Texas

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

History has long been portrayed as a series of "great men" taking great action to shape the world we live in. In recent decades, however, social historians have focused more on looking at history "from the bottom up," studying the vital role that working people played in our heritage. Working people built, and continue to build, the United States. In our new series, Pathway to Progress, we'll take a look at various people, places and events where working people played a key role in the progress our country has made, including those who are making history right now. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, today's topic is the San Antonio Pecan Sellers Strike.

On Tuesday morning as union veteran Sam Tijerina drove from Pasadena, Texas, to Dallas he had a lot on this mind. His thoughts wandered as he passed mile makers and towns, he thought about his young family at home and the life that having a union job has provided them. “A union card changed my life and has allowed me to live with dignity,” Tijerina said.

Last week, the Texas Young Active Labor Leaders (YALL) hosted their second biennial YALL Summit in Austin. Nearly 250 young labor leaders, union activists and community allies joined together to chart the course of the labor movement in Texas and beyond.