September Newsletter

Warm Weather, Cool* Newsletter

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Happy September and happy almost-Labor Day! This month will mark the beginning of that weird time when summer is technically over but everyone is still (rightfully) complaining about the heat; we’re all “working” but there’s a lot of out-of-office messages popping up; and the year is mostly done but we haven’t quite started the holiday season yet. But summer doldrums or no summer doldrums, there’s still work to do, a racial wealth gap to close, and a monthly update to give, so let’s get to it.

This month we’re excited to share important updates on our research work, an almost-final wrap up of our legislative efforts, a couple of media hits, and a summary of how we hope CCB will impact workers everywhere.

With Labor Day coming so soon, I’d like to take the opportunity to highlight one of the foremost – and unfortunately often overlooked – labor leaders in California’s history: Philip Vera Cruz. Philip, born in the Philippines, worked manual labor in the Pacific Northwest, North Dakota, and Minnesota, but spent the majority of his life – and changed the course of California history – working in the fields of the San Joaquin Valley. In the late 1950s, he joined the National Farm Labor Union, and then the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, to fight for the right of Filipino and other farmworkers. It was AWOC and Filipino labor leaders like Philip that would kick off the famous Delano Grape Strike, which would in turn give birth to the United Farm Workers union as well as cement the legacy of other labor leaders like Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Larry Itliong. At the end of the historic strike, Philip was the highest-ranking Filipino leader in the union, as second vice president. We particularly want to highlight the way in which Philip saw his responsibility to all workers, and to all people, regardless of whether they belonged to his union or lived in the United States. In 1977, Philip left the union over its position on undocumented workers** as well as his discomfort around other union leaders’ relationship with Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator ruling the Philippines at the time. As he said in his later years, “My life within the union, my life now outside the union, are all one: my continual struggle to improve my life and the lives of my fellow workers. But our struggle never stops.” Standing up for what’s right is hard in the best of circumstances, but it’s especially tough when it requires us to disagree with folks we otherwise admire and respect.

Philip’s spirit is very much alive in the fight for worker rights today, and his commitment to all working people should be an inspiration to everyone. For those of us in the nonprofit sector, it’s also a good reminder that this work is a marathon, not a sprint.

In the interest of keeping in mind what we’re celebrating this weekend, I hope you’ll consider donating to great organizations that support workers, such as the California Domestic Worker Coalition, or the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, or the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, to name just a few.***

Have a wonderful, safe, and hopefully long Labor Day weekend!

PS - You can read the full newsletter here!

Sincerely,

Adam Briones

CEO, California Community Builders

*Some would say the coolest.

**A position the union has long since renounced.

***If you’re a real one, you’ll donate to all three.