BUILDING THE SOCIALIST CITY
A Groundwork and Friends Slate for DSA Los Angeles Leadership
Strike Power
LA Leaders Running for Labor Committee
Marc K (Co-chair) | Parker S (Co-chair) | Claire P (Coordinator) | Zack P (Coordinator)
STRIKE-READY CHAPTER
Our chapter must be a strike-ready chapter. 2026 is a crucial year for us to develop the organizing infrastructure and member capacity to quickly organize support for worker actions across the city. We need a deep layer of trained Strike Captains across all our Branches so all our members have an opportunity to participate in and lead important labor work that will set us up to be a powerful force on the ground for potential mass labor actions in 2028.
- Recruit and retain at least 2 Strike Captains per Branch. Strike Captains will work with Branch Coordinators and Branch Organizing Committees to communicate and coordinate around labor actions and labor organizing happening in DSA-LA.
- Train for our members on picket line best practices, how to do effective turnout and follow-up, and how to speak about DSA and recruit workers to DSA from picket lines and labor actions.
- Utilize the development of our Strike Captain layer as capacity building and leadership development for our chapter.
RESURGENT RANK-AND-FILE ORGANIZING
The socialist movement is filled with inspiring and young organizers who want to dedicate their time and energy to building a militant and democratic labor movement, and fighting multinational corporations and their billionaire owners who don’t want to see the ranks of organized labor grow. We are committed to recruiting, training, and placing our members as rank-and-file organizers in strategic sectors and workplaces where we can deal the most significant blows against corporations and billionaires.
- Build the Workers Organizing Workers project in Los Angeles to create opportunities for labor activists and comrades from YDSA to take on shopfloor rank-and-file organizing to grow the labor movement.
- Be a hub for seeding the Workers Organizing Workers project across Southern California.
- Put capacity into building out projects of the National Labor Commission in our chapter.
ORGANIZED DSA POWER IN UNIONS
DSA-LA has a large number of members who are union members, union organizers, and union leaders! We must be more intentional, coordinated, and strategic in how we utilize our DSA member power in unions. We need to develop industry, sector, and union-specific plans with our members in unions to shape the organizing strategies, priorities, and political programs of the LA Labor Movement, working hand-in-hand with DSA-LA to build a socialist city that serves working people. We see this as an opportunity to popularize and advance all planks of the Democratic Socialist Program among union members, staff, and leadership.
- Labor Committee meetings will be held in-person with dedicated time for Labor Circles to self-organize, and welcome members who share a common industry, sector, workplace, and/or union.
- Organize DSA Sections. Sections are to organize within unions to make them more militant, democratic, and left-wing. Sections will be organized democratically and led by section coordinators who can harmonize DSA and union priorities.
- Actively recruit union members to DSA by championing the Democratic Socialist Program as our minimum program that speaks to the everyday needs of working people and demonstrating how DSA is the vehicle for winning meaningful change in Los Angeles.
POLITICAL ACTION FOR PALESTINE AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
The LA Labor Movement has a deep history of taking bold political action in support of immigrants and against war and genocide. We can play a big role in empowering workers to take up that powerful history of political action and channel it to fight for the political struggles of today, like ending the genocide in Palestine by unionists taking action for an arms embargo.
- Coordinate with and support Labor for an Arms Embargo organizing in the chapter and across Southern California.
- Conduct political education on how the labor movement has led on taking political action in support of social movement causes.
- Normalizing political action for social movement causes as central to the formation of political programs for unions.