Mindy Isser

Mindy Isser

Mindy Isser is a Philadelphia activist. Partner of Ben Carroll.

Background

I’m a labor organizer born and raised in Philadelphia, although I have also spent time organizing workers in the right to work south. While having followed and supported worker struggles for many years prior, I got my start in the labor movement as an organizer on the Fight for 15 in 2013. During the two years I worked on the campaign, I took hundreds of low wage workers out on strike; engaged workers in boss fights around health and safety, sexual harassment, wage theft, and other issues on the job; built a city-wide organizing committee; and developed political and organizational leadership from among the rank and file. I then went on to help organize the first faculty union at a private university in the south at Duke in 2016. Following this historic victory, I organized grad workers at Duke whose election was indeterminate, but who have since built a strong minority union on campus and who are active in the broader labor movement in Durham and across the state. I then worked to organize home care workers in Philadelphia, before landing in my current role as a digital strategist and organizer with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, where I help find and engage domestic workers online, and move them to take in person action. Outside of my paid work, I am active in Philly DSA’s Labor Branch and Labor for Bernie, along with Dignity, a new worker solidarity center run by Philly Socialists, and I organized the vast majority of community support for the UAW strike at a GM plant outside of Philly.

Structure of DSLC

The Democratic Socialist Labor Commission is headed by a twelve-person elected Steering Committee. 2020 Members of the current Steering Committee are:

• Damiana Dendy, Metro DC DSA
• Daniel Dominguez, Los Angeles DSA
• Jake Douglas, Denver DSA
• Anthony Downing, Lehigh Valley DSA
• Michael Ifeoma Esealuka, New Orleans DSA
• Laura Gabby, NYC DSA
• Rebecca Garelli, Phoenix DSA
• Mindy Isser, Philly DSA
• JP Kaderbek, Chicago DSA
• Peter Olney, San Francisco DSA
• Zachary Pattin, Tacoma DSA
• Ashley Payne, East Bay DSA

Toward Workers Power Slate

In 2020 Alec Desbordes, Mindy Isser, Daniel Dominguez, Michael Ifeoma Esealuka, Dennis Prater, Dario Sulzman, Emmanuel Segura ran on the Toward Workers Power Slate for Democratic Socialist Labor Commission.

Socialist Majority Caucus Labor picks

DSA Socialist Majority Caucus February 8 2020

Voting for the Democratic Socialist Labor Commission (DSLC) began Thursday! We recommend voting for Zack Pattin #1 on your ranked-choice ballot along w/ the following candidates who also polled over 60% from our members:

• Zack Pattin
• Mindy Isser
• Emmanuel Segura
• Michael Ifeoma Esealuka
• Dennis Prater
• Daniel Dominguez

215 People’s Alliance

In 2017 Mindy Isser was in the 215 People’s Alliance.

Backing Larry Krasner

Mindy Isser November 5, 2017 ·

if you have even an hour to spare today (between 10 am and 7 pm), come to my house in point breeze to canvass for Larry Krasner for DA.

i will give you: a quick training, a turf packet, and a beer/glass of iced tea when you return.

there is so much possibility in this campaign and i really believe it’s important that we not just win, but win by a landslide.

215 People’s Alliance

215 People’s Alliance May 16, 2015:

3 DAYS LEFT. Mindy Isser, Labor Organizer:

"I am going to #VoteJustice because all working people in this city need a voice and folks who will stand with them in their fight for better workplaces. Whether they're fast food workers, airport workers, home health aides, teachers, or anyone else, all workers deserve enough money to survive, a fair contract, and dignity in the workplace."

Point Breeze Organizing Committee

Mindy Isser and Gary Broderick are core founders of the Point Breeze Organizing Committee, an anti-gentrification group in Philadelphia.

"We Demand Access to the Durham Jail! Rally & Press Conference"

Thursday 10 December 2015, Zaina Alsous organized a "We Demand Access to the Durham Jail! Rally & Press Conference " outside the Durham County Jail.

Join us as we announce our newly formed Jail Investigation Team and our plans to hold the Durham County Jail accountable.

Since November 2012, Inside-Outside Alliance, a Durham based organization that organizes against the prison system, has published letters from inmates and their families detailing the inhumane conditions many experience at the Durham County Detention Facility.

Those indicating their intention to attend on Wherevent included Jillian Johnson, Cat Crowe, Maiz Criollo, Alex Biggers, Mitch Xia, Sendolo Diaminah, Mindy Isser, Sarah Pederson, Eli Meyerhoff, Liz Rose, Molly Hastings, Alice Sievers, Justine Lam, Elisa Benitez, Nikhil Umesh, Patricia Bass, Phillip Marschall, Matt Whitt, Xander Collins, Leah Block, Joe Stapleton, Holden Cession, James Cersonsky, D’atra Jackson, Arbor Quist, Stanley Yuan, Blanche Amelia S. Brown, Michael Becker, Sydney Roberts, Archer Wang, Eli Viszk, Danielle Roachie, Amy Godfrey, Ryan Stokes, Michael Dennis, Gregory Williams, Jade Brooks, Jojo Moto, Abby Hylton, Chanelle Croxton, David Theurer, Ben Carroll, Dante Strobino, Destiny Hemphill, Shilpi Misra, Nikki Mintz, Heeva Kadivar, Sandra Korn, Naomi Baumann.

"Durham Beyond Policing Town Hall"

1104 Broad St, Durham, Tuesday 9 February 2016 "Durham Beyond Policing Town Hall" organized by Jade Brooks.

We are calling all freedom-fighters, all justice-lovers, all truth-tellers, all who can't wait to please join Southerners On New Ground and the #SayHerName crew for a community forum and visioning session. Let's speak our truths and sow the seeds of a new way forward for all our people, with those most impacted, most criminalized, at the center: black and brown people, queer, trans and gender non-conforming folks, working class and poor people, undocumented people ... Let's dream and scheme together and find out ways to throw down for campaigns and direct action that holds the cops accountable

Those indicating attendance on Wherevent included Jillian Johnson, Dante Strobino, James Cersonsky, Nikhil Umesh, Ben Wilkins, Jade Brooks, Marcus R. Bass, Joe Stapleton, Kristen Cox, Hannah Spector, Jose Romero, Nancy Caamano, China Medel, Scott Michael, Alex Biggers, Destiny Hemphill, Cat Crowe, Monique Laborde, Tobi Lippin, Amy Wang, Mitch Xia, Xander Stewart, Smiley Boyd, Mina Ezikpe, Ethan Tyler, Jess Dilday, Jonathan Henderson, Alex Chassanoff, Jacky Chan, Margaret A. Brunson, Alissa Ellis, Magdalene Slerlisk, Saba Taj, Le'Andre Demond Blakeney, Doneatha Green, Kaylan Baxter, Destiny Hemphill, D’atra Jackson, Amy Glaser, Eliza Meredith, Gregory Williams, Victoria Bouloubasis, Umar Salute Muhammad, Patricia Bass, Gen Na, Regan Downey Buchanan, Chanelle Croxton, Ben Carroll, Patrick Snipes, Jess Issacharoff, Mariah Monsanto, Alex Biggers, Jojo Moto, Zachary Faircloth, Sarah Pederson, Stef Bernal-Martinez, Bro Beasley, Ben Wilkins, Jessica Pierce, Isa Bee, Jessica Jude, Tony Hood, Mindy Isser, Rachel Alexis Storer, Moses Ochola, Ade Oh, Lisa Sorg, Blanche Amelia S. Brown, Shilpi Misra, Scott Michael, Afi Apefa Bello, Mary Alta, Anastasia Karklina, Lizzie Lindsey, Holly Hardin, Matilda Wormwood, Eli Viszk, Wutang McDougal, Andrew Heil, Fern Hickey, Philip Marschall, Catherine Berman, Bex Kolins, Jen Przewoznik, Equashia Mumin, Eva Panjwani, India Pierce, Sandra Korn, Risa Foster, Ngọc Loan Tran, Eli Meyerhoff, Shanna Ochola, Serena Sebring, Ajamu Dillahunt, Jr., Nagwa Nukuna, Jina Valentine.

Generation Left

February 12-14, 2016, in New York. The Young Democratic Socialists conference, “Generation Left: Millennials Building the Next Socialist Movement,” will be held at the Mayday Community Space, 176 St. Nicholas Avenue, Brooklyn.

Fighting the Neoliberal University

• Dustin Guastella, Greater Philadelphia Democratic Socialists of America
• Mindy Isser, Fight for Fifteen and Service Employees International Union
• Jason Schulman, New York City Democratic Socialists of America/ or Adam Goldman
• Jared Abbott, Boston Democratic Socialists of America - Moderator

DSA-JSC in Solidarity with Ilhan Omar

Jewish Solidarity Caucus 2019, Feb 14 2019.

As Jews on the left, we are in solidarity with Representative Ilhan Omar and her statements regarding the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) influence over US lawmakers and foreign policy.

Signatories of the letter included Mindy Isser.

Local Progress

On the Tuesday of the Democratic national Convention, 2016, a small group of elected officials from around the country gathered at the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia. The meeting was hosted by four leadership organizations, including Local Progress, a coalition of local officials organized around pushing progressive legislation at the local level. The theme of the morning was Local Progress' organizing principle: Regardless of what goes on at the federal level, municipalities have tremendous power to make meaningful change.

"All politics really is local," Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison told the group, that the Bernie protesters making their presence known this week, Ellison argued, should not be seen as a problem by members of the Democratic Party. "They're actually helping us," he argued. "The change that they are demanding and giving energy to, you can give voice to."

Christian Bowe, a member of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), says that in his home state of New Jersey, the battle for raising the minimum wage for fast food workers has been undeniably influenced by Sanders' campaign. "

Mindy Isser, an organizer born and raised in Philadelphia, also spoke about the importance of labor organizing in the wake of the Democratic primary. "To build off the Sanders campaign, to build off the movement that we've been seeing everywhere, we need our unions to be more left-wing and we need rank-and-file members to be politicized," says Isser. She works on campaigns around public education and housing, and while she thinks that a progressive councilmember like Philadelphia's Helen Gym is a positive development for the city's politics, it's not nearly enough. She speaks of the importance of not only running more left-leaning candidates, but also "moving powerful people more left" after they take office.

"It's good to be skeptical of local elected officials," says Joe Dinkin, the national communications director for the Working Families Party. "That's the only way we can hold them accountable."

"Holding elected office is not the only way to make justice," Representative Ellison reminded the crowd at Local Progress. "Martin Luther King, Jr. never held office. My man Van Jones never held public office. It's not the only way to make change. But we know that it's a way to make change." As progressives move forward from the DNC, it's a good reminder that, often, the work taking place wholly outside of the convention hall has the greatest power to make change on the ground.

Revolutionary Strategies to Beat the Rising Right Wing

Revolutionary Strategies to Beat the Rising Right Wing, was a nationwide conference call organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Sunday October 30, 2016.

What's the nature of this right-wing threat? What has this election cycle changed about the political terrain we're fighting on? How do we need to prepare for whats coming after the election? Hear about these crucial questions from our panel of top political strategists, including Nelini Stamp, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Linda Burnham, and Sendolo Diaminah.

Those invited, on Facebook included Mindy Isser.