General Strike
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WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 20, 2019 VOL. 125, NO. 15 (ISSN 0023-6667) An Injury to One is an Injury to All! General Strike: What’s old could be new again Wage theft By Mark Gruenberg PAI Staff Writer highlighted WASHINGTON (PAI)—Is the General Strike, a worker weapon that struck fear into in House corporate chieftains and crooks By Howard Kling, and their political cronies a cen- Workday Minnesota tury ago, making a comeback? ST. PAUL — Workers and A new film, commemorat- business owners highlighted ing centennial of the Great the need for stronger wage Seattle General Strike of 1919, theft laws during a press con- plus a panel of experts in work- ference and legislative hear- er history and rights, tackled ing at the Minnesota Capitol that question Feb. 6 at a pro- earlier this month. worker pro-minority pro- The hearing before the woman D.C. bookstore event Minnesota House Labor sponsored by the Metro Committee was the first stop Washington AFL-CIO’s DC for HF6, a bipartisan bill that LaborFest. would set rules and penalties The answer: Yes, but in a for employers who avoid pay- different way than it was prac- ing, or fail to pay, wages ticed in the decades before earned by their employees. Seattle. And on a different scale. “I am here today to The Pacific Northwest demand an end to this practice Labor Heritage foundation, of wage theft,” said Humberto with both financial and Miceli, a member of Centro archival aid from Oregon and In February 1919, tens of thousands of workers went on strike in Seattle for six days. de Trabajadores Unidos en la Washington state labor histori- Labor conflicts and political turmoil today raise the question as to whether the concept of Lucha (CTUL). With the help ans and unions, produced the a general strike could make a comeback. of CTUL, Miceli was able to film, The General Strike: Back recover wages stolen by an To The Future? plicit politicians and schemes constitution said ‘The working shipyard workers, angry at cor- employer, but in the end he It traced the area’s crowded to divide and conquer workers class and the employing class porate reneging on World War received only 10% of what he and militant labor history, as by race, class and sex. have nothing in common.’” I-era promises of post-war was owed. “It is real people workers – many organized by “The IWW had the princi- The apex of the movement union recognition, raises and who suffer the consequences the Industrial Workers of the ple of overthrowing capitalism was the 6-day general strike better conditions, walked off the way things are right now,” World – battled inhumane con- in favor of syndicalism or which shut down Seattle in the job. added Miceli. ditions, corporate hatred, com- socialism,” the film said. “Its 1919. It started when 3,500 See STRIKE...page 4 Cecilia Guzman, also a member of CTUL, told the New labor college in St. Paul aims to build movement’s future committee she was owed two ST. PAUL — After months 1937 in Katonah, NY. It attract- thousand dollars by a cleaning of planning, a small group of ed over 600 students, who company in 2014. The court labor leaders, activists and went on to lead major union ordered them to pay but, “the scholars will open a new col- and civil rights campaigns person still hasn’t paid me to lege this spring in St. Paul, across the country in the this date,” she said. inspired by the belief that decades to come. “Fourteen of my 20 pay- working people can build the The school’s lifespan was checks, including my last one, labor movement of the future, brief, said Robyn Gulley, a co- have been shorted,” said in part, by looking to the past. founder of New Brookwood Allegra Bipes, a security offi- Set to begin classes in April, and local labor and human cer at the Minneapolis College New Brookwood Labor rights organizer. But its impact of Art and Design (MCAD). College is modeled after a was great. “On some, I was not paid school for labor organizers that “It’s hard to read a book for all of my hours worked, operated between 1921 and about labor history without or I was not paid for overtime coming across Brookwood hours. On others, I was not Labor College,” Gulley said. paid my shift differential or “Brookwood left behind a The East Side Freedom Library will soon be home to the for holidays. This is wage tremendous legacy. And it was New Brookwood Labor College, providing a rigorous cur- theft,” she continued. “For coed, it was racially diverse, it riculum dedicated to strengthening the labor movement. people like me, who live pay- was ethnically diverse at a time widened back to the bloated needed critical thinking – how check to paycheck, I need to when that was basically levels of the 1920s, when the to organize when traditional be paid all that I have earned, unheard of.” original Brookwood began forms of work (skilled manual on time.” Brookwood’s brand of educating organizers. labor) were being challenged Based on complaints filed inclusiveness and forward If ever there were a time for by assembly lines and scientif- with the Minnesota thinking hasn’t lost its rele- a reboot, labor historian Peter ic management; how to organ- Department of Labor and vance in an era of intense cul- Rachleff said, this is it. ize a workforce that was Industry (MNDLI), an esti- tural and political divides in the “The Brookwood Labor increasingly diverse by race, mated 39,000 Minnesota U.S. And the gaps between rich College came along at a time and working people have when the labor movement See COLLEGE...page 4 See WAGE...page 6 Governor Walz releases ambitious $50 billion budget proposal IBEWIBEW 3131 &242242 Governor Tim Walz less conversations across the Some of the highlights tax credit. announced the Budget for One state, it is clear to me that there include establishing a paid Earlier this month, Walz Retirees’Retirees’ Minnesota — his inaugural are three priorities the people family leave insurance system announced that the commerce budget proposal for the next of Minnesota share: Education; that workers could access to department will continue an LuncheonLuncheon biennium — just as this issue health care; and community help replace their salaries dur- appeal process begun by the was going to press. prosperity,” Walz said. ing leaves. Dayton Administration by peti- Tues., Feb. 26 Early assessments of his The $50 billion budget puts The governor’s proposal tioning the Minnesota Public 1:00 p.m. budget proposal indicate it forward the greatest invest- also includes a increase to the Utilities Commission to recon- focuses bringing down the cost ment in Greater Minnesota in gas tax and other taxes to put sider its decision to grant a cer- NE Barbecue of health care, improving edu- the history of the state, while $18 billion into state roads over tificate of need for the and Smokehouse cation, and ensuring communi- investing in some of the most the next 20 years, an increase Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline 7 Eighth St., ties across the state are pros- meaningful state initiatives to in per-pupil funding that would Replacement Project. pering. lift up communities of color add more than $500 million to The decision allows the Cloquet “After traveling thousands ever proposed, Walz’s office the education budget, and appeal to move forward and Members & Their of miles and enjoying count- said. boosting the working family continue. Guests Welcome! Construction Career Night highlights opportunities As part of the Duluth to talk about the opportunities in of the Construct Tomorrow Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 10 Construct Tomorrow event, construction careers to interest- event, Feb. 26-27. Almost organizers will be holding a ed students. The event will be 1,000 students will be attending Retirees’ Luncheon Construction Career Night to held Feb. 26, from 5 p.m. to the daytime events through area give young people and their par- 6:30 p.m., at the Paulucci schools, where they will wire Tuesday, March 5, 1:00 p.m. ents, mentors, colleagues and Hall/Arena at the DECC. circuits, trowel cement, set tile career coaches a chance to Area high-school students and more as they move through Cloud 9 Bistro, explore construction careers. will get hands-on opportunities stations staffed by representa- Local union apprenticeship pro- to experience the work required tives of 14 local union appren- 308 S. Lake Ave. grams and staff will be available in building trade careers as part ticeship programs. AMAZON...from page 1 Donʼt know where to turn? 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