Exclusive: Texas Labor Leader Derrick Osobase Says “Working Class People Are Fed Up” as Unions Target 2 Million Black, Latino and Swing Voters
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico and gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa are making a new promise to Texas workers as organized labor prepares an ambitious effort to reach more than 2 million working-class voters ahead of November.
This week, Talarico and Hinojosa signed the “Contract with Working Class Texans,” an economic agenda developed through conversations, surveys and organizing efforts involving workers across the state.
The contract focuses on raising wages, lowering everyday costs, strengthening workers’ rights and confronting political corruption — issues labor leaders say repeatedly surfaced while speaking with Texans frustrated by stagnant pay and the rising costs of housing, groceries, utilities and other necessities.
But organizers say the effort is about more than getting candidates to put their names on another campaign document.
The Texas AFL-CIO and participating unions plan to use the contract to evaluate candidates and organize voters, including Texans who do not belong to unions.
Workers Tell Politicians What They Want
Derrick Osobase, vice president of Communications Workers of America District 6, said the idea grew partly from what unions were seeing within their own memberships.
Even with negotiated contracts, workers have increasingly struggled to secure wages that keep pace with inflation while also containing health care costs, he said.
“We’re just talking about daily, you know, what you need in order to survive,” Osobase said. “And it started to become harder and harder contract after contract to hold our ground.” He said union members were experiencing many of the same financial pressures affecting workers throughout Texas.
“We’ve always seen the union as a microcosm of what is happening out in society in general,” he said. “And we are seeing workers in Texas specifically continuing to lose ground.”
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Participating unions surveyed thousands of members before taking the effort directly into Texas communities. Since July, organizers have knocked on more than 100,000 doors, asking working Texans which economic issues are making it harder for their families to get by.
The contract was formulated from those surveys, door knocks and conversations with workers across the state. From those conversations concerns about affordability as well as whether wealthy donors and corporations have greater access to elected officials than ordinary workers.
“This contract manifests itself not just only out of the union, but also an acknowledgment that everyday working-class Texans are struggling,” he said.
A Signature — But What Happens After Election Day?
While Talarico and Hinojosa have signed their names to the contract, the agenda was designed to withstand so its future does not depend on either candidate winning in November.
“The beauty of the contract is that it’s not wedded to an individual politician,” Osobase said.
Instead, organizers are attempting to build a broader coalition of working-class Texans around an economic agenda that can be presented to candidates and elected officials from either party.
“This doesn’t stop with an election of either James or Gina,” he said. “It will continue to expand.”
Organizers plan to continue pressing the priorities contained in the contract at the Texas Legislature and federal level regardless of who holds office.
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“This is an agenda by workers, not an agenda for electing one individual,” he said.
That distinction, he argued, is central to the effort.
“It is not an agenda made by a politician,” Osobase said. “It is an agenda that has been collected and filtered through the lens of working-class Texans.” The ultimate goal, he said, is to connect workers across Texas around a common set of demands that can be pursued “whoever’s in power.”
Beyond Union Households
Although organized labor is leading the campaign, the economic pressures behind the contract extend well beyond union households.
The decision to knock on doors outside union memberships was intentional because organizers increasingly saw the struggles facing their members as part of a broader problem affecting working families across Texas.
That means the campaign is aimed at workers regardless of whether they belong to a union.
Organizers say they ultimately plan to reach more than 2 million working-class Texans, including Black, Latino and swing voters who could help shape closely watched statewide races.
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Both Hinojosa and Talarico have recently campaigned in San Antonio and sought to broaden their coalitions among working-class and minority voters, though organizers say the contract itself is not tied to any one candidate or constituency.
The larger goal, Osobase said, is to unite workers around a common economic agenda rather than build the effort around one politician or election.
“We are saying these are the demands that we have for Republicans and Democrats alike,” he said.
The effort comes as workers continue to confront rising costs and question whether elected leaders from either party are adequately addressing wages, affordability and economic security.
For organizers, the contract’s staying power will ultimately depend less on the candidates who signed it than on whether workers continue organizing around it after the election.
“Working-class people are fed up. Texans are fed up,” Osobase said. “We have a document that is expressing our will and demands, and we’re going to hold all politicians to it.”
