By Mica Whitfield and Ashley Panelli
Throughout recorded history, people have found ways to organize and voice their grievances. As long as people wield power to dehumanize or subjugate, there will be people to challenge that power. We are currently in an era that demands a strong resurgence of organizing to address the social and political upheaval negatively affecting workers.
Today’s work climate is alarming. Companies are bending to President Donald Trump’s administration’s desire to roll back worker protections, including dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Vital bureaucratic roles that assess worker discrimination claims are being reduced, undermining civil rights laws. Black people and other marginalized people will be most at risk of losing protections.
At the same time, flexibility in the workplace is under attack. Federal offices and private business owners are sending former remote workers back into the office, stripping away flexibility that has been beneficial for employers and helpful for employees and their families. Even hybrid models, which offer balance, are at risk as the push for stricter in-office policy grows. As some federal workers face job losses, officials have targeted the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), potentially threatening workers’ ability to establish collective bargaining agreements. Now is the time to organize.
Organizing protects workers from injustice, and has proven effective in leading to benefits like healthcare coverage, family leave, protecting children through child labor laws, and cementing workplace safety standards. For instance, after the 1911 fatal Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, at least 20,000 women — who had already alerted factory owners of the potential for tragedy — organized and galvanized the labor movement. By the 1930s, their power-building influenced worker protection laws that would land in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, including establishing the NLRB.
At its core, organizing is about uniting people who share a common concern and empowering them to devise solutions collaboratively that uplift an entire community. Organizing is essential because it mobilizes people who might otherwise refrain from participating due to fear. Supporting fellow workers boosts confidence and helps diminish apathy — there is safety in numbers.
When we think of organizing, we often picture marches, rallies, protests — powerful forms of activism that have driven change for generations. Organizing is also about the work that happens behind the scenes: the ongoing efforts that build lasting impact.
For movements to thrive, organizing must be accessible and practical for everyone. People need to find a space where they feel they belong. When considering individuals’ skills, a group can collectively make cohesive and organized decisions. Not everyone has to aspire to be a leader; There are opportunities for members to collect data, compile research, organize information, make calls, or fundraise. Some may take on roles as speakers, artists, storytellers, or documentarians like Lewis Hine and Gordon Parks, whose photography bore witness to crucial issues of the time. Hine’s photography influenced the inception of child labor laws, and Parks’ work documented systemic injustice, proving there is a place for everyone’s passion and skill.
Historically, women have faced significant challenges in securing better workforce conditions and autonomy over their lives. Nonetheless, their determination has never wavered. Movements led by women tend to liberate others, not only themselves. As we reflect on the recent Women’s History Month, we honor the women whose organizing prowess combatted oppressive working environments. We can learn from formerly enslaved Black women in Atlanta in 1881 who organized the Washerwomen Strike to demand fair wages and better treatment from their employers. A group of 20 women blossomed into 3,000 within weeks, highlighting the importance of grassroots community-building. After the women withdrew services, employers conceded to their demands.
At 9to5, we continue the work of the bold women who, 50 years ago, banded together to call out sexism, harassment, disrespect, and inequitable pay. Waves of various women’s movements have since advocated for better conditions for women, their families, and their choice to have families. But there is much more work still to do as we continue to confront the pay gap, an assault on reproductive health, and harassment that remains pervasive in our society — all issues that affect women’s physical and mental well-being.
To achieve our goals, we must return to strategic, robust collective action that builds solidarity and attracts freedom-seeking allies. We must center inclusiveness while organizing for various causes. A notable example is Ida B. Wells, a Black suffragette, journalist, and anti-lynching activist who insisted that the movement be intersectional — calling for all women to win voting rights. Fannie Lou Hamer, who led movements for voting rights and food justice in the 1960s, famously stated, “Until I am free, you are not free either.” Her message still rings true today.
Today, we possess technological tools that organizers before us did not have. Community activists can appeal to people on social media, podcasts, and TV broadcasts, or create their own space online. Whatever tools are available, we must remember not to underestimate our power. Organizing demonstrates that power resides within the people. A democracy cannot work without its people speaking truth to power.
Ashley Panelli and Mica Whitfield are co-presidents of 9to5, a member-based, grassroots organization advancing economic justice for women and nonbinary people of color to create better living and working conditions. For more than 50 years, 9to5 has been at the forefront of the fight for expanded childcare, pay equity, paid sick days, family leave, and discrimination-free workplaces.
This post appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.