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Rebuilding the Labor Movement

Introduction: Welcome to the labor page of the Socialist Action website. We believe that the unions are the only mass organizations that working people have to fight on their behalf at this point in history, and it’s crucial that they be up to the task. With the bosses waging an ever-increasingly fierce war on working people, we need a labor movement that can fight back and win. That is why we believe in working within the unions to try and win them to a class struggle program. We call for the labor movement to break from the Democratic Party and form a labor party, to uphold the principle of an injury to one is an injury to all, to adopt an internationalist perspective, to organize the unorganized, oppose government intervention in the unions, and to establish genuine rank & file control.

We’ve set up this page to report on developments in the labor movement, post articles on the lessons of past labor struggles, and explain the role that Marxists believe the working class will play in the coming revolution.

Labor News & Views:

Labor Notes Conference: Hundreds of working-class activists are expected to gather in Dearborn, Mich., April 11-13 for a conference with the theme “Rebuilding Labor’s Power.” Organized by the widely read monthly Labor Notes, this event is the latest in a tradition of such conferences, with topical themes, held every two to three years since the 1980s. continued

Rail Union Activists Build Solidarity Caucus: Rail Labor activists from across North America are coming together to form a new cross-craft inter-union caucus that includes all rail workers in North America. Membership is open to union members from all the various unions (once known as the "brotherhoods") in this new organization. In addition, special efforts will be made to include Canadian and Mexican workers as well. continued

TWU Local 100 Contract Bulletin – Dec. 2007: Judge Bruce Balter’s November 8 ruling upheld the loss of dues check-off. Local 100 will appeal. The ruling was aimed at every union’s right to strike – a right recognized as a human right throughout much of the world. Without the right to walk off the job to protest injustice a worker is basically a slave! continued

Immigrants March Despite Gov’t. Persecution: One benchmark of the disaster the U.S. rulers have inflicted on Iraq is the number of Iraqis that have fled the country since the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. According to the UN High Commission on Refugees, the number already stands at nearly 2 million, close to 10 percent of the prewar population of the country. continued

Bush’s Health Care Plan Pushes Costs Onto Workers: In his State of the Union speech on Jan. 23, George Bush proposed a plan to gut the country's employment-based health insurance system. In an attempt to force workers to buy their own cheaper and less comprehensive coverage, it would provide tax breaks up to $7500 for individuals and $15,000 for families. And workers with employer-provided insurance would have to pay taxes on any coverage over $15,000. continued

TWU Local 100 President Hangs On After Election: On Dec. 15, the same day an arbitrator handed down a post-strike contract decision for the Transport Workers Union Local 100 (see accompanying article), Roger Toussaint was declared president of Local 100 for his third term in a union-wide election. Toussaint received 45% of votes cast against four opponents. He also retained control of the union’s Executive Board. About 55% of the 38,000 members voted. continued

Aftermath of NYC Transit Strike Ends in Arbitration: Almost a year after a transit strike paralyzed the city, a process called “binding arbitration” ruled on Dec. 15 that it would impose a contract on the Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents 38,000 bus and subway workers. continued

Victory at Smithfield Packing: In mid-November workers brought the world’s largest pork-processing plant, that of Smithfield Packing in Tar Heel, North Carolina, to a halt for two days in a winning fight against mass firings of immigrants. The same two-thirds-Latino workforce that shut down the plant during last spring’s immigrant worker general strike turned their power against their own boss. Their battle took place at the crossroads of several key struggles—for immigrant worker rights, to organize the South and reorganize meatpacking nationally, to rebuild a weakened labor movement—and even the fight against denial of civil liberties in the “war on terror.” continued