By Spurgeon Thomas, Contributing Writer
On April 19, 2025, the 8th annual Progressive Labor Summit, held at the San Diego Convention Center and hosted by the Progressive Labor Alliance, brought together union representatives, gig workers, policy advocates, and elected officials to confront issues ranging from corporate wage suppression to unsafe working conditions in frontline industries. Although few, Black organizers stood out for speaking passionately about their progressive campaigns, spotlighting structural economic injustices disproportionately affecting San Diego’s Black communities.
Several organizers greeted Temika Cook, a very outspoken lunch lady and President of the San Diego County Chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU). During the panel titled, “The Cost of Living is Too Damn High,” Ms. Cook sat front and center, watching Dr. Kyra Greene’s vociferous contribution.
“Poverty is not a moral failure. It’s an example of a crime against humanity,” said Dr. Greene, who is Executive Director of the Center of Policy Initiatives. After panelists debated the causes of inflation, Greene rebutted.
“Despite the supply-chain issues and the pandemic, grocery stores didn’t lose money,” Ms. Greene continued. She questioned when this country had ever been a country that was fair to working people. She asked when this country had ever been racially fair. She influenced organizers to make politicians uncomfortable when they came around.
“When employers show up somewhere, we should be announcing how much they pay their workers,” Greene said before her panel concluded.
As the panel about Latinos for Trump transitioned to the stage, Ms. Cook exited to the sunlit lobby, noting that only two of the 20 morning panelists were Black.
“I want to see more of me. More diversity. More Black men and women leading these union organizations,” Cook said. “I am still fighting the fight my predecessors fought.”
Ms. Cook sat with Eryn Wilson Nieves, lead program coordinator of the San Diego Black Worker Center, discussing the high cost of living in San Diego, before joining the “Our Budget, Our Values” breakout session.
Flanked by LaShae Sharp-Collins, CA Assemblymember (D79), and Henry Foster III, District 4 City Councilmember, Crystal Irving passionately appealed to the crowd. She said that after being volunteered to be on the marketing team of SEIU 221, she went from barely dipping a toe in politics to a full-on cannonball because the public has a choice and a say in what politics can look like.
“When we were in the contract negotiations process, it clicked that we get to elect the people who are determining our wages and working conditions, or [reject] them,” Irving said. Irving is President of SEIU Local 221.
Before leaving the summit, Ms. Cook advocated for collective bargaining, unions supporting each other’s causes, and for upcoming labor leaders to build their teams and groom their successors.
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