Enthusiasm at 1st NWA Labor Spring Teach-In

A few dozen workers of all ages listened to eight regional union organizers at the Northwest Arkansas Labor Spring Teach-In April 8, gaining knowledge and enthusiasm from their fellows.

The program in the Ziegler Reception Room of the Fayetteville Public Library began with perhaps the newest labor movement, that of Starbucks Coffee employees. Dylan Hartsfield began organizing employees of the cafe on Wedington Drive in February 2022. Since its success and that of a Starbucks on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Dylan has become an organizer with the overall Starbucks Workers United, a division of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Walter Hinojosa, president of the Northwest Arkansas Labor Council, emceed while Hershel Hartford, president of UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965, introduced the program. These two groups sponsored the teach-in.

Magaly Licolli, executive director and co-founder of the poultry worker organization Venceremos, speaks at the April 8, 2023, NWA Labor Spring Teach-In at the Fayetteville Public Library.

Pete Reagan, the 14th District field service rep for the International Association of Fire Fighters, speaks at the April 8, 2023, NWA Labor Spring Teach-In at the Fayetteville Public Library. — Magaly Licolli, executive director and co-founder of the poultry worker organization Venceremos, speaks at the April 8, 2023, NWA Labor Spring Teach-In at the Fayetteville Public Library.

Magaly Licolli, executive director and co-founder of the regional poultry worker organization Venceremos said her group is chiefly concerned with a “search for solutions” on worker safety matters. As far as chicken growing and processing, any sort of safety net set up by government is full of tangles and tears, where she cited chemical emissions and denial especially of the dangers of Covid especially in the pandemic’s early months.

Annie B. Smith, professor, University of Arkansas School of Law, outlined the basics of federal law on unions as well as the limits state laws sets, both positive and negative. Worker’s compensation law, for example covers an employee injured due to their own miscalculation, but “Workers generally do not have a right to breaks” (they’re just a common perk).

Dylan Hartsfield, an organizer with Workers United Starbucks who began with the coffee shops in Northwest Arkansas, speaks at the April 8, 2023, NWA Labor Spring Teach-In at the Fayetteville Public Library.

Annie B. Smith, a professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law, speaks at the April 8, 2023, NWA Labor Spring Teach-In at the Fayetteville Public Library. — Dylan Hartsfield, an organizer with Workers United Starbucks who began with the coffee shops in Northwest Arkansas, speaks at the April 8, 2023, NWA Labor Spring Teach-In at the Fayetteville Public Library.

Pete Reagan, district field service representative for the 14th District (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee), International Association of Fire Fighters , gave a brief history of the Fayetteville local that began in the late 1970s. Its latest concern is the incorporation of PFAs (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in their gear to repel oil and water and prevent mold but is a carcinogen. “Our own gear is killing us.”

Rick Halford, regional political director of Southern States Millwright Regional Council discussed the close relationship between child labor and human trafficking in light of the Arkansas legislature with Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ signature revoked state law pertaining to children working, though federal laws remain in effect.

Closing out the program was Jessica Akers Hughes, president, Arkansas AFL-CIO. She sees the governments of a number of states trying to divide workers, a common tactic that in recent years uses gender, sexuality, race. “If we didn’t have power, they wouldn’t be trying to silence us,” she said.