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Powering · Labor Education

THE SOUTH GOT SOMETHING TO SAYTake the Pledge
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USSW logo
SEIU Affiliate
Fight for $15
Multi-state · Southern US

Union of Southern Service Workers

Built by and for low-wage Black & brown service workers across the South. By any means necessary.

Organize the South
Join the Movement Text Alert Network Sign Waffle House Demands
Why We're Building This Union
From the workers themselves

“Union of Southern Service Workers is building worker power. We are workers coming together across the service industry because this fight is so much bigger than any one employer.”

Throughout history, workers in the South — especially Black and brown workers — have been excluded from the right to form a union. That history of exclusion continues today with low-wage service workers. For most, it is almost impossible or completely impossible to form a union through the existing rules.

USSW is building a union anyway. By any means necessary. In a way that makes sense for Southern workers.

Transform Bad Jobs into Good Union Jobs
Living wages, benefits, safety, voice.
Shift the Balance of Power in the South
Worker power. Community power. Political power.
Collective Action, Long Haul
No solution but workers uniting.
Where USSW Workers Are Fighting
The South — region-wide, multi-state, multi-employer.
North CarolinaSouth CarolinaGeorgiaFloridaTennesseeAlabamaMississippiLouisiana
Meet Ieisha Franeis
USSW founding leader · North Carolina service worker · organizer of the Memphis & Mid-South partnership

Ieisha Franeis is a North Carolina service worker who organized at Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers in Durham and helped lead walkouts that won pay raises, paid leave during quarantine, and sanitation improvements for her co-workers. She was among the founding leaders who launched the Union of Southern Service Workers in November 2022.

Ieisha has been the direct point of contact between USSW and Labor Education / the Memphis & West TN CLC. Her work bridges decades of Southern service-worker organizing — from Fight for $15 walkouts to USSW's present-day campaigns at Waffle House, Freddy's, dollar stores, and across the region.

Memphis service workers ready to connect with USSW — the Connect Me with USSW button on this page sends your info to the same organizing pipeline Ieisha and her team run.

Read Facing South coverage ·Read News & Observer op-ed
USSW Workers & Movement Photos
Real workers, real fights — images from USSW / Raise Up the South campaigns across the Southern service economy.
USSW workers march for Unions for All across the South.
USSW workers march for Unions for All across the South.
USSW · Raise Up the South
"Mama Cookie" — Southern service worker, USSW leader.
"Mama Cookie" — Southern service worker, USSW leader.
USSW · Raise Up the South
Workers Demand Justice — Waffle House campaign visual.
Workers Demand Justice — Waffle House campaign visual.
USSW Waffle House Campaign
Tara Thompson — USSW leader on the picket line.
Tara Thompson — USSW leader on the picket line.
USSW · Raise Up the South
Devine Evans — Southern service worker organizing for dignity.
Devine Evans — Southern service worker organizing for dignity.
USSW · Raise Up the South
McDonald's workers and Fight for $15 — the campaign that built USSW.
McDonald's workers and Fight for $15 — the campaign that built USSW.
USSW · Fight for $15

Photos hosted by USSW. Credit: Raise Up the South / USSW. Tap any image to view full size.

Memphis & Mid-South Workers — Connect with USSW
Service worker in the South? Drop your info and the USSW organizing team will reach out.

This is a hand-off form, not a paper card. Your info goes to USSW's Southern organizing team. You can also go straight to USSW's official channels above.

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Created by Kevin Bradshaw