>>> Max Sawicky <sawicky at epinet.org> 03/16/00 03:13PM >>>
The AFL thinks it is easier to organize sanctions on
foreign goods than change U.S. law re: secondary
boycotts. They also think it is better to try
and organize under difficult circumstances than
lobby politicians re: labor law in general and
secondary boycotts in particular. They could
be wrong, but nothing you have said speaks to
that question.
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CB: It would have been easier not to organize the Industrial unions like the CIO did too. The struggle ain't easy.
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It's easy to prescribe postures from the outside, but hard to determine what is most effective when you have actual, limited resources you must decide how to allocate.
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CB: I've been an attorney for AFSCME, and supported many AFL actions, from Solidarity Day I to the Detroit Newspaper strike, and many other picket lines. I'm not as "outside" as you claim. I've been a member of District 65 UAW, Labor Party member. et. al. I might be more inside than you are. A member of Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. Member of the Coalition to Stop Privatization. etc. Helped Tim Johnson get elected to local vp. Worked with Bob King on many projects. Been to Local 600 many times to participate in UAW (AFL) led struggles.
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Your outside-the-fray pronouncements thus have little weight. Try doing what the AFL does for ten years and then tell me how you think their strategy should change. You might as well be playing "Class Struggle -- The Game."
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CB: I have been following the lead of the AFL for more than ten years. More like twenty. Now , after all that struggle on behalf of the AFL, dues paid liteally and figuratively, I have some criticisms. Freedom of speech , you know.