2024 Progressive Labor Summit
Happening this Saturday, April 13th at the San Diego Convention Center!
By Carol Kim
The 2024 Progressive Labor Summit is back and just a few days away! Our one-day event in San Diego brings together the labor community with left-of-center activists and community leaders to empower all working people by building stronger understanding, knowledge, skills, and partnerships to tackle the broader social challenges we are facing today.
Started in 2017, the Progressive Labor Summit began in the wake of the Trump administration’s ascension to the White House, when there was an immediate and critical need to ensure that there were clear lines of communication and avenues of collaboration throughout the progressive movement. The Summit continues to build solidarity among community, advocacy, policy, and labor organizations, ensuring that the needs and hopes of working people remain central to the work being done to advance justice and equity across all issue areas. It also supports the work being done by community allies and policy makers throughout the region and world.
We’re excited to be bringing the Progressive Labor Summit to the San Diego Convention Center for the first time as the scope of the event continues to grow. This year’s lineup includes international union presidents, world-renowned scholars, and the return of one of our most treasured speakers—civil rights icon, Cleve Jones.
Here are the breakout sessions you can expect, in addition to outstanding plenary session panels and speakers:
● Holding Together a World Gone Mad: Mental and Behavioral Health on the Job - Join a discussion about navigating the mental and behavioral health challenges for working families both on the job and in our communities. Panelists: Kat Makarushka (IATSE Local 122), Ed Robison (Sheet Metal Occupation Health Institute Trust, SMART), Stephanie Sherman (SEIU 221); Moderator: Darrell Roberts (California Professional Firefighters).
● The Rise of Community Colleges: A 32-Hour Week, $30 Living Wage, and Forging the Economic Future - In recent years, California’s Community College system has been transformed dramatically and emerged as a focus of innovative workforce training programs, cutting edge policies like the 32-hour week and, now in San Diego, a $30+/hr living wage for employees. What’s led to major steps like these, and where will it go next? Panelists: Larissa Dorman (AFT 1931), Zaneta Encarnacion (Southwestern College), Maria Nieto Senour (San Diego Community College District), Greg Smith (San Diego Community College District); Moderator: Jim Miller (AFT 1931).
● Addressing Homelessness with Homes - At the end of the day, only homes will be able to truly solve our homelessness crisis. Affordable housing developers and operators join advocates and policy makers for a discussion of existing gaps and opportunities for innovative solutions as we work to build the enough of the housing it will take to provide long-term solutions for San Diegans experiencing homelessness. Panelists: Ryan Clumpner (San Diego Housing Commission), Georgette Gomez (Casa Familiar), Rudy Gonzalez (San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council), Carol Kim (SDBTC Family Housing Corp); Moderator: Sean Elo Rivera (City of San Diego).
● Adapting Activism to Bad Budget Years - San Diego has a wide range of challenges that need to be addressed. Some years there are resources to add new programs, other years local governments have deficits to close. How do we adapt to the lean budget years to keep workers at the top of policy priorities and progressive momentum going year over year? Panelists: Ansermio Estrada (San Diego County Building & Construction Trades Council), Franco Garcia (Environmental Health Coalition), Kyra Greene (Center on Policy Initiatives), Kyle Weinberg (SDEA); Moderator: Eric Joyce (City of Oceanside).
● Rise of the Machines: Technology at Work - We’re decades into technology moving into every corner of work—from automation to artificial intelligence to tracking and surveillance on the job, things are changing rapidly and often much faster than we’re able to keep up with. The panel will explore the many ways that technology is transforming and threatening work and workers, how to ensure it’s used for good, and where the current and future fights lie. Panelists: Alexis Castro (California State Senate), Veena Dubal (UCI), Lily Irani (UCSD), Greg Sowizdrzal (IATSE Local 122); Moderator: Jesse Marx (Journalist & Media Advisor).
● Labor 101: How Workers are Organizing and Why - Get a primer on the Labor 101 basics, explaining the history and structure of unions and the basics of how organizing happens. Then hear directly from those who have been on the front lines of recent successful organizing efforts here in San Diego about why they did it and what they experienced. Panelists: Ricardo Ochoa (Ochoa Law), Alex Scordato (Planned Parenthood/SEIU-UHW), Adu Vengal (UC/UAW); Moderator: Ricardo Ochoa.
● The Work of the Border - This panel is a discussion of the border economy, the status of workers on both sides of the border, and how immigration policy impacts our binational communities. Panelists: Carolina Chavez (City of Chula Vista, Enrique Ochoa (COBACH), Christian Ramirez (SEIU-USWW), Ian Seruelo (labor & immigration attorney), Meghan Zavala (La Otra Lado); Moderator: Lucero Chavez (Save the Children).
● The Future of Energy - As our climate continues to change, policies at the federal, state, and local levels are seeking to push our energy system to cleaner and safer options. Industry experts and policy leaders explore where things are going, what opportunities are on the horizon, and what still needs to be done. Panelists: Bernadette Butkiewicz (SDG&E), Jack Clark (San Diego Community Power), Corinna Contreras (Climate Action Campaign), Cristina Marquez (IBEW 569); Moderator: Robert Howard (Clean Energy Alliance).
● California Jobs First: Investing in Sustainable, Equitable Jobs - The $600 million Regional Investment Initiative was launched in 2021 to create high-quality, accessible jobs and help build resilience to the effects of climate change and other global disruptions. Hear how dozens of labor, business, local government, education, environmental justice, and community stakeholders in San Diego and Imperial Counties are now working to develop the roadmap to deploy our region’s share of this funding. Help inform where that investment goes to best serve us. Panelists: Tina Ngo Bartel (Miracosta College), Arcela Nunez (Universidad Popular), Maria Nunez (City of San Marcos), Luis Olmedo (Comite Civico del Valle); Moderator: Brigette Browning (San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council).
● You Can’t Pour from An Empty Cup: Sustainable Activism - The effective pursuit of social, economic, and political justice in the U.S. during the early twenty-first century requires sustained advocacy and robust activist networks. It also requires emotionally intelligent, resilient political leadership. This panel aims to explore strategies of sustainable activism and political leadership in today’s increasingly authoritarian environment. Panelists: Joel Day (UCSD/Princeton), Trinh Le (Stop AAPI Hate), Monica Montgomery-Steppe (County of San Diego); Moderator: Cori Schumacher (IBEW 569).
Registration is open until the event begins, but the commemorative shirts are limited.
Register today and join us on Saturday for our biggest summit yet!
Carol Kim is a business manager for San Diego County Building & Construction Trades Council and the CEO of the San Diego County Building Trades Council Family Housing Corporation. She is President of the Board of The Progressive Labor Alliance.