Notes
on Organizing
A turning point in history
There is little doubt the anti-union, anti-peoples
corporate forces are betting the ranch on the outcome of a worldwide
campaign to lower living standards and raise profits. This is because the
first law of corporatism is to increase the rate of profit. This has
reached the point where today as reported recently in the Washington Post,
the "385 of the richest people in the world have a net worth equal to
the combined annual income of the poorest 2.3 billion." Up to this
point they have generally succeeded with the exception of periods of
recession or depression. But now they face a crisis of no room for
expansion. The world markets have reached a point of saturation. This is
seen in the incredible world wide financial transactions, under the
electronic computerized system, which transfers trillions of dollars daily
across all borders. The only way left to continue increasing profits is to
cheapen the cost of production, to increase worker productivity. Alan
Greenspan has reminded us of this in his various
economic pronouncements from the Federal Reserve Board. Their only hope
now is to lower wages around the world.
To do this they have set up a plan involving the WTO,
IMF, World Bank, etc. In other words a total program based upon no outside
regulation, secret deliberations, no governmental, let alone peoples'
democratic control. It is worldwide control of industry, government,
political and social - a corporate controlled world system. It is an
anti-union, anti-democratic, anti-people system of total exploitation.
CAN WE SAVE UNIONISM AND DEMOCRACY?
We can by extending and strengthening unionism. It is
necessary to understand that unionism is the strongest and most essential
anti-corporate power. Even Peter Drucker, guru of management consultants
agrees that unions defend workers' rights and democracy against the
tyranny of corporate power. Without unions democracy cannot exist. One
look at the world history shows that where unions function democracy is
strong. Under dictatorships unions are outlawed. In addition it is clear
that higher living standards are characteristic of democracy. It can be
said that higher living standards is a foundation of democracy. The
history of unionism in our own country as well as elsewhere is marked by
terrorism against unions. Unionism has been involved in a struggle against
corporate terrorism as long as it has existed.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
The opportunities for organizing are not a lot.
Having just come out of the prosperity of the 90s, the need for unionism
is not clearly seen. Workers have been taken in by get rich quick stock
market fantasies and comparatively high wages in some industries. But that
was restricted to less than the majority of workers. Now that we are in a
service economy with a huge segment of temp workers, we see a wage
slippage. Younger workers no longer have the opportunities for well paying
jobs as the manufacturing sector continues to shrink. In such
circumstances union organizing is difficult, tf workers are being laid off
they are no longer there to be organized. And if they are available as a
source of cheap labor, the downward pressure on wages increases. But such
conditions in the Great Depression led workers to seek union support. It
works both ways.
In addition laws, government bureaucracies and media
bias all militate against organizing. Under Bush government policy will
become more ant- union. It is likely that union militancy will be labeled
a threat to the war against terrorism under Bush's "You're for us or
against us" statement.
What we have going for us is, for one thing the great
ILWU reputation. Practically any worker except those in highly skilled
crafts would be proud to belong to the ILWU. If we get the message out to
them we will not have too much difficulty getting new members. Coupled
with this, the large number of low paid workers adds to the opportunities
for organizing.
Another plus is the connection between union
organizing and the defense of democracy. As noted, trade union rights are
essentially democratic rights. Many are becoming aware of this important
fact. Thus we can count on wide spread public support for organizing. The
ongoing demonstrations against corporate power have brought civil,
religious and environmental groups and others together. To the extent we
can strengthen this unity we will strengthen organizing. The importance of
this cannot be over emphasized.
There is one practical suggestion that may bear
fruit. That is guaranteeing that workers fired for union organizing get
some kind of employment on the waterfront. Our union has a proud tradition
of providing jobs for workers on strike. Unfortunately jobs opportunities
on the waterfront are tight these days, but if we could offer that, we
would probably find many volunteer union organizers in unorganized areas.
But our greatest problem in our organizing campaign
is lack of rank and file support. This is hard to overcome, largely for
the reason our workers are well satisfied comparatively speaking and
aren't motivated to struggle as in the past. Overcoming this is not easy.
It requires continued and patient efforts such as speaking before union
meetings and lunch hours on the docks, talking to members individually and
convincing them of the need for organizing. We need a vigorous agitation
and propaganda campaign in our meetings, on the job and in our press. If
we can make a real effort in this direction we will see real results.
Long live the ILWU unionism and democracy! |
