Is it time to start organizing labor via secret societies again?

[gordonzola]

I read the paper every day but I try not to let it get to me. I fully believe that the capitalist press exists in part to demoralize us. Still, there was a quote in the article about a failed organizing drive at Wal-Mart that got to me.

Cody Fields, who earns $8.10 Per hour after two years at the garage, said he originally backed the union "because we need a change" but said the antiunion videos* were effective. "it’s just a bunch of brainwashing, but it kind of worked," he said.

Sigh.

Oddly, this quote only appears in the print edition of today’s Chron. Not in the online version or the NY Times online version where it was syndicated from.



*Shown as part of a daily anti-union campaign by Wal-Mart’s full-time anti-union organizers.

Comments

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

yeah, I pretty much agree. But, I wold say that they were being asked to do something nearly impossible too. Someone has to be first, but if they actually did vote for the union a heavy anvil would surely fall on thei heads. I think that actually explains the quote. They knew they were being "brainwashed", but seeing through it didn't make them angry and want to fight back, it made them realize the resources Wal-Mart had to make them miserable if they dared vote union.

[rootlesscosmo.livejournal.com]

It's true, it's easy for me to be brave from the sidelines. Most of my life was in a securely unionized industry; the one time I took part in an organizing drive, the employer was the University of Pennsylvania and the recognition issue wasn't even disputed. This also illustrates the difference between then (1967) and now--we submitted a majority of signed authorizations ("A-cards") for the bargaining unit and the University accepted that instead of demanding a representation election. Nowadays A-cards are typically the prelude to an all-out union-busting campaign. This is one of the big issues in the labor law reform program that was defeated under Carter and basically hasn't dared raise its head since.

I've been following the Andy Stern "restructuring" proposals inside labor; I don't have any strong opinions about them one way or another, though I'm doubtful that changes within labor can reverse the decline unless there are also profound changes in law, political climate, etc. Labor was in retreat through the 1920s but made a dramatic comeback after 1934 and on past the war into the postwar social compact. But that comeback took place as part of the huge shifts in politics and economic structure ushered in by the Depression, which included a kind of "officialization" of labor under the Wagner Act as part of the New Deal's answer to capitalist crisis and perceived revolutionary danger. My imagination isn't good enough to conceive anything parallel in our future...