In a world sliding towards authoritarianism, United States labour leader Lee Saunders offered CUPE delegates an impassioned vision, clear direction, and reason for hope. When democracy is under siege, the president of the 1.4 million member strong American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) declared, the answer lies not in despair but in organizing—together.
U.S. workers face a regime that would rather shut down their federal government than give up tax cuts for billionaires, he said. But that threat is not limited to the U.S. It’s part of a global rise of totalitarianism that has reared its head in the UK, Canada, and countries on every continent.
“If it can happen in the U.S., it can happen anywhere,” he warned.
The outrage among CUPE members was palpable and members were on their feet when Saunders raised Trump’s threat to annex Canada.
“That’s so much bullshit, I cannot tell you,” he shouted to the crowd.
But there is a path forward: “It is us,” he said.
Saunders highlighted a speech Martin Luther King delivered to striking sanitation workers in Memphis the night before his assassination.
“Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars,” he quoted King.
“These are dark enough times,” said Saunders,” but we are not lost because we can see our North Star: Organizing. All of us collectively must organize, organize, organize!”
AFSCME is running a “Get Organized” campaign to defend freedoms, grow, and build their power, he said. Through one-on-one conversations and organizing, they are “growing an army of grassroots activists” to win back government in elections next year.
“We cannot do this work without an international call to action,” he said. “Around the world, stand up and say, ‘We will not take this shit anymore!’ When we stand together and fight together, we win!”
And two thousand CUPE members stood.