Republic workers victory tour excites Detroit

At the packed  International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 58 union hall in Detroit Feb. 9, a multinational crowd witnessed history as Armando Robles, president of Electrical Workers union (UE) Local 1110, and Bob Kingsley, UE director of organizing, presented a “Sit-Down Pioneer” award to two Flint sit-down strikers of 1936-1937, Geraldine Blankenship of the Women’s Emergency Brigade and Olen Ham.

UE leaders Bob Kingsley and Armando Robles present honorary awards to surviving Flint sit-down strikers Geraldine Blankenship and Olen Ham, Feb. 9. WW photo: Alan Pollock

Upon taking the podium, Robles dedicated the sustained applause for him to the Flint sit-downers. He began by noting that the first sit-downers at Republic this past December in Chicago were mostly women, thanked everyone present for the solidarity during the sit-down and said that it’s the workers who make the wealth.

“We have to force the government and the bosses to get our rights and our dignity for ourselves and for workers around the world,” declared Robles to rousing shouts of “That’s right!” and applause.

Bob Kingsley, UE’s director of organizing, explained how UE Local 1110 received international support from thousands of labor, community, student and faith-based organizations.

“This 15-city tour is to encourage more resistance. Real change—change that benefits workers, not bankers and CEOs—must be driven from the bottom up by collective action and collective protest, by more resistance. Workers are so powerful. Victory to working people everywhere,” concluded Kingsley.

The Detroit meeting was sponsored by Southeastern Michigan Jobs with Justice and co-sponsored by numerous labor and community organizations. Bill Bryce, JWJ organizer, said, “We win when we work together.”

Feb. 9 participants were invited to the hall by Elaine Crawford, president of the 5,600 member IBEW Local 58. Saundra Williams, president of the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO, thanked the UE for the fightback inspiration and called for all present to sign Employee Free Choice Act cards. Members of the Michigan AFL-CIO also participated.

A UE video explained how teams of Republic workers engaged in security, cleaning, food distribution and other tasks. Numerous allies explained how and why they supported the sit-down, describing the dozens of protests at Bank of America branches, including in Detroit and in North Carolina at BOA headquarters.

Music was provided by Bill Meyer, the Soneo Latin Jazz Band, the cast of the opera “Forgotten” and Jose Rios, all members of the Detroit Federation of Musicians Local 5. Martha Reeves performed “Dancin’ in the Streets.” The cast of “Forgotten” sang the 1930s CIO song, “Sit Down.”

The Industrial Workers of the World Detroit’s Wobbly Kitchen provided refreshments. A photograph display by Alan Poll0ck entitled “Detroit Solidarity Delegation with UE Republic Workers—December 2008” depicted five current or former union members from Detroit who traveled to Chicago Dec. 10 for a rally and then were invited onto the occupied shop floor by the workers. The event closed with a rousing version of the song “Solidarity Forever.”

Press conference & labor tour

UE members attended a Feb. 9 morning press conference held at the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO that only progressive media attended. In the afternoon UE field representative Abe Mwaura, Robles and Kingsley visited a plant in the city of River Rouge, adjacent to Detroit, where 1,700 of the 1,800 members of the United Steelworkers were recently laid off.

Robles emphasized at all of the Detroit events that the UE workers’ victory tour was meant to inspire fightbacks within the international working class, such as the ongoing Waterford Crystal plant occupation in Waterford, Ireland. Robles said that he and his fellow Local 1110 members believe that workers have a property right to their jobs and, due to the labor they expend, they have a property right to machines, plants and products as well.

During a tour stop in Providence, R.I., UE tour members pledged their support to help win justice for over 200 workers locked out of a local manufacturing company.