[lbo-talk] State of the unions (was An Appeal to the U.S. Antiwar Movement)

Marvin Gandall marvgandall at rogers.com
Sun May 15 21:07:10 PDT 2005


Yoshie wrote:


> Marvin wrote:
>>You assert, though, that "existing unions will never be able to raise the
>>level of class struggle from below"
>
> I didn't assert any such thing. I said that "[e]xisting unions _alone_
> will never be able to raise the level of class struggle from below"
> (emphasis added,
------------------------------ mg: The omission wasn't deliberate. You did add that "currently unorganized workers have to discover such tools of industrial struggles as sit-downs and work-to-rule on their own", which does suggest to me where you place the emphasis. I think you'll find that while some workers do organize autonomously into independent unions, most workplaces are typically organized by existing unions who contact the workers or who are contacted by them. This is true even during upsurges in labour militancy, as in the case of the CIO, which came out of the AFL. You're abandoning the actually existing unions too hastily, but patience has never been the strong suit of a weak left. ---------------------------------
> Evidence is clear: organized labor cannot reverse its decline
> on its own. If it could, it would have done it already.
-------------------------------- mg: No one says organized labor can become stronger on its own. Everyone agrees it has to organize the service economy to restore its bargaining and political power. But exhortations for it to do so aren't enough. Conditions will have to change for the decline to be reversed, whether the unions are led by persons named Sweeney or Stern or Furuhashi and Chuck0. --------------------------------
> Marvin wrote:
>>I side with the more energetic forces represented by the NUP


> You may "side with" the New Unity Partnership in your opinion, but what
> can you do to actually support the NUP in concrete terms? Nothing -- as
> the NUP has engaged in only a struggle internal to the AFL-CIO. If, for
> instance, the NUP splits from the AFL-CIO, undertakes an organizing drive
> akin to the CIO's in the 1930s, and enlists activists currently outside of
> organized labor as well as activists of the rank-and-file movement for its
> cause, it will be a different story, but unless and until it does so,
> there is practically nothing you can do to help the NUP in its contest for
> power with the old guard.
---------------------------------- mg: Of course. The hope is that the NUP grows into a latter-day CIO, which also resulted from an internal struggle, first waged at the top. ----------------------------------
> What is a union,
> though? It's a group of workers who organize themselves to achieve the
> same goals, be they higher wages, more benefits, better working
> conditions, enforcement of safety rules, or reinstatement of fellow
> workers who are fired. All workers should learn and use tools of
> industrial struggles to achieve such goals, whether or not they are
> already in legally recognized bargaining units, whether or not they want
> to constitute themselves as such.
------------------------ mg: Others have already pointed out that workers who are not in legally recognized bargaining units can't engage in industrial struggles to secure better pay, benefits, and conditions. They'd be fired for leaving their jobs, and wouldn't have legal recourse to try to get them back. You might regard this as craven regard for bourgeois legality, and would, I suspect, counsel workers to go on wildcat strikes anyway, and stay out until they force the bosses to reinstate them and recognize them as a bargaining unit. (Incidentally, why would they not "want to constitute themselves as such"?). These tactics might work in large enterprises when organizing becomes contagious across the working class - as in the auto plants and other heavy industries during the 30's or in the mine and milltowns preceding WWI. They might work at Microsoft and Walmart in a future wave of organizing. But they'd be suicidal tactics in present circumstances, and you'd be irresponsible to encourage isolated groups of workers to adopt them in the absence of a militant mass movement for union rights. Not that anyone would listen. But if you're not persuaded, why not do what I earlier proposed to Chuck0: Go down to your local Walmart and give it a try.

This discussion illustrates where the politics of wishful thinking leads.

MG



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