Working Groups

Working groups are tied to our priorities, initiatives and causes.

The Electoral Working Group is where Triangle DSA's electoral strategy, determined by the whole chapter, is implemented. Our fighting electoral organizers win strategic issue campaigns, organize to elect chapter-endorsed municipal socialists such as Danny Nowell in Carrboro and Nate Baker in Durham, stay informed on local politics, and are always looking towards our next campaign.

After successfully leading a campaign to resume progress on the long-stalled Bolin Creek Greenway against entrenched wealthy interests in Carrboro and electing Nate Baker to Durham City Council last year, the Electoral Working Group is leading Triangle DSA's involvement in two chapter-endorsed campaigns this summer: chapter member and Raleigh planning commissioner Reeves Peeler's bid for an at-large City Council seat, and a broad coalition in Durham organizing to win a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes agreement from Duke.

Members of all levels of experience, from completely new to seasoned organizers, who are interested in our electoral work are encouraged to get involved.

The Internacional Working Group organizes local support for international struggles for liberation, and it prioritizes organizing alongside communities impacted by the administration of US empire. Its work includes political education events on topics such as western misunderstandings of North Korea and actions around feminism in Venezuela.

Internacional has always been in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation movement for Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS). Over the past year, the working group has helped the chapter come into coalition with other organizations to stand in solidarity with Palestine during the ongoing genocide in Gaza. This has led to local victories such as Durham’s historic ceasefire resolution.

Internacional has also launched a local version of the No Appetite for Apartheid campaign, a national effort to pressure businesses not to sell Israeli products.

The Labor Working Group fights to support workers and improve working conditions. In the past year, chapter members have engaged in a record amount of direct action related to labor solidarity and workers’ strikes. These campaigns have brought the chapter into coalition with unions and movements such as the UPS Teamsters, Carolina Amazonians for Solidarity and Empowerment (CAUSE), and Starbucks Workers United (SBWU). Working group members have also supported Durham Workers Assembly, Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW), Union of Automobile Workers (UAW), and others.

The working group’s ongoing efforts have allowed members to gain valuable skills and learn more about union power, organizing, and fundraising. Recently, our Labor Working Group launched a local Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee to assist North Carolinian workers organizing their shops independently and autonomously across the Triangle.

The Queer and Trans Solidarity (QTS) Working Group has multiple goals. It organizes against anti-queer & trans rhetoric on school boards and conducts outreach to queer and trans students, teachers, and other school staff. It also develops legal and financial resources to help trans folks with name changes, and it played a large part in ensuring that a Name Change Fund was included in Durham’s proposed budget for 2024.

Community outreach is integral to the QTS’s organizing, and the working group has connected to the triangle through events such as Trans Day of Joy and Gender-Affirming Clothing Swaps.

Along with the Socialist Feminist Working Group, QTS is especially committed to the chapter’s Priority Campaign for Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy, which takes a stand for reproductive justice and LGBTQIA+ communities by challenging the state government through civil non-compliance.

The Raleigh Ecosocialist Working Group seeks to bring an end to extractive imperialist capitalism while constructing systems that build sustainability, labor power, and racial justice. Through political education, the working group seeks to spread ecosocialist principles throughout the Triangle, raise awareness of local environmental degradation, and learn and educate about international ecological justice issues.

Through committed organizing efforts, the working group fights to improve public transit in the triangle, hold leaders and land developers accountable for their impacts on the environment, and support the creation of public power initiatives in the Triangle. The working group is currently engaged in the Stop RDU Quarry Campaign, a large organizing effort to defend Umstead State Park against a proposed quarry expansion that threatens to further privatize and destroy our public forest!

The Socialist Feminist (“SocFem”) Working Group envisions a world in which the values of reproductive justice and bodily autonomy are respected and all individuals are treated with the dignity they deserve. Reproductive justice cannot truly be achieved unless the material needs of all people are met, bridging the working group's efforts with the fights for labor rights, adequate housing, free and accessible healthcare, and so on.

The SocFem Working Group aims to build the power of the working class to defend and expand access to reproductive health care. Previous examples of this work include organizing rallies in response to the overturn of Roe v. Wade, picketing anti-abortion centers (commonly known as “crisis pregnancy centers”), and leading teach-ins on abortion care and bodily autonomy for trans people.

Along with the Queer Trans Solidarity Working Group, SocFem is especially committed to the chapter’s Priority Campaign for Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy, which takes a stand for reproductive justice and LGBTQIA+ communities by challenging the state government through civil non-compliance.