Poonam Whabi

The last few weeks have pulled back the veil on the reality that we face, one where critical consciousness and political education are fundamental needs as we live through the consequences of an emboldened anti-immigrant movement.

Therefore, with this in mind, we are asking for your donations this Giving Tuesday, to continue resourcing and growing our political education efforts to continue fostering a sharp and united working class consciousness across the Bay Area.

Please consider supporting us during Giving Tuesday week or even better, becoming a monthly sustainer.

December 3rd-6th, 2024

We welcome you to TUWU’s Second Quarterly Newsletter La Regeneración.

Building worker power supports the economic security of immigrant workers, benefits their families, and strengthens local economies. Worker power is a fundamental part of a just economy. Compañerismo is the glue that holds us all together in the struggle to build worker power, this is why it is TUWU’s Principle #1. 

If you have ever interacted with a member of TUWU or been part one of our events, you might have heard us address each other as “compa,” the gender-neutral word for compañero/a. Forging compañerismo with one another allows us to collaborate and take collective action against labor violations, exploitation, and exclusion. Embodying compańerismo means uplifting not only each other, but workers facing injustice domestically and abroad. Winning is achieved collectively and centered on the needs and voices of excluded immigrant workers, while also upholding a commitment to intersectional struggle alongside Black, trans, women, and workers with disabilities, as well as those from the global south.

We welcome you to TUWU’s First Quarterly Newsletter La Regeneración.  Why call the updated TUWU newsletter, “La Regeneración”? Simply put, we wanted to evoke the radical imaginative power that comes from our working-class communities of color, ancestors, and predecessors who envisioned and saw a world in which we are all free.

On the question of why TUWU does political education, Paulo Freire, a brazilian educator in the 1960s was able to summarize it succinctly in the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Liberation cannot happen without the people who are most affected by systemic and workplace exploitation first becoming self-aware of the contradictions within the economic system, their role in the economy, and their belief in their ability to take action and make changes. 

The quote that opens this issue of  La Regeneración from Paulo Freire is a reminder that, for this collective liberation to happen, member leaders, worker centers, unions, and the labor movement as a whole must be very intentional to build consciousness. If we do not, the messaging that surrounds workers, are narratives that elicit powerlessness, self-blame, individualism, divisiveness among workers, and reinforce a collective sedation that prevents any meaningful change from happening.