What a Little Direct Democracy Can Do

The Quebec Students' Movement (the Maple Spring) played a major part in the defeat of the Liberal government in Quebec by exposing the lack of legitimacy of governing elites. The carnival atmosphere and relentless spirit of the pot banging street protests which developed into the casseroles movement are an inspiration to activists everywhere. The students initiated and sustained over this past summer essentially an unlimited general strike opposing the Liberal Government's attempt to raise tuition fees in the province by 82%. Confronted with severe police repression and the passing of draconian legislation by the provincial government restricting the right of freedom of assembly, the movement succeeded in bringing about the resignation of the Minister of Education, the defeat of the Liberal Government, the repeal of the legislation restricting the right of freedom of assembly together with the tuition hike.

According to a spokesperson for CLASSE, the organizational arm of the student protest movement, what made this possible was years of mobilization around the critique of "austerity measures, and a broken system that places the interests of the rich ahead of those of the majority of the population." But what was different about CLASSE and the student movement in Quebec and a key factor in their success was the reliance on principles of direct democracy as the basis for decision making in their organization. The message that Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois is trying to bring to the broader fight against austerity is that "that the success of Quebec’s student movement is largely attributable to its democratic character..." and that "If students across the country insist on holding real general assemblies, where they are empowered to collectively make decisions on issues that affect their lives, they can build their own movements, which fight for their own priorities."

But Nadeau-Dubois is also insistent that this should not be limited to the student movement, but should also be extended to include all areas of social action - our unions, our workplaces, our communities and neighborhoods. Democracy has to mean a lot more than just marking an X on a ballot once every four years. It means using the principles of direct democracy to build a common front of social movements to block austerity. Read More>>>

United Front Against Austerity

No matter whether Obama or Romney wins the coming presidential election, American working people will face a savage assault on their economic rights starting after the vote. In reality, any demand for more austerity, sacrifice, or cuts in social services on the part of the American people amounts to a demand for genocide. Over 50 million people are in the most extreme poverty, with no job, no unemployment benefits, no welfare system, no health care, and only a meager allotment of food stamps to stay alive. The American middle class is crushed under $1 trillion of student loan debt and $1 trillion of high interest credit card debt. All of this follows a secular decline of almost two thirds in the American standard of living over the last four decades. The urgent need is therefore to establish the principle of class defense against the financiers and their retainers both left and right. But how? The only method that can fill the resulting void is a united front of existing organizations and individuals coming together to cooperate in the fight for an emergency platform of class-based demands. This process must begin in New York City on October 27.Emergency Call

The UFAA assembly is being held in New York City on October 27 from noon to 6 p.m. at 56 Walker Street. The UFAA intends to build on Wisconsin and Occupy – with decisions, demands and action. UFAA Home Page

Lessons from the Chicago Teachers Strike

Here is a sobering analysis of the Chicago Teachers Strike that raises some very good questions. It seems that all sides are claiming a victory here, but from the point of view of the trade union movement what was really achieved? It is critical to keep in mind the crucial background in which the strike took place are the efforts of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and others like him to push the key austerity agenda of the privatization of public services like education and schools (and other public services like transportation via the mechanism of Infrastructure Trusts). Like most things that pass for social policy considerations these days, the purpose of shutting down schools and so-called education reform is not the improvement of education so much as it is an effort to convert public schools into private, charter schools.

The ongoing attack on labor and public sector employees and unions is at its root just this effort to transform public services like education into a center for private investment and profit such as that offered by Charter schools. Just as the privatization of public utilities created and continues to create new markets – creating new sources of profits for businesses and opportunities for the private accumulation of wealth – the privatization of public schools is a bonanza for businesses, while its benefit to most people is questionable at best. In this context the Chicago teachers’ strike must not be seen as an offensive strike. Rather than striking to secure better working conditions and better pay, per se, the Chicago teachers’ strike is a defensive, conservative strike, one in which labor is merely attempting to hold onto not only the wages and benefits that were gained through decades of struggle and which are now under threat, but to their jobs themselves.

Even a cursory look at the contract concessions must yield the conclusion that rather than achieving a victory, or even a stalemate, the contract under consideration represents a loss for labor in the ongoing class war of attrition. And though teachers may be announcing that they’re happy to be returning to work, and Emanuel appears to have won this battle, given the state of the economy and the environment, it may very well be that the next strike won’t be a conservative one like this. Rather, it may be a total, permanent strike. Read More>>>

Occupy your union bureaucracy: An insider's call

Among vast portions of the labour aristocracy, solidarity is replaced with a stasi-like defence of the status quo; loyalty is redefined to mean blind allegiance to the governing officialdom, rather than to the dues paying membership and their constitution; and workplace and union democracy is no longer a goal, but a potentially treasonous nuisance. To enforce these redefined “values” the bureaucracy purges non-conforming ideas and individuals in a swift, coordinated and merciless way. Not the kind of modus operandi folks like me signed up for. Definitely not the kind that is capable, in its current state, of building a better world.

These are just the internal symptoms or mechanisms, if you will, by which the workers' army finds itself today, for the most part, in utter denial of the severity and urgency of the threat to working people, our democracy, and our world. This is how they manage to remain virtually silent against the ever- encroaching corporatist police-state, bankster control of our economies, the violations of our civil liberties, and the intensifying wars of aggression, while desperately clinging to electoral parties that will do little more than further enforce the status quo, hopefully sparing some space or security for the labour bureaucracy that supports the party most.

Sadly, this is not the story of just one union. Over the past 20 years I have been a member, activist, leader, national and international union representative in six private and public sector trade unions and I can solidly say that the sun is about to set on the labour movement unless the people take back their unions, specifically their centralized labour bureaucracies. Occupy them.

Everybody knows that union density and power has been on a steady decline for the past 30 years. Like a fighter past his prime, we spend alot of time remembering and reminding others our past battles and achievements – the eight hour work day, employment insurance, and social security to name a few.

Trade union policy papers endlessly blame this decline on the severity of the neo-liberal attack on the social welfare state, unions and workers' rights and encourage ways to address this by supporting progressive politicians, organizing the unorganized and encouraging young workers to “get involved”.

While these external forces are formidable, they do not answer the question of what role the union bureaucracy or officialdom itself plays in facilitating this orderly march backwards of the very people they are charged with the responsibility to represent and whose interests they are compelled to advance. Wasn’t it Canadian Labour Congress President Bob White who said: “You don’t need a union to help you march backwards”?

The alternative is to Occupy our labour bureaucracies. There are many good leaders and fighters besieged within its web, as well as battalions of researchers and lawyers who for too long have had their work substituted for real struggle. Resurrect this standing army of the working-class by holding its leaders accountable. The good ones will applaud and welcome you. The ones that have got to go will organize against you. Steer the troops away from its tragic path towards a future independent of the agenda of the elites, of their electoral parties, open to all types of ideas of alternative economies and sustainable ways of living, committed to direct democracy and the working class values of community, mutual support and protection.

There is no need to organize a formal opposition. Just speak the truth, do right by your principles, represent your membership with all you've got, and you will find yourself surrounded, as though by magic, with many powerful opponents inside and outside the union. It is in this way that you will discover your allies, as well.

Wherever possible, unleash the power and creativity of the membership and reach out to the public with the basic assumption that everyone is a potential ally. We are, after all, the 99%. Solidarity is a living thing. If you don't occupy it, it dies and so will our hope for a better world. Read More>>>

Motor Coach laying off 190 from Winnipeg plant

Bus manufacturer Motor Coach Industries is laying off 190 employees from its Winnipeg plant. A Motor Coach spokesperson confirmed the layoffs to CBC News late Thursday, citing decreasing customer demand. Glenn Tomchak, the local president with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said the company notified workers of the layoffs on Thursday afternoon. "We were called into a meeting at 1:30 today and informed that there's going to be some layoffs … right after Christmas," Tomchak said. Many of the laid-off workers had recently been hired just months ago, as Motor Coach ramped up production during the summer. Motor Coach Industries, based in Illinois, is considered to be the largest intercity coach-maker in North America, with plants in Winnipeg and Pembina, North Dakota. go to link>>>

ATU 57th International Convention

Amalgamated Transit Union Convention Delegates & Guests:

The 57th International Convention will be held at Hilton San Diego Bay front San Diego, CA August 25-30, 2013 More information will be available soon on www.atu.org.

From the July/August 2012 issue of InTransit p. 31 go to link.

Contract Talks Continue For ATU Local 1700

Wed, 09/26/2012 - 7:34am

A new bargaining session is underway as the Union pushes its Fairness on the Job Agenda. The Union’s Executive Board sits down with the Company again today, Wednesday, September 26, 2012, in contract talks. The Board met Tuesday to give further consideration to the many ideas and suggestions members have put forward and to plan for this bargaining session. Then we met briefly with the Company after they arrived late Tuesday afternoon.

Not surprisingly, the Company complained that the Union is demanding too much. Local 1700 officers are confident that all Local 1700 members are ready to back us up in showing the company that is not the case. We have a long way to go to achieve the respect and the fairness on the job that Greyhound employees deserve.

Greyhound drivers are part of a very small minority of workers in the United States that are not guaranteed fairness on the job under federal law. The exemption of over-the-road drivers from provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act allows Greyhound to get away with what is legally prohibited for most other employers: avoiding paying overtime after 40 hours and avoiding paying workers for all time spent on the job. This astonishingly unfair practice needs to be corrected now. Local 1700 members are on the front line of battle in this extremely important fight for basic fairness.

Watch for further updates as negotiations progress. go to Local 1700 Web Site>>>