Verizon: union win

[Jeff Walker]

The key in using "cheap victories" is to use them as a tool to escalate
conflict and to demonstrate that the source of the people's power comes from
collective action, not from laws, rules, etc.  By starting out with a
smaller battle and victory, it encourages people to take larger steps.
Applying the concept to union organizing (my frame of reference), if you
have, say, a health and safety issue, instead of filing a grievance, get a
bunch of the workers together, march into the boss's office, and demand a
solution.  Then, using this as an example to the other people, pick out a
bigger fight and get more people involved.

Frequent action does lead to burn out.  The role of any organizer/activist
needs to be to lead people into these fights, to determine what we can do
and to pace the actions to keep burnout from happening.

Jeff

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck0" <chuck at tao.ca>
To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2000 4:19 PM
Subject: Re: Verizon: union win


> Barry Rene DeCicco wrote:
>
> > Another was that immediate action was never to be sneered at,
> > even cheap victories (however, the leadership should be aware
> > that a cheap victory was just that).  He recounts leading a group of
> > protestors into an office to demand something that the people in that
> > office were totally willing to provide, and then using that as a
victory.
>
> The flip-side of this is that frequent actions can burn everybody out.
> Sure, cheap victories are good, but there should be a good reason for
> doing them. One of the mistakes that the Left has repeated over the
> years is to mistake constant activity as progress towards a strategic
> goal.
>
> Chuck0
>