53 lines
2.9 KiB
Plaintext
53 lines
2.9 KiB
Plaintext
from Libertarian Labor Review #13
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Summer 1992, pages 1
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Editorial:
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One More Nail in the Coffin
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When UAW President Owen Bieber agreed to sent Caterpillar
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strikers back to work on April 14 under the terms of Cat
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management's final offer he drove another nail into the coffin of
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organized labor in the U.S.
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Bieber's motive in capitulating to the world's largest earth
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moving equipment manufacturer was undoubtedly to preserve the jobs
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of 12,600 striking workers (and the dues revenue generated for UAW
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coffers?) who were threatened with permanent replacement by scabs.
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Alternatives to surrender, risky as they might be, could have
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been implemented. Mass picketing, plant occupations, or a
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combination of both could have bee set up to keep out any scabs.
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Thousands of unionists in the midwest who were anxious to come to
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the Cat strikers' aid would have responded to a call for active
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support. (On March 22, over 20,000 workers took part in a
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solidarity rally held in Peoria, Illinois; there had been short
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sympathy strikes of Cat workers in South Africa and Belgium, and
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even some talk of a general strike in some UAW locals.)
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However, one has to wonder if other alternative tactics were
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even considered before the decision to surrender was reached.
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Although there has been some talk recently of implementing a work-
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to-rule to bring some pressure to bear on Cat management, the
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seeming lack of any creative thinking about strategy and tactics in
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the current economic climate only underlines the total bankruptcy
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of business unionism.
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The capitalists declared war on labor over ten years ago, and
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the casualties suffered in this decade should have convinced any
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sober unionist--even a reformist one--that the long battle of
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attrition-style strikes is suicide. Not only that, the UAW's
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failure to organize any pre-strike actions to reduce Cat inventory
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going into the strike shows the severe short-sightedness,
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approaching blindness, of the trade union leadership. In addition,
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the fact that the rank-and-file were not even consulted, let alone
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allowed to vote, on the decision to return to work indicates that
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the business union leadership is more afraid of an active rank-and-
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file than anything else.
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Of course, negotiations between UAW leaders, Cat executives
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and a federal mediator could produce a slightly improved contract
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for Cat workers. But the rank-and-file will remain largely marginal
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to the process, and this is the crux of the matter. The passivity
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and lack of self-organization of the rank-and-file makes the
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defense of hard-won conditions, let alone their improvement,
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virtually impossible--not only for Cat workers but for workers in
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all sectors of the economy.
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Only when we decide to organize ourselves into self-managed,
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revolutionary class unions that recognize the irreconcilable
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conflict between labor and capital will we have the power to win.
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