Thank you for providing concrete, first-hand examples of the importance of making anti-racism a core element of working-class organizing. Thank you, too, for the thoughtful summations of errors, pitfalls and successes.
Good point (among many!) about how percentage wage increases actually increase inequality. My (public sector) union always asks for a flat dollar amount across the board, so that the lower your pay is, the higher the percent increase is. Occasionally we actually get a partial success. In 2023 we won a legislated raise of $6,000 OR 10% (over 2 years), so that workers making $30,000/yr got a 20% raise while those making $60,000 got a 10% raise. Of course those making over $60,000 also got 10%. We had asked for a flat $10,000 across the board. But the legislature wanted the higher paid folks to get bigger raises. (Lest anyone think we're having great success getting pay raises, the last previous legislated increase was in 2014! And there was none this year.)
Back in the 1980s, our union was involved in a struggle in a small city that turned into a broad civil rights movement that had some substantial successes. It was a proud moment for a new union with no collective bargaining rights. The union calls itself a social justice union which is explicitly anti-racist. But it seldom puts that language out publicly. It does come out with progressive statements on matters such as transgender rights (which affects Child Protective Services workers), freedom of speech and academic freedom at state universities where we have members.
But this is at the top. There are active workplace organizing committees at a few locations, but not many. And sometimes top union leadership works at cross purposes with rank-and-file activism. Much of the union functioning has been the "same old same old" for the last 2 decades or more, and we have shrunk in membership rather than grown. That may be slowly turning around now--but so much more needs to be done. There are a number of socialists who are members, but few are from the same organizations and fewer work together. There are a couple of committed socialists who are working their butts off and having some influence. We need a lot more.
Thanks for a most interesting article. An engrossing read with a LOT of food for thought.
This is a magnificent piece--spot on analysis and beautifully written to boot. It deserves the widest possible audience.
Is the blond guy in the picture Charlie Rasmussen? I knew him at San Francisco State.
Thank you for providing concrete, first-hand examples of the importance of making anti-racism a core element of working-class organizing. Thank you, too, for the thoughtful summations of errors, pitfalls and successes.
Good point (among many!) about how percentage wage increases actually increase inequality. My (public sector) union always asks for a flat dollar amount across the board, so that the lower your pay is, the higher the percent increase is. Occasionally we actually get a partial success. In 2023 we won a legislated raise of $6,000 OR 10% (over 2 years), so that workers making $30,000/yr got a 20% raise while those making $60,000 got a 10% raise. Of course those making over $60,000 also got 10%. We had asked for a flat $10,000 across the board. But the legislature wanted the higher paid folks to get bigger raises. (Lest anyone think we're having great success getting pay raises, the last previous legislated increase was in 2014! And there was none this year.)
Back in the 1980s, our union was involved in a struggle in a small city that turned into a broad civil rights movement that had some substantial successes. It was a proud moment for a new union with no collective bargaining rights. The union calls itself a social justice union which is explicitly anti-racist. But it seldom puts that language out publicly. It does come out with progressive statements on matters such as transgender rights (which affects Child Protective Services workers), freedom of speech and academic freedom at state universities where we have members.
But this is at the top. There are active workplace organizing committees at a few locations, but not many. And sometimes top union leadership works at cross purposes with rank-and-file activism. Much of the union functioning has been the "same old same old" for the last 2 decades or more, and we have shrunk in membership rather than grown. That may be slowly turning around now--but so much more needs to be done. There are a number of socialists who are members, but few are from the same organizations and fewer work together. There are a couple of committed socialists who are working their butts off and having some influence. We need a lot more.
Thanks for a most interesting article. An engrossing read with a LOT of food for thought.