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Unifor sent nine delegates to the Mississippi Freedom Summer 50th Anniversary conference, the only Canadians at the event marking 50 years since three civil rights workers were killed by the Ku Klux Klan in that state.
“A repeated message heard at the conference was that workers' rights are at the heart of the civil rights movement today,” said Vinay Sharma, Unifor’s Director of Human Rights.
Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner were killed June 21, 1964 while registering black voters, marking a turning point in the civil rights movement.
The conference took place June 25-29 at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss. Tougaloo, set up to educate former slaves, was a safe haven for 1960s civil rights activists.
Speakers included Hollis Watson, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Dick Gregory and Ayana Gregory. Unifor delegates included Sharma, National President Jerry Dias, Assistant to the President Deb Tveit and activists from across Canada.
Along with multiple panels and discussions on workers' rights, conference participants took part in a rally organized by student activists from around the U.S. at Nissan's giant plant in nearby Canton, in support of their right to organize with the UAW and demanding fair treatment of workers and a fair union representation vote.
