Supply Chain Research & Strategies For the Green Economy

Researching supply chains can be a useful tool to identify opportunities for organizing. Companies rarely have full control over the entire chain of production for the service or good they intend to profit from, and researchers and organizers can utilize supply chain tactics and strategies to better understand companies and their vulnerabilities. Engaging with supply chain strategies can not only identify financial vulnerabilities, but also pathways to hold companies and their suppliers accountable to labor standards and environmental commitments.

This workshop will cover how to assess and understand financial and ownership structures across complex supply chains, useful databases and resources for this research process, and examples and potentials of these strategies in labor, community, and environmental justice organizing.

Antara Murshed is currently a researcher at Jobs to Move America, focusing on greentech manufacturing corporate research and campaign development for community benefit agreements in emerging green technology manufacturing in Arizona and the American South. She has a master of urban and regional planning from UCLA, where she focused on the intersection of transportation planning, labor, and environmental justice. Prior to graduate school, Antara worked as an environmental planner at the California Department of Transportation.

Aesha Mahmoud is a senior strategic campaigner at Jobs to Move America. She does strategic research supporting community benefit agreement campaigns that encourage global manufacturing firms to commit to practices that create family sustaining jobs for disadvantaged communities. Prior to her focus on publicly funded sectors, she has conducted community-centered research assessing impacts of housing policy on tenants, and engaged with political and community organizing campaigns across the state of California.