Research Strategies for Common Good Campaigns

Union locals and community organizations around the country have formed powerful common good alliances to fight for housing, immigration, gender and environmental justice, among other struggles. These common good efforts combine strong internal organizing and relationship building with sharp analysis of the issues. Labor and community partners work together to design strategic campaigns that take on those who are driving the systemic crises our communities face. 

Reacting to the severe threats from growing authoritarianism, extremism, and cuts to critical programs and services with a defensive, protectionist stance is a recipe for disaster. We need powerful common good campaigns—and effective researcher-campaigners helping to move them—to resist the assault on our communities and design powerful campaigns going on the offense to win the world we all deserve.  

In this session, we will explore the role of researcher-campaigners at local unions engaged in common good campaigns, including how they can build relationships with allied organizations, collect and disseminate powerful information, and support the ongoing political education work necessary to move a local’s approach to campaigns from narrow workplace issues to broader, transformational demands developed in collaboration with community partners. Through breakout activities, small group discussion, and hands-on exercises, we will explore work on developing the skills necessary to effectively contribute to building common good campaigns.

Sara Myklebust is the Bargaining for the Common Good (BCG) Research Director at Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor (KI). She focuses on building strategic research and campaigning capacity for common good work at local unions and community organizations, as well as researching real estate. Previously, she worked for the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC) as their Deputy Director for Research and Education and as a Senior Lead Researcher in the Organizing Department of the AFL CIO. Sara is originally from Tucson, Arizona and has worked with the Ironworkers as a strategic researcher organizing immigrant rebar workers across the Southwest. She has experience in legislative campaigns, advocacy work and community organizing, and extensive knowledge of municipal planning and procurement processes. She earned a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin, where she focused on immigration policy. She loves backpacking with her partner Noah and discovering new recipes to cook and bake for her family and friends. You can reach Sara at sara.myklebust@georgetown.edu

Kate Diedrick is a senior strategic research associate for the Communications Workers of America (CWA), where she provides organizing, bargaining, and political campaign support for public, healthcare, and education workers around the country. Kate has spent over a decade organizing and campaigning in the labor movement; she cut her teeth in 2012 as an organizer-in-training with SEIU. Kate joined CWA in 2018 to work on a team of organizers and campaigners supporting public higher education workers building United Campus Worker (UCW) unions in Southern states that lack public sector bargaining frameworks. UCW-CWA members frequently wage common good campaigns over issues such as student debt, housing, and the right to teach and learn the truth. Kate lives, works, and parents in Atlanta, GA, where she has provided research support for housing and racial justice campaigns. You can reach Kate at kdiedrick@cwa-union.org

Aly Panjwani is a Senior Researcher at the AFL-CIO’s Center for Transformational Organizing, supporting multi-union labor-community organizing campaigns across the South. His work includes strategic research and campaign support for workers and the communities they belong to who are organizing together to grow union density, invest in our public services, and take on corporate power. Previously, Aly worked with organizations like the Action Center on Race & the Economy to take on tech corporations to win improved working conditions for app workers, divest from policing and militarism, and end contracts that fuel immigration detention and deportation. In addition to his day job, Aly organizes locally in New York City and is part of a street theatre group that works across the city to make art for political education and direct actions. You can reach Aly at apanjwani@aflcio.org.