Party Politics & Union Organising - A View from Pennsylvania

Start: 2020-11-28 18:00:00 UTC Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London (GMT+00:00)

End: 2020-11-28 19:00:00 UTC Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London (GMT+00:00)

This is a virtual event

On Saturday 28th November at 6pm (UK time), join us for a special discussion with two trade unionists and Green Party US organisers from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!

November's US Presidential election saw the welcome defeat of Donald Trump, cheered by progressives the world over. But with a likely Republican senate, a reduced Democratic House majority, and poor results at a state and local level it is clear that the Democratic party has failed to deliver the thumping win it needed.

It is also clear that crucial victories - in Arizona, in Pennsylvania, and in Georgia - were delivered by the energies of social movements like Black Lives Matter and unions like UNITE HERE!. Nevertheless, the Democratic leadership has already signalled that it would rather shun these radical forces than build them up.

In this context, what should radicals in the US Left, labour unions and beyond be doing? How should they build on significant victories, like Florida's $15 minimum wage which won by more than 60% of the popular vote? What can we in the UK learn from this?

We'll be joined by Pittsburgh union organisers Shawn Domenico and Ed Grystar as they discuss with us the state of the US labour movement and how it relates to the developing US political situation.

Their talk will be followed by a Q&A, which promises to be informative for all involved.

Open to all, whatever your party or union affiliation - complete the form to register and attend!

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Shawn Domenico is a union worker and Green Party member in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After working in retail for 16 years, he began working for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and joined SEIU Local 668 - a primarily public-sector local of Service Employees International Union (SEIU). He has served as a shop steward and labor council delegate, and has worked on electoral campaigns in 2014 and 2018.

Shawn left the Democratic Party and registered as a Green Party member in 2002 following the contentious US Presidential election of 2000. He began attending regular Green Party meetings in 2014.

Shawn lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is currently working as a temporary worker with his local union on organizing and engagement campaigns. He is a lifelong resident of Western Pennsylvania and an advocate for increased cycling infrastructure, hiking/rails-to-trails and public transportation.

Ed Grystar has over 40 years experience in the labor, peace, environmental justice movements. He has worked as a steelworker, teacher, and counsellor. He has also worked as an organizer and negotiator for the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, a union of health care professionals.

He served as a labor council President for 15 years. He served as a labor coordinator for the Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign and for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign.

Ed has actively assisted local, state and national Green Party electoral campaigns in western Pennsylvania via door to door campaigning, media, and petitioning. Among other things, he was a co-founder of the Western PA Coalition for Single Payer Healthcare, a grassroots campaign building the movement for a national 'single payer' health system.