Comeback for Labor?

[SoCalDem]

http://www.freespeech.org/fscm2/contentviewer.php?content_id=1279

Comeback for Labor?

By Chris Kutalik, published in MRZine; April 21, 2006 FromZNet

As labor activists from around the country and world converge on Dearborn, Michigan in early May for the Labor Notes Conference, it's worth reflecting back on a year that has brought back hopes for a revitalization of the labor movement. Several months ago, the Wall Street Journal described an increase in strikes in the United States. But the modest revival of grassroots activity in the U.S. labor movement at the end of 2005 has largely been missed by the mainstream press. STRIKES UP

According to the Bureau of National Affairs, there were 271 work stoppages in the first three quarters of 2005 as compared to 227 in all of 2004. And the BNA's numbers do not include many of the high-profile strikes at the end of 2005 which involved roughly 70,000 workers: Northwest Airlines mechanics and cleaners, Boeing aircraft manufacturing workers, California hospital workers, Philadelphia and New York City transit. What's prompting all this activity? Emboldened by four years on the attack since 9/11, many employers used aggressive bargaining tactics in unprecedented ways in 2005. Proposed wage and health care cuts were far deeper than in previous years -- in some cases, unions were faced with the near-to- total loss of retiree health care and pensions, and at times the near-destruction of the unionized jobs themselves.

Caught off-guard by employers' intransigence at the table, a number of unions found themselves in last-minute "desperation strikes": badly prepared, yet seen as necessary for survival of the union.

Even if these strikes didn't produce the contractual gains that workers wanted, they did have some positive effects.

Striking workers at Boeing and New York transit strikers, for instance, described seeing new excitement and participation from fellow workers following their successful, high-profile attempts to shut down their employers. Many activists involved in strike support for the Northwest Airlines mechanics' strike saw striking mechanics and cleaners move month by month into greater militancy and awareness of the broader labor movement. Indeed, rank-and- file strikers from AMFA Local 5 in Detroit formed their own Solidarity Committee that attended other unions' pickets, Jobs with Justice events, and various social movement events in the Detroit area. SURGE IN REFORM .Strikes were only one example of increased activity. Auto part manufacturer Delphi's announcement of bankruptcy -- and plan for 63 percent wage cuts and massive layoffs -- unleashed a wave of rank-and-file organizing.

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