>>> james withrow writes
Charles Brown: "Does the long range of your plans include an end of employers and employment as we know them ? This is the definition of class struggle trade unionism. The class struggle is not permanent. It comes to an end when the working class wins it. Does your approach envisage this. ? In other words, do you have a maximum plan to go with your minimum plan (or program) ? Charles Brown
Detroit Workers of the West, it's our turn."
Charles,
Here at Unions-R-Us, we leave the long range plans up to you. We can do it either way. It can be anything from a simple plan of raising solidarity in the workplace all the way up to the first step in a grand scheme to overthrow capitalism. Again. just be aware that we may have to charge extra for customizing. ___________
Charles: Sort of a caveat emptor. I must also warn you that we plan to expropriate the expropriators ("sellers") ____________
You're probably thinking that this is all hypothetical on my part, but let me assure you that I've done it both ways and everything I'm about to tell you is the god-honest truth with no jokes.
The first union election at a Borders Books (and Music) was at my store in downtown (we call it Center City) Philadelphia. I chose the union and with help got the cards signed for an election. We had about 50 employees and 31 signed authorization cards to ask to be represented by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). That would be the Wobblies, of course, and yes indeed their long-range goals include the general strike and abolition of the wage system. After a hard-fought battle, with both union & management showing more respect than we see on this listserver, the tide swung against us in the last few days and the give-the-company-a-second-chance argument won out by a vote of 25 to 20.
Starting a couple months after that, I began contacting other unions to see if a mainstream business union might be a better vehicle. The UFCW local in this area was extremely interested in our situation and based on that I suggested to employees at the Lincoln Park Borders in Chicago, who had been working with the SEIU, to seek out the UFCW there and see what they had to say. The employees in Chicago felt the UFCW was more interested and they rounded up the cards there for an election, which they won by a good margin. After that, there were three more UFCW wins in other stores and... well this is a long story. My store never could get enthused about UFCW representation and the IWW was out for other reasons. But I was able to help out on the national campaign a bit, so I've carried the ball for both those types of unionism.
James in Philly P.S. The "it's out turn" slogan-- I've seen it proposed before and I still like it. _______________
Charles: That's a concrete class struggle tale. Next time you will win.
I'm glad I have come to realize what somebody else already knew. Why should the Russian workers have to get their butts beat so bad again with blockade and war ? And surely the "Third World" workers have seen war and genocide visited on their revolutions. Lets see some revolutionary courage in the "advanced" countries. I'm sure the rest of the world will join in if the U.S. and other Westerners get it going.
Charles Brown
Detroit