As delegates to the 2013 AFL-CIO Convention began arriving in Los Angeles, several dozen young union activists gathered Saturday afternoon for the "Hunt for Justice: Young Workers' Solidarity Action" outside the LA Convention Center where things will officially kick off on Sunday. Wearing t-shirts reading "Kicking Ass for the Working Class," "Young Union Activist" and "OPEIU Rising Tide," the fired-up young activists grabbed signs and bottles of water before piling into the bus for the ride to South LA. "We're supporting LA carwash workers trying to get back to work after a new owner took over," OPEIU Local 2 member Christopher Levy told Union City. "This is just part of a day of actions by young workers at the Convention. There's been a lot of progress with young workers in the last few years and we're trying to build on that and try and get young people more involved with what's going on in the world today. To keep pushing for workers rights and help get decent workers' rights.  The great thing about events like this is getting people fired up and then figuring out how to bring it home and get more people involved locally." Tahir Duckett, the AFL-CIO's National Young Worker Coordinator, added that "Young workers know how important it is to stand in solidarity with workers, union and non-union alike. We're honored to be able to stand in solidarity today with the carwasheros here in South LA. We're also going to get to learn about cool organizing work being done by the St John's Well-Child Clinic mobile center around organizing, workers' rights and health care. This is a really exciting convention because the labor movement is putting a lot of attention on organizing the next generation of workers, recognizing how important it is to develop and engage those workers.  This is just the start; the hard work comes after the convention. We're going to have to make a lot of adjustments, to listen, it's not just going to be business as usual. The AFL-CIO leadership gets that, and they've made some serious commitments to build on what we've accomplished so far." 

- report/photos by Chris Garlock