Labor Briefing

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SOCIALIST ACTION MARCH 2017 3 A Clean Win For Janitors—It took six years of strikes and demonstrations, but the tenacity of 600 Twin Cities janitors, nearly all people of color, many of them immi­ grants, has secured a first union contract. It was a tripartite struggle. These members of SEIU Local 26 actually clean Big Box retail stores like Target, Best Buy and Ma­ cy’s. But their paychecks come from janito­ rial service companies contracted by these high profile merchants.

The pressure on these retailers, who didn’t like being associated with the ruth­ less exploitation by their contractors, is what finally won a first agreement that can win even better future gains.

This concludes the Good News section of this month’s Briefing.

Fake News—I received a gushing e-mail from Jobs with Justice about a “break­ through settlement” ending a 105-day strike at the Momentive Performance Ma­ terials chemical plant in Waterford, N.Y. I am always eager to find some upbeat la­ bor stories, so I did some digging. I found a comprehensive description of the deal, brokered by Democrat (and Working Fami­ lies Party) Governor Cuomo, in the Albany Times-Union, a paper often giving fair cov­ erage to unions.

That paper’s honest reporting made clear that the breakthrough benefited only the hedge fund vulture owners determined to make Momentive more attractive for a “flip” to another buyer. The final deal was even more onerous than what the workers in two IUE-CWA locals had overwhelm­ ingly rejected when they went on strike in November.

Retiree health insurance was eliminated and active worker benefits greatly reduced. A week of vacation time was lost. The sign­ ing bonus in lieu of a wage increase was further slashed from the pre-strike offer of $3000 to $1000. And the agreement did not guarantee reinstatement of 27 workers fired for “strike misconduct.” I would never second-guess work­ ers, most with families to support, who after going without pay for more than three months reluctantly decide it was time to go back to work with their union intact to fight again an­ other day. Even then, the vote in the main local of production workers was no slam dunk—317-211 to accept the Governor’s deal.

I don’t know enough about the union’s strategy and tactics to rush to judgment of a “sell-out.” Sometimes the relationship of class forces con­ founds even ably led unions. There is no dishonor in losing a bravely fought battle. But those who try to spin a dev­ astating defeat into a breakthrough victory deserve nothing but contempt. The Decline of the Strike—In last month’s Briefing, we looked at the annual report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that showed another decline in union mem­ bership and density numbers. This month we’ll deal with the BLS report on strikes. While there was actually a slight uptick in the number of strikes, strikers, and strike durations last year over 2015 numbers, it is unlikely this indicates a reversal of the decades-long decline in these stats. The big CWA-IBEW strike against Verizon is what swelled the 2016 figures.

However, there are some caveats to keep in mind in analyzing the downward trend. The BLS only counts strikes or lockouts of 1000 or more workers. The Momentive strike that began last year is one example of those too small to be counted.

A thousand was a more reasonable cutoff when these reports began in 1947. But private sector workplaces have been greatly reduced in size by technology and outsourcing. National contracts that once covered tens, even hundreds of thousands (Above) Boeing worker in N. Charleston. of workers are today rare, and the few re­ maining have shrunk drastically. Nor are short strikes by workers without a certified union—such as the Twin Cities janitors and thousands of fast-food workers—tallied. But these factors, which also contribut­ ed to union membership loss, don’t fully account for the much steeper decline in strikes that have plummeted over the last few decades. From 1967-76 there were 3321 major strikes. For 1987-96 that num­ ber was down to 404. In the just concluded 2007-16, there were only 143.

The Labor Briefing format is inadequate for an in-depth analysis of the factors lead­ ing to this paucity of strikes—the tradition­ al “ultimate” workers’ weapon in the class struggle in the workplace. It certainly in­ volves a dominant trend of the mainstream union bureaucracy to seek “partnership” with the boss. This leads to peaceful sur­ render of hard won past achievements in wages and conditions—especially through odious tiered wages and benefits affecting only new hires, undermining solidarity. Mic Smith / AP class-collaborationist union bureaucracy that abhors strikes also poisons organiz­ ing efforts—dramatically illustrated last month in the dismal failure of the IAM’s drive to organize Boeing’s runaway plant in North Charleston, South Carolina The final vote was 2097-731. The IAM vote total showed they lost the support of more than 700 workers who had signed union authorization cards that led to the Most early commentators speculated that the Machinist organizers had gone off halfcocked and didn’t do the necessary home visits and community outreach. That the election was premature is valid—but that decision was made several pay grades above the organizers on the scene. All indications show that the field or­ ganizers used all the best practices. They were assisted by the small but militant local labor movement—especially the predomi­ nantly African-American Longshore and ATU transit Locals. They spent an allowed $20,000 on television advertising. Of course, as could be expected, the company, and the area Chamber of Com­ merce, spent a lot more money warning that unions would block economic growth. Boeing used their “captive audience” meet­ ings with workers to not only slander the union that is a “partner” in Seattle and other places, but also exposing some inconve­ nient truths.

They revealed not only the rotten sell-out deals the International leaders had imposed at Harley-Davidson but also at Boeing in Seattle. There the top bureaucracy col­ laborated with Boeing and state politicians against the local union to force a contract reopener with enormous give-backs. Un­ doubtedly, many in South Carolina con­ cluded they didn’t need a union to negotiate cuts in wages and benefits. n Mike Elk, Michael Schreiber, and Adam Shils contributed to this month’s Briefing. If you have a story for this column, please contact [email protected].

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cies like schools, hospitals, health clinics, youth programs, and places of worship. It seems that in some instances the groups receiving funds may be unaware of the surveillance role they will be obligated to take, while in other cases the organizations are fronts in themselves.

One recipient of funding is Empower Peace, a program to bring young people in the Middle East in contact with American high school kids. Empower Peace is connected with the Rendon Group, a spin-doctor communications firm operating in at least 98 countries, often under U.S. auspices. Rendon has made millions off U.S. government contracts since 1991, when it was hired by the CIA to help “create the conditions for the removal of Hussein from power.” Before the Obama administration left office, the Depart­ ment of Homeland Security announced a $10 million round of grants, authorized by Congress in 2016 and set to be distributed in 2017. The announcement, coming one week before Trump’s inauguration, shows that the program had already advanced well beyond the three pilot cities. For ex­ ample, grants have been allocated to police departments in at least five cities. Muslim groups receiving money include the Muslim American Leadership Alliance and the Muslim Public Affairs Council Foundation, while several schools and universities also got funds.

We now have some details about how the Trump admin­ istration will continue these programs. Katharine Gorka, a Trump transition team member, told officials involved in DHS’s CVE program that the Trump administration was likely to rename the program “Countering Violent Jihad or