i spent the afternoon at the excluded worker's congress, a gathering of domestic workers, day laborers, guest workers, workers in warehouses and restaurants, the formerly incarcerated, workfare workers, and more.  'excluded' means that the workers are either technically (as in the case of domestic workers) or functionally (as in the case of temporary workers) excluded from the right to collective bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act.  this people's movement assembly sought to gather these workers and organizations under one banner in order to hear testimonials from workers in these industries, call for solidarity for specific struggles, discuss innovative strategies for organizing, and share experiences from waging local, regional, national, and international campaigns to win rights for workers.

this was a 4.5 hour event, so there are a lot of stories and strategies to share, but i'll relate a few that struck me deeply...

- this was an incredibly well orchestrated gathering. lots of talking--but scheduled tightly. music and performance throughout that kept us engaged. fiery, loud speakers and intense, quiet speakers [okay, this wasn't orchestrated but was nice anyhow].

- i was super impressed by the San Francisco Progressive Workers Alliance, a young organization pushing a major campaign to win a citywide Low-Wage Worker Bill of Rights, amongst other workers rights campaigns.  the kind of organizing they are doing--across Chinese restaurant workers, the unemployed, Filipino domestic workers, queers, Latino day laborers--at the local level, was a powerful presentation of the kind of movement-building work that really excited me. i am looking forward to following their work.

- the Alliance of Guest Workers, an organization of workers who come to the U.S. on work visas, told some stories that shocked the audience... tales of workers having to pay $20,000 to come to the U.S. on the program and promised citizenship, only to be faced with no chance at citizenship, terrible working conditions and what amounts to indentured servitude... of a private security force attempting to carry out a private deportation on a worker who tried to push back against the working conditions... of a strike to win freedom for the detained worker, followed by a march to Washington DC from New Orleans, followed by a week-long hunger strike, all to try to gain the attention of the government.

- the lyrics from a song by Fruit of Labor, from NC:
I am an endangered species / but I sing no victim's song
I am a woman / I am an artist / And I know where my voice belongs

- Jose Oliva of ROC United pointed out that excluded workers are not trying to win inclusion into the status quo, the existing labor movement and its outdated laws, but rather create something fundamentally different that affords workers real power to counterbalance business. this sentiment is evident in the leadership of the organizations of excluded workers: women, people of color, queers. representatives of the disability justice movement, pushing for rights and protections for workers with disabilities, were noticeably absent.

- one of the final speakers was Ashim Roy of the New Independent Trade Union of India, who said that every new trade movement in history was started by excluded workers. this congress may very well be the official christening of the next phase of low wage worker organizing...

and then, the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, NYC's punkier twin to our own Mucca Pazza, swept in through the rear doors, played a jam that got folks to their feet, then exited out the front toward to lead people to the labor march...