05/25/2026
They told us to wait. We said no.
The 55th Annual CBTU International Convention just wrapped in Atlanta, and if you weren’t there — here’s what you need to know.
Hundreds of Black trade unionists from across the country came together under the theme “Cherish Our Legacy & Bend to No One.” And they meant every word.
CBTU President Rev. Terrence L. Melvin opened with a keynote that pulled no punches. He named the attacks: executive orders gutting union contracts, collective bargaining rights stripped from over a million federal workers, health care out of reach, cost of living through the roof. He named the culprits. And then he named the path forward — not through the Democratic Party establishment, which he noted hasn’t called CBTU about the war, DOGE, or the federal budget, but through an independent, worker-led political roadmap that CBTU is building for 2027 and 2029.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais — which effectively dismantled Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act — was front and center. AFGE President Everett Kelley said what CBTU members have lived: labor rights and civil rights are not two different fights. They never have been.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler sent a video message announcing the largest labor-led voter protection operation in the movement’s history, ahead of the November midterms. The threat of ICE agents at polling locations isn’t a hypothetical — it’s a contingency they’re already planning against.
The Black Opps Project, presented by Hit Strategies shared polling data that every organizer in our movement needs to sit with: younger Black workers are disengaged, and it’s not because they don’t care — it’s because “defend democracy” doesn’t register when many feel they never had one. The answer isn’t to talk past that. It’s to educate. Organize. Show up where they are. CBTU International Under 40 Leaders
Stacey Abrams walked into the 55th CBTU Convention in Atlanta and reminded every trade unionist in that room exactly who we are.
She spoke on her upbringing. On what it took to refuse to quit after losses that would have ended most political careers. On the long game of organizing that helped clear the pathway for Keisha Lance Bottoms to become Georgia’s next governor. And then she got strategic.
“When you change the language, you change the mind.”
She didn’t stop at inspiration. She gave us the mechanics. Politicians respond to three things: money, attention, and peer pressure. As trade unionists, we have all three tools. The question isn’t whether we have power — it’s whether we’re willing to use it. The room answered.
This wasn’t just a gathering. It was a realignment. Black labor is done waiting for permission.
San Antonio CBTU is proud to be part of this movement. Stay locked in — full recap in The Circuit 104 (link in comments). 💪🏾⚡
