Last week, we welcomed representatives from 20 FCWA member groups at our biggest Food Worker Summit yet! 68 organizers and worker leaders traveled to Los Angeles from across the U.S. and Ontario, Canada for three days of programming and critical relationship building.
The summit is a rare occasion for members to be together in-person, learning from each other and stepping back to look at our collective work as an alliance that spans every sector of the food chain and a variety of organizing strategies.
This year’s theme was “Building Power Across the Food Chain” and sessions led by members covered topics like “Organizing Independent Unions,” “Black Food Workers Organizing,” “Workers’ Conversation on Climate Justice and Just Transition,” and “Cultivating Black and Brown Solidarity in our Movement.”
FCWA members are fierce organizers and advocates, and it’s a powerful thing when they get together! On Sunday afternoon, we led an action in solidarity with the Inland Empire Amazon Workers, marching on the DTLA Whole Foods to deliver a letter to management declaring our solidarity with Amazon workers on strike in California and everywhere.
This was our first summit since 2019, and we were happy to be reunited with old friends and meet many new faces. To ensure the health and safety of all participants and our larger community, we implemented comprehensive COVID protections, including masking in all meeting spaces, on-site rapid testing with nurses, air purifiers, and working outside when possible. We are hugely grateful to our members for working with us to ensure that this event was safe for everyone.
We’d also like to offer our special thanks to the LA Tenants Union, the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Association, the LACAN Freedom Singers, and Amazon workers from San Bernardino for grounding us in the local movement.