Fightback formations are emerging

Scan page 10

One important symptom of the new tions Caucus of the United Automobile mood among organized workers was the Workers (UAW). Tucker recently chalelection of Ron Carey to the Teamsters lenged UAW president and hardened union presidency. Carey, who was an business union bureaucrat Owen Bieber underdog, ran on a platform of no con- for the UAW's top spot. And although cessions to the employers and he lost the election, Tucker and New democratic reforms within the union. Directions represent a rebellious trend in While it is too soon to judge the poli- the UAW membership, which has cies and mettle of the newly elected dropped from 1.4 million in 1974 to Carey leadership of the Teamsters, the 930,000 today. new leadership's capacity to lead the Tucker has spent most of the past 20 ranks in the kind of struggle necessary years as a union staffer. He supports a to reverse the trend of defeats will be caucus platform that includes planks on The Carey victory should not be lective bargaining," organizing the underestimated. The door is opened wider unorganized and labor solidarity, not to than ever for democratic currents to mention talk of considering "independent wrest control of the still bureaucratically political action." controlled local and regional Teamster With the bitter taste of the Caterpillar units. This will not be an automatic defeat still in their mouths, and the process, nor will it be accomplished by knowledge that the big three automakers directives from the top. As in the past, will try to win the same concessions in it will require a class-struggle leadership upcoming contract negotiations, the prepared to mobilize the angry ranks UAW rank and file will be increasingly against the bosses in mass confronta- receptive to the ideas advocated by New Another union reform movement is cally a reform movement and not a class led by Jerry Tucker of the New Direc- struggle left wing.

SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 1992 Teamsters' Ron Carey tested in the coming months. tions in the best labor traditions. Autoworkers' Jerry Tucker union democracy, "more equitable colDirections, which is, at this stage, basisecurity, and wages were their central concers.

One of the IAM locals involved in the polling was based in a defense plant. The plant's relation to a section of the defense industry facing cutbacks led 73 percent of the 256 members who responded to list "job security" as their main concern. This was usually placed a high second by other locals.

In response to the question, "What kind of job is labor doing in the field of political action?", 71.1 percent of this defense plant local responded, "A poor job" or "A very poor job."

In response to the question, "Who best represents the interests of working people?", 14 of the 15 locals recorded majority votes for the category "neither party." The choice included the categories "Democrats" and "Republicans," as well as "neither party."

All but two locals (representing postal workers) answered "yes" in the majority to the question, "Do both parties care more about big business than they do about working people?" Eighty-two percent of the defense-plant local also said, "yes."

Finally, nine of 15 unions registered majority "yes" votes to the question, "Is is time to build a new party for working people independent of the Democratic and Republican Parties?"

Three union staff units were surveyed. Not unexpectedly, they ended up on the opposite end of the rank-and-file votes in relation to virtually every issue surveyed. Only 25 percent of the 56 full-time OCAW staff surveyed, for example, agreed with the proposition that it's time for labor to build a new and independent party of working people, as opposed to 52.8 percent of the OCAW rank and file.

State of the fightback There is a general decline in the level of confidence in capitalism among U.S. workers, including a rising level of fear and anxiety about the future, increasing uncertainty about the permanency of employment, about ability to pay bills, about mounting worker indebtedness to banks and credit card outfits, and generalized skepticism about the future. however, has yet to be matched by even the beginnings of a concerted tightback.

During the past decade, there has been an overall retreat of the working class as a whole-and the unionized sector in particular—in the face of the employer offensive. With a few notable exceptions, the retreat occurred without a fightback.

Workers, stunned by the attacks, were at the same time cautious about entering the field of struggle-especially when it appeared there was still room to retreat and survive. But this "room" has narrowed considerably in the past period, as the ruling class-despite carefully calculated efforts to avoid big confrontations with the major industrial centers of working class power-is compelled to attempt to raise its rate of profits by further reducing the general standard of living.

The idea that concessions could be recouped in the future-perhaps with the next upturn—-or that the decline in wages and working conditions could be absorbed with perhaps a modest extension of the work day, a bit more overtime, working a few more days, a profit-sharing plan, or perhaps the additional income of a spouse or other member of the family unit all tended to militate against an immediate The decades-long relative stability of world capitalism, albeit marked as it was in several countries of Europe by occasional outbursts of working class struggle, tended to dampen the prospects for revolutionary socialists in the imperialist centers and in the United States in particular.

It appears that this period of relative stability is coming to a close. The capitalist margins for manipulation of the economy to postpone major confrontations with decisive industrial sectors of the working class have narrowed considerably.

Significantly, the hard-nose approach of the Caterpillar Corp. to the striking United Auto Worker (UAW) members last April, is one important sign that the U.S. rulers are preparing for a showdown with the still-powerful unions based in industry.

And the fact that the UAW misleadership capitulated to Caterpillar, when the employer threatened to hire replacement workers, is another confirmation that a