Cruel City Cuts Inspire Organizing Drive in Mississippi

Submitted by Claudia Brunson, a Union Summer intern in Jackson, MS.

What if your boss said you had to take unpaid leave one day every month?

That’s the situation in Jackson, Miss., where I spent my summer as a union organizer talking to city and state employees.

To solve a budget deficit that had nothing to do with the folks who provide public services, the Jackson City Council decided to put 2,200 people on furlough on the last Friday of every month. State workers have also endured pay cuts and layoffs.

As an organizer, I walked door to door to talk to city and state workers. They told me about their ethic of public service, and how hard it is to pay the bills with a shrinking paycheck.

Every month, on Furlough Day we held rallies. People used megaphones to tell the crowds about how the furloughs affect them and their community.

A lot of people also talked about how important it is for all working people to stand together in unions. We talked about what we could do together to demand political answers to address the needs of everyone in our communities.

All of the young people in the union organizing program called ourselves the summeristas. We learned the ins and outs of organizing drives, and we learned about organizing in the South.

One day we took a trip to Medgar Evers’ home. He was a civil rights activist who helped establish local chapters of the NAACP throughout the Mississippi Delta. The visit gave me a historical perspective, and I saw parallels between organizing back then and organizing now.

Like then, we face inequality and division. But I found myself part of a wonderful spirit of unity. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish together.