Trade union report to the Socialist Action convention

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SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 2016 9 Below are major portions of the trade-union report that Bill Onasch presented to the Socialist Action Na­ tional Convention on Aug. 20 in Kansas City, Mo.

We’re gathered here in the hometown—or at least home metropolitan area—of James P. Cannon. It’s common to personify important historical trends. Without a trace of hero worship, we consider our­ selves to be in continuity with the Cannon current es­ tablished first in the Communist Party, and later as a founder of American Trotskyism, and still later play­ ing a prominent role in launching our world party, the Fourth International.

In addition to these programmatic and organiza­ tional landmarks, Cannon, who began his service in the workers movement as a self-described foot-loose organizer in the IWW, knew a thing or two about unions. He considered our work in the only class-based mass organizations in this country to be es­ sential to building a party primarily proletarian in composition, leadership, and orientation—a transi­ tion belt bringing our transitional program in to liv­ ing day-to-day struggles.

But I understand that my task this morning is not biographical. It is a supplemental report to the Politi­ cal Resolution about the state of the unions and our work in them today.

Younger comrades have mostly seen a labor move­ ment in decline, if not crisis. We are constantly re­ minded that union membership numbers and den­ sity have plummeted. There are fewer strikes, and strike victories have become as rare as steak tartare. As we have noted, although the union bureaucracy is far from monolithic, the mainstream seeks “partner­ ship” with the bosses and doesn’t hesitate to sell out the next generation through tiered give-backs.

But this is not the first time American unions have faced such a dismal conjuncture. Certainly, conditions were no better during the Depression year of 1934 when Minneapolis Trotskyists led what was aptly ti­ tled in an excellent film “Labor’s Turning Point”—the great Teamsters strikes well chronicled in books by Farrell Dobbs, and new material recently published by Cannon’s biographer, the Canadian socialist Brian Palmer.

We don’t see anything so imminently transforming today. But a Socialist Action National Committee dis­ cussion last September did note some promising stir­ rings and decided to expand coverage of labor actions in our press. Even more has happened since. For 15 and a union!

Perhaps the most promising development came from a most unexpected source—the Service Em­ ployees International Union. Andy Stern would have been my pick for most loathsome top union bureau­ crat during his reign at SEIU for far more reasons than I have time to enumerate. They include sweetheart deals that the Mob would envy. He also engineered an unprincipled split in the AFL-CIO, then headed by his predecessor and mentor. But then Andy retired, with an adequate pension, in order to serve President Obama on a blue-ribbon commission tasked to slash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—a betrayal that failed only because congressional Republicans wouldn’t touch anything coming from Obama.

Even before that failed attempted back-stabbing, Stern was dissed by the SEIU executive board he could no longer bully. They rejected his designated successor and instead replaced him with Mary Kay Henry. It turned out that sister Henry was a bit of a throw-back to what was once a bigger current in movement politics—a Catholic radical. She’s a great admirer of Pope Francis, who throws pizza parties for the homeless and speaks out on climate change. But she diverged from Church doctrine by becoming a founder of SEIU’s Lavender Caucus, advocating the interests of LGBT workers.

For several years, SEIU has promoted a mass move­ ment of fast-food workers around the demand for a $15 minimum wage—“15 and a union.” Not since the CIO upsurge in the 1930s has a major union paid any attention to the working poor. To their credit, SEIU went all in, and has spent tens of millions of dollars and countless hours of staff time on this effort. The movement has grown far beyond anyone’s expecta­ tions. Along the way, other groups of low-wage work­ ers—home care, airport service, child care, even ad­ junct college professors—have been embraced.

Last weekend saw a new milestone in the progress of the movement for 15 and a union with the Rich­ mond, Va., convention and mass march involving thousands from around the country. Though work­ ers of all colors are involved, African Americans are clearly the majority, with a strong representation of Latino workers as well. The Richmond events raised slogans of the fledgling Black Lives Matter movement and the demands of immigrant workers.

SEIU is also one of the unions most active around combating climate change. Others include National Nurses United, UNITE HERE, UE, and the Amalgam­ ated Transit Union. Most are affiliated with the Labor Network for Sustainability and/or the global Trade Unions for Energy Democracy. Both of those coali­ tions are strong advocates of Just Transition, and the TUED calls for socializing all energy and restructur­ ing and operating the industries under worker man­ agement.

Last September, at the time of our discussion in So­ cialist Action’s National Committee, the UAW was in the midst of negotiating national contracts with the Big Three automakers, covering 140,000 workers. Back in the day, this bargaining helped set a pattern for improvements for other industrial workers. But, especially since the transformative 2007 sell-out agreements, they have been utilized by the bosses to secure givebacks from nearly all unions.

Last year had some unpleasant surprises for the bureaucrats and their management “partners.” They had picked Fiat-Chrysler—the weakest of the three— for the lead negotiations. For the first time in decades, however, a tentative agreement recommended by the bureaucracy was rejected by Chrysler workers. This further emboldened the ranks at GM and Ford. The Kansas City-area Ford plant—the second biggest— voted to strike, ostensibly over local conditions.

Fiat agreed to rob Peter to pay Paul by rearranging the same money package, and with the use of scare tactics, their UAW partners managed to sell a second vote. More was won, including phasing out the hat­ ed divisive two-tier wage rate for full-time workers. Even then, the vote at Ford was razor thin. The lack of any substantial organized national union opposition allowed the bureaucracy to escape only bruised and embarrassed, but not bloody.

The Verizon strike I wrote in our paper about the Verizon strike: “Strikes are the most basic and common expressions of clashes between workers and employers. Cartoon­ ists often illustrate these fights as heavyweight box­ ers slugging it out in the ring. Using that metaphor, there are few knockouts. Most winners and losers are usually determined on points for the best punch­ es and most adept footwork. Against the pre-match odds, most of the bosses’ media, as well as union of­ ficials, and left observers, award the 39,000 Verizon workers who dared to strike the telecommunications giant a win on points.”

The unions had recognized that Verizon’s “brand” was vulnerable in the highly competitive nationwide wireless market. Not only were rallies of thousands of strikers and supporters held in the numerous ma­ jor cities in the strike’s East Coast jurisdiction; CWA, along with Jobs with Justice and other allies, held in­ formational pickets at Verizon retail stores across the country.

When another Socialist Action supporter and I showed up at a Kansas City solidarity event in a ma­ Sam Mastriano / Socialist Action jor shopping center we wore our Labor Party caps. This stimulated some good, friendly discussion with CWA Bernie Sanders supporters about the need for workers to have a party of our own.

When the White House finally reluctantly inter­ vened in the strike, with the Secretary of Labor per­ sonally mediating, it was mainly to save face for Ve­ rizon. Both Clinton and Sanders felt obliged to make photo-op appearances on the picket lines. The old taboo against major strikes in a presidential election year was successfully defied.

The final deal was not completely concession-free. The unions had agreed before the strike to contrib­ ute more toward their health insurance. But they beat back most of the onerous demands in the com­ pany’s last, best final offer. The company dropped the demand for technicians to accept out-of-town tem­ porary transfers for up to two months and pledged not to offshore more work and to instead create 1500 new call center jobs. A first contract beachhead in wireless retail stores was established. Verizon with­ drew their previously insisted pension cap, and a 10+ percent wage increase over the four-year con­ tract was won. That’s why it was the strikers—and all class-conscious workers—who were doing a victory dance at the end. n ... Puerto Rico (continued from page 4: “Haiti cholera outrage: UN guilty!”) up. The Connecticut branch of Socialist Ac­ tion will fly in a member of the Juventud Hos­ tosiana who has been active in the PROMESA protests for the one-day socialist conference at Central Connecticut State University on Oct. 22.

Melisa Vargas Echevarria, a feminist and cli­ mate justice activist from the Working Peo­ ples Party in Puerto Rico, will be on a quick tour of the Northeast United States. Echevar­ ria is the spokesperson and representative for the Puerto Rican activists camping in front of the U.S. Federal Court in San Juan, in response to PROMESA. She is also a member of a coalition that seeks the protection of the environment and opposes the privatization of the island’s beaches for the benefit of ho­ tel chains like Marriot and Hilton.

We urge all to stand in opposition to PROMESA and join us at these upcoming events: • A Dialogue with Melisa Vargas Echevar­ ria, Thursday, Sept. 15, 5:30 p.m., at Arise for Social Justice, 467 State St, Springfield, Mass. • Puerto Rican Parade, Sept. 18, assemble at 10 a.m., Main Street and Wason Ave (north end), Springfield, Mass. n

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website: http://socialistaction.ca In other words, it advocates a two-state, bantustantype “solution,” in which some Palestinians would be prisoners inside a weak, surrounded, and impover­