IWW Fights Wage Theft at Ottawa Hair Salon by Fellow Worker Hertani Membership Branch Is Now Fighting When Fellow Worker Brandon Wal- on the Picket Line

Official newspaper oF The Industrial Workers of the World

INDUSTRIALJanuary/February 2012 #1742 Vol. 109 No. 1 $2/ £2/ €2 WORKER

London IWW Special: FW Staughton Lynd Mr. Block: He Joins Cleaners Occupy Whose Ports? Reviews “Rebel the NYPD Guildhall 5 Our Ports! 6-7 Voices” 8 11 IWW Fights Wage Theft At Ottawa Hair Salon By Fellow Worker Hertani Membership Branch is now fighting When Fellow Worker Brandon Wal- on the picket line. lans quit his job along with Fellow Work- Fellow workers and community er Stephen Toth at Hype Unisex Salon allies held numerous pickets outside and Spa in Ottawa, Ontario, because he Hype on Bank Street throughout realized he wouldn’t get paid for several December 2011, highlighting the weeks’ worth of work, and started pick- business’ labor practices and the eting the business alone, his ex-boss told rising incidences of wage theft across him she would bring a friend of hers to Ontario and throughout the neigh- put an end to his one-man picket. borhood. They have put up with sev- Brandon did not have to wait much eral incidences of police intimidation longer before an aggressive police officer designed to disrupt their legal and showed up and started harassing him, constitutionally-protected picket line. writing him tickets for breaking a city Hype has been investigated and by-law before crumpling them up and fined by the city health inspectors stuffing them into the fellow worker’s for not following proper code, and jacket. When from across the street, an more recently has been put under an ally from the Canadian Union of Postal investigation by the Ontario Ministry Workers National building approached of Labour in response to complaints Brandon to offer him coffee, he was and the union pickets. The Ottawa- charged with obstruction of justice. This Outaouais IWW will continue to press was the beginning of the wage theft for the wages owed to Brandon and case that the Ottawa-Outaouais General Stephen through direct action. Wobblies picket Hype Unisex Salon and Spa on Dec. 7, 2011. Photo: Ottawa-Outaouais IWW German Wobblies Call For International Day Of Action Against Eurest ask Wobblies around the world ernment for €18.2 billion. Now they ask player in the global market. The corpo- to join their protest at the end of for €5 billion more in 2012 to survive. As ration makes its profits by taking over January and get in contact. a consequence of their merger, Commer- other companies and putting pressure on Eurest informed Fellow zbank is now cutting jobs and facilities. unions, wages and working conditions. As Worker Harald Stubbe that he will Therefore it was not surprising when they their figures seem to stagnate in Europe, be suspended on March 31, 2012 announced the closing of a small location Compass Group is growing in the U.S. because of what they call “opera- in Frankfurt where Harald and his fel- market. Their subsidiaries are: tional reasons.” That of course is low workers prepared daily meals for the - Chartwells Higher Education Dining a bad joke. FW Harald is going to staff. Surprisingly FW Stubbe shall be the Services, calling itself “the leading U.S. col- be sacked because he is a unionist, only one that is not being offered a new lege and university foodservice provider.” a delegate of an IWW shop branch job. Eurest is running an estimated 100 - Levy Restaurants, the market leader and an inconvenient shop steward canteens in the Frankfurt region. in sports and entertainment foodservice. who put an end to harrassement German Wobblies are not ignoring - Bon Appétit Management Company, and arbitrary power. Moreover he the fact that a profit-driven and ruthless providing foodservice for higher education has been elected to the national company like Eurest wants to get rid of our and corporate dining. shop steward body of Eurest—as fellow worker. They are taking it as a chal- - Crothall Services Group, healthcare the only independent candidate. lenge to intensify their organizing drive facilities management. (German labor law has a propor- towards Eurest and the canteen business. There are many other subsidiaries Photo: wobblies.de tional representation so that a It would be a big step forward if England, listed here: http://compass-usa.com/ Harald Stubbe protests Eurest in Eschborn. minority candidate has chances North America and other countries would Pages/Fact-Sheet.aspx. By H. Stuhlfauth to be elected). target Eurest as well. Both unionists and anti-war activists IWW Cologne, Germany It is true that Commerzbank is in deep Eurest belongs to the British contract should be interested in Compass. Compass German Wobblies are preparing for economic trouble after the financial crash food service and support services company Group’s Eurest Support Services (ESS) is an international day of action against of 2008 and after it swallowed its competi- Compass Group PLC, which is specialized feeding the U.S. troops in Iraq and other Commerzbank and their subcontractor tor Dresdner Bank in 2009. Commerzbank in manufactured meals and facility man- military personel. For more information, catering and canteen giant Eurest. They had to be bailed out by the German Gov- agement. Compass Group is an aggressive contact [email protected].

Industrial Worker Periodicals Postage PO Box 180195 IWW In Brisbane Is Making A Comeback! PO Box 180195 PAID By IWW Brisbane for a week to prevent ANZ agents from Chicago, IL 60618 Chicago, IL 60618, USA Chicago, IL Fellow Workers, breaking in a third time to change the and additional The IWW in Brisbane, Western locks. mailing offices ISSN 0019-8870 Australia, is reemerging after a couple of At the time of this writing, the tenant ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED years in slumber. Occupy Brisbane has has taken possession of the house and increased local interest in the IWW and has had her lease legally lodged with the brought people together. registrar. The owner is considering legal IWW members have recently been options to deal with ANZ. active within the Brisbane Solidarity We believe this was not an isolated Network to help start the Occupy Hous- event. Rather, it is a standard business ing campaign. This campaign began tactic that ANZ uses in its attempts because ANZ Bank has attempted to to intimidate mortgage holders out of illegally foreclose and take possession of their homes. Often it is isolated work- a number of houses in Brisbane. ers, lacking the capacity to understand In a house in the suburb of Clay- or challenge the process, who lose their field, ANZ lawyers issued illegal notices homes—not to mention the portion of to leave the property and have broken their lives they gave in wages to pay their into the house twice to change the locks, mortgages. physically preventing a tenant from For more information on the Bris- moving in. Brisbane Solidarity Network bane Solidarity Network, visit http:// and IWW members occupied the house www.solnet.co.nr. Page 2 • Industrial Worker • January/February 2012 Anniversary Of Marx’s “Capital” To the Editor, The anarchist writers I drifted toward were proletariat.” This year marks the 145th anniversary so anti-ideological as to provide little help. I think it’s high time we reappraise the of the publication of the first volume of And my thinking, which could have been legacy of Karl Marx to reflect, not simply Karl Marx’s monumental work “Capital.” so much clearer, suffered from putting the “poet of commodities” that writer When I first took an interest in so- off Marx. Slavoj Žižek says Wall Street would reduce cialist politics, I came from an anarchist For instance, most people know in- him to, but the revolutionary thinker he Letters Welcome! perspective, determined not to repeat the tuitively that capitalists, those upstanding was. I think it’s time we realize that we totalitarian mistakes of the Left’s past. I members of society we call “business lead- have not reached, as Francis Fukuyama Send your letters to: [email protected] saw engaging with Marx as a very slippery ers,” are parasites. Marx’s theory of sur- has said, “the end of history.” One day we with “Letter” in the subject. slope. Merely reading him would result in a plus value explains exactly how this is so. will live in a more equitable and democrat- Mailing Address: Bolshevized version of “The Santa Clause” His biographer Francis Wheen wrote, ic society and have Marx partly to thank. Industrial Worker, P.O. Box 23216, effect, turning me into a Stalinist over- “Not since Jesus Christ has an obscure Jon Hochschartner, Lake Placid Cadman Plaza Post Office, Brooklyn, NY night, developing a penchant for military pauper inspired such global devotion—or 11202-3216, United States. regalia and unfortunate facial hair. been so calamitously misinterpreted.” Noam Chomsky—who would be my The more I read Marx, the more I More On Joe Hill’s Ashes Get the Word Out! socialist Father, Son and Holy Ghost— believe this. That foreboding I had regard- Dear Fellow Workers,

Photo: iww.org IWW members, branches, job shops and was dismissive of the man, saying: “If the ing certain elements of his thought was To add to FW Lee’s article “Addendum other affiliated bodies can get the word field of social and historical and economic unfounded. On Joe Hill’s Ashes” (November IW, page out about their project, event, campaign analysis was so trivial that what somebody For instance, as I understand it, Marx’s 2): though I wasn’t part of the union when or protest each month in the Industrial wrote a hundred years ago could still be infamous phrase “dictatorship of the pro- this all took place, I had the distinct honor Worker. Send announcements to iw@ authoritative, you might as well talk about letariat” was an unfortunate rhetorical of meeting FW Utah Phillips several times iww.org. Much appreciated donations for some other topic. But as I understand choice. It carries a sense of totalitarianism and he confirmed that a pinch of Joe Hill’s the following sizes should be sent to: Marx, he constructed a somewhat inter- that it did not have in the 19th century. ashes were taped to the inside of his guitar. esting theory of a rather abstract model After all, Marx referred to the capitalist His dear friend and musical co-conspirator IWW GHQ, Post Office Box 180195, of 19th century capitalism.” republics of his time as “dictatorships FW Mark Ross also has a pinch taped to Chicago, IL 60618, United States. For too long, I took his word for it. of the bourgeoisie,” and, perhaps most the inside of his guitar. Father FW Bill Chomsky, I think, grew up in an era when tellingly, his close collaborator Frederick Bixel of the Catholic Workers told me that $12 for 1” tall, 1 column wide coherent structural critiques of capitalism Engels referred to the Paris Commune of some of Joe Hill’s ashes were spread over a $40 for 4” by 2 columns were common. So it was easy to think of 1871, which enjoyed universal suffrage, Catholic Worker farm in Centralia, Wash. $90 for a quarter page Marx as superfluous. I was not so lucky. as a model of the “dictatorship of the FW Eric Chase Industrial Worker IWW directory The Voice of Revolutionary Industrial Unionism Australia Québec Illinois Syracuse IWW: [email protected] Regional Organising Committee: P.O. Box 1866, Montreal GMB: cp 60124, Montréal, QC, H2J 4E1. Chicago GMB: 37 S Ashland Avenue, 60607. 312- Upstate NY GMB: P.O. Box 235, Albany 12201- Albany, WA 514-268-3394. [email protected] 638-9155. [email protected] 0235, 518-833-6853 or 518-861-5627. www. Organization Albany: 0423473807, [email protected] Central Ill GMB: 903 S. Elm, Champaign, IL, 61820. upstate-nyiww.org, secretary@upstate-ny-iww. Education Melbourne: P.O. Box 145, Moreland, VIC 3058. Europe 217-356-8247. David Johnson, del., unionyes@ org, Rochelle Semel, del., P.O. 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[email protected] 208-371-9752, [email protected] blogspot.com/ Smith, 414-573-4992. January/February 2012 • Industrial Worker • Page 3 Obama’s Raw Deal For Workers By Linda Averill create relatively few, temporary, private- Another gimmick is The American Jobs Act contains just sector construction jobs—and handsomely “work share,” where em- enough window dressing about “creating enrich for-profit contractors. ployees share jobs—and pay. jobs” to mask its real goal: making workers By contrast, during the Great De- The loss in earning power think it’s about creating jobs. The $447 pression, a powerful, independent labor will be partially covered by billion Obama proposal is only 60 percent movement compelled President Roosevelt unemployment benefits. the size of the 2009 stimulus, which wasn’t to fund a mass public works program. This is a far cry from the enough. More than half the package—$245 The plan put millions of unemployed to socialist demand to shorten billion—is tax cuts, primarily from Social work, on government payrolls at prevail- the standard workweek to Security. Supposedly, businesses will hire ing wages. A modern-day plan, on a much 30 hours with no cut in pay and consumers will buy if tax refunds larger scale, could easily be funded by tax- to create jobs. Unlike “work abound. But this strategy, used repeatedly ing corporate profits. share,” this demand gives in previous stimulus measures, has failed the rewards of labor’s ris- miserably—creating today’s epidemic of Cutting Unemployment Aid ing productivity to workers around 35 million under- or unemployed Another feature of the American Jobs rather than bosses. Added people. Act is “the most sweeping reforms to the up, Obama’s vision is a reci- From Egypt to Britain, unemployment Unemployment Insurance system in 40 pe for creating a permanent Graphic: consideronline.org and austerity is fueling mass strikes and years.” Republicans love this. States will be underclass of impoverished workers who money from the government’s general revolts. This is what the United States encouraged to “experiment” with their un- will be used to drag down living standards. fund, but that is not dedicated funding for needs. The uprising in Madison, Wis., employment programs. As models, Obama It’s incumbent upon organized labor the retirement safety net. So how does this and Occupy Wall Street are a good start, points to Georgia and North Carolina, two not to cover for, but to counter Obama’s plan jive with the congressional mandate but transforming anger into effectiveness “right to work for less” states. plans with a program to really help the to slice $3 trillion from government spend- requires developing concrete demands. A The Georgia Works program is de- unemployed. This includes calling for a ing? Good question. serious jobs program to create full employ- signed along principles used by former raise in the minimum wage to union scale, Rather than drain Social Security, the ment needs to top the agenda. President Bill Clinton to gut welfare. The with automatic cost-of-living adjustment Federal Strategic Plan’s ten-point program unemployed are sent to work for compa- (COLA) increases. Restoring affirmative calls for strengthening retirement security Enriching the Contractors nies, but rather than getting a paycheck, action, with the teeth of quotas, is also by raising Social Security benefits to cover AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka they get their aid and supposed on-the-job needed to address far higher unemploy- actual living costs. Imagine the millions and other top labor officials are promoting training. ment rates among African Americans, of jobs that would open if older workers the jobs bill as though it can “put America Clinton’s program was disastrous for Latinos, women, and other demographics could retire with a guaranteed income. back to work.” This is delusional—or de- poor families when the economy tanked that suffer discrimination. These mea- This could be funded in whole or in part by ceptive. The act dispenses $30 billion and good jobs dried up. Similarly, Georgia sures, in combination with an ambitious lifting the cap on payroll taxes for income to save 280,000 teaching jobs over ten Works is failing today. Only 16 percent public works program, would transform over $106,800—a giveaway to the rich. years—a fraction of the federal aid that of participants are hired by the company millions of low-wage jobs into living wage Obama’s bill contains a candy shop states will lose at year’s end. they train with, and Georgia suffers the employment and put upward pressure on of other goodies for businesses—to the The plan doesn’t restore the 580,000 eighth highest unemployment rate in the wages. tune of some $28 billion. The net effect state and local jobs lost since 2008. Nor United States. is to take government in the opposite does it offer continued emergency aid Obama’s package includes some More Tax Cuts at the Top direction from what is needed, and what to states, except for a measly $5 billion money to extend unemployment insurance The centerpiece of the act—more tax the majority of people want: to tax the 1 for firefighters and police. The upshot? to the long-term jobless, but the primary cuts for big business—further undermines percent. Restoring tax rates to pre-Reagan With most states swimming in red ink, goal is to shrink the rolls—whether or government’s ability to provide services era numbers, along with ending business the public sector will continue to shrink. not people find work. Measures include and public-sector jobs. Businesses get subsidies and loopholes and lowering Meanwhile, Obama’s federal deficit reduc- stepped-up job search requirements and the first $5 million of their Social Security rates for investment income, would raise tion blueprint eliminates 120,000 union reviews to assess eligibility. This translates payroll taxes cut in half, at a cost of $60 hundreds of billions of dollars for public- jobs at the U.S. Post Office. into pressuring workers to take starvation billion. sector jobs and human services. So would Unfortunately, this attack on a vital employment. A total payroll tax holiday is further redirecting military spending—now at 66 public service is not getting the protest it Obama proposes insurance to aid awarded to companies that hire new work- percent of discretionary federal spending. deserves. Instead, there’s hoopla over the workers who take pay cuts with new ers or provide raises. To soothe concerns There’s no lack of work that needs to job plan putting $70 billion into construc- employers. Who pays for the insurance? about Social Security being bankrupted, be done, and which could provide jobs. tion and repair of infrastructure. This will Good question. Obama claims he will offset the cost with What is lacking, so far, is a sustained mass IWW Constitution Preamble mobilization centered on working-class Join the IWW Today interests. It’s up to the people, especially The working class and the employing he IWW is a union for all workers, a union dedicated to organizing on the organized labor, to occupy the streets and class have nothing in common. There can job, in our industries and in our communities both to win better conditions capitals, raising hell for a full employment be no peace so long as hunger and want today and to build a world without bosses, a world in which production and program. Let’s get to work! are found among millions of working T distribution are organized by workers ourselves to meet the needs of the entire popu- people and the few, who make up the em- lation, not merely a handful of exploiters. This piece originally appeared in ploying class, have all the good things of We are the Industrial Workers of the World because we organize industrially – Freedom Socialist, Vol. 32, No. 6, Decem- life. Between these two classes a struggle that is to say, we organize all workers on the job into one union, rather than dividing must go on until the workers of the world ber 2011-January 2012. It was reprinted organize as a class, take possession of the workers by trade, so that we can pool our strength to fight the bosses together. with permission from the publisher. means of production, abolish the wage Since the IWW was founded in 1905, we have recognized the need to build a truly system, and live in harmony with the international union movement in order to confront the global power of the bosses earth. and in order to strengthen workers’ ability to stand in solidarity with our fellow We find that the centering of the man- workers no matter what part of the globe they happen to live on. Subscribe to the agement of industries into fewer and fewer We are a union open to all workers, whether or not the IWW happens to have Industrial Worker hands makes the trade unions unable to representation rights in your workplace. We organize the worker, not the job, recog- cope with the ever-growing power of the nizing that unionism is not about government certification or employer recognition employing class. The trade unions foster but about workers coming together to address our common concerns. Sometimes a state of affairs which allows one set of this means striking or signing a contract. Sometimes it means refusing to work with workers to be pitted against another set an unsafe machine or following the bosses’ orders so literally that nothing gets done. of workers in the same industry, thereby Sometimes it means agitating around particular issues or grievances in a specific helping defeat one another in wage wars. workplace, or across an industry. Moreover, the trade unions aid the employ- Because the IWW is a democratic, member-run union, decisions about what issues ing class to mislead the workers into the to address and what tactics to pursue are made by the workers directly involved. belief that the working class have interests in common with their employers. TO JOIN: Mail this form with a check or money order for initiation These conditions can be changed and and your first month’s dues to: IWW, Post Office Box 180195, Chicago, IL the interest of the working class upheld 60618, USA. only by an organization formed in such Initiation is the same as one month’s dues. Our dues are calculated a way that all its members in any one in- according to your income. If your monthly income is under $2000, dues dustry, or all industries if necessary, cease are $9 a month. If your monthly income is between $2000 and $3500, work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any department thereof, thus making an dues are $18 a month. If your monthly income is over $3500 a month, dues See what all the fuss is about! injury to one an injury to all. are $27 a month. Dues may vary outside of North America and in Regional Instead of the conservative motto, “A Organizing Committees (Australia, British Isles, German Language Area). 10 issues for: fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work,” we __I affirm that I am a worker, and that I am not an employer. • US $18 for individuals. must inscribe on our banner the revolu- • US $22 for institutions. tionary watchword, “Abolition of the wage __I agree to abide by the IWW constitution. • US $30 for internationals. system.” __I will study its principles and acquaint myself with its purposes. Name: ______It is the historic mission of the work- Name:______ing class to do away with capitalism. The Address:______army of production must be organized, Address:______not only for the everyday struggle with City, State, Post Code, Country:______State/Province:______capitalists, but also to carry on production Occupation:______Zip/PC______when capitalism shall have been over- thrown. By organizing industrially we are Phone:______Email:______Send to: PO Box 180195, forming the structure of the new society Amount Enclosed:______Chicago IL 60618 USA within the shell of the old. Membership includes a subscription to the Industrial Worker. Subscribe Today! Page 4 • Industrial Worker • January/February 2012 Building The IWW’s Program: From Workplace Grievances To Worker Control By Joel Schwartz the working class. There are two general categories of A few examples occur to me, but it will activity for our union. One is organiza- take a collective and concerted effort to fig- tional activity and the other is program- ure this out. One idea is to make your local matic activity. These two exist in a closely area a scab-free zone. Approach this with interwoven, and one could say dialectical, the use of propaganda, such as postering, relationship. flyering and posting videos on Youtube; By organizational activity I mean declaring a scab-free zone; and educating creating organizational structures, recruit- about the evils of scabbing. Then, back it ing members, holding meetings, dealing up—organize a disciplined force to keep with finances and the like. I include both scabs out of a struck workplace, with or organizational activities as a branch and without the consent of the striking union. organizational activities on the job. Another idea is to try to gain control By programmatic activities I mean over hiring at our workplaces. This is not those things that we use our organization such a far-fetched idea when you think for: winning demands from the boss; sup- about the practice in some trades of hir- porting the strikes and struggles of other ing out of the union hall. We may want to workers; and abolishing the wage system. switch that up and take control of hiring Each type of activ- from the shop floor rather ity is dependent on the than the union hall. We other. Without an organi- could think about ways to zation, no programmatic make this happen. activity can be carried A third possibility out. The larger, stronger, is to increase the links more cohesive the orga- between the work we do nization, the more it can and those affected by potentially accomplish. On the other hand, our work, and look to control our work’s maintaining an organization is impossible outcomes and purpose. For example, without programmatic purpose. If an or- in my job in the welfare system, I have ganization doesn’t accomplish anything sometimes connected with the Welfare members will eventually fall away and the Rights Committee to try to affect welfare organization will dissipate. Growth in each legislation. I could try to broaden that area of activity needs growth in the other. and organize coworkers into the effort. I think that we need to “grow” our pro- In education, connections could be made grammatic activities. I think that we need between educators and parents to start to go beyond addressing workplace issues to redesign the education we deliver. A like arbitrary firings, sexual harassment plan already under way in the Twin Cities, and low wages. These issues can serve to Minn.—to provide support to substitute motivate initial organizing drives, but I teachers—is a step in this direction. believe we need something more in order These specific ideas may or may not to sustain contract-less organizing over the have merit in themselves, but they start to longer term. After all, those are the types give the idea. If we aim to abolish the wage of issues that the business unions address system, we have to start to figure out the through contract-based organizing. If we steps to get there. We have ideas about a want to sustain a more radical vision, it general strike, but there’s a gulf between has to be reflected in our program as well where we are and a general strike, and a as our organization. gulf again between a general strike and We should explicitly start to analyze actually abolishing the wage system. how to build the bridge between address- One never knows for sure what is ing workplace grievances and the actual possible or what might be effective in the abolition of the wage system. Then we current moment. History will tell, but we need to figure out how start walking across can’t wait for the backward vision of his- that bridge. In general, that bridge will be tory. We need to develop a plan to move built from things that increase our power forward programmatically, as well as and control as a collective expression of organizationally. So You Get 50 Wobblies In A Room: A Call To Use General Conventions More Wisely By db proval, rejection, or amendments. If the I’m damn proud to be part of the proposals passed they would then be taken IWW and to see and hear how we have on as work by those committees, elected transformed our organization from one officers or unions represented. that is mostly about remembering the past I’m sitting here saying “damn.” Why to one about taking those ideas into our don’t we do things that way and why do workplaces and communities. current IWW conventions seem like such While we still have a long way to go in a waste of time? Why are all of us amazing lots of areas, I wanted to take this month people from all over spending our time to highlight an area that I think we need talking about the same constitutional to do more than better: minutia instead of doing we need a new approach. work, talking about the This area is our General most pressing issues at Conventions, the annual hand and meeting each meetings where we gather other and enjoying that as a body to make deci- company? sions about the future of Dare me to name some Graphic: Mike Konopacki our union. Fatefully, in more pressing issues than this effort I will be aided the ones covered at con- of them (we do exist! we are everywhere!), mate. We need to discuss what our strategy by history even older than vention. Dare yourself. I would you really spend your time combing is, how to break it down into work areas, the IWW itself, taken from the first of a mean do it, stop and think, what are the over the constitution or debating minor how to hold each other accountable, how to ten-volume history on U.S. labor by Eric most pressing issues for the IWW to figure changes to it? I mean, fine, a few of these win campaigns outside the National Labor Foner, “History of the Labor Movement in out in the present? Wobs would debate all night, but then why Relations Board, and what resources we the United States.” My similarly worrisome, if slightly can’t we call it a committee and actually need to make it possible. We need a theory One thing that struck me in reading better, experiences at the recent founding get a lot of work done rather than doing of building fighting branches and getting this volume that covers colonial begin- convention for the IWW Food and Retail things piecemeal, via email, sort of? And people the support they need to do so, and nings to the late 1800s was how national Workers makes me think it is important yes, we will have a kickass party. we need to learn how to build a mass base. labor conventions operated. Delegates that this issue be raised now, before more That said, what we really need to talk We need direct action and solidarity, edu- assemble with an agenda made up of the time is wasted, more new members be- about is how to organize more effectively, cation, organization and emancipation. core issues facing their organization(s). come disillusioned, and the most pressing how to coordinate our efforts, our social We can do better. We can do better Committees and chairs would be elected topics not talked about when the right media, how to get our stuff out there and at future conventions. Let’s do it for 2012 who would create work plans or proposals people are in the room. look appealing to the public. We need to even if it is the end of the world. on those issues. These plans or proposals Seriously, if you wanted to get together talk about how to understand and act in db would be excited to be contacted would be brought back to the body for ap- with your 25 favorite Wobblies, or the idea this fast-changing, exciting political cli- with feedback at [email protected]. January/February 2012 • Industrial Worker • Page 5 Wobbly News Shorts London IWW Cleaners Occupy Guildhall Organizing Grows In Madison, Wisconsin On Dec. 23, 2011, cleaners By 359762 began staging a sit-in at the Cor- The IWW in Madison, Wis. responded poration of London’s Guildhall to to Governor Walker’s union-busting legis- protest the inadequate response lation in true Wobbly fashion: they started of their employer—the contractor organizing. Members of the Madison Gen- Sodexo—over the abusive treat- eral Membership Branch began organizing ment of women employees. in a large call center in March 2011.This The cleaners, organized by particular shop is one of two call centers the IWW, say their action comes owned by a large telecommunications after a growing frustration with company. The company has a location in Sodexo (and their predecessor Madison and another in nearby Milwau- Ocean) following persistent kee. Both shops have a total of approxi- complaints regarding the con- mately 1,500 employees. The campaign, Graphic: madisoniub560.iww.org duct of certain members of the Photo: tmponline.org while still underground, has made steady management team at Guildhall. progress and has spawned the creation of and any attempt to move in by the CWA Repeatedly complaints have been raised terrified woman was under threat of real Industrial Union Branch (IUB) 560. would be seen as raiding. A mutual meet- with respect to varying degrees of the physical violence. With success comes new challenges ing between the IWW and the CWA was mistreatment especially towards women, The union has raised concerns and and IUB 560’s next challenge was re- held and IUB 560 members stood their including extremely abusive acts such complaints of the treatment of employees vealed a few days after it was chartered. A ground, refusing to take a “deal” offered as bullying, confinement of individuals, on enough previous occasions with the representative from the Communication by the CWA in exchange for helping them intimidation and assault. employers to warrant sufficient preven- Workers of America (CWA) contacted one organize. Due to efforts by certain mem- The cleaners say the last straw was an tative measures to safeguard the safety of the branch members in mid-October to bers of the ISO, it is unsure how long the incident involving a manager and one of of employees and to ensure no further ask for a meeting concerning the IWW’s CWA will remain off-stage. the union representatives on Nov. 21, 2011. mistreatment occurs. “In the summer, a organizing at this shop. After an initial In the wake of the CWA’s influence The rep Isabel Martin was followed to a mass meeting of cleaners had called for investigation it was discovered that a co- there are now two organizing groups in room in the basement of Guildhall, where the removal of those managers responsible worker had been contacted by the CWA the workplace. The largest one is made up she was blocked from leaving with the for mistreatment of workers,” said London representative and subsequently helped of Wobblies that are organizing and plan- door closed. Then it is alleged that a male IWW Regional Secretary Chris Ford. The to set up interest meetings between other ning job actions and petitions. The smaller supervisor subjected her to an outburst of IWW insists that the incident on Nov. 21 coworkers and the representative. To com- one is heavily influenced by two or three aggression and intimidating behavior. The could have been avoided if the concerns plicate matters, this particular coworker ISO members and it’s uncertain if they Corrections of workers were respected and acted upon is a member of the International Socialist are going to be able to do any organizing Everybody makes mistakes, and un- beforehand. One cleaner stated: “These big Organization (ISO) and had been made outside of trying to create a front “workers fortunately the IW made more mistakes companies need to put the safety of the aware of the IWW’s organizing in May committee” in an attempt to bring in CWA than usual in the December 2011 issue. workers before the reputation of the City 2011. This coworker showed no interest organizers. We apologize for the following: of London Corporation.” in helping the IWW to organize the shop; In order to speed up organizing and to - The title of “Strike At World’s Big- The union feels Sodexo has dragged however, when the CWA began showing build a solid core of resistance to the CWA gest Hotel” (pg. 1) was inaccurate. Accor their feet over this incident—they sent interest, the coworker found time to help or any other business union’s attempt to is the biggest hotel operator, not the two letters of complaint, but it took 20 schedule meetings for the CWA. After sev- co-opt our organizing, IUB 560 has writ- biggest hotel. days before Isabel Martin was formally eral weeks of talks and meetings between ten and mailed out letters to each branch - The title “A Visit With FW Joe Mon- interviewed. Her complaint of such a the two unions, the CWA decided to back asking for assistance of any kind for this son” (pg. 4) accidentally mis-named the serious matter has been treated as a mere out, for the time being. current campaign. We have the potential interviewee. The interview was with Jeff grievance. IUB 560 was fortunate to be able to to revitalize the labor movement in Wis- Monson, not Joe Monson. In response, a number of workers call on the help and influence of Wobblies consin and the nation. Success at such a - The IW’s holiday greeting on page refused to undertake their cleaning duties and folks from the broader labor move- large shop would reaffirm that the IWW is 12 read: “For a season without without and are staging a sit in at the reception of ment. General Secretary-Treasurer Joe capable of organizing any workplace and exploitation.” This was not intended as the Guildhall. They are demanding robust Tessone called and spoke with the CWA reposition the union from the fringes to a double negative, and we hope everyone action that can protect women workers representative, informing him that the the center of the labor movement. For a had a season without exploitation. from such mistreatment occurring again. IWW already had organizers in the shop union of 10,000 Wobblies! I Was Arrested In The Zuccotti Park Raid By Jon Hochschartner in anticipation of the police using the When the van Reportedly over 200 people were sound cannon parked across the street. was not being arrested when the New York Police De- Others packed up their gear and left. Those driven, which partment (NYPD) evicted Occupy Wall who stayed gathered at the center of the was most of Street from Zuccotti Park on Nov. 15, camp, in the kitchen. Approximately six the time we 2011. I was one of them. people locked themselves together with were inside the At around 1:00 a.m. hundreds of po- heavy bike locks around their necks. vehicle, there lice dressed in riot gear surrounded the Perhaps 100 people surrounded them, was no air con- area. One officer said through a bullhorn: sitting down and locking arms. They ditioning. “If you refuse to immediately remove shared cigarettes and gallows humor as Tightly your property from the park or refuse the police dismantled the surrounding packed with to leave the park, you will be subject to structures, slowly making their way toward ten men arrest.” the kitchen. dressed for Later in a press conference, Mayor Eventually the NYPD began pulling winter, the van Michael Bloomberg, the 12th richest people away from the sitting crowd one quickly became person in the country, said he ordered by one. At the last moment, when they unbearably hot. the eviction because the park repre- came to me, I unlocked arms with the man It felt like the Screenshot: globalpost.com sented a “health and fire-safety hazard beside me, and instead gripped his leg, kind of heat that kills pets left in unat- the cell could be mopped. to the protestors and the surrounding believing it would provide a stronger hold. tended cars in the summer. Sweating The next day, Nov. 16, dragged on community.” The police grabbed my feet and pulled me profusely, we yelled at the police outside slowly. One by one, we met with repre- Bloomberg’s concern over the health away from the kitchen, dragging the man to open the window to allow for venti- sentatives from the National Lawyers implications caused by a lack of cleanli- I was holding along with them. They were lation, but they ignored us. One of the Guild. As I understand it, I accepted a ness in the park was laughable in that unsuccessful in disconnecting us, so they more flexible protestors managed to step plea bargain that knocked my charges Zuccotti was no dirtier than the average began to slap my wrists and legs with ba- over his cuffed hands, bringing them to down simply to disorderly conduct. New York City street. Crowding may have tons. I was struck in the groin with what his front. After having done so, he did Other protestors decided to fight their been dangerous in an emergency situa- felt like a kick. I quickly lost my hold and the best he could to unzip our jackets charges, but I was unsure if I’d have tion, but this problem could have been an officer pinned my hand to the ground and untie the bandanas from our necks. money or time to return to the city for easily remedied by opening up a dialogue with his boot. Eventually we were brought into the a number of court dates. I was ordered with the protestors. The truth was that My backpack was cut from my body. station and processed. Charged with to pay a $120 fine and was released at the eviction was politically motivated—a My hands were bound behind me with trespassing, obstructing governmental approximately 8:00 p.m. transparent attempt to repress a growing plastic cuffs before I was pulled to my feet. administration and disorderly conduct, Ultimately, I think Bloomberg will movement for change. An officer picked up my glasses, which had I was put in a cell with approximately 40 regret ordering the eviction from Zuc- Threats of arrest caused some panic. been broken during the skirmish, and put other protestors. By chanting and pound- cotti Park. When one looks back on the Everyone expected the police to use the them on my face. I was led to the back of ing on the walls we acquired food and Occupy movement nationally, police kind of overwhelming, violent force re- a police van. medical attention. repression has only provided more fuel cently used against Occupy Oakland. In It was around 3:30 a.m. and I would Later that day, we were transferred to for the cause. Supporters multiplied his haste, one man accidentally triggered be in custody for approximately the Central Booking. It’s the kind of place that in the aftermath of Deputy Inspector a camp fire extinguisher, causing those next 40 hours. Though 1 Police Plaza, makes one interested in prison reform. Anthony Bologna’s pepper spraying of around him to believe the NYPD had the NYPD headquarters where many Graffiti painted with what appeared to be activists, the arrest of more than 700 deployed tear gas. Protestors overturned protestors were taken, is only a short fecal matter stained the walls. The lights marchers on the Brooklyn Bridge, and tables and tents to form barricades. They distance away from the park, it seemed were on all night. Besides a limited num- the hospitalization of protesting Iraq ripped apart clothes, making bandanas we were inside the van for close to an ber of benches, there was no place to sleep War veteran Scott Olsen. The eviction to protect against chemical agents. They hour. This was due to the large number but the floor. Breakfast was served at 1:00 from Zuccotti Park will only help grow stuffed their ears with shredded napkins of protestors being processed outside. a.m. and we were woken an hour later so this movement. Page 6 • Industrial Worker • January/February 2012 Special Whose Ports? Our Ports! Solidarity Unionism, Occupy, & The Moral Right Of The Working Class To Control The Workplace

Thousands of workers march on the Port of Oakland on Nov. 2, 2011. Photo: nebraskaworker.wordpress.com By Don M. and Brendan Carrell In this article we are going to define though all of this was legally protected, it ing about class, even if the terminology On Nov. 2, 2011, Occupy Oakland suc- what solidarity unionism is, as practiced was never morally right. of class is not used. This movement is a cessfully shut down the ports in Oakland by the IWW; make the argument that the Our ancestors understood this and response to a small minority of people hav- along with the approval and aid of Inter- entire working class has a moral right to acted with a determination and discipline ing a monopoly on the distribution of what national Longshore and Warehouse Union every workplace, especially those of stra- that was rooted in an understanding the working class has produced, and that (ILWU) Local 10, which has a contract tegic importance in the world economy; that we have a moral right to control our minority using their monopoly to unfairly with the port’s legal owners. This event discuss the 1934 Toledo Electric Auto-Lite workplaces. It was labor that provided influence our political and judicial system was a tremendous leap in consciousness strike as a historical example of solidarity the moral arguments for child labor laws, for their personal gains, to the detriment and something the U.S. working class has unionism; and finally discuss how this type minimum wage laws, the 40-hour work of everybody else. not done nor attempted to do in decades. of strategy could further the goals of the week, and other important material gains This immoral possession of society’s Shortly after this action, Occupy Oakland Occupy movement. for working people. By developing strat- collective production of value is the root passed another resolution for a West egies and tactics that were rooted in an of why the 99 percent are in the streets Coast port shutdown. Occupy movements What is Solidarity Unionism? understanding of their moral right to the protesting. In order to put pressure on in Portland, Long Beach, Seattle, Van- Solidarity unionism is simply the workplace, regardless of what the law or the ruling class we will need to be able to couver, Anchorage, Honolulu and Tokyo strategy of unionism where two or more officials in their unions said, they won directly challenge their monopoly on the responded. On Dec. 12, 2011, the Occupy workers at one workplace come together tremendous victories. value creating and distribution process. movements succeeded in shutting down and act in concert and fight together for This strategy worked and it is to the Where is this done? Simply, it’s done the ports completely or partially in most better wages, benefits, and more control on detriment of our entire society that the in the workplaces. Value is created when of those cities. However, this time around the work process itself. It does not require traditional labor movement no longer be- those of us in the working class come Occupy did not have the full support of the a union contract or even majority support lieves that the working class has a moral together and perform work. This process unions involved. to act together when using the solidarity right to the workplace. But Occupy Oak- starts with the extraction of raw materi- This action has sparked debate be- unionism model at the workplace. We sim- land has led the way in reimagining what als by workers, moves to a production or tween Occupy and the traditional labor ply act together because we work together, a labor movement might look like. Occupy processing facility where workers create a movement encompassed in the AFL-CIO. we care about each other, and we all belong Oakland acted with an understanding that commodity, then workers transport these The unions’ argument is that Occupy to the same class. We do this because we they all have a moral right to those ports, commodities to the market, and finally, did not have the right to shut down the have a moral right and obligation to stand even if this was an unconscious under- workers stock the shelves and sell the final workplaces (ports) where they did not up with and for our fellow workers regard- standing. When they decided to shut down product. work, and that this needed to be decided less of if others choose to do so. the port, they essentially transformed the During this entire process, from ex- democratically within the bureaucracy of This strategy of unionism was prac- strategy of solidarity unionism from an traction to the store, value is created by the ILWU. ticed by most working-class organizations individual workplace to their entire com- the working class and distributed by the We don’t buy this argument. The Oc- in the United States up until the 1940s, munity, and acted as a class—demonstrat- ruling class. A very small part of this value cupy movement is a reaction to the rul- and it got the goods. That is why we in the ing a glimpse of what working-class power is distributed in wages and benefits to the ing class monopolizing the distribution IWW hold dear this philosophy of union- looks like. workers who performed the labor for this of profits that are produced socially and ism. Our working-class ancestors success- If the Occupy movement is going to entire value creating process. A larger collectively by the world’s working class. fully practiced this model. However, today succeed in making real material gains, it part of this value is distributed into the They use these profits to buy the govern- the traditional labor movement has lost will have to develop a strategy to win that buying of more machinery, replacement ment and re-instill this class monopoly; its strength and vitality ever since they is rooted in an understanding that we have parts, and other operating costs. But the therefore, we must find strategic ways stopped abiding by this principle. a moral right to all workplaces and a moral largest part of this value is distributed into to disrupt the creation and movement of In the past, the 1 percent legally hired responsibility to implement that strategy. the bank accounts of the rich. This value- these profits as a class. We propose that our children in sweatshops, legally hired creating process has been going on for the Occupy movement adopt a strategy of us for wages below what we could use to The Working Class has a Moral Right generations, and the rich keep accumulat- class struggle known as “solidarity union- feed ourselves and our families, legally re- to Every Workplace ing more and more value while those of us ism,” and apply it to strategic points in the quired that we work any amount of hours If we look at the divisions set up by the who actually work for a living only receive economic system that we are all protesting they decided upon, and legally got away Occupy movement between the 99 percent a small amount of that value. against. with all kinds of workplace abuses. Even and the 1 percent, we are essentially talk- Continued on next page January/February 2012 • Industrial Worker • Page 7 Special ordered an injunc- class has a monopoly over the distribution tion to restrict picket- of value created by the working class, and ing, but with the help that this is contradictory to democracy. of the Unemployed What began as a movement centered League the strike was on income inequality has expanded to in- able to put as many clude housing inequality, student debt and as 6,000 protestors cultural alienation. Now the movement is before the plant’s growing further to include labor struggle gates, shutting down and class power. This development is not, the plant and render- as some have argued, an example of Oc- ing impossible any cupy straying from its original message—it attempt to actually is progressing logically from its original enforce the courts’ issue of income inequality. Oakland, by injunction order. acting on the premise that they have a After two days moral right to strategic workplaces in the of fierce fighting, the economy, has emerged as a leader in the operators made the Occupy movement. Their strategy, which judicious decision we argue is an extension of solidarity to shutter the plant. unionism from one workplace to the entire When the plant re- economy, will challenge the ruling class’ opened, manage- monopoly on the distribution of value. ment had agreed to The model of organization adopted recognize the AFL and developed by the Occupy move- as the employees’ ment complements the idea of solidar- collective bargain- ity unionism. The next challenge of the ing agent, introduced Occupy movement is to put into action a slight wage hike, the nice-sounding slogans about equality and rehired most of and solidarity. We have already seen a those who had gone promising beginning in the occupations of out with the strikers. foreclosed homes and port shutdowns. But Photo: nebraskaworker.wordpress.com 1934 Electric Auto-Lite Strike. Solidarity unionism the movement cannot stop there: if it seri- Continued from previous page Oakland not having the right to call for a got the goods. ously wants to change the inequalities that This immoral process is how we’ve shutdown of the port, they are wrong and As Philip Dray puts it in his book on it protests, Occupy must understand that come to where we are now. Now, there is Occupy Oakland had every moral right the history of American labor, “There is we have a moral right to the workplace, a 1 percent who probably never worked a to make and implement that decision. In Power in a Union”: engage directly in struggle with the ruling real job in their lives, have all the value fact, the failure of the union bureaucracy to “Local employers and authorities were class, and challenge their legal claim to distributed into their checking accounts, support such an action is not exemplary of stunned by what had taken place: here was distribute the value that we created. yachts, multiple homes, and other material a high-minded concern for the individual a fighting spirit and determination among A popular assembly like Occupy can- possessions that showcase their immoral longshoremen, but rather cowardice in the working class—striking workers allied not do this alone. It can engage in this type greed. The rest of us who actually work the face of ruling class intimidation. By with militant unemployed—winning with of struggle by drawing attention to labor (if we are lucky enough to have a job) are criticizing the Occupy movement for fa- strategy, bravado, and sheer strength and working class issues as a whole, as well struggling to pay our bills and find the cilitating direct action against the ruling of numbers. They had defied the entire as play an important part as protestors and time to spend with our family and friends. class, the ILWU leadership is shirking its arsenal of weapons that had historically picketers as evidenced by the Auto-Lite Within the current legal framework, own moral duty to act as the representa- ensured employer domination in such Strike of 1934. If the Occupy movement all of this is legally protected, but there tives of the working class. disputes—the courts, police, hired thugs, can learn from examples like this and is nothing morally right about this entire Shutting down the ports caused dam- the militia, even the use of tear gas and transition from symbolic demonstrations value-making and distribution process. age to the port’s legal owners, and this bayonets.” into substantive, collective direct actions This entire legal framework is supported kind of strategy carried out on a larger They won because they started with as witnessed in Oakland, and the premise and strengthened by the politicians, scale at strategic workplaces throughout the premise that they all had a moral right we have a moral right to these workplaces, judges, lobbyists and the media that the 1 the country and the world would cause to that workplace and a moral obligation to then Occupy will be able to develop the percent buy with the profits from the value damage to the entire 1 percent—the “legal” shut down the factory, even with a minor- power to challenge the ruling class. that we, the workers, have created with owners of all the value we have created. ity of workers at the plant, until manage- We argue that when viewed in this our hard work. This entire process is de- We have a moral right to those workplaces ment ceded to their demands. Solidarity lens, the philosophy of solidarity unionism finitively immoral and it is the root cause and the value created by our labor. We unionism got the goods. is not a distraction from the issues raised of the economic mess we find ourselves in. need to challenge the legality of this value by the Occupy movement. It is rather a If the working class has a moral right creating and distribution process and as- Why Solidarity Unionism and strategy that lends both clarity of analysis to every workplace, and a moral right to sert our moral rights, as a class, to these Occupy? and a plan of action to the feeling of class the value created by our collective labor, workplaces. On the face of it, the philosophy of antagonism voiced by the movement. then what does that mean when it comes to solidarity unionism, with its focus on the If the Occupy movement is to succeed who has a right to engage in direct actions The 1934 Toledo Electric unity of the working class, seems incom- in any degree, it must develop not only a at strategic workplaces like a shutdown of Auto-Lite Strike patible with the broader ethic of unity model for democratic decision-making, a port? Do only the workers at a certain Applying the model of solidarity advocated by the Occupy movement. Yet but also a means for democratic struggle— workplace have the moral right to decide unionism at a single workplace with the this incompatibility is based only on ap- struggle that can transform slogans of so- what happens at a particular workplace? aid of a community and members of the pearance. The Occupy movement, con- cial equality into a platform for achieving Or do any and all workers have that moral working class who don’t actually work sciously or unconsciously, has begun a real change by, and for, the working class right? there has historical precedence. Our dialogue about class power within global as a whole. We would argue that since ports like working-class ancestors used solidarity society—and inevitably, given the material The new slogan, with the premise the ones in Oakland are the entry and unionism frequently in the past when the facts of class struggle, this dialogue will that we have a moral right to control all exit points for capital in this country and labor movement had strength, vitality, and develop naturally toward the expression of workplaces, will be “Whose streets? Our hold a privileged and strategic position power. One of the most famous examples class contradictions in our economy. At the streets! Whose schools? Our schools! within the economy, then we all have a of solidarity unionism used in the frame- heart of the Occupy movement is an ethi- Whose trucks? Our trucks! Whose trains? moral right to that workplace. Since we work that we are arguing for is the Toledo cal and moral argument—that the ruling Our trains! Whose ports? Our ports!” all have a moral right to that workplace, Electric Auto-Lite Strike of 1934. then it is absolutely morally right for the Electric Auto-Lite was one of working class to decide and apply force to the largest makers of automobile shut down the port. That port in Oakland parts in a city that was home to legally belongs to a private company, but it many independent parts sup- morally and functionally belongs to us all. pliers. When the depression hit The ILWU and its rank and file have Toledo, there were many layoffs a legal contract and a legal right to work and a cutback in hours and wag- there; they also have a moral right to that es for those who still had their workplace. But the ILWU and its rank and jobs. When an AFL union struck file aren’t the only members of the working Electric Auto-Lite in April 1934 class who have a moral right to those ports. over union recognition and un- All workers have a moral right to decide satisfactory wages, no more than what happens at that port. The importance half the plant’s workers stopped of the ports to the circulation of capital in work, allowing the company to our economy is undeniable. The actions continue operation with its loyal taken there affect not simply the workers employees and some replace- at each specific port, but also concretely ment workers. In sympathy, impact the material conditions of the employees at two neighboring working class in this country as a whole. factories—the Logan Gear Com- Given this fact, all workers not only have pany and the Bingham Stamping the moral right to control their operation, Company—had joined the strike, but a moral obligation to do so. but the real boost along the Regardless of what the ILWU leader- picket line came from the Lucas ship and other critics within the traditional County Unemployed League. labor movement may say about Occupy The ruling class’ courts Ruling class morality. Photo: nebraskaworker.wordpress.com Page 8 • Industrial Worker • January/February 2012 Industrial Worker Book Review IWW Anthology Teaches Valuable Lessons For Wobblies Kornbluh, Joyce L., ed. Rebel Voices: tation to the founding convention, dated to grasp the idea that workers should never Detroit, worked as a volunteer IWW or- An IWW Anthology. Oakland, CA: Jan. 2-4, 1905, signed by Bill Haywood, give up the opportunity to engage in direct ganizer for three years, and later became PM Press, 2011. Paperback, 397 pages, Mother Jones and Eugene Debs, among action when, where, and how they perceive a dissident local union president in the $27.95. others. The worker, so the letter declared, it to be appropriate. United Auto Workers (UAW). “sees his power of resistance broken by A second misconception has to do with Another gifted leader from below was By Staughton Lynd craft divisions.” These “outgrown” and the idea of sabotage and the black Sabby steelworker Ed Mann, whom my wife and The first words the reader of this “long-gone” divisions had been made ob- cat that became its logo. What the word I came to know intimately after we moved book will see are by IWW member and solete by modern machinery, the authors “sabotage” meant to Wobblies, Kornbluh to Youngstown, Ohio. After years of nur- Starbucks organizer Daniel Gross. At the continue. “Separation of craft from craft makes clear, was “striking on the job” or turing a rank-and-file caucus called the beginning of his preface to this new edition renders industrial and financial security “striking and staying in the shop.” Striking Rank and File Team (RAFT), Ed became of Joyce Kornbluh’s classic collection, first impossible. Union men scab upon union on the job could take a variety of forms. president of Local 1462 at the Brier Hill published in 1964, FW Daniel writes: “You men.” When workers mysteriously produce mill of Youngstown Sheet & Tube. He hold in your hands the most important Debs, whom we don’t ordinarily think only half of what they ordinarily produce retired when the mill was shut down and book ever written about the Industrial of as a spokesperson for the IWW, gave a during a given shift, such a slowdown is a became a leading spirit of the Workers Workers of the World.” speech in Chicago in No- form of what the Wobblies Solidarity Club of Youngstown. When we It’s true. Whatever you thought you vember 1905 in which he meant by sabotage. When identified ourselves at the beginning of knew about the founding convention of the offered precisely the same workers meticulously obey each meeting, Ed would say: “Ed Mann, IWW in 1905, the massacre of Wobblies rationale for the creation all the safety rules—rules member of the IWW.” Shortly before his on the Verona at Everett, Wash., or Joe of the organization and il- ordinarily disregarded in the death he explained: Hill’s thoughts while awaiting execution, lustrated that truth from interest of getting product “I like the Wobblies’ history: the Bill you will know more after encountering his own experience. “We out the door—that, too, is Haywood stuff, the Ludlow mine, the “Rebel Voices.” This is the most important insist that all the workers sabotage as originally un- Sacco-Vanzetti thing. I like their music. I book on the subject because in it, countless in the whole of any given derstood. When protesting like the things they were active in. rank-and-file Wobblies speak for them- plant shall belong to one bus drivers provided the “These folks believed that workers selves through the pamphlets, excerpts and the same union,” Debs usual service but declined should exercise power, instead of handing from IWW newspapers, cartoons, song declared. “I belonged to a to collect fares it was still it over to bureaucrats they elect, and let- sheets and other written sources brought craft union from the time another instance of the black ting the bureaucrats make the decisions. together at the Labadie collection in Ann I was 19 years of age,” he cat at work. When lumber The people have to live with the decisions.” Arbor, Mich. This is history from below, went on. He remembered Graphic: pmpress.org workers walked off the job Thus Ed Mann kept the faith with the created by the working men and women the evening that he had joined the Brother- together after the number of hours of Wobbly idea that what is needed is, in who made that history. hood of Locomotive Firemen, and the zeal work they considered appropriate, it was Kornbluh’s words, “not piecemeal reform I with which he had labored “to build it up.” sabotage without the use of imagined but revolutionary change.” To be a Wob- Apart from the sheer delight of im- But he had come to see that a single craft wooden shoes. The same was true in bly, this book affirms on every page, is to mersing oneself in the irreverent Wobbly union, even a federation of craft unions, 1935-1937, when Akron rubber workers entertain a profound vision and strategy of sub-culture, Kornbluh’s compilation re- was not enough, and so had undertaken and automobile workers in Flint, Mich., emancipation. Like participants in Occupy quires revision of several misconceptions to organize the American Railway Union. occupied the places where they worked Wall Street, these out-of-pocket rebels as to what the IWW was all about. First The employers, in response, showered rather than walking out of the plant. Such refused to be content with demanding this and most important, it is commonly said favors on the several craft brotherhoods sabotage had nothing to do with violence or that specific change. They demanded a that members of the IWW were opposed to in the knowledge that these craft unions or destruction of tools. new world. written collective bargaining agreements. protected them from the power that “we Indeed, a major surprise in the pages III This perception mistakes means for ends. Industrial Unionists” could exert. Refer- of “Rebel Voices” is to find some of the Finally, Kornbluh tells us that only The Wobblies were opposed to contractual ring to a specific lost strike in 1888, Debs most radical IWW organizers using the a year after the magnificent founding agreements that limited direct action and concluded: “A manager of a railroad who term “passive resistance.” Joseph Ettor, convention of 1905, “quarrels erupted in solidarity. At the time the organization can keep control of 15 percent of the old addressing textile strikers in Lawrence, a chaotic 1906 convention” leading to the came into being, most unions were craft or men can allow 85 per[cent] to go out Mass., said: withdrawal from the IWW of its strongest trade unions. That is, they did not include on strike and defeat them every time.” “As long as the workers keep their constituent union, the Western Federa- all workers at a given workplace, but only (This speech appears in “American Labor hands in their pockets, the capitalists tion of Miners. Following the repression those workers who practiced a specific Struggles and Law Histories,” ed. Kenneth cannot put theirs there. With passive of radicals during World War I there was, skill. Each craft bargained for a separate M. Casebeer, pg. 91-99). resistance, with the workers absolutely she also reports, “a serious schism in the contract with the employer, covering only As it happened, of course, the creation refusing to move, lying absolutely silent, IWW organization in 1924.” its own members. Thus in a steel mill, for of CIO industrial unions in the 1930s did they are more powerful than all the weap- Sadly, problems associated with example, there was not a single contract not offer workers the freedom to under- ons and instruments that the other side national conventions and similar gather- for “steelworkers” employed there. Rather, take direct action whenever they wished. has for attack.” ings of delegates seem to persist. IWW there were separate contracts for each of The very first collective bargaining agree- Wobbly organizer William Trautmann members are at home with local, impro- the skills involved in making steel. ments between the United Automobile advised striking workers to go back to work vised direct actions with longtime fellow The very existence of such contracts Workers and General Motors, and between and use “passive resistance.” workers. They are not in their element at tended to turn a workplace into a mosaic the Steel Workers Organizing Commit- Finally, it seems clear from these pages representative assemblies encased in a of different kinds of workers, each kind tee and U.S. Steel, in the early months of that the original Wobbly understanding myriad of procedural rules. bound by a specific written agreement. The 1937, gave away the right to strike for the of the “general strike” meant more than National organizations are difficult to termination dates of the contracts were duration of the contract. No law required folding arms. It meant taking over the live in without drifting toward scheming likely to differ. Even in the absence of ex- this. The officers of the new unions as well means of production and beginning pro- and manipulation destructive of comrade- press language limiting the right to strike, as the giant corporations with which they duction for use. In a speech in New York ship. I experienced my own version of a work stoppage initiated by one group negotiated feared the unrestricted direct later summarized in an IWW pamphlet, political post traumatic stress disorder in of workers was unlikely to be honored by action of the rank and file. Bill Haywood called the Paris Commune reaction to the disintegration of the Stu- members of different crafts. Readers who are “dual carders”—that of 1871 “the greatest general strike known dent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Overcoming the division between is, Wobblies who belong both to the IWW in modern history.” (SNCC) and Students for a Democratic members of different craft unions be- and to a conventional trade union—should II Society (SDS) at the end of the 1960s. longing to what the Wobblies called “The find this clarification helpful. Fellow work- Because the IWW itself was in a state Pre-convention caucusing, challenging American Separation of Labor” was the ers may find it difficult to understand why of chaos and decline from the 1920s until of credentials, hidden agendas, pressing main reason the IWW was created. This one should oppose written contracts as a recent times, the book’s account of the for repeated votes or votes at unexpected is made crystal clear by the letter of invi- matter of principle. They will find it easier years 1924-1964 is fragmentary. This times, interminable proposing of resolu- makes it all the more impressive that dur- tions, nit-picking each and every suggested ing those years the memory and mystique wording of anything, verbally abusing of the IWW continued powerfully to affect comrades who espouse a position differ- Subscribe to the Industrial Worker some of the most imaginative labor orga- ent from one’s own, all express an absence Subscribe or renew your Industrial Worker subscription. nizers in the country. of faith that we can make the road as we As I wrote in the introduction to a book walk it together. Give a gift that keeps your family or friends thinking. called “We Are All Leaders,” in the early These practices must stop. The stu- 1930s the formation of local industrial dents and workers who look to our activity Get 10 issues of working class news and views for: unions was often spearheaded by indi- as possible paradigms of a longed-for bet- • US $18 for individuals. vidual Wobblies or former Wobblies. Len ter way of doing things are often horrified • US $22 for library/institutions. DeCaux wrote that when his fellow CIO by what they see us actually do. We must • US $30 for international subscriptions. militants let down their hair, “it seemed exemplify what we say we believe. A set Name: ______that only the youngest had no background of words beloved by my wife and myself, of Wobbly associations.” initially formulated by a committee sup- Address:______Stan Weir, a lifelong rank-and-file portive of Polish Solidarity, read: City/State/Province:______radical whose writings have been collected “Start doing the things you think in a book called “Singlejack Solidarity,” should be done. Start being what you think Zip/Postal Code:______learned his unionism from Wobblies. society should become. Do you believe in Send this subscription form to: Blackie and Chips were the “1934 men” freedom of speech? Then speak freely. Do who taught him the lessons of the San you love the truth? Then tell it. Do you Industrial Worker Subscriptions, Francisco general strike in classes on believe in an open society? Then act in PO Box 180195, Chicago, IL 60618 USA shipboard. Likewise, John W. Anderson the open. Do you believe in a decent and jumped up on a car fender to become the humane society? Then behave decently chairperson of the 1933 Briggs strike in and humanely.” January/February 2012 • Industrial Worker • Page 9 Industrial Worker Book Review IW Interviews Wobbly Fiction Writer Lewis Shiner jumps at the opportunity to you set your story in Argentina because the old “Rip Hunter, Time Master” series, distance himself from his you think this country has the richest which they went for and he and I co-wrote. estranged wife and takes (non-totalitarian) socialist tradition, Our editor then asked me to pitch a series the position. Not long af- or is there a more prosaic explanation? that would bring computers into the DC ter arriving in Buenos Ai- universe. This was the late 1980s, when res, Rob’s interest in tango LS: There were a number of reasons for the internet was still DARPANET and dancing leads to his falling setting it in Argentina. The most immedi- the IBM PC was still the state of the art. in love with a younger stu- ate is that my girlfriend and I had traveled I was working as a programmer at dent dancer, a mysterious there several times because of our inter- the time, so with the help of some SF woman. Soon, the woman’s est in tango, so I felt like I knew my way fans who were on the bleeding edge of past comes back to haunt around. Also, Argentina’s so-called Dirty technology, we came up with a fantasy her, drawing Rob and their War of the 1970s was about as ugly as it computer that of course is now overshad- circle of friends into a vio- gets in terms of right-wing police-state owed by any average laptop. Actually lent confrontation between repression. Thirty-thousand people “dis- we got a lot of things right in terms of leftist urban guerillas and appeared,” the vast majority of them for no watching TV and movies on comput- the anti-communist thugs reason other than that they were academ- ers, HD TV aspect ratios, spyware, etc. of the old military junta. ics or intellectuals or unionists or knew The basic storyline involved a giant “Dark Tangos” handles somebody who was suspected of leaning multinational corporation called Digitron- the history of Latin Ameri- to the left. Plus there was the angle of ics World Industries. They had subverted can political strife in a ma- U.S. support for the dictatorship—Henry the work of their lead programmer, a guy ture and intelligent way. By Kissinger was a big fan, for example. One named Jack Marshall, who was usually virtue of the protagonist of the goals of the book was to help people portrayed wearing a circle-A t-shirt under (who is far from the ste- in this country understand why the United his sport coat. They’d pushed Marshall reotypical “ugly American” States is so hated and feared throughout out of the company, but because he was often found in popular Latin America. Finally, there was a news the only one who really understood the fiction), the reader gets a hook—trials of some of the henchmen from operating system, he would get called glimpse of what so many the junta were just starting during the in by customers with unusual prob- Photo: Orla Swift citizens of the so-called period when the book is set, 2006-2007. lems. In the course of the mini-series, FW Lewis Shiner proudly shows his red card. “third world’ have had to I don’t know that socialism is stronger he uncovers the insidious data-mining By David Feldmann endure at the hands of U.S.-supported in Argentina than in, say, Chile, where scheme that Digitronics is up to and Lewis Shiner is a writer’s writer. His dictators and tyrants. Lewis Shiner has Allende was actually elected as a social- confronts the executives in virtual reality. novels and short fiction have received given us another perceptive and sophis- ist, but certainly there’s a strong, proud So it’s your basic anarchist vs. big busi- critical acclaim and glowing approval ticated piece of fiction which deserves the leftist tradition throughout Latin America. ness plot, with some skate-punk edge— from fans for nearly three decades, during appreciation and popularity that inde- I have a short story called “The Death of he has a bunch of young hackers who which time he’s made a name for himself pendently published books rarely receive. Che Guevara”—an alternate history where function as his Baker Street Irregulars. in both the science fiction and mainstream the entirety of Latin America votes in DF: Over the years, you’ve come to be literary worlds. Increasingly, his work has David Feldman: Subterranean Press socialist governments in the early 1970s. identified as a radical fiction writer. Indeed, exhibited a strong sense of socially con- recently reissued your novels and short It all starts with Che bringing the revolu- quite a few of your characters are, to vary- scious and politically motivated themes. story collections in a uniform set of very tion to Argentina, where he was born. ing degrees, left-wing individuals. Please In the early 1980s, Shiner played a handsome trade paperback editions. Do explain your own relationship with radi- small but significant part in popularizing you prefer working with independent DF: How much of yourself is in the protag- cal politics and how this has affected your science fiction during the “cyberpunk” era publishers like Subterranean over publish- onist of “Dark Tangos,” Rob Cavenaugh? writings. Do you feel compelled to raise (along with William Gibson and Bruce ing giants like Doubleday and St. Martin’s class consciousness through your work? Sterling). Following his well-received Press? More generally, how has the pro- LS: A lot of the details are different— LS: I think this has become more debut novel, “Frontera” (1984), the tale liferation of the internet affected the mar- he’s younger than me, has a kid, is and more of a goal for me over the years. of an abandoned Mars colony, Shiner keting of your own work and the ability of not an artistic or particularly politi- Especially since I first began working on continued to release a great deal of short small publishers to survive or even thrive? cal person. He’s a better tango dancer “Black & White” in the late 1990s, I’ve felt stories to the reading masses. His follow- than I am. But I think he reacts to the strongly that I want to deal with social is- up novel, “Deserted Cities of the Heart” Lewis Shiner: With the big New York events of the novel the way I would, so I sues in my fiction. I don’t think we’ll get (1988), came at the end of a decade that houses there was always the dream that would say our personalities are similar. real political change in this country until saw a quick rise-and-fall popularity in so- the book would take off—if not to the we get cultural change—we have to move phisticated science and speculative fiction. bestseller list, at least get national media DF: To many people, the 1960s and 1970s away from the current culture of greed Since then, Shiner has gradually gravitated coverage and prominent reviews. The odds were the golden age of science/specula- and narcissism. There is no virtue in self- away from the ghetto of science fiction (SF) of that happening go way, way down with tive fiction (exemplified by “New Wave” ishness—the virtue is in helping others, with “Slam” (1990), the story of an ex-con a small press. Other than that, I would writers like Harlan Ellison, Philip K. especially those who can’t help themselves. living amongst social outcasts, and “Black have to say things are better in every way. Dick, Ursula K. LeGuin, Samuel Delany, So yes, raising class consciousness and & White” (2008), a crime novel of sorts Bill Schafer, the publisher at Subterra- etc.). Do you think that the cyberpunk dealing with issues of violence and greed which touches upon America’s longstand- nean, cares about books as works of art, trend was the last great literary move- are all part of my mission. At the same ing racial tensions, along with several other not as commodities. He treats me like ment within SF or are you more hopeful time, it’s important to me not to over- novels and many other short stories (all of family (in the best possible interpreta- about the future of imaginative fiction? simplify, and to get these ideas across in which are available for free on his website tion of the word), not like somebody he’s terms of complex stories and not sermons. http://www.fictionliberationfront.net). reluctantly doing this huge favor for. I LS: I can’t really speak to that. I haven’t His most recent novel, “Dark Tangos,” get complete control over my covers and kept up with SF since the 1980s and I DF: In the book, “Mythmakers and is the redemptive story of a computer typeset, and I don’t have to worry about don’t really know what’s happening there. Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers on Fic- programmer, Rob Cavenaugh, who falls the political content of what I write. I think it’s always dangerous to say that X, tion” (AK Press, 2009) you state that in with militant leftists in Buenos Aires Just the fact that my entire backlist is in whatever X is, will never happen again. after reading the 2005 graphic his- while working for a multinational soft- print—that’s something you don’t get from Conventional publishing is dying fast, tory, “Wobblies!” (Verso Press) you ware conglomerate. Cavenaugh is, within the big houses unless you’re Don DeLillo. and conventional notions of literacy are joined the IWW. Are you still a Wobbly? a short period, dumped by his wife and also changing. The next great SF liter- informed by the company he works for DF: “Dark Tangos,” your latest novel, ary movement may happen in comics or LS: I’ve been a member in good standing that he must take a substantial cut in pay deals with the ongoing conflict between the homemade Youtube videos or iPad apps. for six years now. I’ve been reading a lot and transfer to Argentina if he wants to Latin American left and the supporters of of the classic early 20th century social keep his job. Somewhat reluctantly, he the military juntas and dictatorships. Did DF: In the early 1990s, you worked novels lately—stuff like Frank Norris’s on a comic book series for DC Comics “The Octopus” and Upton Sinclair’s “The called “The Hacker Files.” To my knowl- Jungle,” which I’d never [previously] edge, this has never been collected as a read. I recently read John Dos Passos’ trade paperback. Is there any likelihood “USA trilogy,” where all through the book of this happening in the future? For the heroes are called upon to show their those of us who have never been able IWW red cards as proof that they're on to read this (due to lack of availabil- the right side. That made me really proud. ity) will you explain what is was about and how you came to work with DC? DF: Thanks so much for your time. Any final remarks or plugs for our readers? LS: “The Hacker Files” is not likely to be reprinted, as it wasn’t a big financial suc- LS: Sure. Support the IWW! It’s a simple cess. But you never know. The lead charac- fact that in order for the much-touted 99 ter made it into the recent “DC Comics En- percent to accomplish anything against cyclopedia,” so he’s a part of the continuity the rich and powerful 1 percent, we now. At least he was, until they rebooted have to organize. What better way to everything again a couple of months ago. do that than to have one big union? I’ve always been a comics fan. I got involved in writing them when a fellow This interview originally appeared in fan, a friend of mine since my early 20s the Winter 2012 issue of Autonomy and named Bob Wayne, went to work for DC Solidarity Quarterly. It was reprinted with in the 1980s. He pitched them a revival of permission from the author. Page 10 • Industrial Worker • January/February 2012 January/February 2012 • Industrial Worker • Page 11 Wobbly Arts Agitate, Educate, Organize By Sean Carleton, X364847 This song is both a T-Bone Slim inspired tongue-in-cheek parody of Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way” anthem and a serious call for everyone dedicated to revolutionary organizing to keep on struggling, no matter what! Fighting to create a new world in the shell of the old everyday certainly isn’t easy, but it’s what we do in the IWW. So puts your fists up—and “Agitate, Educate, and Organize.” Check it out on the IWW Youtube channel and the new Little Red Song Book Blog: http://www.youtube.com/ user/Wobblysongs and http://littleredsongbook.blogspot.com/.

Tune: “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga

Verse 1 Everyone wants the revolution, but no one wants to do the dishes. Everyone talks of changing the world, but sometimes it feels like no one listens. Organizing is thankless work and the horizon is hard to see. But in the end just hold your head up high and fight so one day we’ll all be free.

Chorus: Keep your eyes on the prize, ignore the boss’s lies, and agitate, educate, and organize. Through thick and thin you’ve gotta have tough skin to agitate, educate, and organize. Ohhh there ain’t no other way, raise hell without delay, and agitate, educate, and organize. It’s class struggle to the end, it’s up to me and you friends to agitate, educate, and organize!

Gaga-Wobbly Rap Well, in 100 years there’s been some tears. With Hill, Little, and raiding fears. But with love and solidarity – we will win!

Verse 2 So Fellow Workers, prepare yourselves, pay your dues, and wear your pins proud. Call a meeting, form a committee, and sing our songs out loud. And get ready because it’s time for us to make a stand. To fight together for the one big industrial union grand.

End. We’ve got to agitate. We’ve got to educate. We’ve got to organize – to emancipate! x2

VERSES & CHORUS* G|: |1111111|4444444 D|:4444444 2222222| 4444444 A|:4444444 2222222| 2222222| E|:2222222| |

Verses – first two lines are palm muted and the others are played open. The Chorus is played

Concept & graphic: Committee for Industrial Laughification (CIL)

The 99’ers Hanging At Haymarket Solidari-T(shirt) FW P Ruiz By John Kaniecki As the 99’ers Occupy Wall Street The gallows presently empty Can you feel the spark within our heart Feverish chatter in the crowd Begins to rise Do you hear it drawing near Four men to meet their destiny The rhythm of rebel drums beat Their faces tense and proud Resonating beneath every city’s feet Their guilt came from lies Suspend for now the thought Like low subterranean tremors It matters not Sending unpredictable quakes to the surface Death is soon to come It true the fought Bursting through volatile faults For those many wish to forget And shattering the corporate built tectonic plate What’s done is done

The 99’ers will no longer perpetually wait The ropes are slipped around the For illusory trickle downs to determine our fate throats Soon their necks will break Disgusted at the wickedly destructive weed The rich men they brag and gloat Making us profusely bleed That is hard to take For those with silk and silver spoon With stresses of our futures need Who do not give and only consume It is corporate greed… Stand on the Earth above the law That sir is America’s tragic flaw That we will uproot And plant a new hybrid equality seed One day they will come for me For telling the truth poetically The politicians will soon believe Concept & graphic: Gadflye I spit in your face and do not deny It won’t stop until we achieve. The truth is that your justice is a lie The Wobbly Way Back Machine

Cartoon from May 1988 issue of the IW. Graphic: C.E. Setzer Page 12 • Industrial Worker • January/February 2012 Workers Strike At EULEN-ABB In Spain From libcom.org Workers at the EULEN- ABB factory in Cordoba, Spain, started an indefinite strike on Nov. 28, 2011. Since then, the strikers have been camped out all day and night in front of the company. The IWW formed the International Solidarity Commission to help the union build The strike was called by the the worker-to-worker solidarity that can lead to effective action against the bosses Confederación Nacional del of the world. To contact the ISC, email [email protected]. Trabajo (CNT) and Confed- eración General del Trabajo 2012: A New Year For International Solidarity (CGT) unions in the company Photo: libcom.org By Alex Erikson with the work of the ISC, in response to the illegal assignment of have a much lower salary than regular ABB 2011 was the year that the facilitating the branch’s in- workers from EULEN who were con- workers and ABB takes no responsibility global working class struck volvement in international tracted to work in ABB. EULEN provides for them as an employer. There is also the back. Rebellions across the solidarity actions, fundrais- services such as cleaning and maintenance fact that the relevant collective agreements Middle East, massive strikes ing, and arranging speaking to other companies and public adminis- for the work they actually perform are not in China, militant movements tours for international IWW tration. applied. The CNT came into conflict with against austerity in Europe, allies. Each branch should ABB announced that as of Jan. 1, EULEN-ABB in 2010 over this issue. and the stirrings of the North elect an ISC liaison in Janu- 2012, it will not renew its contract with Prior to the strike, the bosses cre- American workers movement ary. EULEN and instead will use the services ated a few other conflicts and there were in the Wisconsin uprising and In a new ISC program, of Eurocen, which is part of the Adecco instances of union repression against ac- in the Occupy movement are we are also building teams multinational. tivists of the CNT. These incidences were just a few inspiring examples of Regional Specialists to It is assumed that the new company against CNT unionists in EULEN working of the new fighting spirit of strengthen our union’s ties will be used to get rid of all the workers not only in ABB, but also in the University the international proletariat. and deepen our understand- currently striking. of Cordoba and Cosmos, where EULEN As the newly-elected ing of labor movements across The CNT points out that the problems also has a contract. IWW International Solidarity Graphic: ISC the world. If you have cultural related to the work in ABB are also related In December 2011, various sections of Commission, we are looking knowledge, language/transla- to outsourcing in general. The workers the CNT held solidarity actions with the forward to deepening the union’s involve- tion abilities, or contacts with workers’ employed through EULEN in fact work for strikers, and a demonstration with over ment in the growing global insurgency organizations anywhere in the world, ABB and take orders from them, but they 300 supporters was held in Cordoba. against the employing class. Building on please get in touch! We need your help to the strong foundation built by the outgo- be able to maintain contact with all the ing ISC, we want to further integrate the exciting movements that are kicking off Chinese Police Arrest Strikers IWW’s commitment to internationalism across the globe. legally and without compensation, and into the everyday functioning of all the We look forward to serving the OBU began picketing the plant. In response, union’s branches. in the coming year. Please do not hesitate the police cordoned off nearby roads. As a first step, we are looking for to contact us at [email protected] if you “This hurts me so much. I have volunteers for two positions: Branch ISC have a proposal, criticisms, or questions. worked hard for them. They are con- Liaisons and Regional Specialists. 2011 was a big year, let’s make 2012 travening labor law by asking us to Branch liaisons connect each branch even bigger. leave but not pay us any compensation. Why are the authorities siding Picket Against Whole Foods Victimizations with them? Who can help us weak From solfed.org workers?” a female factory worker, On Dec. 22, 2011, the London who only gave her surname as Wang, Solidarity Federation (SF) held a Photo: libcom.org told Reuters. picket in support of a victimized From libcom.org Hi-P manufacture parts for Apple, Whole Foods worker. The action Police in Shanghai arrested around a Blackberry and Hewlett-Packard. Reports was held in conjunction with dozen workers following ongoing strike on the number of strikers have varied from protests in Boston, New York, action at an electronics factory at the be- 200 to 1,000. Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, ginning of December 2011. The strike follows similar action at Reno and San Francisco. The arrests resulted from workers a garment factory in Guangdong, which The demonstration had been blockading heavy equipment which was manufactures New Balance, Adidas and called in defense of Natalia, a San being removed from the Singapore-owned Nike shoes, as well as a strike at a bra fac- Francisco Whole Foods worker Hi-P International plant. The factory is tory in Shenzhen over pay and overtime who was sacked for speaking being closed down, and according to the respectively. China’s top security chief up in support of herself and strikers, relocated to the Shanghai suburb warned provincial officials over the risk her workmates. It took place Photo: solfed.org of Nanhui, where new staff will be hired. of unrest as turmoil in the world economy The strikers said they were laid off il- continues. outside the Soho branch of Whole Foods refusing to go into the shop. Some of the in London. most vociferous supporters even went into The picket was a resounding success. the store to speak to management about SF members turned up from both the the abuses taking place in San Francisco. Western Australia Poultry Workers Win By Workers Solidarity Melbourne North and South London locals (includ- This activity was bolstered even further as After two weeks on strike from Nov. ing a visitor from Hull SF) and were sup- SolFedders entered the store to speak to 9-22, 2011, poultry workers at the Baia- ported by Anarchist Federation members and flier customers directly. da poultry factory in Laverton, Western and trade unionists. Public reaction was Our message to Whole Foods is sim- Australia, won a 4 percent annual pay overwhelmingly positive, with numerous ple: international solidarity will continue increase and a reduction in the exploita- customers not only vocalizing support, but until Natalia is reinstated with back pay. tion of casual and contract labor. The union agreement signed between members of the National Union Come To The Work People’s College! of Workers (NUW) and Baiada includes: From June 30 - July - An 8 percent pay rise over two 5, 2012, over 100 IWW years (4 percent a year). militants from across - Conversion of casual employees to North America will permanent after six months. Photo: workerssolidaritymelbourne.org come together at the - Standardized pay rates for contrac- paid more than permanents.” historic Mesaba Co-op tors and casuals (who, to date, have been Gabriel also described how the compa- Park in Northern Minnesota for the design and strike support. Our goal is paid as little at $10 an hour). ny retaliated against him after he became 2012 Work People’s College: a six-day to strengthen IWW branches by giving - Increased redundancy compensa- a delegate: “When I became a delegate, intensive training on all the skills work- a new, diverse generation of leaders the tion, from 20 weeks to 42 weeks. they demoted me, changed my shift and ers need to know to build a fighting tools they need to fight and win the next - Increased paid time allowances for took away my overtime,” he said. union branch. We will cover everything battles in the class struggle. Learn more, union delegates to train and support their Another important win was that from public speaking to maintaining pre-register your branch, or apply at co-workers. poultry workers in Adelaide who were an inclusive union culture, graphic http://www.workpeoplescollege.org. suspended for taking industrial action in NUW delegate Gabriel told Green Left solidarity with the strikers in Laverton Weekly: “We went on strike because of have been reinstated! Support international solidarity! job security and cash-in-hand [workers]. Baiada is Australia’s largest supplier of Assessments for $3 Baiada sacks permanent people and re- poultry. The Baiada family that owns the and $6 are available places them with contractors. Health and company has estimated wealth of $495 from your delegate safety is bad for everybody but it is worst million. or IWW headquarters for casuals and cash-in-hand workers. The Thank you to all community support- PO Box 180195, worker who was decapitated [last year] ers who came down to the picket, and who Chicago, IL 60618, was a subcontractor so he wasn’t covered donated to the Baiada workers. Collections by Baiada for WorkCover. We are trying to were also taken up at many worksites, USA. win a clause in our agreement that if the including other poultry manufacturers company uses contractors, they have to be Inghams and Steggles.