Mixed results for S.F. janitors
1985 1985-07Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 7 →
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ranks, on the one hand, and their political weakness due to their reliance on the Democratic Party, on the other.
"We must stick together"
Three months ago, the Building Owners indicated that they were out to break the union. They refused to negotiate and publicly threatened to hire 2000 scabs to break any possible strike.
The membership of Local 87, however, had other ideas. Correctly assessing that the survival of the union was at stake, Local 87 prepared for the contract deadline over six months in advance.
Local 87 is unique in that it is truly a multinational union. The majority of its members are either Latino, Asian, or Arab.
On a week dy basis the membership conducted me :etings and issued leaflets in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic. The message was loud and clear: "Either we stick together and fight for our jobs, or we accept their proposals and lose our jobs or take big pay cuts."
Preparations included organizing an "action committee" to enforce the contract, a food committee, a media training committee and, most importantly, a picket captain training committee. The need for well-organized, massive, and militant picketlines was stressed. Attendance at planning meetings was deemed mandatory.
On May 30, over 2000 bers held a rally, at which striking United Airline pilots spoke. They then marched through downtown San Francisco to the BOMA offices. The week before, over 3000 members voted unanimously to prevent scabs from crossing the picketlines "by any means necessary."
The most important ingredient to winning this struggle-solidarity—was solicited and received by Local 87 from other unions. The Teamsters and Building Trades unions promised not to cross the janitors' picketlines, which would within the ranks of the labor officialdom that labor's declining influence is the result of their having turned their backs on their natural allies in the period after the end of World War II.
Kirkland's tour is an indication of an increased determination to reestablish the labor bureaucracy as a broker for all the victims of capitalism. In this way he what the members were prepared to fight against in the streets, they were forced to concede in the political corridors of city hall without "firing a shot."
The lesson to be learned is twofold: Local 87, through its preparation, mobilization, and solidarity, sent a message to BOMA and the city administration that the employers would pay a heavy price if they attempted to break the union. This local demonstrated the potential power of working people to defend their interests. By preparing for a fight, it prevented the worst.
Because the political flank of the working class is exposed by its reliance on "friends of labor,' its efforts at preparing defenses against the onslaught of the employers are outflanked.
Surely, these lessons will make a deep impression on working people.
hopes to cut a new deal with the Democratic Party.
But it is a dangerous game for the labor bureaucracy to play. Building a bloc of all victims of capitalism to wheedle concessions from the Democrats could set in motion forces that cannot be contained within the Democratic Party framework.