Working together works! - The three LIUNA Caucuses (AA, Women, Latino) are very effective when working together on joint projects. With the 2020 election so critical for all LIUNA members, caucus leaders reviewed several organizational plans focused on supporting voter engagement. In early September, caucus leaders pledged joint monetary support to the National NAACP Civic Engagement Program. Subsequently, LIUNA AA Caucus members worked with the National NAACP Civic Engagement Program in battleground states to effect change in the November election. Through a grant process, caucus members developed separate strategy frameworks to work with NACCP state conferences and/or branches in five of t...

The LIUNA AA Caucus partnered with Georgia Stand-Up to support voter education and GOTV efforts in the 2021 Georgia Senate runoffs. GA Stand-Up is a think and act tank comprised of an alliance of leaders dedicated to community education. Leaders are represented from labor organizations, community, faith-based organizations and academia. The caucus supported GA Stand-Up by providing funding for 20,000 non-partisan door knockers. The literature included information focused on voter education - verifying voter registration status, providing voting deadlines and including a slate of all candidate choices.

Georgia Stand-up volunteers will conduct lit drops and canvas potential voters with the go...

On August 29, 2020, LIUNA AA Caucus board member BM Reginald Thomas, AA Caucus members and other members from LIUNA Local 264 in Kansas City,MO partnered with City Councilwoman, Ryana Parks-Shaw, the AFL-CIO, Teamsters Local 41, KC BCTD, the Urban League, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Catholic Charities and Swope Health Services to host a Back-to-School-Drive at Swope Park. Families were provided free backpacks filled with school supplies, vouchers to receive a free laptop, food distribution and COVID testing. Despite the inclement weather, over 100 vehicles lined up bumper to bumper waiting to be served. Food distribution served 415 households, 814 adults, 584 children, and 138 seniors....

LIUNA AA Caucus board member, Barrie Smith and 100 Black Construction workers whom most are also members of the LIUNA AA Caucus participated in the Brooklyn, NY Memorial to George Floyd and the #BLM movement. The members marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and provided security for Terrance Floyd, brother of George Floyd. LAAC Board member Smith spoke to the audience and all assisted in giving out boxes of food to the community.

Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams and Assemblyman Andy King spearheaded the memorial. Aim High and organization to mentor young black men also participated.

The past several days have struck at my heart in so many ways.

As a black man, I have firsthand experience with the inequities of our system. Like too many other black people, I have lost friends and loved ones to violent crime and have seen the ways in which the system fails many of us.

As the leader of a labor organization with a majority African-American membership, recent events have caused me to consider the ways in which I can play a role in improving the system on behalf of my members and their families.

And, most importantly, as the father of black sons, I harbor an intense resentment for a system that makes me fear for my sons every time they walk out the door.

My voice on this issue is...

LIUNA District Council of Philadelphia & Vicinity & Laborers and Local 413 in Chester, PA where many members are also members of the LIUNA AA Caucus, partnered with the Black Doctors Consortium to offer FREE COVID-19 testing at LIUNA Local 413. 380 people were tested. Pictured is LIUNA Business Manager L 413 and AA Caucus member, James Harper Jr., and fellow African American Caucus members.

LIUNA African American Caucus is morally outraged over the callous, brutal, and coldblooded murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Our generation is charged with showing the work our collective outrage, just as prior generations did with the heinous murder of Emmitt Till. We must amplify our voices to demand justice and swift punishment for these executioners. Also, we must expose the racist and corrupt system that continuously allows racist murderers to go home and not to prison where they belong. We sincerely pray for his family during this very dark hour.

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