The UFCW Minority Coalition recently hosted another successful educational conference and awards gala in Washington, D.C.

The educational conference took place on Nov. 17, and featured a workshop on Right to Work, as well as a conversation about the current political climate and the future of the labor movement. Facilitators Tiffany Loftin, senior program specialist in community with the NEA, and Jamal Watkins, national outreach director of campaigns with the AFL-CIO, presented the Right to Work session. This session highlighted the roots of this policy, as well as the racial divisions among working people and the impact that Right to Work legislation has had on working communities for 70-plus years. This session also outlined ways to frame messaging when addressing the issue of Right to Work.

The conference also featured Bill Fletcher, Jr., an activist, syndicated columnist and regular media commentator on television, radio and the web, who led a conversation about the tumultuous state of our current political climate as it relates to the future of the labor movement. This engaging conversation brought to the forefront the difficulties working people face in the time of Trump and right-wing populism.

On the evening of Nov. 18, the UFCW Minority Coalition hosted its 19th Annual Awards Gala and Fundraiser. The gala honored individuals who champion diversity and equality among men and women in the labor movement, as well as special humanitarians who are committed to the fight against sickle cell disease.

Executive Vice President and Organizing Department Director Shaun Barclay received the Person of the Year Award. Other honorees included International Vice President and UFCW Local 99 President Jim McLaughlin, who received the Local Union of the Year Award; UFCW District Council of New York and New Jersey, which received the Roland B. Scott Sickle Cell Award; Tonya McCoy of UFCW Local 75, who received the Addie Wyatt Award; International Vice President and UFCW Region 5 Director Milton Jones, who received the Robert Vaughn Award; and International Vice President and UFCW Local 21 President Todd Crosby, who received the Wendell W. Young III Award.

Last week, members from several local unions across the country, including UFCW Locals 99, 431, 876, 1189, 1776 and RWDSU, came to Washington, D.C., to deliver a message to our elected officials: Save Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and keep hard-working families together. This message was highlighted by the delivery of over 60,000 signed petitions to members of Congress.

UFCW International Secretary-Treasurer Esther Lopez rallied members on the Hill. with a clear message.“Hard-working people who have lived here for decades and played by the rules should be offered a path to legalization and citizenship,” she said.

TPS families have fled natural disasters, violence, instability, and ethnic, religious, and ideological persecution. They have also raised children here, regularly undergo DHS background checks, paying renewal fees on top of taxes, and are truly making America a better nation even as they work hard to build a better life for their families.

Ending TPS for tens of thousands of hard-working families is a personal issue to our union family – that’s why we recently joined with UNITE HERE, IUPAT, Bricklayers, AFL-CIO and the Ironworkers to form a group called Working Families United to raise our united, collective voice on behalf of TPS holders. We support Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.)’s bill (SECURE ACT), and another introduced by Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), H.R. 4253 (115). Together, we’re keeping the pressure on key congressional targets to support these measures.