Alejandra Sanchez-Castro organizes service-sector workers with Trabajadores Unidos Workers United
Bay Area native and UCLA labor studies major shares her summer internship experiences with her local community.
This story is part of our IRLE Engaged Learning Series. This series highlights the experiences of students connected to IRLE and their contributions within both our own units and local community organizations.
By Vanessa Codilla | September 13, 2021
For San Francisco Bay Area native Alejandra Sanchez-Castro, a rising fourth year double major in labor studies and Chicana/o and Central American Studies, serving working people in her local community has been a significant part of her undergraduate summer experiences.
Sanchez-Castro previously spent her summers interning at the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area and Community Legal Services in Palo Alto, where she worked to improve the lives of working-class immigrant families through legal services and civic engagement opportunities. This summer, she explored the field of organizing through the UC Berkeley Labor Summer Program to develop a worker justice perspective that she hopes to incorporate in her future career as an immigration attorney.
Photo by Sanchez-Castro of Promotoras de Labor
The UC Berkeley Labor Summer Program, hosted by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, offers undergraduate and graduate students paid, eight-week internship opportunities to work with labor and community organizations in California. Students learn how to organize and conduct research addressing issues facing working-class immigrants, women, and people of color.
Through the program, Sanchez-Castro interned with Trabajadores Unidos Workers United (TUWU), formerly known as Young Workers United, which aims to improve the quality of jobs and raise standards in the low-wage service sector in San Francisco for young and immigrant workers.
Sanchez-Castro shared details about her experience as an internship experience below.
Internship: UC Berkeley Labor Summer Intern
Organization: Trabajadores Unidos Workers United (TUWU)
Location: San Francisco
Employer Type: Non-profit Community Organization
Employer Size: 5-10
Can you tell us about your role as an intern for Trabajadores Unidos Workers United (TUWU)?
It was a mix of in-person and remote work. I was able to go out into the field and do outreach, specifically in the Mission District in San Francisco, and share know-your-rights information about the minimum wage which recently increased. We also got to hear about people experiencing workplace violations and refer them to resources.
Other times, I would work remotely to conduct research and create surveys with the purpose of learning about how the reopening of businesses as pandemic regulations are being lifted impacts workers. We focused specifically on the Fisherman’s Wharf/Pier 39 area because it experiences heavy tourism.
Can you share some thoughts about your organizing experience?
I was able to go shadow an organizer to a workplace for the first time and start a conversation with a worker. By the end of the month, our goal was to bring workers from Fisherman’s Wharf together to learn more about their rights and covid-19 protections, and just build up community solidarity, which we find is essential to building power.
I was honestly terrified at first, but I put on my big girl pants! As opposed to the initial outreach that I was doing during the earlier part of my internship, this experience was about trying to organize a workplace and build people power in this area. It was super rewarding to be a part of that. It gave me a really big appreciation for organizing and how you can build collective power.
“I feel like more organizations should take that example and have working class people–people who are directly impacted–as the ones going out to represent these labor issues, because they’re the best equipped to talk about them.”
What’s something unique about your internship team?
TUWU is made up of a small team. I feel like because of that I was able to build very deep connections with them. They also had a group of working class women in restaurant and janitorial work, called Promotoras de Labor, who were trained to do the type of work that I did. They went into the community to outreach and organize, and it was cool to see workers empowering other workers.
What was your takeaway from working with TUWU’s Promotoras de Labor?
It was an honor being in their presence and taking lessons away from their organizing conversations. I found myself adopting so much of what they were saying to my own organizing technique and the way that I would approach people.
I feel like more organizations should take that example and have working class people–people who are directly impacted–as the ones going out to represent these labor issues, because they’re the best equipped to talk about them.
That, to me, was kind of the highlight: having an opportunity to work alongside these women who are workers and who themselves are experiencing workplace issues, being so empowered that they go out in the community and call for change.
How did this internship experience shape your overall career journey?
I see myself going into law, and I want to be able to serve working class, immigrant communities. I think [this internship] helped me develop the lens of an organizer, which is really important in the field of law because you’re going in with the mentality that things are amendable and that things are able to be changed. As a future lawyer, I don’t just want to go along with the system; I want to be able to change things. That’s also what organizing is about: you’re moving and empowering people for a cause.
“I think it’s important for people, like myself, who are in higher education and who have all these privileges to not think of themselves as better than or more deserving. Instead, ask yourself how you can redistribute these tools and resources and help other people.”
Any last thoughts you’d like to share?
I think it’s important for people, like myself, who are in higher education and who have all these privileges to not think of themselves as better than or more deserving. Instead, ask yourself how you can redistribute these tools and resources and help other people. I want to encourage folks to look into labor and organizing; give it a shot and you might end up finding your passion!
If you have questions or would like to learn more about interning with Trabajadores Unidos Workers United, connect with Alejandra Sanchez-Castro on LinkedIn.
