Today in Labor History--May 12

May 12, 1856 – Trade unions in Victoria, Australia, demonstrated for the 8-hour day. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 12, 1902 –Anthracite coal miners went on strike in Pennsylvania. (From the Daily Bleed)

James Connolly

May 12, 1916 -- James Connolly, IWW organizer and Irish freedom fighter was executed on this date in Dublin for his role in the Easter Rising. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 12, 1921 – The “Three Day's Battle" began along both shores of the Tug River, in West Virginia, with sniping by labor strikers at state police, deputies and coal company officials. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 12, 1926 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of Sacco & Vanzetti, denying their motion for a new trial. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 12, 1927 – Sandinista guerrillas decided to continue their fight until they defeat the invading U.S. Marines. One of their manifestos read, "it is better to be killed as a rebel than to live on as a slave." (From the Daily Bleed)

May 12, 1950 – A court ordered Communist Party head Eugene Dennis to serve a year in jail for refusing to testify before House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—May 9

John Brown, c1856

May 9, 1800 – John Brown, anti-slavery freedom fighter, was born, Torrington, Connecticut. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 9, 1892 – A coal mine exploded at Roslyn, Washington, killing 45 mine workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

1900 – Striking tram workers blew up a tramcar during riots in St. Louis. (From the Daily Bleed)

1918 – Bolshevik troops opened fire on workers protesting food shortages in the town of Kolpino. (From the Daily Bleed)

1934 –Longshoremen began a strike for a union hiring hall and union recognition, ultimately leading to the San Francisco general strike. After World War One, West Coast long shore workers were poorly organized or represented by company unions. The IWW had tried to organize them and had some successes, like in San Pedro, in 1922, but they were ultimately crushed by injunctions, imprisonment, deportation and vigilante violence. While longshoremen lacked a well-organized union, they retained a syndicalist sentiment and militancy. Many Wobblies were still working the docks. On May 9, 1934, longshoremen walked off the job at ports up and down the West Coast, soon to be followed by sailors. Strikers were shot by the bosses’ goons in San Pedro. There was also violence in Oakland and San Francisco. Street battles between the cops and strikers continued in San Francisco, heating up on July 3, and culminating in Bloody Thursday, on July 5, when 3 workers were shot by police (two of them died). The attack led to a four-day general strike that effectively shut down commerce in San Francisco, despite police violence and attempts to weaken it by national unions. (From the Daily Bleed, Workday Minnesota and Wikipedia)

May 9, 1970 – Labor leader Walter Reuther and his wife May died suspiciously in an airplane crash. Repeated attempts had been made on Reuther’s live going back to 1938. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 9, 1972 – A general strike began in Quebec in protest of the jailing of three labor leaders, Louis Laberge, Marcel Pepin, Yvon Charbonneau. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History-April 2

April 2, 1863--Bread riots occurred in Richmond, Virginia, as a result of a drought the previous year,
combined with a blockade by the Union and overall civil war-related shortages. Food riots occurred throughout the South around this time, led primarily by women. During the Richmond riot, women broken into storehouses and shops, stealing food, clothing and jewelry before the militia was able to restore order. (Source: Wikipedia)

April 2, 1903--Mexican police fired on more than 10,000 protestors, killing 15 and wounding many more. People had been protesting the reelection of General Bernardo Reyes as governor of Nuevo Leon, who was aligned with Mexico's brutal dictator, Porfirio Diaz. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 2, 1908--Italian police shot and killed workers at a funeral for a comrade who was killed in an industrial accident.(From the Daily Bleed)

 April 2, 1919--A Canadian ban on the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) was lifted at WWI came to an end. (From the Daily Bleed)

Dockworkers Threaten East Coast Strike, Reject West Coast Deal

Bloody Thursday, San Francisco, West Cost Ports Strike, 1934

Dockworkers from Massachusetts to Texas are threatening to strike on Sunday, in what would be the first East Coast port shut down since 1977, a two-month work stoppage that cost retailers billions of dollars (see New York Times). The threat has so worried the corporate bosses that they are demanding Obama block the strike by invoking the Taft-Hartley Act, as Bush did in 2002 to end a West Coast port strike.

The anti-labor Taft-Hartley Act, which passed in 1947, banned the General Strike, solidarity or sympathy strikes, and secondary boycotts. It prohibited closed union shops and opened the door to “right-to-work” legislation. President Truman, whose veto was overridden, called it an “intrusion on free speech.” The law also permits the president to obtain a strike-breaking injunction by claiming that national security is threatened by the strike, which is what corporate leaders want Obama to do.

Many believe that Obama will resist these demands because of his supposed strong ties to the labor movement, pointing to his hands off response to the recent Chicago teachers strike as evidence. However, Obama did not need to intervene in Chicago. His crony Rahm Emanuel applied plenty of pressure on the union, including the threat of obtaining an injunction against the strike. Furthermore, the AFT has consistently served Obama votes (also see here), stymied strikes and brokered sellout contract deals (also see here) that have shoved his corporate “reform” policies down the throats of teachers. The contract that the Chicago Teachers Union finally accepted was no doubt due in part to pressure from Randi Weingarten and the AFT, which had urged the Chicago Teachers Union to avoid striking in the first place and which refused to support the teachers with strike pay.

The ports strike is substantially different than the Chicago teachers strike. Most significantly, a shutdown of the schools has very modest and tangential impacts on profits, while a port shut down is projected to cost retailers millions of dollars a day and Obama’s allegiance to capital is far stronger than his ties with labor. Retailers and other corporate leaders are further fanning the flames by claiming that a port shut down could devastate the economy, particularly in conjunction with the tax increases and spending cuts that will come with the fiscal cliff or any compromises to avert it.

The East Coast dock workers, who belong to the International Longshoremen’s Association (in contrast to their fellow workers on the West Coast, who belong to the ILWU), had been in contract negotiations for nine months, before talks fell apart on December 18. One of the main sticking points is “container royalty payments,” which the shipping companies want to freeze for current employees and eliminate for future employees. These payments averaged $15,000 per employee last year. Aside from the fact that this would lead to stagnation in take-home pay, it would also hurt long-term organizing efforts and solidarity by driving a wedge between old-timers and new members.

While long shore unions are seen by many as among the strongest in the country, they have been losing membership over the past 50 years just like most other unions. These jobs have been lost primarily because of automation. New Jersey and New York employed 35,000 longshoremen in the 1960s and today the number has dwindled to 3,500. They are also far less militant than they were in the 1930s, when the ILWU emerged on the West Coast in the wake of a bloody 83-day strike that killed several longshoremen. 

Engraved Billy Club from Battle of Smith Cove, Seattle (image from Wikipedia)

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, the ILWU voted Monday by 93.8% to reject the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association “last, best and final” offer. The grain handlers association now plans to lock out the dockworkers and bring in scabs. The Oregonian reports that the owners of Portland, Vancouver and Puget Sound terminals have spent months preparing for a battle on the waterfront, “lining up troops and assets like chess pieces.”

The West Coast grain terminals implementing the lockout handle 25% of the U.S. grain and 50% of its wheat exports, according to the WSWS. Their owners are demanding the same concessions made by the ILWU in Longview, Washington to the EGT (Export Grain Terminal). The EGT contract was a pretty mediocre deal for the Longview dockworkers, particularly in light of the brutality and repression they suffered by police during their struggle. However, the recent vote indicates that the rest of the West Coast dockworkers are unwilling to accept such losses to workplace rights and working conditions.

Democracy is No Place for the People

Americans love democracy so much that some will kill or attempt to harm those who they think oppose it.

(Image from Flickr, by dahnielson)

Yet what is it that they love so much?

If it is the notion that “The People” get make the social and political decisions that most impact their own lives, they are in love with a fantasy that has never existed. Democracy is about voting for others who get to make these decisions and almost always in the interests of the wealthiest subset of “The People.”

Yet even the part of democracy that does include “the people,” (e.g., voting or speaking at public hearings), includes them only so long as they glorify the system and do not challenge it. Consider the case of Oakland, California, which aborted a meeting of their city council last week rather than endure public criticism and protests of yet another murder of an unarmed black man by the police.

The most recent police shooting involved the death of teenager Alan Blueford, who was killed by police in April, just prior to his high school graduation. Police say he had been brandishing a gun. His family and witnesses deny the charges and are demanding a full investigation, accusing the police of lying. Blueford’s mother said she wanted changes in how the police department is run so that police were more accountable to and had deeper understanding of the communities in which they work. She also accused council members of turning their heads when she spoke of her grief and expressed outrage and frustration that they would shut off the microphone when she spoke. (Blueford’s comments were broadcast on KPFA’s “Letters and Politics,” on October 3, 2012.

Meanwhile, a recent court-ordered report blasted the Oakland police department for failing to make adequate improvements in how it addresses deadly force by police, and in another lawsuit, lawyers are expected to ask for federal oversight of the Oakland police department for failing to make court-ordered reforms.

The city council met again yesterday in closed session to decide how to prevent such disruptions of its meetings in the future. When the closed door session ended and the “public” portion of the meeting began, attendees found the balcony closed and the doors barricaded, with seating reduced by 50% and more than 100 people barred from getting inside.

One might argue that the city council has important business to attend to and that it cannot be hampered by protests or filibustering by unelected members of the public. The public be damned if they cannot understand this simple fact. After all, they elected the council members and should be satisfied with what the council members do and how they do it.

Yet it seems as though some Oakland residents have a different understanding of democracy, one in which they get to directly influence the agenda and decisions made by their representatives. If the city council cannot be bothered to prioritize and resolve the problem of police violence, then perhaps they need more forceful persuasion by having to face so many angry, frustrated and grieving constituents that they must stay extra late just to hear them all, let alone have time for their other business.

The Oakland city council’s new policies are designed to have the opposite effect. It will become harder for residents to use the democratic process to air their grievances or to use their voices and bodies to disrupt or commandeer council meetings. However, this won’t be a substantive change from the status quo. The elected officials will continue to be the ones who make the decisions, listening or not to the concerns of their constituents. But when they choose to ignore “the people,” they will now do so with less blowback. Their decisions will still heavily favor the interests of the city’s wealthiest business leaders, but now with less public oversight and scrutiny. And “the people” will not have any less say in the policy matters that affect them; it will simply be more difficult for them to irritate their elected leaders when things don’t go their way.

Today in Labor History—August 22

General Toussaint Louverture

August 22, 1791 -- Encouraged by the French and American revolutions, 100,000 Haitian slaves revolted, led by Toussaint Louverture. They first attacked the French, and then went after Spanish and English troops, winning their freedom in 1793. In 1804, Haiti became first free black country in the world. The US refused recognition of Haiti until 1865 as a result of pressure from Southern slaveholders.

August 22, 1893 – Sam Gompers and other trade unionists met with New York mayor Gilroy pressings for a municipal public works program to relieve unemployment.

August 22, 1917 – Italian police opened fire on protesters against the war hunger, most of whom were women. The next day, a General Strike was declared. On the 24^th, a state of siege was declared, but the strike continued until the 26th. Police violence during the strike resulted in the deaths of 60 people. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 22, 1947 – A two-month strike by United Packing Workers began in Canada. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 22, 1978 -- Sandinistas captured the Nicaraguan National Palace launching the Sandinista revolution. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—August 2

August 2, 1867 - Sixty striking miners were wounded by police in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (From Workday Minnesota)

August 2,  1875 -- George Vanderveer was born on this date. Vanderveer served as the attorney for the Centralia Wobblies (IWW) and was one of the very lawyers willing to represent Industrial Workers of the World during and after World War I. He represented the defendants in the Everett and Centralia massacres, as well as workers & labor unions during & after the Seattle General Strike of 1919. (from the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—July 30

July 30, 1863 - Automobile tycoon Henry Ford was born on this date in Dearborn, Michigan. His introduction of the assembly line and other mass production techniques revolutionized profit-making not only by dramatically increasing worker productivity, and therefore reducing labor costs, but also by deskilling the workforce and weakening the power of the workers. (From Workday Minnesota)

July 30, 1866 – Police shoot into a group of black workers outside the Mechanics Institute in New Orleans. A crowd of whites then stormed the hall. By the time federal troops restored order, 38 were dead and 136 wounded — almost all of them black. (From the Daily Bleed)

July 30, 1912 – A General Strike began in Belgium. (From the Daily Bleed)

July 30, 1975 - Former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa disappeared on this date. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History--May 12

May 12, 1856 – Trade unions in Victoria, Australia, demonstrated for the 8-hour day. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 12, 1902 –Anthracite coal miners went on strike in Pennsylvania. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 12, 1916 -- James Connolly, IWW organizer and Irish freedom fighter was executed on this date in Dublin for his role in the Easter Rising. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 12, 1921 – The “Three Day's Battle" began along both shores of the Tug River, in West Virginia, with sniping by labor strikers at state police, deputies and coal company officials. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 12, 1926 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of Sacco & Vanzetti, denying their motion for a new trial. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 12, 1927 – Sandinista guerrillas decided to continue their fight until they defeat the invading U.S. Marines. One of their manifestos read, "it is better to be killed as a rebel than to live on as a slave." (From the Daily Bleed)

May 12, 1950 – A court ordered Communist Party head Eugene Dennis to serve a year in jail for refusing to testify before House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—May 9

John Brown, c1856

May 9, 1800 – John Brown, anti-slavery freedom fighter, was born, Torrington, Connecticut. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 9, 1892 – A coal mine exploded at Roslyn, Washington, killing 45 mine workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

1900 – Striking tram workers blew up a tramcar during riots in St. Louis. (From the Daily Bleed)

1918 – Bolshevik troops opened fire on workers protesting food shortages in the town of Kolpino. (From the Daily Bleed)

1934 –Longshoremen began a strike for a union hiring hall and union recognition, ultimately leading to the San Francisco general strike. After World War One, West Coast long shore workers were poorly organized or represented by company unions. The IWW had tried to organize them and had some successes, like in San Pedro, in 1922, but they were ultimately crushed by injunctions, imprisonment, deportation and vigilante violence. While longshoremen lacked a well-organized union, they retained a syndicalist sentiment and militancy. Many Wobblies were still working the docks. On May 9, 1934, longshoremen walked off the job at ports up and down the West Coast, soon to be followed by sailors. Strikers were shot by the bosses’ goons in San Pedro. There was also violence in Oakland and San Francisco. Street battles between the cops and strikers continued in San Francisco, heating up on July 3, and culminating in Bloody Thursday, on July 5, when 3 workers were shot by police (two of them died). The attack led to a four-day general strike that effectively shut down commerce in San Francisco, despite police violence and attempts to weaken it by national unions. (From the Daily Bleed, Workday Minnesota and Wikipedia)

May 9, 1970 – Labor leader Walter Reuther and his wife May died suspiciously in an airplane crash. Repeated attempts had been made on Reuther’s live going back to 1938. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 9, 1972 – A general strike began in Quebec in protest of the jailing of three labor leaders, Louis Laberge, Marcel Pepin, Yvon Charbonneau. (From the Daily Bleed)

ILWU Sues Longview City and Police For Excessive Force

The ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union) has filed suit for the excessive use of force against ILWU members in Longview, Washington, during their own going protests against the new port terminal in Longview. They have sued the sheriff of Cowlitz County, the City of Longview police chief, Cowlitz County and the City of Longview, for their roles in beating and assaulting union members’ and their families as they protest the terminal owner’s use of nonunion labor, in violation of previous agreements with the port.

According to ITFGlobal.org, longshore workers and their supporters can no longer move freely in their own town without fear of being ambushed in front of children and families by an out-of-control police chief and sheriff.

Earlier this month, police attacked nonviolent demonstrators with batons and pepper spray, including women and children. During this same demonstration, police carried rifles loaded with rubber bullets and authorities threatened to call in the military to suppress the protests. On September 8, they dumped 10,000 tons of grain from the trains.ILWU President Bob McEllrath was arrested during these demonstrations and only released after 500 pissed off union members surrounded the police.

After the September 8 action, police have been picking off union members in their homes, from the streets and parking lots. One union member was taken from his home by police while he was caring for two young children, leaving the two at home alone to fend for themselves. All in all, roughly 135 union members have been arrested since July, according to Labor Notes.

It should be pointed out that the union activities have been overwhelmingly nonviolent. Accusations that union members kidnapped a guard and held him hostage turned out to be a fabrication of the bosses and local law enforcement, used to justify their heavy handed tactics against protesters.


It should also be pointed out that the union actions come in response to the terminal owners' violation of the port's contract requiring them to hire members of the ILWU, Local 21.

ILWU Shuts Down Tacoma and Seattle Ports, Smashes Longview Terminal

In response to police violence and employer intransigence, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) shut down the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, WA yesterday, the New York Times reported this morning. The ILWU has been in a year-long struggle at the new $200 million EGT Terminal in Longview, WA, where the employer (EGT) has been hiring non-union workers in violation of the ILWU contract. Earlier this week, union members blockaded trains from entering the port and were assaulted by police armed with rifles and rubber bullets, pepper spray and clubs. Many were arrested and injured.

Yesterday, around 500 longshoremen stormed the new terminal in Longview with baseball bats, smashing windows, damaging rail cars and dumping tons of grain from the cars, while over 1,000 more shut down the ports of Seattle and Tacoma by staying home from work (see the New York Times article). Both actions appeared to be wildcat actions, as the ILWU claimed they had not authorized them.

EGT, a joint venture between U.S., South Korean and Japanese companies, not surprisingly, condemned the actions, accusing the ILWU of criminal activity. However, no union members physically hurt anyone and their actions came in response to police violence against nonviolent demonstrators that did injure people, including women and children.

When capital is threatened, it is considered acceptable and necessary to use violence against workers, even when they are engaged in peaceful and nonviolent protest. However, it is considered unacceptable for workers to defend themselves or their working conditions in any way, particularly if it impinges on bosses’ ability to maximize profits and especially if it includes vandalism or sabotage even when it does not result in any physical injuries.

Judge Ronald Leighton of United States District Court in Tacoma expanded the existing restraining order to block all longshoremen in Washington from shutting down ports. (The previous restraining order only applied to the Longview local).

The original restraining order was issued on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board ostensibly because the ILWU was engaged in “unfair” labor practices by “improperly” harassing scabs. However, workers cannot allow the courts or the government to dictate how to protest their exploitation and expect to be successful. Also, one must wonder what kind of harassment (if any) the government would consider proper and allow?

Judge Leighton, who issued the original restraining order, said there was a peaceful way to protest. “It requires some restraint,” he said. “Your clients have none of that.” He added that they must also obey local laws (quoted from the New York Times article).

Yet the train blockade was both peaceful and nonviolent until the police came in with guns, pepper spray and clubs.

More importantly, labor cannot and should be limited to simply protesting, which is essentially just organized complaining. Rather, workers achieve success in struggles with their employers by halting profits through job actions like strikes, blockades, boycotts, slowdowns, working-to-rule, and sabotage.

The requirement to obey laws is absurd. The laws were written and are enforced primarily to protect private property and capital. The law overwhelming favors the wealthy and the bosses over the interests of working people. Laws are routinely written, interpreted and rewritten specifically to limit working peoples’ ability to protest, resist and fight their exploitation and oppression. It is completely justified and necessary to disregard and resist laws that are unjust or that harm us.