TRG Voter Guide: 2023 National Labor Commission Steering Committee
Voting opens Sunday, November 5th, and closes Sunday, November 12th
Written by the Rose Garden
Members of the DSA’s National Labor Commission (NLC) can now vote to select the 11 members of its steering committee (SC) for the next two years!
The steering committee sets the overall strategy for DSA’s labor organizing, and assists NLC volunteers in their work to shift unions “to the left” and organize unorganized workplaces.
Slates of candidates
Four caucuses have announced candidate slates:
The Socialist Majority Caucus (SMC) slate includes 3 NLC members:
Sam L
Hannah A
Clayton R
The SMC slate promises to:
“Implement salting academies to put organized socialists at the center of strategic new organizing campaigns”
“Build an educator and school staff network to grow the rank-and-file revival of teachers unions and fight privatization”
“Support and expand DSA's work with EWOC”
EWOC refers to DSA’s “emergency worker organizing committee” which is dedicated to helping form unions in unorganized workplaces.
The Groundwork (GW) slate includes 2 NLC members:
Kelsea B
Joshua A
The GW slate supports:
“Building out the Labor Corps through strong national campaigns for strike solidarity and more, with opportunity for chapter leader development!”
“Continuing jobs pipelines and expanding DSA industry networks to cover more strategic sectors like education, healthcare, and green union jobs!”
“Assisting chapters in setting up local EWOCs, and equipping chapter leaders with the training and tools they need to level up their labor organizing!”
Labor Corps refers to a set of representatives from various DSA chapters who meet to discuss regional organizing strategies and best practices.
SMC and GW have mutually endorsed each others’ slates. SMC voters will rank SMC then GW. GW voters will rank GW then SMC.
The “Strike Wave Slate” (SWS) includes 9 NLC members from both Bread and Roses (B&R or BnR) and Communist Caucus (CC):
Becca R
Michael S
Sarah H
Honda W
Peter L
Sean O
Ian M
Rebecca G
Shayna E
The SWS supports:
“Expanding Strike Ready into a durable middle layer of leadership” [“rank and file worker power”]
“Investing in ambitious, outward-facing organizing projects” [“EWOC” and a “Solidarity Hub”]
“Developing worker networks and jobs pipelines” [“teaching, nursing”, “Amazon, Starbucks”, “UAW, Teamsters”]
“Integrating labor organizing across all levels of DSA”
Uncaucused candidates
No uncaucused candidates are running.
Full candidate list
Sam L (SMC)
Hannah A (SMC)
Clayton R (SMC)
Kelsea B (GW)
Joshua A (GW)
Becca R (SWS, BnR)
Michael S (SWS, BnR)
Sarah H (SWS, BnR)
Honda W (SWS, BnR)
Peter L (SWS, BnR)
Sean O (SWS, CC)
Ian M (SWS, BnR)
Rebecca G (SWS, CC)
Shayna E (SWS, BnR)
What’s at stake?
In their announcements, all three slates gave very similar goals.
For example, all support EWOC. All support organizing in key fields, such as education and healthcare.
All of the candidates involved are experienced, excellent labor organizers and leaders.
However, BnR and CC will place somewhat more emphasis on “rank-and-file” (R&F) organizing – replacing moderate union leadership with radical union leadership – while SMC and GW will likely place somewhat more emphasis on “organizing the unorganized” (OTU) – building new unions in previously unorganized firms, such as through salting.
At the same time, none of these caucuses actively oppose other strategies. The differences here are real but small.
How should you vote?
The NLC SC election follows standard single transferable vote (STV) rules: Rank your favorite candidates first.
The NLC SC has no diversity quotas, per the NLC bylaws.
We recommend ranking SMC and GW candidates first.
Feel free to rank either GW or SMC first. Rank the rest of your ballot however you’d like.
For example, here’s a GW-1st, SMC-2nd slate:
Kelsea B (GW)
Joshua A (GW)
Sam L (SMC)
Hannah A (SMC)
Clayton R (SMC)
We recommend Groundwork and the Socialist Majority Caucus because of their candidates’ strong focus on organizing the unorganized, specifically in the South. We know that labor organizing is an important part of building class consciousness and winning important political goals. Groundwork’s and SMC’s multifaceted approach is especially appealing in this department.
We also do recognize the importance of the Rank-and-File strategy, which has led to incredible upswings in activism in unions like Teamsters and the UAW. We know that GW and SMC believe in its importance too, and we also commend Bread and Roses for bringing it to the forefront of DSA’s labor activities.
We’re hopeful for a successful upcoming term on the NLC, and we can’t wait to see what our DSA comrades do on the shop floor!
Update: Results
On November 17th, the NLC SC was announced:
Rebecca Gross (CC)
Sarah Hurd (BnR)
Peter Landon (BnR)
Michael Stenovec (BnR)
Honda Wang (BnR)
Sean Orr (CC)
Hannah Allison (SMC)
Ian McClure (BnR)
Becca Roskill (BnR)
Shayna Elliot (BnR)
Kelsea Bond (GW)
Congratulations to the winners – here’s for a strong two years of labor organizing!
If you’re interested in writing pieces for the Rose Garden, participating in reading discussions, and/or chatting with like-minded folks, make sure to join DSA and fill out the Rose Garden interest form!