South America. This Global Strategy Session was organized as a parallel event to the 24th General Conference of International Federation of Workers' Education Association (IFWEA) in Cape Town from December 6-8, 2023. We gathered to discuss transformative leadership development with a gender frame. The kick-off activity was a Leadership Journey Map workshop for 70+ participants co-hosted by CIWO and LRS. Share in the experience with our session flipbook.
|  | CIWO congratulates IFWEA’s outgoing General Secretary Sahra Ryklief for her leadership and supporting the work of TGLP over the years. CIWO is also excited to welcome the new General Secretary of IFWEA Saliem Patel. We look forward to working with him and Susan Schurman, President of IFWEA. | | |
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BCG hosts WINS Series Webinar with Minnesota Labor Leaders
Last month, over 400 organizers from around the country registered for the "Minnesota Community and Labor Escalation" webinar co-hosted by WINS and Bargaining for the Common Good (BCG). The BCG Network is supported by Action Center on Race and the Economy, Center for Innovation in Worker Organization, and Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
Leaders from SEIU Local 26, Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia, CTUL, MFT, ISAIAH and SEIU Healthcare MN and IA described how they have worked together for the last decade to build alignment across their organizations. These groups and dozens of other unions and community groups are gearing up for an unprecedented compression of potential strikes and community actions during a ‘Week of Action’ on March 2-9. The webinar and case study give an insider's look at what it took to build this alignment over the last few years, and what’s possible in this spring's escalation. Click below to watch!
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Build the Bench Hosts 9th Annual Retreat in Baltimore
CIWO’s Build the Bench program convened over 30 participants, guests and friends from organizations across the country on February 20-23 near Baltimore, MD. The 9th Annual Build the Bench Retreat was our first in person gathering since 2019 and could not have come at a more crucial time. Build the Bench was developed by and for organizations focused on racial and economic justice in order to support staff leaders who hold the #2 role within their respective organizations (Chiefs of Staff, Deputy Directors, or Operating or Staff Directors). These positions are not only critical for an organization’s success in supporting the Executive Director(s), but are also responsible for making sure organizations run smoothly and effectively internally as many organizations are going through complex times.
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Now, more than ever, we believe in deep relational organizing and practiced resiliency within our community of praxis. Stay tuned as we envision “the next chapter” of Build the Bench and future gatherings connecting multiple generations of movement leaders. Special thank you to:
Build the Bench Advisory Committee:
Kathleen Gaspard (Institute for Policy Studies), Mackenzie Baris (Jobs with Justice), Renata Pumarol (Climate Organizing Hub), Jennifer Freedman (Center for Popular Democracy), Chevalier Lovett (Florida Rising), Felicia Griffin (Transformative Leadership for Change), Aisha Satterwhite (formerly of coworker.org)
Special Guests: Chalene Jones of Taiji with Chalene, Deepak Pateriya of A Sacred Trust: Being a Paid Staff Person of a Base Organization, Rinku Sen and Sean Thomas-Bretfield of How (not) to Dismantle White Supremacy, Felicia Griffin of The Call of Leadership Now: BIPOC Leaders in a Syndemic Era
Co-facilitators: Felicia Griffin, Robin Katcher of Katcher Consulting, Kasi Perreira, Director of Build the Bench, and the staff and leadership team of CIWO.
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