It was probably the most significant labor action in this country in 50 years. And the most underappreciated.
On May Day 2006 as many as 10 million people engaged in a one-day general strike, demanding basic democratic rights for immigrant workers.
Despite a lot of weasel-wording, this was a general strike. That is, it involved workers from different employers, all withholding their labor, to achieve political goals. Class against class. A fundamental recognition that laws are made and enforced by the employing class and that workers’ power comes from our ability to withhold our labor at the point of production. And on International Workers Day, no less.
Immigrants have an advantage of sorts over their U.S.-born counterparts. They usually come from places where workers are more class conscious and the logic of a general strike more obvious. They haven’t endured generations of class collaboration and lesser-evilist politics that has dumbed down their U.S. brothers and sisters—ironically, here in the land where May Day was born in a general strike.
The fact that this and subsequent immigrant worker rights events were organized almost entirely outside of the structure of the AFL-CIO/CtW tells the story. Sure, labor officials were asked to speak to the crowd (usually in English) and here in Madison the rally of maybe 20,000 included a handful of unionists. But they were mostly paid staffers, a few retirees and a host of radicals. No one from an AFL-CIO/CtW union in Madison was expected to give up a day’s pay.
Now, consider the potential.
What if the AFL-CIO/CtW had seized this opportunity to unionize this active mass of “unorganized” immigrant workers? Drop everything and hire and train 10,000 bilingual organizers?
Each side has much to bring to such a campaign. The unions could put up resources and provide political cover for the immigrant workers. A huge influx of immigrant workers could reverse the 54-year decline in private sector unionism in this country and bring a fresh sense of consciousness and militancy to the largely moribund U.S. unions.
Here was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
But it didn’t happen. And there are no visible signs that it will happen anytime soon.
Essay Question: What can be done, nationally and locally, to unite the U.S. labor and immigrant workers movements?
Extra Credit: Would this even be a good idea?
PS, there are links to articles about union support for immigrant workers in the Links to Recent Labor Stories section below.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
How to Win Strikes--Part 2
By Harry DeBoer
Harry DeBoer was a leader of the 1934 Minneapolis General Strike and he spent the next 60 years of his life teaching and agitating for militant unionism. This is the first of two parts of a pamphlet he wrote in 1984. In the first installment, DeBoer made the case that “nothing has fundamentally changed in the relationship between employer and employee” since the great class battles that built the CIO. In Part 2 he shows how union leaders can activate and mobilize members to fight and win strikes and, in so doing, to rebuild a militant mass working class movement in this country.
Leaders Can Make a Difference
Some union leaders content that we cannot turn out masses of workers these days. The workers are too passive, such leaders say. But that is not so. There have been a number of major strikes in the United States in recent years where thousands of workers and their supporters have marched and rallied outside their plants. It’s a reflection of the new militancy we see developing. Unfortunately, though it is clear in some cases that workers are prepared to take action, the leadership in some strikes stop short of closing down the plant. The scabs keep going to work and the strike is lost. The leadership must take a fundamental step: Organize mass picketing and prevent scabs from entering the workplace.
“How do you get thousands of workers out on the street to take such action?” you might ask. It’s a good question.
First, it requires leadership willing to take such steps. If you don’t’ have fighters for leaders in your union, then you are going to have to elect new leaders. You need to put up slates of candidates who believe in union democracy and are willing to take on the employers.
Second, you must develop a comprehensive strategy. No pamphlet can spell out all the problems and all the solutions to win a labor struggle. I can only lay out a method. However, there are some key factors to any comprehensive plan.
Successful strikes require the participation and support of the entire labor movement. Building that kind of broad-based support can actually prevent strikes. If the employer thinks that he is going to have to take on the whole labor movement of a city or state, he may think long and hard before forcing the workers out on strike. Local union leaders should approach city and state labor officials, explain what the bosses are trying to do to their union, and seek the support of these officials. Ask them to help and give them full credit when they do.
Think big. Hold one or more mass rallies before the strike deadline with prominent labor speakers, using well-made leaflets and posters. Invite all the labor unions, not just your own. Be conscious of all aspects. Be sure that women and minorities play a big role. In some of our labor organizations in the 1930s, we sent organizers in among the unemployed and organized them as unemployed contingents of our union to join us on the picket lines. That should be done today. If the unemployed are organized on our side, it is far harder for the boss to use them as scabs. And they are the group employers approach first to break strikes.
Placing big ads where possible in commercial and labor press to explain the union’s case and list the unions that support you. Send representatives from your union to meetings of other unions to explain what you are fighting for. Get top labor leaders to write letters to all unions in the state, spelling out the issues, and ask them to endorse the rally, to send members to the rally, and to join picket lines if a strike occurs. Think big. Then think bigger.
Have workers throughout your plant and city wear buttons with slogans of support. See that articles about the issues are placed in the labor press and other news media. Hold news conferences with prominent labor people backing you up. Present union members to the public who are examples of workers who can barely make ends meet on the wages they are paid.
A strike should be well organized and the 1934 Minneapolis strike is a classic case. A book, Teamster Rebellion by Farrell Dobbs, gives the full story, and I highly recommend it to you. [Teamster Rebellion is available from Rainbow Bookstore in Madison.]
We had a commissary to feed strikers and their families. We served hot meals daily with food donated by sympathetic farmers and grocers. This became a way of sustaining the strikers as well as a means of deepening solidarity among workers.
The strike committee had a doctor and nurses on hand at the strike headquarters for workers who might be injured in the picketing. This proved extremely valuable.
For the first time anywhere in the country, we put out a daily strike newspaper. It was called The Organizer. During the strike you can frequently count on the editors of the pro-business media to try and distort the issues. You need your own publication to explain the issues and get out the truth about the strike. A daily strike newspaper can be a means to rally the strikers and their supporters and educate the public, winning new allies to the strikers’ side.
All kinds of solidarity efforts will be necessary. You will want to approach other local unions, women’s groups and community organizations. The object is to isolate the employer until the mass public pressure forces him to back down.
Indeed, the greater the planning before the strike and the more solidarity you have from the rest of the labor movement, the less likely there will be a strike. The company may see that you are prepared and see the array of forces on your side and will be less inclined to take the union on.
There also needs to be special concern for the welfare of the workers facing the most sever financial plight. A welfare committee should prepare to meet with bill collectors or mortgage companies to forestall any problems. Workers should be reassured on these issues. Looking after the neediest workers becomes a top priority in a strike. I have seen walkouts where militants neglected those workers who then tried to go through the picket lines. What a tragedy! Such people would become the stoutest defenders of the union if the union took the time to be concerned about them. And that is the union’s job.
How We Can Activate Our Union
“How can we activate our union?” you may ask. “Many of our members don’t even attend union meetings. All these ideas are great but our members won’t participate.”
I believe the backbone of any union should be union democracy. The more democratic the union, the stronger it is. Frequently, members don’t attend meetings because, when they do, it seems that all the decisions have already been made. Meetings must be opened up and made more democratic. All major decisions of the union should be made only after a discussion and vote of the membership. If you have undemocratic leaders, you must vote them out and elect democratic ones. Leaders who are fighters with a commitment to union democracy will attract increased activism from the rank-and-file. Union leaders should discuss their strategy openly with the membership. Rank-and-filers should be encouraged to take on major responsibilities in a comprehensive strategy. Discuss, plan and vote! As you find your union becomes more democratic, you will find many of your members wanting to participate in the decisions that affect their lives.
In Teamsters Local 574 we had elected stewards that represented members in the various shops. We had an elected grievance board that met twice a month and listened to any worker who had a potential grievance. We had an elected negotiating committee. And in the 1934 truck divers strike in Minneapolis, we had an elected Committee of 100. This committee was a sounding board that met between regular union meetings. Proposals by the leadership during the strike were first brought to the Committee of 100. The committee sifted through the proposals and reached decisions and carried those decisions back to the mass of workers. This democratic process strengthened the strike and kept the leadership in touch with what the membership wanted.
Some union leaders disagree with this open style of democracy. During a strike or negotiations, they argue for utmost secrecy. Often, I’ve found that such secrecy is really a ploy to make an unsatisfactory compromise behind the backs of the workers. Every settlement involves compromise. But the decisions of the union must be made by the membership. The demands should be voted on by the membership. The members should determine when a demand is removed by the union from the bargaining table. The more democratic the union, the more involved the workers will become in the union. The less democratic the union, the less enthusiasm the members will have in the leadership when the employer forces the union into a showdown.
Shutting it Down
There are various ways to shut down a business and this pamphlet can’t begin to address all of them. But here are some key methods.
Mass Picketing. This should be part of all strikes. By your very numbers you can prevent he plant from operating
Sit-down outside the plant. Sometimes to overcome the presence of large numbers of police or National Guard, the best tactic might be to set several thousand people down in front of the key doors or gates. They may haul you away in mass arrests. The union bails you out and you sit down again.
Sit-down inside the plant. Sit down strikes, a tactic used in the 1930s, ought to be considered a viable strike method today. It’s much harder for bosses to get workers out of the building, once they are sitting inside.
Fink drives. Finks are scabs and fink drives were something we used when employers used scabs to reopen plants that were on strike. We took some of our best militant workers, entered the plant and drove the finks out.
Mass marches and rallies as a way of building toward the mass picketing and other actions to shut the operation down.
Talking to Workers
Carl Skoglund, who later became president of our local, was the architect of the 1934 Minneapolis strike. He had been through many labor battles. He had a bad leg and I remember the night before the coal strike in February 1934, he put his arm on my shoulder for support as we walked back to our apartments.
“Harry,” he said to me, “a lot of workers may not understand what we are fighting for at first. We’ll need to talk to them. Explain to them what this strike is about. Give them a chance to understand. Don’t write them off before you’ve given them a chance.”
One of the first non-union drivers we stopped the next day proved Carl’s point.
We had followed a truck out of the coal yard and a few blocks away we converged on it. We explained to the driver what we were fighting for and why we were on strike. The man got angry. He told us that the boss had lied to him about what we were striking for. He jumped out of the truck and helped us dump his own load of coal on the street! That night, he went down to the union hall and joined the union. After the strike, he became a loyal union steward.
There is a lesson in this. It’s necessary to explain to workers why you are on strike. And that goes for workers who have been hired as scabs. Many times, if you talk to these workers, they will end up siding with you. If they don’t, of course, it is another story. But many times in this society, with so much anti-union propaganda, people develop hostile attitudes toward unions. Often times, explaining the issues can turn them around.
That same open-mindedness is important in dealing with your coworkers who may not at first recognize the necessity of militant action, but will come around, once they see that it works.
Organizing the Unorganized
Many of the most important battles of the future will be on behalf of the unorganized workers. New mass efforts must be made to organize these workers into unions. Unions today tend to be made up of higher paid workers and union leaders sometimes forget where their unions came from.
The same mass approach to victory on the picket line must extend to union organizing. Mass mobilizations of workers is needed for organizing drives. There should be rallies and participation of the entire membership in these drives, and efforts to get the support of the rest of the labor movement.
During contract talks, bosses sometimes try to terrorize workers into submission. Employers threaten unions that are demanding higher wages with the possibility that the company will move away and seek cheaper, non-union markets elsewhere. If the company has a trained workforce locally, it may be nothing more than a scare tactic. But the union’s response should be quick. If the boss moves his plant somewhere else, the union leaders should say, “We will send union organizers to your new location and organize them, there. If you go abroad, our international union will work to see that you are organized wherever you set up shop. Wherever you go, we will follow you. We will not allow you to exploit your workers. So you better put a reasonable package on the bargaining table, because it is not going to get any better for you elsewhere.”
A clear commitment to organizing is the best way to assure good contracts at workplaces that are organized. We had a motto in Local 574: “Every member an organizer.” Over-the-road drivers would encourage workers to unionize wherever they went throughout the Midwest. It’s a motto we should adopt today.
The more workers we have in unions, the harder it will be for the employer to find workers who can break strikes. And it will help to make the union a greater force for progress and social justice.
The union must be the champion of the underdog, the poor and the suffering. We must be concerned with single-parent families, the child who does not have enough to eat, the disabled, the victims of discrimination. We must speak out for the elderly, many of whom cannot eke out a living on their small pensions and social security.
Fighting for them, we can restore the union to greatness. Their cause becomes our cause when we stand up for decent wages and conditions for all.
This is the second part of Harry DeBoer’s classic pamphlet entitled How to Win Strikes. The first half is printed in a previous posting on this site.
How to Win Strikes is available in pamphlet form, with additional material from the International Workers League, at www.wellreduse.com.
To leave a comment on this article, or on a previous posting, hit “comments” below.
And visit www.LaborLeft.blogspot.com in two weeks when the topic is Immigrant Workers and the Union Movement.
Harry DeBoer was a leader of the 1934 Minneapolis General Strike and he spent the next 60 years of his life teaching and agitating for militant unionism. This is the first of two parts of a pamphlet he wrote in 1984. In the first installment, DeBoer made the case that “nothing has fundamentally changed in the relationship between employer and employee” since the great class battles that built the CIO. In Part 2 he shows how union leaders can activate and mobilize members to fight and win strikes and, in so doing, to rebuild a militant mass working class movement in this country.
Leaders Can Make a Difference
Some union leaders content that we cannot turn out masses of workers these days. The workers are too passive, such leaders say. But that is not so. There have been a number of major strikes in the United States in recent years where thousands of workers and their supporters have marched and rallied outside their plants. It’s a reflection of the new militancy we see developing. Unfortunately, though it is clear in some cases that workers are prepared to take action, the leadership in some strikes stop short of closing down the plant. The scabs keep going to work and the strike is lost. The leadership must take a fundamental step: Organize mass picketing and prevent scabs from entering the workplace.
“How do you get thousands of workers out on the street to take such action?” you might ask. It’s a good question.
First, it requires leadership willing to take such steps. If you don’t’ have fighters for leaders in your union, then you are going to have to elect new leaders. You need to put up slates of candidates who believe in union democracy and are willing to take on the employers.
Second, you must develop a comprehensive strategy. No pamphlet can spell out all the problems and all the solutions to win a labor struggle. I can only lay out a method. However, there are some key factors to any comprehensive plan.
Successful strikes require the participation and support of the entire labor movement. Building that kind of broad-based support can actually prevent strikes. If the employer thinks that he is going to have to take on the whole labor movement of a city or state, he may think long and hard before forcing the workers out on strike. Local union leaders should approach city and state labor officials, explain what the bosses are trying to do to their union, and seek the support of these officials. Ask them to help and give them full credit when they do.
Think big. Hold one or more mass rallies before the strike deadline with prominent labor speakers, using well-made leaflets and posters. Invite all the labor unions, not just your own. Be conscious of all aspects. Be sure that women and minorities play a big role. In some of our labor organizations in the 1930s, we sent organizers in among the unemployed and organized them as unemployed contingents of our union to join us on the picket lines. That should be done today. If the unemployed are organized on our side, it is far harder for the boss to use them as scabs. And they are the group employers approach first to break strikes.
Placing big ads where possible in commercial and labor press to explain the union’s case and list the unions that support you. Send representatives from your union to meetings of other unions to explain what you are fighting for. Get top labor leaders to write letters to all unions in the state, spelling out the issues, and ask them to endorse the rally, to send members to the rally, and to join picket lines if a strike occurs. Think big. Then think bigger.
Have workers throughout your plant and city wear buttons with slogans of support. See that articles about the issues are placed in the labor press and other news media. Hold news conferences with prominent labor people backing you up. Present union members to the public who are examples of workers who can barely make ends meet on the wages they are paid.
A strike should be well organized and the 1934 Minneapolis strike is a classic case. A book, Teamster Rebellion by Farrell Dobbs, gives the full story, and I highly recommend it to you. [Teamster Rebellion is available from Rainbow Bookstore in Madison.]
We had a commissary to feed strikers and their families. We served hot meals daily with food donated by sympathetic farmers and grocers. This became a way of sustaining the strikers as well as a means of deepening solidarity among workers.
The strike committee had a doctor and nurses on hand at the strike headquarters for workers who might be injured in the picketing. This proved extremely valuable.
For the first time anywhere in the country, we put out a daily strike newspaper. It was called The Organizer. During the strike you can frequently count on the editors of the pro-business media to try and distort the issues. You need your own publication to explain the issues and get out the truth about the strike. A daily strike newspaper can be a means to rally the strikers and their supporters and educate the public, winning new allies to the strikers’ side.
All kinds of solidarity efforts will be necessary. You will want to approach other local unions, women’s groups and community organizations. The object is to isolate the employer until the mass public pressure forces him to back down.
Indeed, the greater the planning before the strike and the more solidarity you have from the rest of the labor movement, the less likely there will be a strike. The company may see that you are prepared and see the array of forces on your side and will be less inclined to take the union on.
There also needs to be special concern for the welfare of the workers facing the most sever financial plight. A welfare committee should prepare to meet with bill collectors or mortgage companies to forestall any problems. Workers should be reassured on these issues. Looking after the neediest workers becomes a top priority in a strike. I have seen walkouts where militants neglected those workers who then tried to go through the picket lines. What a tragedy! Such people would become the stoutest defenders of the union if the union took the time to be concerned about them. And that is the union’s job.
How We Can Activate Our Union
“How can we activate our union?” you may ask. “Many of our members don’t even attend union meetings. All these ideas are great but our members won’t participate.”
I believe the backbone of any union should be union democracy. The more democratic the union, the stronger it is. Frequently, members don’t attend meetings because, when they do, it seems that all the decisions have already been made. Meetings must be opened up and made more democratic. All major decisions of the union should be made only after a discussion and vote of the membership. If you have undemocratic leaders, you must vote them out and elect democratic ones. Leaders who are fighters with a commitment to union democracy will attract increased activism from the rank-and-file. Union leaders should discuss their strategy openly with the membership. Rank-and-filers should be encouraged to take on major responsibilities in a comprehensive strategy. Discuss, plan and vote! As you find your union becomes more democratic, you will find many of your members wanting to participate in the decisions that affect their lives.
In Teamsters Local 574 we had elected stewards that represented members in the various shops. We had an elected grievance board that met twice a month and listened to any worker who had a potential grievance. We had an elected negotiating committee. And in the 1934 truck divers strike in Minneapolis, we had an elected Committee of 100. This committee was a sounding board that met between regular union meetings. Proposals by the leadership during the strike were first brought to the Committee of 100. The committee sifted through the proposals and reached decisions and carried those decisions back to the mass of workers. This democratic process strengthened the strike and kept the leadership in touch with what the membership wanted.
Some union leaders disagree with this open style of democracy. During a strike or negotiations, they argue for utmost secrecy. Often, I’ve found that such secrecy is really a ploy to make an unsatisfactory compromise behind the backs of the workers. Every settlement involves compromise. But the decisions of the union must be made by the membership. The demands should be voted on by the membership. The members should determine when a demand is removed by the union from the bargaining table. The more democratic the union, the more involved the workers will become in the union. The less democratic the union, the less enthusiasm the members will have in the leadership when the employer forces the union into a showdown.
Shutting it Down
There are various ways to shut down a business and this pamphlet can’t begin to address all of them. But here are some key methods.
Mass Picketing. This should be part of all strikes. By your very numbers you can prevent he plant from operating
Sit-down outside the plant. Sometimes to overcome the presence of large numbers of police or National Guard, the best tactic might be to set several thousand people down in front of the key doors or gates. They may haul you away in mass arrests. The union bails you out and you sit down again.
Sit-down inside the plant. Sit down strikes, a tactic used in the 1930s, ought to be considered a viable strike method today. It’s much harder for bosses to get workers out of the building, once they are sitting inside.
Fink drives. Finks are scabs and fink drives were something we used when employers used scabs to reopen plants that were on strike. We took some of our best militant workers, entered the plant and drove the finks out.
Mass marches and rallies as a way of building toward the mass picketing and other actions to shut the operation down.
Talking to Workers
Carl Skoglund, who later became president of our local, was the architect of the 1934 Minneapolis strike. He had been through many labor battles. He had a bad leg and I remember the night before the coal strike in February 1934, he put his arm on my shoulder for support as we walked back to our apartments.
“Harry,” he said to me, “a lot of workers may not understand what we are fighting for at first. We’ll need to talk to them. Explain to them what this strike is about. Give them a chance to understand. Don’t write them off before you’ve given them a chance.”
One of the first non-union drivers we stopped the next day proved Carl’s point.
We had followed a truck out of the coal yard and a few blocks away we converged on it. We explained to the driver what we were fighting for and why we were on strike. The man got angry. He told us that the boss had lied to him about what we were striking for. He jumped out of the truck and helped us dump his own load of coal on the street! That night, he went down to the union hall and joined the union. After the strike, he became a loyal union steward.
There is a lesson in this. It’s necessary to explain to workers why you are on strike. And that goes for workers who have been hired as scabs. Many times, if you talk to these workers, they will end up siding with you. If they don’t, of course, it is another story. But many times in this society, with so much anti-union propaganda, people develop hostile attitudes toward unions. Often times, explaining the issues can turn them around.
That same open-mindedness is important in dealing with your coworkers who may not at first recognize the necessity of militant action, but will come around, once they see that it works.
Organizing the Unorganized
Many of the most important battles of the future will be on behalf of the unorganized workers. New mass efforts must be made to organize these workers into unions. Unions today tend to be made up of higher paid workers and union leaders sometimes forget where their unions came from.
The same mass approach to victory on the picket line must extend to union organizing. Mass mobilizations of workers is needed for organizing drives. There should be rallies and participation of the entire membership in these drives, and efforts to get the support of the rest of the labor movement.
During contract talks, bosses sometimes try to terrorize workers into submission. Employers threaten unions that are demanding higher wages with the possibility that the company will move away and seek cheaper, non-union markets elsewhere. If the company has a trained workforce locally, it may be nothing more than a scare tactic. But the union’s response should be quick. If the boss moves his plant somewhere else, the union leaders should say, “We will send union organizers to your new location and organize them, there. If you go abroad, our international union will work to see that you are organized wherever you set up shop. Wherever you go, we will follow you. We will not allow you to exploit your workers. So you better put a reasonable package on the bargaining table, because it is not going to get any better for you elsewhere.”
A clear commitment to organizing is the best way to assure good contracts at workplaces that are organized. We had a motto in Local 574: “Every member an organizer.” Over-the-road drivers would encourage workers to unionize wherever they went throughout the Midwest. It’s a motto we should adopt today.
The more workers we have in unions, the harder it will be for the employer to find workers who can break strikes. And it will help to make the union a greater force for progress and social justice.
The union must be the champion of the underdog, the poor and the suffering. We must be concerned with single-parent families, the child who does not have enough to eat, the disabled, the victims of discrimination. We must speak out for the elderly, many of whom cannot eke out a living on their small pensions and social security.
Fighting for them, we can restore the union to greatness. Their cause becomes our cause when we stand up for decent wages and conditions for all.
This is the second part of Harry DeBoer’s classic pamphlet entitled How to Win Strikes. The first half is printed in a previous posting on this site.
How to Win Strikes is available in pamphlet form, with additional material from the International Workers League, at www.wellreduse.com.
To leave a comment on this article, or on a previous posting, hit “comments” below.
And visit www.LaborLeft.blogspot.com in two weeks when the topic is Immigrant Workers and the Union Movement.
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