Industrial Worker - Issue #1762, January/February 2014

8/13/2019 Industrial Worker - Issue #1762, January/February 2014

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Industrial Worker PO Box 180195Chicago, IL 60618, USA

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O F F I C I A L N E W S P A P E R O F T H E I N D U S T R I A L W O R K E R S O F T H E W O R L D

Organizing: Life AndLabor In The DayLabor Industry 8

Special: MinersStruggles & BritishSyndicalism 6-7

INDUSTRIAL WORKER

Counterpoint:Contractualism ShouldBe Avoided 4

J a n u a r y / F e b r u a r y 2 0 14 # 176 2 V o l . 1 11 N o . 1 $ 2 / 2 / 2

Bakers Rising: NYC IWW Bakery Workers Fight For Better J

Obituaries: FarewellFWs Justin Vitiello &Mick Renwick 11

Amys Bread workers march in Queens on Nov. 25. Photo: brandworkers.org

Police Brutality At IWW Picket In Boston

Photo: FW Le Le LechatCops attack Insomnia picket on Nov. 14.

Photo: Kassel IWW

From the IWW Star- bucks Workers Union

Wor kers and the irallies at Starbucks and itssuppliers hit the streetson the week of Nov. 24,2013, to demand thatcompany CEO HowardSchultz practice what hepreaches: respect work-ers at his company andat suppliers. In the wakeof a report by 24/7 WallStreet, naming Star-

bucks as one of the top10 American poverty- wage employers, a globalday of action on Nov.25 united factory workers who makeStarbucks trademark cups with baristasacross the world who ll the cups withcaffeine and sugar concoctions. Actionsin 15 to 20 cities highlighted the hypocrisyof Schultz, who has drawn criticism forrepeatedly forcing workers to advance hispolitical agenda under the come togetherslogan, while busting unions when his ownemployees came together for a voice onthe job, and sourcing from companies thatdo the same.

Pactiv in Stockton, Calif., makes cups

and packaging for Starbucks and fast foodcompanies. Starbucks has the power tostop Pactiv from cutting our wages and bene ts and threatening our middle class way of life. They need to ensure that all workers at its stores and suppl iers arepaid a living wage and treated fairly. Weare coming together to ask StarbucksCEO Howard Schultz for help. And we willkeep doing what it takes to defend workersrights at Starbucks and its suppliers, saidCasey Freeman, President of the PactivUnion in Stockton.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultzis part of the problem in America. Hegobbled up $28.9 million in pay last yearalone while we baristas made less than$9 an hour on average, even though we

produced over $1.4 billion in pro t for thecompany. So were coming together onour own to ask him to spread the wealth-create good jobs at Starbucks and insist onfairness at its suppliers, said SamanthaCole, a barista and member of the IWWStarbucks Workers Union.

The coalition unites the manufactur-ing workers at Pactiv who make Starbuckscups in Stockton and are ghting cuts topay and bene ts along with Chilean baris -tas who recently struck to bring Starbucksinto compliance with collective bargaining

law, and U.S. baristas who are demandingfair pay, consistent scheduling, and an endto understaf ng at the chain. The workersare members of four different independentunions and a workers centerthe Associa-tion of Western Pulp and Paper Workers(AWPPW), Sindicato de Starbucks Chileand the IWW Starbucks Workers Union.

We have a message for the Americanpeople. The corporate elites who led usinto the economic crisis of the past six years will not be the people who will leadus back out. We need to come together as workers, for workers, to ght for a betterlife for everyone, said Greg Jones of the AWPPW. Our movement is growing. Thisis just the beginning.

Read more on page 5

By Geoff CarensT h e I n s o m n i a

Cookies campaign rag-es on. Workers wenton strike in August2013 and joined theIWW, protesting sub-minimum wages andlousy working condi-tions. They demanded$15 per hour, healthcare, and that man-agement not interfere with union organizing.

All four strikers weresummarily red. Eversince then, the BostonIWW has waged a relentless campaign ofpickets, legal charges and publicity. Wevepicketed stores at least 10 times, made apoint of visiting them regularly and talkingto workers about the union, and worked with student allies at Harvard and BostonUniversity to depress cookie sales, withsigni cant success! Sales are down, butthe company has been using the forces

of the state to try to crush our campaign.There has been a largely disproportionatecop presence at our pickets in Cambridgefor months as well as efforts to intimidatepicketers.

On Nov. 14, 2013, the cops showed upin force. A Harvard University police van waited across the street from the store .

Continued on 7

By Rebecca HayesOn a blustery November morning

bef ore Tha nks giv ing 201 3, new IWWmembersa diverse group of bakers at Amys Breadkicked off an organ izingcampaign by marching to the site of theprominent food factory in Queens, N.Y., to voice their demands. Amys Bread suppliesmany of the citys most exclusive markets,restaurants and grocery stores. The com-pany is enjoying enormous success withan image of responsibility, sustainability,and community orientation. Now, aftermany long months of organizing in secret,the workers and their allies are joiningtogether to ask Amys Bread to live up totheir promises.

In contrast to the companys line, these workers need to work two or even three jobs to survive. Even under the companys Affordable Care Act-compliant plan, work-ers cant begin to afford health bene ts fortheir families. Bakery worker Ana Ricosaid the companys insurance plan would

cost about half of [her] check, given her

wage of $10.50 an hour. Advancementdecisions are completely arbitrary andfavoritism is rampant. The workers facedegrading treatment from managers, withimmigrants and people of color bearing the brunt of it. Workers are pushed to workat unsafe speeds and threatened with theloss of work days if they resist. Brokenmachines go un xed. Rico reported work -ers are washing hundreds of baking trays by hand each shift because the companyrefuses to make basic equipment repairs.In her own words, she is organizing forcommon-sense respect.

The workers campaign seeks regularraises so they can live on the pay they earn,afford health care and get respect frommanagement every day. At the kickoff inNovember, in spite of freezing tempera-tures, a large group of supporters, includ-ing many IWW members, turned out torally around the workers and accompanythem as they delivered a petition to thecompany with their demands. Activists

Continued on 6

Starbucks Workers Take Global Action

Starbucks action in Kassel, Germany.


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Page 2 Industrial Worker January/February 2014

AfricaUgandaIWW Kabale Uganda: Justus Tukwasibwe Weij-agye, P.O. Box 217, Kabale , Uganda, East Africa. jkweijagye[at]yahoo.comAustraliaNew South WalesSydney GMB: [email protected]. Laura, del.,[email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected]: nor [email protected]: P.O. Box 5842, West End, Qld 4101. [email protected]. Asger, del., [email protected]

South AustraliaAdelaide: [email protected], www.wobbliesSA.org. Jesse, del., 0432 130 082VictoriaMelbourne: P.O. Box 145, Moreland, VIC 3058. [email protected], www.iwwmelbourne.wordpress.com. Loki, del., [email protected]: [email protected] AustraliaPerth GMB: P.O. Box 1, Cannington WA 6987. [email protected]. Bruce, del.,[email protected] Canadian Regional Organizing Committee (CAN-ROC): [email protected] GMB: P.O. Box 4197, T6E 4T2. [email protected], edmonton.iww.ca.British ColumbiaVancouver GMB: 204-2274 York Ave., V6K 1C6.604-732-9613. [email protected]. www.vancouveriww.comVancouver Island GMB: Box 297 St. A, Nanaimo BC, V9R5K9. iw [email protected]. http://vanislewobs.wordpress.comManitobaWinnipeg GMB: IWW, c/o WORC, P.O. Box 1, R3C 2G1.204-299-5042, [email protected] BrunswickFredericton: [email protected],frederictoniww.wordpress.comOntarioOttawa-Outaouais GMB & GDC Local 6: 1106 WellingtonSt., P.O. Box 36042, Ottawa, K1Y 4V3. [email protected],[email protected] Panhandlers Union: Karen Crossman, spokesper-son, 613-282-7968, [email protected]: c/o PCAP, 393 Water St. #17, K9H 3L7,705-749-9694. Sean Carleton, del., 705-775-0663,[email protected] GMB: c/o Libra Knowledge & Information SvcsCo-op, P.O. Box 353 Stn. A, M5W 1C2. 416-919-7392. [email protected]. Max Bang, del., [email protected] GMB: c/o WWAC, 328 Pelissier St., N9A 4K7.(519) 564-8036. [email protected]. http://windsoriww.wordpress.comQubec Montreal GMB: cp 60124, Montral, QC, H2J 4E1. 514-268-3394. [email protected] Regional Administration (ERA): P.O. Box 7593

Glasgow, G42 2EX. ww w.iww.org.ukERA Officers, Departments, CommitteesAccess Facilitator (disabilities issues): [email protected] Officer / Comms Dept Chair: [email protected] Liaison: [email protected] Bulletin: [email protected] Solidarity Committee: [email protected] Committee: [email protected] Administrator: [email protected] Committee: [email protected] and Bargaining Support Department:[email protected] and Survey Department: [email protected]/ [email protected] Secretary: [email protected] for people having trouble with GoCardlesssignup: [email protected] Committee (all IT related enquiries): [email protected] Department: [email protected] Treasurer: [email protected] OrganisersCentral England RO: [email protected] Scotland RO: [email protected],[email protected]

Northern England RO: [email protected] England RO: [email protected] England RO: [email protected]: [email protected] Wales GMB: [email protected] IslesHealth Workers IU 610: [email protected] Hut Workers IU 640: p [email protected] Education Workers: [email protected] Bus Drivers: [email protected] Cleaners: [email protected] GMB: [email protected] GMB: bri [email protected] GMB: [email protected] GMB: [email protected] GMB: [email protected]: [email protected] GMB: [email protected] GMB: [email protected] GMB: [email protected] Midlands GMB: [email protected] GMB: [email protected] GMB: [email protected] and Galloway GMB: dumfries@iw w.org.ukEdinburgh GMB: [email protected] De Rycker, Sint-Bavoplein 7, 2530 Boechout,Belgium. [email protected] Language AreaIWW German Language Area Regional OrganizingCommittee (GLAMROC): IWW, Haberweg 19, 61352 BadHomburg, Germany. [email protected]. www.wobblies.deAustria: [email protected], [email protected]: Offenes Treffen jeden 2.Montag im Monat im CafeCommune, Reichenberger Str.157, 10999 Berlin, 18 Uhr.(U-Bahnhof Kottbusser Tor). Postadresse: IWW Berlin, c/oRotes Antiquariat, Rungestr. 20, 10179 Berlin, [email protected]: [email protected]. iwwbremen.blogsport.deCologne/Koeln GMB: c/o Allerweltshaus, Koernerstr.77-79, 50823 Koeln, Germany. [email protected] - Eurest: IWW Betriebsgruppe EurestHaberweg 19 D- 61352 Bad Homburg. [email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected]. www.wobblies-kassel.deMunich: [email protected]: [email protected]. iww-rostock.netSwitzerland: [email protected]: Jamie McQuilkin,del.,Stangarholti 26 Reykjavik105. +354 7825894. [email protected]: [email protected]: iw [email protected] IWW: 004793656014. [email protected]://www.iwwnorge.org, www.facebook.com/iw-wnorge. Twitter: @IWWnorgeUnited StatesAlaskaFairbanks GMB: P. O. Box 80101, 99708. Chris White, del.,907-457-2543, [email protected] GMB: P.O. Box 7126, 85011-7126. 623-336-1062. [email protected] IWW: 206-327-4158, [email protected]: P.O. Box 283, 72702. [email protected] Angeles GMB: (323) 374-3499. [email protected] IWW: 916-825-0873, iw [email protected] Diego IWW: 619-630-5537, [email protected] Francisco Bay Area GMB: (Curbside and Buyback IU670 Recycling Shops; Stonemountain Fabrics Job Shopand IU 410 Garment and Textile Workers IndustrialOrganizing Committee; Shattuck Cinemas; EmbarcaderoCinemas) P.O. Box 11412, Berkeley, 94712. 510-845-0540. [email protected] 520 Marine Transport Workers: Steve Ongerth, del.,[email protected] Printing: 2412 Palmetto Street, Oakland94602. 510-482-4547. [email protected] Jose: [email protected], www.facebook.com/SJSV.IWWColoradoDenver GMB: 2727 West 27th Ave., Unit D, 80211. 303-355-2032. [email protected] Corners (AZ, CO, NM, UT): 970-903-8721, [email protected]

DCWashington DC GMB: P.O. Box 1303, 20013. 202-630-9620. [email protected], www.dciww.org, www.facebook.com/dciwwFloridaGainesville GMB: c/o Civic Media Center, 433 S. Main St.,32601. Robbie Czopek, del., 904-315-5292, [email protected], w ww.gainesvilleiww.orgMiami IWW: [email protected] Sound: P. Shultz, 8274 SE Pine Circle, 33455-6608.772-545-9591, [email protected] GMB: P.O. Box 2662, 32513-2662. 840-437-1323, [email protected], www.angelre.com/5/iwwGeorgiaAtlanta GMB: P.O. Box 5390, 31107. 678-964-5169,[email protected], www.atliww.orgHawaiiHonolulu: Tony Donnes, del., [email protected]: Ritchie Eppink, del., P.O. Box 453, 83701. 208-371-9752, [email protected] GMB: P.O. Box 15384, 60615. 312-638-9155,[email protected] GMB: 219-308-8634. [email protected]: Indiana IWWIowaEastern Iowa IWW: 319-333-2476. [email protected] Kansas City/Lawrence GMB: [email protected]: Naythan Smith, del., [email protected] IWW: John Mark Crowder, del.,126 Kelly Lane,Homer, 71040. 318-224-1472. [email protected] IWW: 207-619-0842. [email protected], www.southernmaineiww.org

MarylandBaltimore GMB: P.O. Box 33350, 21218. [email protected] Area GMB: P.O. Box 391724, Cambridge, 02139.617-863-7920, [email protected], www.IW-WBoston.orgCape Cod/SE Massachusetts: [email protected] Mass. Public Service IU 650 Branch: IWW, P.O.Box 1581, Northampton, 01061MichiganDetroit GMB: 4210 Trumbull Blvd., 48208. [email protected] Rapids GMB: P.O. Box 6629, 49516. [email protected] Rapids Bartertown Diner and Rocs Cakes: 6Jefferson St., 49503. [email protected], www.bartertowngr.comCentral Michigan: 5007 W. Columbia Rd., Mason 48854.517-676-9446, [email protected] River GMB: [email protected], [email protected] Cities GMB: 3019 Minnehaha Ave. South, Suite 50,Minneapolis 55406. [email protected] IWW: P.O. Box 3232, 55803. [email protected] Kansas City IWW: P.O. Box 414304, Kansas City64141-4304. 816.875.6060. [email protected]. Louis I WW: P.O. Box 63142, 63163. [email protected] Workers IU 330: Dennis Georg, del., 406-490-3869, [email protected]: Jim Del Duca, 106 Paisley Court, Apt. I, Bozeman59715. 406-860-0331. [email protected] a GMB: P.O. Box 27811, Ralston, 68127. [email protected]. ww w.nebraskaiww.orgNevadaReno GMB: P.O. Box 12173, 89510. Paul Lenart, del.,775-513-7523, [email protected] 520 Railroad Workers: Ron Kaminkow, del., P.O. Box2131, Reno, 89505. 608-358-5771. [email protected] HampshireNew Hampshire IWW: Paul Broch, del.,112 Middle St. #5,Manchester 03101. 603-867-3680 . [email protected] JerseyCentral New Jersey GMB: P.O. Box 10021, New Brunswick,08906. 732-692-3491. [email protected]. BobRatynski, del., 908-285-5426. www.newjerseyiww.org

New MexicoAlbuquerque GMB: P.O. Box 4892, 87196-4892. 505-569-0168, [email protected] YorkNew York City GMB: 45-02 23rd Street, Suite #2, LongIsland City,11101. iw [email protected]. w ww.wobblycity.orgStarbucks Campaign:[email protected], www.starbucksunion.orgHudson Valley GMB: P.O. Box 48, Huguenot 12746, 845-342-3405, [email protected], http://hviww.blogspot.com/Syracuse IWW: [email protected] NY GMB: P.O. Box 235, Albany 12201-0235,518-833-6853 or 518-861-5627. ww w.upstate-nyiww.org, [email protected], Rochelle Semel,del., P.O. Box 172, Fly Creek 13337, 607-293-6489,[email protected] IWW: Brendan Maslauskas Dunn, del., 315-240-3149. [email protected] CarolinaCarolina Mountains GMB: P.O. Box 1005, 28802. 828-407-1979. [email protected] GMB: P. O. Box 5022, 27435. 1-855-IWW-4-GSO (855-499-4476). [email protected] DakotaRed River GMB: [email protected], redriveriww@gmailcomOhioMid-Ohio GMB: c/o Riffe, 4071 Indianola Ave., Columbu43214. [email protected] Ohio GMB: P.O. Box 141072, Cleveland 44114440-941-0999Ohio Valley GMB: P.O. Box 6042, Cincinnati 45206, 513-510-1486, [email protected] Patches Screenprinting IU 410 Job Shop:[email protected]: P.O. Box 213, Medicine Park 73557, 580-529-3360OregonLane GMB: Ed Gunderson, del.,541-743-5681. [email protected],www.eugeneiww.orgPortland GMB: 2249 E Burnside St., 97214, 503-231-5488. [email protected], portlandiww.orgPortland Red and Black Cafe: 400 SE 12th Ave, 97214.503-231-3899. [email protected]. www.redandblackcafe.comPennsylvaniaLancaster IWW: P.O. Box 352, 17608. [email protected] Valley GMB: P.O. Box 1477, Allentown, 18105-1477. 484-275-0873. [email protected]. facebook.com/lehighvalleyiwwPaper Crane Press IU 450 Job Shop: 610-358-9496. [email protected], www.papercranepress.comPittsburgh GMB: P.O. Box 5912,15210. [email protected] IslandProvidence GMB: P.O. Box 5795, 02903. [email protected] IWW: Lara Jennings, del., 106 N. 3rd St.,Clarksville, 37040. 931-206-3656. Jonathan Beasley,del., 2002 Post Rd., Clarksville, 37043 931-220-9665.TexasEl Paso IWW: Sarah Michelson, del., [email protected] Triangle IWW (Beaumont - Port Arthur): [email protected] Texas IWW: [email protected] Lake City GMB: P.O. Box 1227, 84110. 801-871-9057. [email protected] GMB: P.O. Box 8005, 05402. 802-540-2541VirginiaRichmond IWW: P.O. Box 7055, 23221. [email protected], ww w.richmondiww.orgWashingtonTacoma GMB: P.O. Box 7276, 98401. [email protected]://tacoma.iww.org/Seattle GMB: 1122 E. Pike #1142, 98122-3934. 206-339-4179. [email protected]. www.seattleiww.orgWisconsinMadison GMB: P.O. Box 2442, 53701-2442. www.madison.iww.orgIUB 560 - Communications and Computer Workers: P.O.Box 259279, Madison 53725. 608-620-IWW1. [email protected]. www.Madisoniub560.iww.orgLakeside Press IU 450 Job Shop: 1334 Williamson,53703. 608-255-1800. Jerry Chernow, del., [email protected]. w ww.lakesidepress.orgMadison Infoshop Job Shop:1019 Williamson St. #B,53703. 608-262-9036Just Coffee Job Shop IU 460: 1129 E. Wilson, Madison,53703. 608-204-9011, justcoffee.coopRailroad Workers IU 520: 608-358-5771. [email protected] GMB: 1750A N Astor St., 53207. TrevorSmith, 414-573-4992Northwoods IWW: P.O. Box 452, Stevens Point, 54481

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Industrial Unionism

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By Alex LotortoWeve heard the working conditions

at Walmart and fast-food jobs were bad,but have you heard about AmeriCorps?Check out this email that IWW delegate Alex Lotorto sent to a Public Allies fun-draiser (Public Allies is an AmeriCorps program).Hello,

As an alumni of Public Allies and dur-

ing my time in the program, I became veryaware of the ambiguous employment sta-tus of Public Allies and AmeriCorps members at large. Ive concluded AmeriCorps workers need to be classi ed as employeesand given the rights of employees for me tosupport the program vocally or nancially.

Currently, the only rights under laborlaw afforded to AmeriCorps workers arethe Family Medical Leave Act and Work-ers Compensation. Rights that are deniedinclude harassment and discriminationprotection by the Equal EmploymentOpportunity Commission (EEOC), Oc-cupational Safety and Health Adminis-tration (OSHA) protection, the right toform a union, the right to unemploymentcompensation, and the right to accessstate labor departments to resolve wage

disputes and harassment at the state level.This problem stems from a single

clause in the National and CommunityService Act, which states that AmeriCorpsmembers will not be considered federalemployees [SEC 199M (b)(1)]. In addi-tion, courts hearing cases about workermisclassi cation in regard to AmeriCorpshave stated, in the instance of unemploy-ment compensation, that states can afford

members their rights, but AmeriCorpsmembers are not protected federally [USDOL 1995].

A simple re- wri ting of that clause would provide AmeriCorps workers withhard-fought-for workplace rights. With75,000 AmeriCorps members participat-ing every year, surely there are instancesof harassment or workplace hazards thatshould be reported to the EEOC or OSHA.Surely workers should enjoy the basic pro-tections of the National Labor Relations Act and Universa l Declaration of HumanRights, which allow unionization. Ameri-Corps workers should be able to accessunemployment compensation at the endof their terms when they are laid off dueto lack of work, just like any constructiontrades worker or temp worker can.

Americorps Workers Should Be Employees, Not VolunteersI have witnessed and experienced

instances of injustice due to this misclas-si cation. Its something high on my listof concerns for my generation. The sce-nario contributes to the larger narrativeregarding millenials being subject to jobinsecurity through a terrible job marketand common labor practices like unpaidinternships, canvassing for a commis-sion, independent contractor status, and

working on political campaigns. A simpleclassi cation as employee may only pro - vide marginal improvement in the workingconditions of AmeriCorps, but it wouldtransform the narrative and trajectory ofinjustice for young people.

We live in an age in which we condemn Walmart and fast-food companies for their working conditions, yet many people whoconsider themselves leftists turn a blindeye to whats going on in one of their most beloved programs: AmeriCorps. In fact, a worker at Walmart or McDonalds enjoysmore workplace protections and job se-curity than a 20-something AmeriCorps worker.

Please consider making this employeemisclassi cation issue a priority beforeseeking my support again. Thank you.


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January/February 2014 Industrial Worker Page 3

__I af rm that I am a worker, and that I am not an employer. __I agree to abide by the IWW constitution. __I will study its principles and acquaint myself with its purposes.

Name: ________________________________

Address: ______________________________City, State, Post Code, Country: _______________Occupation: ____________________________

Phone: ____________ Email: _______________ Amount Enclosed: _________

The working class and the employingclass have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and wantare found among millions of workingpeople and the few, who make up the em-ploying class, have all the good things oflife. Between these two classes a strugglemust go on until the workers of the worldorganize as a class, take possession of themeans of production, abolish the wagesystem, and live in harmony with theearth.

We nd that the center ing of themanagement of industries into fewer andfewer hands makes the trade unions un-able to cope with the ever-growing powerof the employing class. The trade unionsfoster a state of affairs which allows oneset of workers to be pitted against anotherset of workers in the same industry,thereby helping defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unionsaid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belie f that the workingclass have interests in common with theiremployers.

These conditions can be changed andthe interest of the working class upheldonly by an organization formed in such

a way that all its members in any oneindustry, or all industries if necessary,cease work whenever a strike or lockout ison in any department thereof, thus mak-ing an injury to one an injury to all.

Instead of the conservative motto, Afair days wage for a fair days work, wemust inscribe on our banner the revolu-tionary watchword, Abolition of the wagesystem.

It is the historic mission of the work-ing class to do away with capitalism. Thearmy of production must be organized,not only for the everyday struggle w ithcapitalists, but also to carry on produc-tion when capitalism shall have beenoverthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new

society within the shell of the old.

TO JOIN: Mail this form with a check or money order for initiationand your rst months dues to: IWW, Post Of ce Box 180195, Chicago, IL60618, USA.

Initiation is the same as one months dues. Our dues are calculated

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Membership includes a subscription to the Industrial Worker .

Join the IWW Today

T he IWW is a union for all workers, a union dedicated to organizing on the job, in our industries and in our communities both to win better conditionstoday and to build a world without bosses, a world in which production anddistribution are organized by workers ourselves to meet the needs of the entirepopulation, not merely a handful of exploiters.

We are the Industrial Workers of the World because we organize indus trially that is to say, we organize all workers on the job into one union, rather than dividing workers by trade, so that we can pool our strength to ght the bosses together.

Since the IWW was founded in 1905, we have recognized the need to build atruly international union movement in order to confront the global power of the bosses and in order to strengthen workers ability to stand in solidarity with our fel-low workers no matter what part of the globe they happen to live on.

We are a union open to all workers, whether or not the IWW happens to haverepresentation rights in your workplace. We organize the worker, not the job, recog-nizing that unionism is not about government certi cation or employer recognition but about workers coming together to address our common concerns. Sometimesthis means striking or signing a contract. Sometimes it means refusing to work withan unsafe machine or following the bosses orders so literally that nothing gets done.Sometimes it means agitating around particular issues or grievances in a speci c workplace, or across an industry.

Because the IWW is a democratic, member-run union, decisions about what is-sues to address and what tactics to pursue are made by the workers directly involved.

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Rank & File Organizing

Independent Truckers Make Their Voices Heard At Port Of OaklandBy Jonathan Nack, Indybay

Independent truckers staged a job ac-tion that slowed work at the Port of Oak-land on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013. It wasthe truckers third job action since August.

The Port of Oakland Truckers Associa-tion (POTA) called for a strike at Stevedor-ing Services of Americas (SSA) terminal,one of the largest and busiest at the Port.

In a press release, POTA said the strike was called, in protes t of unsafe work-ing conditions and unfair labor practices by terminal owners and Port of Oaklandmanagement.

Picketers began gathering in the dark-ness before 5 a.m. Approximately 100independent truckers, many sporting theirPOTA shirts, were joined by at least thatmany community and labor supporters atthe entrances of the SSA terminal.

One picket sign read, Dont makeTruckers Pay the Bill, another said,CARB Extend the Deadline. Thesesigns are references to the California AirResources Boards (CARB) regulation thatrequires all truck engines manufactured before 2007 to be upgraded to meet airquality standards.

One trucker estimated the cost of therequired upgrades at between $60,000and $80,000 per truck and said manytruck drivers cant afford it.

Pro t margins for independent truck -ers are notoriously small. Many inde-pendents are struggling. Many others gounder.

Its such a dif cult way to make a livingthat companies are constantly looking formore independents, as evidenced by themany signs hanging from fences of thePort advertising for them by companiessuch as P&R Trucking, Lengner & Sonsand Mutual Express Company.

Other picket signs on Wednesday read,Long lines = Bad air, and Communityand Truckers United. These referred tothe huge problem of bad air quality at thePort. Air pollution affects not only every-one who works at the Port, but surround-ing communities in West Oakland, which

have high rates of cancer and asthma.Picketers from the community supportedPOTAs demands because they agreed it was unfair to put the burden on indepen-dent truckers.

It was the bad air at the Port thatcaused the CARB to set more stringentregulations on diesel engines. POTA saysmany independent truckers cant afford

the upgrades. With trucking dispatch com-panies and the Port making huge pro ts,truckers say these wealthy institutionsshould pay for the upgrades, not them.

Most of the corporate medias cover-age of the Nov. 27 action at the Port em-phasized the fact that POTA is protestingthe CARBs regulation and is demandingat least a one-year delay in the deadline.The mainstream media coverage all butimplied that truckers dont care about theair quality. This is obviously untrue. Thetruckers are among those most affected by the bad air at the Port. The issue is notabout upgrading diesel engines, its about who should pay for it.

POTA is also pressing for additionalpaya congestion feewhen they areforced to wait at the Port for a load for rea-sons beyond the truckers control. Idlingand waiting due to inef ciency at the Portis another major cause of air pollution.

Accounts of the impact o f the job ac-tion varied sharply. The San Francisco Business Times reported that the Portmanagement said that demonstrators werecleared from SSA Terminals by 9 a.m. andthat no other port terminals were affected.POTA claimed truck traf c was down by90 percent.

POTA issued a press release mid-day on Nov. 27 providing a detaileddescription of the mornings action (seehttp://oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/mid-day-press-release-from-port-truckers/).

POTA reported, Primary pickets wereset up at the four SSA terminal gates be-ginning at 5 a.m., but due to violent policeaction, lines began migrating betweengates to prevent arrest and detainment

of picketers. At least one per-son picketing was struck by the vehicle of a terminal employeecrossing the picket line, and asof 10:30 a.m., there were ve ar -rests. Those arrested were citedand released. One police of cer was injured when a car cross ingthe truckers picket line ran over

his foot.There was no violence bypicketers. Indybay.org reportedthat there were 50 Oakland policeof cers on the scene.

The police were pushing usoff the picket lines even thoughthe judge said its illegal. After last time, when they hit people with batons , people were afraid, but they kept moving to holdthe lines, said local trucker Jose Gomez.

POTAs press release said, Sometruckers who crossed picket lines todayclaimed they faced retaliation from theircompanies. During the last work stop-page, notoriously bad trucking dispatchcompany GSC charged their drivers illegaldemurrage fees for honoring picket lines. When drivers refused to pay, they founddeductions in their pay checks. Whilesome long-distance truckers and employeedrivers crossed picket lines, the vast majority of independent contractor truckerspicketed or refused to take loads today.

At 10 a.m. most of the supporters,media and police trickled out, while moretruckers gathered at the primary SSAtrucker entrance and resumed picketson their own. Without the heavy policepresence that accompanied activists andsupporters, they were able to hold thepicket lines at SSA, according to POTAspress release.

When the local drivers wont work,the Port wont work. Even if we are notthe majority group of truckers servicingthe port, we do the majority of the work,said Roberto Ruiz, another local driver.

Part of the independent truckersaction was not as effective as planned.Members of the International Longshore

and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10crossed the picket line at the SSA termi-nal. POTA was disappointed that Local 10didnt honor the picket lines.

It was a surprising response fromLocal 10, which has historically honoredpicket lines in support of progressivestruggles. It was particularly surprising,since Local 10s membership meeting had voted to honor all POTA picket lines.

According to Stan Woods, a memberof ILWU Local 6 who attended Local 10smembership meeting as an observer, themembership had voted 73-to-39 to honorPOTA picket lines. It was hotly debated.There were strong feelings on both sides. A contingen t from POTA atten ded theunions meeting and Frank Adams ofPOTA spoke at the meeting. In the end,the unions membership voted to act insolidarity with POTA by honoring theirpicket lines, according to Woods.

Members of Local 10 said they called aunion telephone recording daily and that,on Nov. 27, this recording told them to goto work. One member claimed that thememberships vote to honor the picket line was not followed because, the member-ship was misled. These guys are not union,they [POTA] said theyll never go union.

There were some of the independenttruckers who did work the Port on Nov.27 who were nevertheless supportive ofPOTAs protest.

Baijer Singh told KTVU News thathe didnt join the job action because hecouldnt afford to. I need to pay my bills,Singh told KTVU. Singh said he believesthe work action is important because thePort of Oakland is not listening to thetruckers concerns. Singh said he andother truckers often have to wait up to

ve hours to pick up loads at the Port andthey arent compensated for the time theyspend waiting.

For more information on POTA, visit:http://www.oaklandporttruckers.word-press.com. For more information on PortTruckers Solidarity, visit: http://www.solidarityinmotion.org, http://facebook.com/pages/Port-Truckers-Solidarity andhttp://facebook.com/Transportation- WorkersSolidarityCommittee.

This piece originally appeared on Indy-bay.org and was reprinted with permis-sion via the San Francisco Bay Area In-dependent Media Center copyright policy.

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Picketers block terminal entrance.


4/12


When Organizing Your WorkplaceFeels Utterly Impossible

By Liberte Locke Youve gotten your red card, attended

several organizer trainings, countless branch meetings and union socials. Youvegone to events where you have heardorganizers tell their stories and havesubscribed to their blogs, Facebook pagesand Twitter feeds. Youve read all the labor books you can nd. Youve signed everypetition and attended every picket. Allthis and you still feel like everything is twosteps forward and six steps back in your workplace organizing. You want to proudly work wearing that union label. You wantsuccess for the big reasons: capitalismkeeps us enslaved. And for the smallerreasons that nag you in your sleep: people who matter to you think youre ridiculousfor doing any of this. Sharing victoriesadds legitimacy.

We have to believe that we can do this work. We have to know that as fact. We allhave our feelings of isolation in this world:feeling not good enough, that our bodies orminds arent right, and that we made the wrong choices. We have lifelong battles to

accept ourselves or to ignore how much wedont accept ourselves. Con dence is notsomething focused on in U.S. culture. Thissociety relies on making you not feel goodenough in order to push you into spend-ing your last dime on something that you believe can make you stronger, prettier,smarter or sexier.

Then theres the very nature of subser- vient work: youre placed into a job withsuperiors that are younger than you (Im31 and have a 19-year-old supervisor) orhave less experience than you. Were toldthat these people are inherently worthmore than we are to the job and the worldin general. Were supposed to follow workorders without question, often to the point

of injury or death. You have been told that you are worth little but actually believein your bones that you are worth some-thing. You have contributions to maketo the world through your community, your family, and your job(s). You can actagainst capitalism. It serves the bosses tohate ourselves.

In order to get our co-workers to ghttogether, we have to believe we can. Themajority of your co-workers, like you, havehad a lifetime of having their self-esteemchipped away at. We have been brokendown by authority gures our whole lives , be they police, classmates, housemates ,intimate partners, parents, teachers, social workers and our bosses. Were broken andmolded into participating in this systemthat we never chose. We work ourselves todeath in order to buy goods and services

that we then use to keep ourselves func-tioning enough to keep working. Workingstudents are working their way throughschool in order to get that next job, if ca-reers even exist anymore. They are oftendisheartened to learn that all the crap thatthey went through at their old job exists attheir new one. For folks that grew up poor,con dence is much harder to come by. Wegrew up watching our parents struggle. We promised ourselves and them that we would nd a path out of this poverty andthat we would take them with us. We feelguilty for not doing better by ourselves and by our families. We swear to everyone that well work hard and it will pay off. Wepull hard at our bootstraps to watch thesystem snip the line time and again and we keep pulling.

This cycle can end with us. We have to believe. We keep looking up for instruction when we should be looking to those atour side: our neighbors, our friends, andour co-workers. Their ideas, like ours, are worthwhile. If you dont believe you are ca-pable of organizing then your co-workers

wont believe it either. Whe n I cam e int o the IWW Sta r-

bucks Workers Union I had some largeshoes to ll. I was afraid. I felt alone andill-prepared. For the rst couple of yearsof organizing most of my actions weredecided by asking myself what I felt couldturn into a badass story. Will I be themouse or the lion? I dont care about howarrogant that sounds. I needed some ar-rogance to counter my low self-esteem.

I also dont care because it worked.I found myself shaking when talking tothe boss. I was saying things I knew we werent allowed to say and refusing to be mist reated. These showdown s with bosses led to getting what I wanted on

the job. Once a busser overheard a districtmanager say that they needed to make surethe union knew whose house this is. Theshop committee then started declaring at work, Whose house is this? This is ourhouse. We made constant references tothe bosses being guests in our home. It was a huge con dence-builder.

Walk into your job like you own it. Itcant operate without you. Its importantto exude con dence, even if you dont feelcon dent. Try, even if it feels hopeless, because without the effort youve accepteddefeat. And if you feel unable, then whathope do you have to offer your co-workers?

Workers have been organizing in vari-ous forms for hundreds of years. Many ofthem havent had the resources and sup-port you can have access to in the IWW. Ifthey could, and can, do it, then so can you.

By Juan ConatzThis is in response to FW Matt

Muchowskis article titled The Contract As A Tactic, which appeared on page 4of the December 2013 Industrial Worker. While I disagree with most of it, this pieceis the most coherent justi cation of con -tractualism for the IWW Ive seen. Thereasons behind going for a contract are very rarely talked about in this way, sothe article is worth taking seriously andconsidering the authors points.

FW Muchowski correctly asserts thatthe IWW has a legacy of no contracts;however, he attributes this to the lack oflegal structure(s) for unions to win legalrecognition. On IWW.org, a similar expla-nation is given. This explanation is wrong,though. The IWWs views on contractshave always been more sophisticated than what the labor law of the day has been.Overall, contracts have been regarded with great suspicion. This has had little todo with the existence of legal structures(most of which we were against or criti-cal of) and more to do with an analysis of what contractualism would lead to.

The author then goes on to blamethe disintegrating presence of the IWWin Lawrence after the 1912 Bread and

Roses strike on not having a contract.

This is usually what anti-Wobbly liberaland Communist Party-sympathetic laborhistorians say, so its a little surprising tosee this opinion expressed in the IW . Itsalso an absolutely inadequate explanationof what happened. If the ongoing presenceof the IWW so relied on having a formal,legal contract with the employers, thenhow could Local 8the IWW dockwork-ers of Philadelphia who went on strike inMay 1913exist? Local 8, for most of itsera, operated without a contract. The dif-ference between Local 8 and the textilestrikers in Lawrence, however, was one oforganization. The Lawrence model was tothrow a supporting cast of organizers intoa situation that was already on the vergeof blowing up; it was a hot shop, in other words. Local 8 , on the other hand, builtan organization with a purpose and fromthe ground up.

Local 8, along with many other non-contractual models, offers an antidote tothe false and seemingly dishonest dichoto-my that is often set up when talking aboutthis issue, which is contractualism versusall-out revolution. No one who arguesagainst or is suspicious of formal, legalagreements with employers is necessarilydrawing up blueprints for the barricades.

Similarly, Muchowski frames anti-

contractualism as ideological while what he advocates is no t. Suggesting thata position is ideological and thereforeextreme or irrational is a common rhetori-cal trick in politics, and it works well as itappeals to what is assumed to be commonsense. But just because its a neat andeffective trick does not mean that what itis expressing is true. The use of ideology,or examples of it, as a swear word, meansthat it is something that is based on beliefsrather than reality or experience. But beingagainst or suspicious of contractualismis not merely ideological. It has a longhistory in the radical labor movement,full of examples and historical lineage.Contractualism, on the other hand, hasonly hypothetical scenarios and what ifpossibilities, divorced from any concretereality

Solidarity unionism, for example,can be traced all the way back to the oldIWW, through the rank-and- le membersof militant Congress of Industrial Orga-nizations (CIO) locals, to labor radicalslike Martin Glaberman and Stan Weir(who saw clearly the downside of con-tractualism), on through the New Leftlabor history revisionists who rejectedthe institutional and top-down accountsof labor movements, and finally to thenumerous conversations that resulted in

the modern-day IWW creating our own

model of what solidarity unionism could be. Arguments for contractualism have nosimilar basis rooted in actual experiencesof radical labor.

Many of the activities and tasks the ar-ticle lists as being possible with a contractare not inherent to that model. Spreadingour views, nding out our co-workers is -sues and building for demands are just apart of organizing and happens in everyIWW campaign worth its salt.

Lastly, FW Muchowski addresses theproblematic issue of limitations placedon the union in contracts. His solutionto this is we dont have to agree to any-thing we dont want to. But a century ofcontractualism has established no-strikeclauses, management rights clauses anddisempowering grievance procedures asthe norms. I would argue that after thepoint in which it is obvious the unionhas won or is going to win, these are themost important issues for the employer,exceeding wages and bene ts. To excludethese things in a contract would take seri-ous organization within the workplace. If you do have the capacity to impose thesesorts of demands, which are expectedminimum norms for contracts, then whyhave a contract at all? With that type ofpower we can have the ability to imposea lot without getting caught up in state-

enforced limitations.

Contractualism Should Be AvoidedGraphic: Mike Konopacki


5/12


Wobbly & North American News

By Sourdough SlimThe Upstate New York General Mem-

bership Branch (GMB) of the IWW sup-ported and participated in one of the1,500 Black Friday protests on Nov. 29,2013 outside Albany, N.Y. About 80 localactivists were stationed on the sidewalkat the entrance to the Glenmont Walmart, voic ing supp ort for the OUR Walmart

campaign to get the worlds largest retailerto raise wages to a target of $15 per hour.They also had messages of solidarity forthe garment workers who toil at starvation wages in Bangladesh and other countriesto supply the big box store with cheapclothes.

On a clear cold day after Thanksgiving,the Capital District Area Labor Federation(AFL-CIO), Capital District Labor-Reli-gion Coalition, Solidarity Committee ofthe Capital District and supporters fromabout two dozen local unions, includingthe IWW, spent 90 minutes shoutingWalmart, you cant hide, and Treat your workers like you should. Picket captainsDoug Bullock of the Solidarity Committee

and Greg Giorgio of the Upstate N.Y. GMBprompted the crowd with a twin bullhornattack that also drew a great deal of honk-ing support from passing motorists on busy Route 9W.

Giorgios placard featured a poster with Living Wage Now written across thetop. This came from Bangladeshs militantNational Garment Workers Federation(NGWF)a union with rst-hand knowl -edge of Walmarts complicity in factorysafety and labor violations like the Tazreenand Rana Plaza disasters of the past yearresponsible for 1,500 deaths. NGWF IWW was written at the bottom of theposter in black and red.

The Capital District Area Labor Fed-erations Dan Curtis told WNYT News-Channel 13s cameras that this action wascoupled with the move to give Walmart aclear message at 1,500 of their stores that,

paying low wages, providing lousy bene tsand ring union supporters is not accept -able. How many more workers have todie in Bangladesh in factories where thecontractors like Walmart cut and run over

any grievances? he asked reporters. At the picket, the IWW passed out our Black Cat Moan anti-sweatshop newslet-ter, coordinated and produced throughefforts of the unions Bangladesh workinggroup.

A series of actions had taken place thispast year in Boston, Pittsburgh, Albany,and other locations to support the NGWFand the garment workers of Bangladesh.

An d wh ile a ne w ac cord to ra is ethe minimum textile sector wage to theequivalent of $68 per month was passedin the days leading up to Black Friday, itstill does not provide a real living wage.Mainstream press accounts of the pactmade it seem like a simplistic issue of apay raise being a win; leave it at that. The Black Cat Moan editorial cover story said,Not that fast. There is more to this storythan a small pay increase.

Upstate N.Y. Wobs Show Solidarity On Black Friday Support For Political Prisoner Jeremy Ham

By the Miami IWW Recently, workers employed by the

Pactiv Corporation and members of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Loca l 83, reached out to theIWW and the af liated Starbucks WorkersUnion for solidarity. Pactiv is one the pri-mary suppliers of cups and paper productsfor Starbucks and the new managementis planning on signi cantly cutting the wages and bene ts of its employees. So on

Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013, a few of membersof the Miami IWW and the IWW Star- bucks Workers Union handed out yersin front of a downtown Starbucks and atthe Miami Book Fair International locatedat the Wolfson Campus of Miami DadeCollege Wolfson Campus. We also had theopportunity to educate people about theshady stuff surrounding Starbucks and toshow our support for our fellow workerson the west coast.

It is important to be creating and to

By Ashley JacksonOn the morning of Nov. 15, 2013

in New York City, 28-year-old hack-ivist Jeremy Hammond was sen-tenced to 10 years in federal prisonfor violation of the Computer Fraudand Abuse Act. He used his computerskills to hack into and release over 5million les of the private security

rm Strategic Forecasting, Inc., orStratfor, exposing corporate andgovernment spying on activists do-mestically and abroad, amongst otherdiscoveries.

Existing prisoner support groupsPortland Anarchist Black Cross, Or-egon Jericho, Radical Prisoner Sup-port Portland and the newly-formedPortland IWW General Defense Com-mittee Local 1 had already planned a bene t for him the next evening atThe Red and Black Cafe. There wasmusic by Irie Idea, Intentional Over-tones and Years of Lead, as well as a raf eand readings of Jeremys own words in hisplea and sentencing statements.

The government celebrates my con-viction and imprisonment, hoping that itwill close the door on the full story. I tookresponsibility for my actions, by pleadingguilty, but when will the government bemade to answer for its crimes? quotedfrom Jeremys sentencing statement.

What happened to Jeremy comes asno shock to those organizing in their com-munities; its a risk that is always there.Government repression comes in manyforms including surveillance/monitoringand incarceration. Jeremy uncovered thetruth, revealing the relationship betweenthe government and private intelligence.Inspired by the actions of Chelsea Man-ning, he felt that he had the skills andobligation to do something. This is not justinspiring but courageous. Like the old say-ing Theyre in there for us, were out herefor them, lets also nd inspiration in the

actions of those who are locked away andhope that one day we can free them fromtheir cages into a better world.

Thanks to all the amazing people in

our community who donated; we raised$350, which went directly into Jeremyscommissary account! It was an event we wish we didnt have to hold. But a night weknow Jeremy would have liked.

Ten years is a long time, and Jeremy isgoing to need our support, so heres what YOU can do: write him a letter, share hisstory and donate to his defense fund. Mostimportantly: DONT FORGET ABOUTJEREMY HAMMOND!

For information on where to send you r let ter , please vis it: http:/ /www.freejeremy.net.

Donations can be made online athttp://www.wepay.com/donations/jer-emy-hammond-defense, or make checkspayable to: National Lawyers Guild Foun-dation, Memo: JHDC and send them to:JHDC NLG, 132 Nassau St., RM 922,New York, NY 10038.

Upstate N.Y. Wobs. Photo: K. Provencher

be involved in these actions, no matterhow big or small, because it is the IWWsmotto, An injury to one is an injury toall, that guides us. If workers anywhereare having an issue, then it becomes anissue to all of us.

By D.J. Alperovitz

On Nov. 25 ,2013, members ofthe Vancouver Is-land General Mem- b e r s h i p B r a n ch(GMB), after mak-ing a contribution tothe baristas tip jar,established an in-

formation picket ata high visibility andpopular Starbucksin Victoria, BritishColumbia. Duringour time there wepassed out 200-plus handbills, in additionto copies of the Industria l Worker . Weeffectively shut down this location withless than 15 people opting to cross our lineand enter during the lunch hour. The storemanager attempted to have us leave by

Miami IWW Solidarity With Starbucks Workers Report From Starbucks Action In Vancouver

From Railroad Workers United As the recent Metro-Nor th passenger

train wreck in New York illustrates, fatigue

kills. From preliminary reports, it appearsthat the engineer had nodded off. This ofcourse would not be the rst time that atrain crew member fell asleep. As we know,it happens all the time. In this case how-ever, the result was catastrophic.

Sleepiness, spacing out, nodding off,zoning out, drowsinessit is a way of lifefor railroad train crews. Considering thelack of scheduling in the freight industry,the 24/7 nature of the job, the lack oftime off work (and harsh availability poli-cies that keep us in line if and when wechoose to mark off), the inability to predictthe time when one will be called to workor when one will be relieved of duty, it isa wonder that there are not more tragic

wrecks as a result of fatigue.

When there is a spectacular wreck like the Metro-North de-railment, the immediate temp-

tation is to blame the trainscrew. But those of us in train andengine service know that there isalways more to it than that. In thedays and weeks to come, railroadtrain crews across the nation will be bombarded with advisories, alertsand bulletins that beseech us to stay alert,to remain focused, and maintain oursituational awareness. Yet ironically,not a single railroad will do anything toimprove train lineup predictability, grantthe needed time off work to those whorequest it, schedule their railroads trains,or beef up the extra boards and/or poolsto ensure adequate staf ng which wouldresult in adequate rest for train crews.

The fact remains: train crews are hu-

man beings. And as such, we makemistakes, cut corners, nod off, getdistracted, zone out, forget things,

get irritable, become sleepy, andfail to properly perform the task athand, like every other human be-ing. Even under ideal conditions we remain human and imperfect,prone to error. Therefore, we need

to stop pointing ngers and laying blameeach and every time there is a tra in wreck.Rather, we must begin to organize the workplace around human beings, takinginto account all of our fallibilities.

And this means granting adequate rest between tours-of-duty, granting reason-able time off away from the workplace,and ending the practice of subject to call24/7. In addition, it means implementingthe technology that has been available for

many years now so that if and when a train

crew does zone out, nod off, or make a mis-take, it does not become a fatal mistake.But the rail carriers have historically re-

sisted any attempt to reduce crew fatigue,and are in fact lobbying vigorously to staveoff the mandated implementation of Posi-tive Train Control (a system of functionalrequirements for monitoring and control-ling train movements to provide increasedsafety). Meanwhile, trains continue to goin the ditch and lives continue to be lost. And the rail carriers simply blame the workers. And if that isn t bad enough,the rail carriers are pushing for singleemployee train operations to become theuniversal standard for the industry. Whilethe Metro-North engineer did have addi-tional crew members behind him, he wasalone in the cab. Would this wreck haveeven happened if he had a partner in the

cab to assist in preventing this tragedy?

Railroad Workers Respond To Metro-North Derailment: Its Time To Implement Safety Measu

Jeremy Hammond. Graphic: Molly Crabapple

implying that we could not be there. After being made aware of the fact that not onlycould we be there, but that we had nointention of leaving, he questioned why we would picket the best company in the world. Manager re-education followed.

Graphic: RWU

Photo: iwwmiami.wordpress.com Photo: D.J. Alperovitz Wobs picket Starbucks in Victoria.


6/12


Special

Beyond Thatcher: Militant Testimonies On Miners StrugglesAnd British Syndicalism From Yesterday And TodayBy Fabien Delmotte

Last year, Margaret Thatchers deathreminded us of the economic policies sheinitiated in Britain and of her anti-union ghts. In the last months of 2013, Autre Futur (a French syndicalist website and

association) wished to go further and toconduct a series of interviews with differ-ent British unionists and syndicalists inorder to get a better grasp of issues thathave emerged in recent decades.

This is an abridged version of theoriginal article. The complete versionis online: http://www.autrefutur.net/ Beyond-Thatcher-militant.

Today, Left is anti-working class Dave Douglass, former unionistminer

Autre Futur (AF): My rst questionis a little bit ironic. This year MargaretThatcher died. Were you sad? How did you react ?

David John Douglass (DJD):(laughs) I wasnt sober for a whole week.The day it was announced we had partiesin the street. Then, we took the Durham Area Miners Banner down to TrafalgarSquare [London], which was an anarchist-arranged thing. There were about 5,000people at it and when the Miners Bannerarrived, the crowd went mad, so... I spoketo the crowd. Then we came back up northand we had a big socialist party and all thepress was there from all of the world. So,it was very good.

AF : Can you introduce yourself brie y?

DJD: Ive been a member of the Na-tional Union of Mineworkers (NUM) since1963 and an of cial of the Miners Unionfor about 24 years. Im a retired membernow. In my time, I edited the revolution-ary miners paper called The Mineworkerin the 1970s and also a local newspapercalled Hot Gossips which lampooned theof cials of the mine, the government, etc.

Ive been in all of the ghts. In 1969,there was a national unof cial minersstrike in which our tendency was veryactive. In 1972, I was a picket organizerin the Midlands and then again in 1974.In 1984, I was the picket coordinator forDoncaster. We were involved in [the]1992-1993 [demonstrations/movements].

AF: What was the link between Mar-garet Thatcher and miners strikes?

DJD: Margaret Thatcher had adopted

the monetarist policy of the free-marketeerneocons in America. She fought for thesovereignty of the market and the logicof that was she had to smash the unions,de-nationalize and de-socialize all of thegains that have been made by the classover centuries. She knew that attackingthe National Union of Mineworkers wascentral to this war. Sooner or later, she was going have to take us on and we knewthat too.

Thatcher said she would honor previ-ous agreements which said that coal willstill be the central energy supply. In 1980,she broke that agreement and launchedan assault to close 25 mines. Most of

the mines in England were on strike and wedefeated that action.They came back againin 1983, but this time,they attacked South

Wales. The Welsh min-ers went on strike andpicketing started in therest of the country. Butthe executive of theirunion decided to calla national ballot. And we los t the na tional ballot. So, they allowedthe mine closures. Westarted an overtime ban in 1983. Then, theycame and took on apit in the Yorkshire,Cortonwood Colliery.They closed the pit.So the miners went onstrike, and they pick-eted out the other pits. We made the decisionin Yorkshire that we would strike andspread the action to the rest of the country. And everybody else joined this...exceptscabs in Nottingham.

And then we fought for 12 months! We didnt get the mass support that weneeded. And we had to go back. But westill hadnt lost in 1984, even though theyclosed about 60 mines and about 70,000 jobs. We were still there. So they had tocome back again in 1992 with anotherplan that would close almost every pit inBritain. So then we had a series of actions,mass demonstrations, mass publicity. But we still lost.

Thatcher set a propaganda committeein place which comprised all the nationalnewspapers and news channels. She met with police, the Electricity Engineer ingBoard, the National Coal Board and ranan entirely partisan ght using the full weight of the state and its media agains tthe miners.

AF: Can you tell us more about theNational Union of Mineworkers?

DJD: It was founded on the traditionof One Industry, One Union. By 1984, we had about 230,000 members. But, youknow, now we only have 2,000 members.The National Union of Mineworkers hasntalways been in a revolutionary tradition, itfounded the Labour Party. In fact, you had

a mixed tradition: social democracy, anar-cho-syndicalism and Marxism-Leninism.The ballot box and the bullet.

AF: On a more personal level, what is your political itinerary?

DJD: People change de nitions allthe time but I have traditionally calledmyself an anarchist communist, in theanarcho-syndicalist tradition. I started offas an anarcho-syndicalist and an anarchist when I was 15. But I had a brief detourto Trotskyism in the 1970s. By 1984, Ihad come back to anarchism. I was also afounding member of Class War.

AF: Are there others things you wouldlike to say about theses strikes?

DJD: That fightin 1984/1985 involvedthe whole commu-nity. I t was part lyabout unions but it was about an industry,

it was about a way oflife. The miners werealmost an ethnicity,the trade being passeddown from father toson for hundreds andhundreds of years . And we had a very strongrevolutionary and radi-cal tradition. So, all ofthe politics of power,fuel power was aboutpolitical power andnot just about energy.It was about Whorules?, since nuclear workers will not chal-lenge governments andcant just walk off the job as we did.

AF: And so, now... Unfortunately, theyhave won that battle. What becomes of theregion, the communities?

DJD: The communities are very, verymuch on their knees and in desperate so-cial conditions. This, today, (the DurhamMiners Gala with half a million people) isan act of de ance. This gala is a traditionalparade that has been going on for 167 years of miners banners with all of theslogans and principles of trade unionismand class struggle, led by brass bands and by the women and children and people ofthe community. It should have died. Andtoday is the biggest demonstration since,I think, 1945. Its an act of class de ance.

They wanted us to shuffle off ourmortal coil and die quietly but we will not.The only industry that we have today isthe bank industry and speculation. Theydestroyed manufacturing in Britain, theydestroyed our ability as workers to takecontrol back off them and run society our-selves. So now, we dont actually produceanything. People are unemployed, peopleare desperately poor, we have a lot of drugaddiction, anti-social crimes, we have illhealth, high infant mortality, low life ex-pectancy, low education achievement, allof these things. Its similar to what theytried to do to Native Americans. They notonly defeated American Indians, but they

wanted to take away their identity and wipe out even the memory of who they were. You know, my father and my grand-father were in the 1926 strike, my grand-father was in the 1890 strike (laughs)!Thats why this is very, very important forus. We are not prepared to forget the pas t, we are not prepared to give up hope in thefuture. We have to ght to retake control ofour communities, reconnect with our realhistory, not the captains and the kings, notthe Union Jack, that bollocks... But thepeople who fought for our own class inter-ests. This is not just about nostalgia, thisis about tomorrow, not about yesterday.

AF: In this situation, it seems there is

much to do. But what do you think aboutmilitant movements today concerningthis issue?

DJD: I think the left, in general, istotally irrelevant. I think its anti-workingclass, they hate the working class. They

think were homophobic, they think wereracists, they think were sexists; they think were everything thats wrong. Theres nodialogue with us at all. They dont under-stand working-class aspirations. The leftis strongly dominated by petit bourgeoisliberalism, they dont understand classstruggle. Theyre interested in liberalposturing. Theres a huge gulf betweenus. Do you see, here, the left? Theyre nottalking to working people here, theyre just talking to each other. They dont wantanybody from the outside in, because theymight ask them some good questions. Youknow...Im speci cally talking about theso-called far left, the Marxist-Leninistleft and even most of the anarchist left. You have our tenden cy here: the IWWand the North-East Anarchist Federationare here...but you wont nd anybody else.

Scotland: Glasgow andRed Clydesides memory

AF: I know that Glasgows urban dis-trict is one of the most populated districtsin the United Kingdom (and the biggestone in Scotland). It used to be calledRed Clydeside. What can you tell aboutthe history of working-class and radicalstruggles here?

John Couzin: The Clydeside area, inmy opinion, because of the mass of people who were living in dreadful condit ionsin this dense area,was home to a lot ofradical movements. Youve got the 1915rent strike, which was totally spontane-ous, grassroots, and not af liated withany political parties. Mainly it was the women organizers of the rent strike whotook action. It was the women who broughtpeople onto the street. Then, Parliamentintroduced the Rent Restriction Act whichfroze the rents in the United Kingdom untilsix months after World War I (WWI).

You have also the Labour WithholdingCommittee which was during the WWI, when strikes were banned. From that wasdeveloped the Clyde Workers Committee, which was more or less IWW-like, syn-dicalist. In fact, there were more strikesduring the war than before and after. It was seen by militants as an opportunity!

AF: What were the main industries inthe Glasgow Region? What is the situationnow and how do unions deal with it?

JC: The main industry was obviouslyshipbuilding. Now thats gone. I dontthink you can refer to Clydeside anymoreas an entity. You could say it was an entity.

Keith Millar: In terms of employ-ment, the public sector, clothing centresand supermarket chains are now the biggest emplo yers . For unions, there spotential but its very early. The trouble isthat often people get sacked or move on voluntarily. Concerning protests in morerecent history, we could also mention thelarge opposition to the Poll Tax (1990)

Continued from 1touted signs with messages of unity withthe workers and joined in chants outsidethe Queens factory. The bakers spoke tothe crowd about their experiences at thefactory and the necessary changes theyare seeking.

The New York City IWW is partnering with workers rights group Brandworkersin this historic operation. Brandworkersis a membership organization of workersin the local food production industry withan operating model focused on pursuingdirect improvements at work and an en-during organized voice on the shop oor without recourse to recognition or formal

collective bargaining.

This is the be-ginning of what issure to be an ex-citing, but hard-fought, direct actioncampaign. AmysB r e a d w o r k e r scontinue to needthe involvement ofpassionate support-ers. IWW membersare encouraged topromote the linkto the Amys Bread worker s webs ite,http://amysbread.brandworkers.org, via

email and social networks, and by follow-

Bakers Rising: NYC IWW Bakery Workers Fight For Better Jobsing hashtag #Who-MakesAmysBread onTwitter. Local members are encouragedto show solidarity atpublic demonstra-tions at pivotal pointsin the campaign. Join Amys Bread workersin demanding thatthe bakery providedignified jobs andhelp create a more ju st fo od sy st em .Please visit the web-

site to learn more about the workers, this

movement and ways to help.

Graphic: amysbread.brandworkers.org

Photo: autrefutur.netNational Union ofMineworkers, 1984.


7/12


Special

and the support to miners strikes. But Ithink also that, here in Scotland, theres a big distraction in the left with the Scottishindependence issue.

Unionism, unemployment and job

insecurity: the example of Newcastle AF: I know you are active in organiz-ing unemployed workers. Can you tell usmore about that?

John Kelly: Recently, Britainslargest union, Unite, established a newinitiative to open our membership tounemployed people. In Newcastle, wehave a good solid branch. Consequently, we believe we can promote trade union values and regain some of the in uencein a community in which unions oncehad in uence when those communities were built around industry. These peopleare not normally organized. So the uniongives them a structure, a voice to campaignfor the change they want. And they dontfeel abandoned or left to their own device.

Recently, we held protests against a 1percent increase in unemployment bene-

ts, such as Jobseekers Allowance. We putforward slogans like, One percent wontpay the rent, and The banks caused thecrisis, the unemployed will pay. We arereally concerned about the welfare bene tsissue and the bene t changes imposed onthe unemployed. We have concrete activityconcerning immediate problems.

AF: Simon, you were a unionist ineducation but have more recently joinedUnite Community. Can you tell us why?

Simon Galliers: Recently, I have been protesting against the school acad-emies program that this current govern-ment is putting in place. It makes schoolsindependent and this has consequenceson salaries, conditions, employment andspecial educational needs. I vigorouslycampaigned against that. I lost my job...But Im engaged in everything in relation with education program that Unite Com-munity does now.

From London to Edinburgh: Tradeunions, the IWW and current socialsituation in the United Kingdom

AF: For people who dont know yourcountry very well, can you explain thecurrent social situation in the UnitedKingdom? Can you give us, as British Wobblies, an overview of the main socialissues, especially for syndicalism?

John S.: We can trace our situationtoday back to the 1970s and the birth ofneoliberalism. In the 1970s union densityand militancy was high. During Thatchers years, unions were smashed or co-opted.The subsequent governments continued with the neo-liberal agenda of privatiza-tion of public services/assets, subsidiesto big private interests at public expense,casualization of labor, etc. And now thecoalition government sees a massive op-portunity in the nancial crisis to reallyremodel society once and for all.

So, were told this is a time for auster-ity and to accept cuts to public spending. Actually, in education, welfare, and health,

were just seeing the welfare state beingdismantled. Of cial unemployment is uparound 2.5 million. Meanwhile, acrossthe board, prices have risen around 15 to20 percent. There is a massive increasein casualization: zero-hours contracts are

arguably worse than agency work, because while you are tied to an employer and must be available when they want you, you haveno guaranteed hours.

More than 5 million workers do notearn a living wage. The majority of peo-ple now considered to be living in povertyare working; theyre not unemployed. Thebedroom tax (where councils are beingforced to collect council tax from familiesin social/council housing previously ex-empt because they have a spare bedroom)is hitting people really hard. Disabledpeople are also badly hit, being ruled tfor work and having bene ts taken away. All this has led to suicides already.

The working class is in a chronic s tateof disorganization and low-con dence.The biggest movement has been the stu-dent protests in 2010. In 2011, working-class youth rioted and looted shops afterpolice shot a black man in Tottenham.There have also been big local protestmovements against hospital closures,the bedroom tax and other cuts, somesuccessful (Lewisham Hospital being themost notable). Strikes have been few andfar between.

AF: Can you introduce who the In-dustrial Workers of the World (IWW) arein the United Kingdom, and, more gener-ally, what trade unionism is in the Britishcontext?

Dek Keenan (DK): The Industrial Workers of the World are, in Great Britain,a small revolutionary industrial union. Itsessentially a union with a revolutionaryclass-struggle approach to unionism which breaks with class collaboration, which isthe dominant trade union approach. Itsalso against the idea of trade unions andrather emphasizes an industrial approachof all workers in one big union.

All we have in the United Kingdom isa small number of craft unions, anothergroup of larger trade unions and thenenormous unions of hundred of thousandsof members. There are more than onemillion members in UNISON and Unite.Theyre all basically social democrats.Historically, the Labour Party was estab-lished by trade unions in the rst part of

20th century. But obviously, the LabourParty is now a neo-liberal party. Usually,these unions are in favor of building a newLabour Party.

The IWW in the United Kingdomrst existed in the 1910s. All of that didnt

survive very far into the 1920s. The IWWthen re-emerged in 1946, in the 1950s, brie y in late 1970s, early 1980s and thendisappeared again (laughs)! But in 1990, acomrade from North America came to livehere and started to promote the IWW andit very slowly took off.

Basically, in the United Kingdom,there are two different approaches. Peopleestablished in mainstream unions work

at a rank-and- le level, createnetworks in those unions ofpeople who want to ght back. At the same time, we have an-other approach where we areestablishing IWW unions of

people who are unorganized,the abandoned and betrayed,people who are let down by themainstream unions and/or whoare uninterested in them.

AF: Dave, youre one ofthe founders of the Pizza Hut Workers Union of the IWW, which was formed in Shef eld[North England] quite recently,in 2011. Can you tell us moreabout that?

Dave Pike: We formed around acollective grievance over pay. Since itscreation we have grown steadily in membership and have won pay increases fordelivery drivers, as well as improvementsin health and safety standards.

Fast food has become a breedingground for IWW organizers. The averageage of members has helped us to appearmore relevant, mid-20s being the usualage for our activists. It is hard to orga-nize young workers, as many either havenever engaged with unions, and donteven know what they are, or think unionsare old-fashioned and irrelevant. Whatreally makes unions relevant is they ghtfor changes that matter to young people,like improving working conditions in their workpla ces , and talk ing in a way thatdoesnt try to live on the unions history, but on its relevance today.

AF: John, as an IWW regional orga-nizer for the southeast of England andLondon, can you tell us more about the Wobblies activities there in recent years?

John S.: IWW activities for several years have included supporting individualmembers in retail, fast food, education,healthcare and other industries, and haveinvolved some small, limited organizingcampaigns. However, in 2011, a largegroup of cleaners in London left theirunion for various reasons and formed anIWW branch. Throughout 2011 and 2012,the Cleaners Branch held wildcat strikes,noisy and militant protests and occupa-tions and finally official strike actions,

ghting for the living wage, sick pay, morehours and an end to bullying and intimi-dation. Others are now joining, and there

are ongoing organizing drives at severalsites in London, including major touristattractions.

AF: Are there others unions Wobbliescan feel close to in the British context to-day? Are there organized militant tenden-cies in mainstream unions ?

DK: I suppose the only union thatperhaps the IWW can have some identi -cation with is possibly the Rail Maritimeand Transport (RMT) union. Its a unionindependent of the Labour Party, whichis militant, with syndicalists active in it.There are left networks within many ofthe main trade unions, which tend to bedominated by Trotskyist and left-wing

groups. But weve been involved in theCivil Service Rank and File Network, analternative, purely rank-and- le, autono -mous tendency into the Public and Com-mercial Services Union (PCS).

University: the stuggle against Dum-fries Campuss closure and socialand class struggle anarchism

AF: Youre IWW members and wereinvolved a few years ago in a (victorious)struggle against the closure of Dumfriescampus. Can you talk to us about that?

Marion Hersh: Glasgow Universityhas a campus at Dumfries and Galloway. Itis very important to the local community, which is rural, and it had a lot of working-class and disabled students. A few yearsago, the management proposed closingit. There was a campaign of opposition. I joined the IWW at this point, as it seemedthat IWW was taking more action than theUniversity and College Union. Eventually,management backed down. This was animportant victory. However, managementhas continued to target the campus.

AF: Ben, you teach political and socialphilosophy in this university. I know youteach about anarchism and feel the ne-cessity to talk about social, class-struggleanarchism. Are there kinds of anarchism which are not social?

Benjamin Franks: Traditionally you get so-called ana rcho- capitalis tsand anarchist-communists, both beingcalled anarchists. Social anarchists areconcerned with hierarchy, the inequali-ties in economic power and their socialstructures which anarcho-capitalists areperfectly happy with. There are differentconstellations of anarchism, some of which

are more individualist, some of which tendtowards socialism. One of the principlesof social anarchism is that the individualis in part socially constructed. So, to beonly concerned with our own liberation,our own happiness, our own living as purelifestyle is insuf cient for social anarchists.Its missing our necessary, dependent con-nectedness to others. The laws of capitalis a form of exploitation and oppression.If we want to live a more full lled, satisfy -ing life, we have to oppose these forms ofoppression, in mutual solidarity. And thisis class struggle.

All interviews conducted by Fabien Delmotte.

Continued from 1 Af ter 15 of us pic ke ted for about

20 minutes at least 30 Cambridge copsshowed up with a profusion of police vehi-cles including several wagons. Insomniasmanager told them we were blocking thesidewalk, which was completely untrue.The cops demanded we shut down ourpublic address (PA) system, which wedid, then tried to force us off the sidewalkin front of the store, to an area fartheraway which would neutralize our protest. When the police began shoving us, FWJason Freedman objected. At least fourcops jumped on him, hitting him in theface and throwing him on the trunk of a

car and then on the ground. They pinned

him partially under a car, injuring his arm;Jasons face was covered with blood. Whenthey nally dragged him away to a wagon,many of us went to ba il him out. The copsshut down our legal picket, protectingand serving private property as usual. FWJason was charged with several offensesincluding assaulting a cop, although theonly blows were struck by the cops againstJason.

The Boston IWW refuses to be intimi-dated and we have since picketed a localstore once again, with legal observers inattendance and no harassment or arrests.Meanwhile the National Labor RelationsBoard (NLRB) issued a complaint against

the company on Nov. 29 for illegally termi-

nating workers after they engaged in con-certed activity for the purpose of collective bargaining. The NLRB has instructed thecompany to reinstate workers and provide back pay. So far Insomnia has refused, andthe labor board has set a hearing date, which may lead to a trial of the company. After images of the police assault on Jason went up on our Boston IWW blog, we gotthousands of hits over the next few days. We spread the story widely among stu-dents at Harvard and Boston University.The Boston IWW believes Insomnias ap-parent marketing strategy of allowing thestudent-friendly company to be linkedto police brutality is not so well-advised.

We will continue to expose their union

busting and their ongoing failure to do somuch as pay workers the minimum wage.Our strike/organizing campaign fund hasraised over $3,000 which has been a hugehelp to our struggle. Service EmployeesInternational Union (SEIU) Local 509recently decided to add another $1,000to our organizing fund in a magni centdisplay of solidarity. Meanwhile, members of our branch have developed neworganizing skills that will assist us in thisorganizing drive and future drives to fol-low. Weve raised the IWW banner higherthan its been in Boston in a long time, andservice sector employees at Insomnia andelsewhere are being attracted to the union.

The struggle continues!

Police Brutality At IWW Picket In Boston

Beyond Thatcher: Militant Testimonies On Miners StrugglesAnd British Syndicalism From Yesterday And Today

Pizza Hut picket in Shef ed, 2012. Photo: Tristan Metcalfe


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Organizing

All In A Days Work: Life And Labor In The Day Labor Indu

By Everett Martinez Whether it means the arduous toil of

building a house or the technical know-how required to unclog a home septicsystem, day labor is the catch-all termfor an industry de ned by its instability,

unreliability and illegality for those who work in it. A thick veil of myths, misinfor-mation and racism distorts the publicsunderstanding of day labor and inhibitthe ability of labor organizers to extendsolidarity to this alarmingly vulnerablesegment of the working class.

I work for a small construction com-pany in northern New Jersey. Both thecompany I work for and the companies we nd ourselves partnering withwhoseareas of work cover everything from con-struction to logging, landscaping, plumb-ing, etc.use day labor as their main, ifnot only, source of labor. This article isintended to share my observations on thenature of work in the day labor industry,the relationship between laborers andtheir employers, and the possibilities forhelping laborers to organize themselves.Hopefully this information will enable usas comrades of day laborers to providethem with the solidarity and working-classunity they deserve.

The Working Day Perhaps the most pervasive myth

about day labor is that a laborer works fordifferent employers every day. We tend toimagine day laborers as waiting outside ofHome Depot for an employer who picks up whoever happens to be standing outside atthe time. In my experience, nothing has been fur ther from the truth: most labor-ers are employed by the same employerconsistently, often working for the sameone for years at a time.

Employment occurs on a job-by-job basis. A laborer and an employer will be incontact with each other, and the employer will contact the laborer whenever work isneeded. As the term suggests, the worker isemployed by day; at the end of one work-ing day, the employer will tell the worker to be at the employers shop, or the employer will arrange a certain mee ting place at acertain time the next day. Laborers arepaid in cash at the end of each dayin myexperience, laborers are paid around $10to $12 per hour.

John Smith Plumbing Company, forinstanceour obviously ctitious com -

panywill get a call to unclog a familysdrain. In turn, the owner of John SmithPlumbing will call the laborer(s) he em-ploys and arrange a time and place to pickthem up. The employer drives the laborersto the job and work begins.

The main buyers of day labor are small businesses, which are most of the timeowned and operated by a single person.John Smith Plumbing is owned by JohnSmith, who is the companys only perma-nent member. He is the president, trea-surer, advertiser and hiring department.He owns all of the plumbing equipmentas his personal property, handles all ofthe advertising and networking, and ingeneral undertakes all the administrativefunctions of the company.

From the standpoint ofthe law, John Smith is self-employed. He does not reporthis day laborers as employees.Thus, even though theyre em-ployed by the same employerevery day, just as someone who works at Dunkin Donutsis employed by Dunkin Do-nuts every day, laborers em-ployed by John Smith enjoyno long-term bene ts. Thereis no paid time off availableto accrue after a certain pe-riod of employment, no heal

Industrial Worker - Issue #1762, January/February 2014

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