Week of action: defend the right to strike!
By Workers Strike Back. Published May 25, 2023
From May 6 to May 14, Workers Strike Back organized rallies in cities around the country to fight the impending attack by the Supreme Court on workers’ Right to Strike.
If the court rules in favor of the bosses in the upcoming case Glacier NW v. Teamsters, it will open the door to massive attacks on unions. Companies could drag unions through the courts every time there is a strike, attempting to bankrupt the union and make workers pay for all lost revenue. Of course, stopping the bosses’ profits is the whole point of a strike!
In 9 cities and states across the country, workers came together during the Week of Action to raise the alarm and to demonstrate what kind of fightback is needed by the whole labor movement to defend against these attacks.
Seattle
Report by Jozi Uebelhoer, social worker, WFSE 889 member
On May 6th, 2023, workers gathered in front of the US Federal Courthouse in Seattle to defend the right to strike. The event was a collaboration of Workers Strike Back and 20+ unions and community groups in King County.
The rally started off with speaker Nina Wurz, a union carpenter and leader of the Peter J McGuire Group who went on strike in 2021 during “Striketober”. She spoke about the need for Workers Strike Back as a way for people to engage in struggle. She called for a real raise for workers and a political party that truly represents the working class and not the political ideals of the establishment.
PCC Community Markets worker, UFCW 3000 member, and Workers Strike Back activist Jordan Young discussed the demands being put forward by PCC grocery store workers, including $25/hour starting pay across all stores and full staffing on all shifts. Jordan called out the Democrats on the Seattle City Council who ended grocery workers' hazard pay which led to their pay decreasing by $160 a week. He called for all unions to stand in solidarity with PCC grocery workers if they were to go on strike.
Julia Kobelt, a member of UAW 4121 and researcher at the University of Washington also called for solidarity in their contract battle for a 30% raise–urging unions across the university to not cross the picket line.
UPS delivery driver and member of Teamsters 174, Nick Jones, called out the capitalist system for working UPS drivers to their limits, with drivers out in the ice storm that hit Seattle back in December and consistently having to work 11-13 hour days. UPS has the largest number of union members of any private sector corporation in the US where the Teamsters represent over 340,000 workers.
UPS Teamsters’ strike threat is exactly the kind of fight the Supreme Court is trying to defang. Jones appealed for all workers (union and non-union) to be ready to stand with the Teamsters if they go on strike in August: to build for solidarity walk-outs, ask co-workers and union siblings to not cross the picket line, and to donate to the union’s strike fund.
This Supreme Court court case is the most direct and blatantly anti-labor attack in decades. It also shows the bosses’ fear of the huge potential power an organized working class can wield against them. As Wurz pointed out in her speech, after the concrete workers won their demands in 2017, the bosses had to run to the Supreme Court. This makes it clear they cannot face workers on their own and are terrified that we will realize our strength. Regardless of the Supreme Court's decision, Workers Strike Back alongside militant labor organizers will continue to build the fighting movement necessary to defend workers.
If you are in Seattle, join Workers Strike Back for our next monthly meeting Monday, June 5 @ 6 pm, to hear from PCC grocery workers and get organized to win their demands, including a $25/hour starting wage. RSVP here!
Philadelphia
Report by Olive Kuhn, city worker, AFSCME member, AFSCME Unity caucus member
Fifty people rallied outside of notorious union-busting firm Morgan Lewis in downtown Philadelphia on May 11th to protest the impending Supreme Court decision in the Glacier Northwest v. Teamsters case as part of a national week of action called by Workers Strike Back.
The action began with a picket and chants calling to defend the right to strike. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants endorsed and attended the action, alongside Workers Strike Back and members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT), TUGSA (graduate student workers who recently went on strike at Temple University), and PASNAP (nurses). Speakers highlighted the importance of strikes in their workplaces and industries.
“Teachers do have the power to change society, to repair trauma and to build bright futures for our children. But we don’t have that power individually in our classrooms like we are led to believe. We only have that power as an organized, united force. Our power comes from being organized, and we need to be able to use that power,” said PFT member Fiona Cavanagh.
New York City
Report by Ella Rapp, Workers Strike Back activist
May 12, 6pm: On Friday evening, workers both unionized and not gathered with Workers Strike Back in Midtown Manhattan to defend the right to strike!
In addition to the threat of the Glacier decision in the Supreme Court, New Yorkers are fighting the Taylor Law, which prohibits public sector workers from going on strike. The impact of this law is clear in recent contract struggles: District Council 37 (DC 37), NYC’s largest public sector union, ratified a contract in March that includes a 16.21% raise over 5.5 years, which at current inflationary trends represents a real pay cut.
In contrast, the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) went on strike at two major hospital locations in January, and won a contract with a 19% raise over just 2 years, as well as safer 4-to-1 patient staffing ratios. New York workers know that strikes get the goods!
At the rally, we heard from two union presidents, Cora Bergantiños-Crespo of CPW-UAW 4100 (representing Columbia postdoctoral workers) and Dan Kroop of ALE (representing NYC Council staff), who both spoke about their current contract fights and what it means to be a socialist union leader fighting for a militant union that doesn’t try to play nice with the bosses. Next we heard from Ben Rosenblum, a WGA member currently on strike with fellow writers across the country!
Then we marched to the New York office of union-busting law firm Morgan Lewis to stand in solidarity with Amazon workers fighting for a union at the KCVG Air Hub in Kentucky, and fighting for their first contract at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island. Renee, a member of PSC-CUNY, spoke about the importance of the broad program that Workers Strike Back calls for in uniting workers beyond their workplaces.
Finally, we heard from Gabe, a member and assembly delegate of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), who talked about what it means to be a socialist in a union and how he fought for and won a resolution for the UFT to donate $1,000 to the KCVG union drive. Now, he’s working with other members of MORE (UFT’s reform caucus) to pass a resolution alongside Workers Strike Back activists around the country in defense of the right to strike, which is up for discussion and a vote at the next delegate assembly.
Join Workers Strike Back next in NYC for our June 9 launch event with Kshama Sawant, Briahna Joy Gray, Ralph Nader, Amazon KCVG workers, and other militant NYC labor leaders! Then, mobilize your coworkers to our Labor For Trans Youth contingent at the Queer Liberation March on June 25. If you want to help build these events in your workplace or community, get in touch!
Workers Strike Back also organized rallies and events in Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis, Worcester (MA), Houston, and Alabama.
We need a fighting labor movement
Union members understand the dire threat this Supreme Court case poses to the whole labor movement. Leaders from multiple local unions also endorsed and mobilized for the Week of Action, including the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, multiple AFSCME locals including WFSE 1495, WFSE 304, and AFSCME 2083, and others.
Unfortunately, the top leadership of most unions has failed to mount a significant fightback against this impending attack.
In Seattle, the leadership of the MLK County Labor Council actively refused to endorse the rally, despite it being endorsed by over 20 unions and community groups. The Stand, the publication of the Washington State Labor Council, refused to even post the rally on its Events Calendar.
As Barbara Phinney, member of AFGE 3197 and delegate to the MLK Labor Council, wrote:
“We need labor newspapers that help to rebuild a fighting labor movement and promote rank-and-file led actions, like the recent Rally to Defend the Right to Strike organized by Workers Strike Back and 20+ local unions & community organizations. I urge the Washington State Labor Council leadership to really fight for the working class and use The Stand as an organ of labor struggle, not simply as a tool to maintain the status quo of business unionism.”
Read Barbara’s full statement here.
Workers can’t afford to wait for top union leaders to act, and we certainly can’t rely on the Democratic Party. We need to get organized now as rank-and-file union members to rebuild fighting unions that will mobilize to defend against attacks like Glacier NW v. Teamsters, and do what it takes to fight for strong contracts and win big gains for workers, like a 20 percent raise for all workers, annual cost-of-living adjustments above the rate of inflation, and free healthcare for all!
