'Business as usual' at IAM convention But a Bay Area local bucks officials; calls for break from Democrats

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Given when IAM officials were in a position to win big gains for the nembership, like the 1989 Boeing strike, they settled for contracts that fell far short of what could have been won. 6 SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 1992 Montréal, Québec, between Sept. 28 and Oct. 6.

That cloud held the prospect of IAM members, like most other unionists, facing more layoffs, concessionary contracts, and a further decline in their standard of living. Meanwhile, the union hierarchy provided absolutely no alternative to their business-as-usual response to the capitalist offensive against workers.

It is just this lack of an effective response of the union bureaucracy that has permitted the bosses to run roughshod over workers in the United States and Canada. Of course, the IAM bureaucracy takes no responsibility at all for their role in pushing through sellout contracts over the past decade.

This year's convention delegates numbered only 1183, down 800 from the last convention four years ago. The machinists union has lost more than 300,000 members in the last decade, due to plant closures and massive layoffs. Needless to say, the mood of most delegates was somber at best.

Few, if any, delegates expected much to come from this convention, owing to the lack of any hint whatsoever of a new direction coming from the IAM officials. But many delegates expressed the deep felt need for a change if the union is to survive.

Support for Clinton

What the IAM officialdom dished out to the delegates as its solution to the current situation was anything but the prospect for change. In fact, its proposals expressed the union bureaucracy's complete lack of confidence in the independent power of workers.

IAM president George Kourpias gave the opening keynote address. It was the same old worn-out message: By electing Democratic Party presidential nominees Bill Clinton and Al Gore, workers would be the winners.

Most delegates did not believe this message. But since the union bureaucracy did not present them with any alternative, the delegates resigned themselves to what was perceived as the inevitable.

After more than two days of speaker after speaker, including AFL-CIO head Lane Kirkland, repeating this same feeble pro-Clinton message, the delegates began expressing their boredom to each other.

On the morning of the third day of the convention, as if no other political option existed, the IAM officials presented and passed their own Resolution No. 22 endorsing Clinton and Gore for president and vice president.

The vote for this treacherous resolution was about as enthusiastic as the vote for a typical union bureaucrat-endorsed concession contract would be when the members see there is no one providing real leadership who is willing to put up a fight.

A point must be made about the timing of the bureaucracy's resolution in support of the Democratic Party ticket. This resolution was the first to be brought before the convention, even though it was the 22nd to be submitted. All other resolutions were presented in order of submission later in the proceedings.

It turns out that a resolution calling for a break by labor from the Democratic and Republican Parties was submitted by local Lodge 565 of the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this year.

In a departure from normal procedure, this resolution did not get printed or distributed, as it should have, at the beginning of the convention.

According to Bill Leumer, president of Local 565: "The officials said they never received our resolutions, which I find strange because they received our proposed changes to the constitution that were sent at the same time as our resolutions. The proposed changes were printed and disIAM & AW Boeing Contract October 3, 1989 ACCEPT the Contract REJECT the Contract I VOTE TO REAFFIRM the Strike Vote of September 14. 1989 tributed on time." Leumer dryly noted that "the International has never failed to receive and promptly deposit our per-capita dues checks."

Local 565's resolution was resubmitted, and did get printed and distributed, but only after the Clinton endorsement was rammed through.

Time for a change The Local 565 resolution advocated that the IAM call for a national emergency labor congress to which elected delegates from all unions would be invited to attend and discuss the formation of an independent party of labor based on the unions.

It also called for labor to return to the militant labor policies of the 1930s and 1940s—that is, mass picket lines, marches, and demonstrations to combat the employers' assaults. A shorter workweek with no cut in pay was also proposed to combat unemployment.

The delegates from Local 565 succeeded in distributing a flyer titled, "Why We Need A Fight-Back Policy," in support of their labor party resolution on the morning of the third day. The flyer struck a responsive cord among many working member delegates.

On the other hand, the IAM full-time staffers hated it, and they went about badmouthing it to every delegate who would listen. It is worth citing some excerpts from this flyer:

"We urge all delegates to seriously consider and support the IAM Local Lodge 565 resolution that calls for a complete break with the present policies of appeasement and concessions that have only resulted in lowering our standard of living...

"Only a fight-back policy is capable of overcoming the demoralization of our ranks and restoring our membership's conputs the rich on fidence in their ability to successfully defend their interests....

"In the recent past we have heard all too often from officials in our own ranks that 'strikes are no longer effective.'....

"The strike is an ineffective weapon only when union officials permit mere token strikes, where pickets are reduced to an ineffectual few so that scabs are allowed to freely cross picket lines...That is the lesson of the Caterpillar defeat....

"Rather than influencing the Democratic Party, our union officials have become its captive. Having rejected the idea of a labor party, these officials have left themselves with nowhere else to go.

"Supporting and voting for Democrats or Republicans is like supporting your supervisor for shop steward."

Maneuvers cut short discussion Just as an aside, other bureaucratic maneuvers were employed by the IAM tops. For example, proposed constitutional changes were submitted by dozens of locals on dues restructuring, as well as two dues proposals from the Executive Council of the IAM.

Yet the Law Committee lumped together all the local lodge proposals, recommended their rejection, and moved the adoption of only the Executive Council's changesthe only ones that passed. This prompted delegate S.R. Anderson of Local 1125 to rise and state:

"The way I see this convention is I think it is really non-democratic, what's going on. The way your committee lumped those amendments together in one heap and only vote[d] on those that you want to."

Another bureaucratic maneuver at the convention was to repeatedly send supporters of the IAM top officialdom to the microphones to "call the question," effecty vote.

This prompted delegate M. Glaser of Local 516 to rise to object:

"The one thing that I have observed that has disturbed me is the frequency of directing business reps that have called for the question during debate.... I know that they are a minority here, but they have done the lion's share of calling for the question, and I think this is unhealthy."

During the course of the convention, Local 565 delegates met with the Resolution Committee to push for a recommendation of their local's Labor Party resolution when it came before the convention as a whole, only to be rebuffed The reasons the committee gave for rejection, according to Local 565 president Bill Leumer, were: "One, they said the delegates weren't ready for a labor party, and, two, it would not look good to pass this resolution, given that the IAM had just endorsed Clinton."

But on the fifth day, United Mine Workers' (UMWA) president Richard Trumka addressed the convention and said:

"In Canada working people have a voice of their own. It's called the New Democratic Party [Canada's labor party].

...And when it comes to political action, making sure working people in the United States have the strength we need, brothers and sisters, I sure wish that we had a political party-just one political party that would stand up for us the way the NDP stands up for our brothers and sisters here in Canada; and I say it's about time we started kicking some ass and getting us a party like that."

He got a standing ovation. So much for the delegates not being ready for the idea of a labor party!

Trumka, however, muted his call for getting a labor party started in the U.S. by advocating a vote for Clinton in this election.

On the seventh and final day of the IAM convention, Local 565's Labor Party resolution came before the full delegate body. The chair of the Resolutions Committee said about this resolution:

"The Committee can readily concur with virtually every whereas in the resolution. ...We feel, however, that this year, when Bill Clinton stands such an excellent chance of winning the presidency, is not the proper time to be considering formation of a labor party."

"Crisis will get worse"

Local 565 president Bill Leumer was the first to rise to speak for his local's proposal, stating:

"Brothers and sisters, the underlying assumption expressed at this convention is that with our so-called friends, the Democrats, in office, the economy will somehow get back on track, that further jobs won't be lost and we can all breathe a sigh of relief as business returns to normal.

"Yet all indicators point to the fact that the economic crisis will get worse and worse and thus will produce even bigger conflicts between workers and their employers.

"The employers are on a relentless campaign to bolster their competitive position and profits at our expense and no cooperative union-management partnership policy or reliance on the employer-dominated Democratic Party is going to change that.

"It is for that reason that we say that we must not sit back and rely on the DemoRepublican employer representatives. That false policy is an obstacle preventing us from mobilizing our ranks in our defense and can only weaken and paralyze us, causing us to suffer more and bigger (continued on next page)

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