Labor, students and community activists speak on need to escalate struggle

On Oct. 3, more than 200 people attended a conference in Chicago on the deepening economic crisis in the United States. The event, whose theme was “They Say Cut Back, We Say Fight Back,” was held at the Teamster City building on the city’s West Side.

Endorsers included more than 50 individuals and organizations, including Armando Robles, president of United Electrical Workers Local 1110; Richard Berg, president of Teamsters Local 743; Bryan G. Pfeifer, staff organizer, Union of Part Time Faculty, American Federation of Teachers, Wayne State University; and Gregg Shotwell, United Auto Workers Local 2151, and the founder of Soldiers of Solidarity.

Additional endorsers were the Caucus of Rank and File Educators, Chicago; Christian Hainds, president, Office and Professional Employees International Union, Midwest United Local 2009; Rosemary Williams, Minneapolis anti-foreclosure activist; the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout; the Minnesota Welfare Rights Committee; the Bailout the People Movement; and Michigan’s Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs.

The call for the conference began, “We are now in the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.” It addressed the crises of foreclosures, unemployment and massive cutbacks to essential social programs, “as the government tries to balance budgets on our backs,” and explained the growing inequality, as “oppressed people—African Americans, Chicanos and Latinos are the last hired and the first to lose their jobs.”

Plenary and workshop topics included “Building our fight,” “The battle for health care for all,” “The fight for the right to an education,” “Public sector unions and state budget cuts,” “Plant closings, layoffs and the economic crisis,” “Economic crisis and the immigrants rights movement,” and “Fighting foreclosures and evictions.”

Struggle develops to confront crisis

Conference speakers represented many struggles confronting the economic crisis and opposing national oppression, the persecution of immigrants and the attacks against organized labor.

Robles, a leader of the union involved in last year’s historic plant occupation at Republic Windows and Doors, discussed that struggle. The workers’ action, which won them severance benefits, together with the widespread support for them, drew international attention to the economic crisis’ impact on U.S. manufacturing workers.

Robles explained that workers challenged bosses’ efforts to close the plant. “Over 200 workers confronted management with demands relating to their legal right to a severance package. Initially, 50 workers occupied the plant and were willing to be arrested. The others picketed outside.”

In a plenary session and in a workshop, Rosemary Williams explained the months-long struggle against her family’s eviction from their home of more than 40 years. After a 35-day siege, the police stormed the residence and forcefully evicted the occupants and sealed the premises. Williams underlined the importance of reaching out “to churches and community organizations in the fight against foreclosure and eviction.”

Stan Willis of the National Conference of Black Lawyers in Chicago discussed being a labor activist while working as a bus driver during a 1968 wildcat strike. “The alliance between labor and the community is essential for winning strikes,” he said.

Larry Holmes from the Bail Out the People Movement talked about the significance of the recently held Tent City and National March for Jobs in Pittsburgh that played an important role in the protests against the G-20 Summit.

“Our efforts were based in the African-American community, which has been hit hard by the economic crisis,” Holmes said. “The African-American community and the immigrant rights struggle must be up front in these efforts because they are the most oppressed within the United States.”

Manuel Criollo of the Los Angeles Strategy Center told of the disproportionate representation of African Americans and Latinos/as in the prison industrial complex. He also addressed the growing contradictions in the Obama presidency. “We have continuing militarism, on the one hand, along with [Obama’s] statements saying that the U.S. can no longer act as if it is the main economic force determining the world situation.”

Gurujiwan Khalsa, a University of California student organizer, reported on the recent protests by thousands of students demonstrating against drastic budget cuts in the state’s higher educational institutions.

In the “fighting foreclosures and evictions” workshop, Mick Kelly introduced panelists Sandra Hines of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition, David Hungerford of the People’s Organization for Progress, Linden Gawboy of the Minnesota Welfare Rights Committee and Rosemary Williams.

Hines drew on the lessons of the 1930s struggles. She stressed that, “We have to organize unemployed councils and tent cities to fight the banks and corporations.”

She criticized the utility companies for evicting people by shutting off their heat and electricity, but said, “At the Highland Towers apartments near Detroit, we were able to force DTE Energy to restore power to the people.

“The most oppressed, those who are most affected by the crisis, must take the lead. If this happens, many others will join the struggle,” concluded Hines.

In the workshop on plant closings and layoffs, J. Burger from Teamsters Local 743 explained how the union fought management plans to eliminate 450 jobs at the University of Chicago hospital. The school’s endowment fund had lost $1.4 billion in the stock market meltdown.

The union, which represents workers in the clerical, radiology and food service departments, built alliances with other labor organizations and organized workplace campaigns against the cuts. They won severance packages for the workers. Most of the workers have gotten their jobs back.

Conference resolutions

Many resolutions were passed. One supported the Teamsters Local 743 strike for health care coverage at SK Hand Tools. Another endorsed the Minnesota Welfare Rights Committee’s demands for more public services and public assistance. Conference participants endorsed a National Day of Protest on Nov. 10 against the economic crisis and the call for a fightback.