They Call Themselves the Troublemakers Union

By BobboSphere

Daily Kos
May 07, 2012

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/07/1089585/-They-Call-Themselves-the-Troublemakers-Union

Because I am also submitting this to a local Chicago
publication, the diary mentions mostly Chicago participants.

 Over the weekend of May 4-6, 1500 union members, workers’
 center activists and working class rebels gathered at the
 Crowne Plaza hotel in Rosemont IL for the biennial Labor
 Notes Conference. Labor Notes is the monthly magazine for
 labor activists who "want to put the movement back into the
 labor movement." The publication grew out of the rank and
 file labor revolts of the 1970’s and for the past 33 years
 has reported on key labor struggles and issues. Not
 satisfied with just writing about labor insurgencies, Labor
 Notes also convenes special organizing workshops in addition
 to their regular national conferences.

 Labor Notes readers proudly think of themselves as part of
 the "International Troublemakers and Boat-Rockers Union".
 Their symbol is the slingshot, a weapon  associated with
 David bringing down the mighty Goliath. It’s not an actual
 union of course, but  a state of mind. Their brand of
 aggressive organizing is  hated by global corporations. It
 is also unwelcome among those union leaders who cling to the
 tattered status quo of their big salaries with little
 effective action to show for it. Workers from 20 nations,
 including the USA attended the 2012 meeting.

Chicagoland was well represented on Friday’s opening night
session. Uylonda Dickerson of Warehouse Workers for
Justice(WWJ) opened the conference on Friday night with an
impassioned welcome speech. Warehouse Workers for Justice is
centered in Joliet IL. The big box stores like Target and
Walmart rely on these workers to route shipments across the
USA, but reward them with poverty wages, unsafe working
conditions and sexual harassment from the labor contractors
they hide behind. WWJ has challenged their practices with
rallies, one-to-one organizing and court actions. Groups in
California and New Jersey are doing similar work.

 Alfredo Galdenez of the Restaurant Opportunities Center-
 Chicago (ROC-Chicago) also spoke Friday evening. ROC is
 confronting mega-resturant chains like Darden which owns and
 operates approximately nearly 2000 restaurants worldwide;
 including Capital Grille, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and
 Longhorn Steakhouse. ROC is suing Darden based on
 allegations of racial discrimination, wage theft, and
 creating a hostile  work environment. Both WWJ and ROC have
 gone to court on behalf of workers, but also partner with
 community groups to publicize the cause of worker justice.
 Partnering with community groups was also the theme of the
 workshop on how transit workers and transit riders are
 creating alliances to save and improve public transit.
 Transit workers from Louisiana, Massachusetts, Florida and
 New York talked about the successful coalitions they have
 built with community groups. Both the Amalgamated Transit
 Workers(ATU) and the Transport Workers Union(TWU) were
 present.

Chicago bus and train operators listened to their stories and
discussed Rahm Emanuel (aka "Mayor 1%") and his recent
efforts toward privatization of public services, including
transit. The bus operators represented by Chicago’s
Amalgamated Transit Union 241 were especially concerned. They
are in a local which is under trusteeship because of poor
financial management by the previous union leadership. They
reported confusion and demoralization among Local 241 members
which make it difficult to create and maintain strong ties
with riders and community groups.

That afternoon, Jesse Sharkey, vice-president of the Chicago
Teachers Union Local 1 took the microphone in a workshop so
packed that hotel staff had to bring  extra chairs into the
meeting. Sharkey is part of CORE (Coalition of Rank-and-File
Educators) which swept into union office dedicated to union
reform and grassroots activism with parent and community
groups. Sharkey spoke of the immense challenges ahead as
Mayor Emanuel (whose name elicited a chorus of boos)
continues his union bashing and privatization efforts. Union
activists from LA, NYC and other cities were clearly looking
to Chicago as Ground Zero in the fight to defend teachers and
public education.

Occupy Wall Street got glowing endorsements in both speeches
and informal discussions. You could see the influence
everywhere from the transit workers’ orange "Occupy Transit"
t-shirts to the many references to the 1% and the 99%. In
fact the official theme of the conference   was "Solidarity
for the 99%." Occupy Chicago was represented by Jan Rudolfo
of National Nurses United and Andy Manos. At a labor
education workshop, Steve Ashby of Occupy Chicago’s Labor
Outreach spoke of the cordial relationship between Occupy
Chicago and labor that helped create a number of solidarity
actions including a march of thousands against the Mortgage
Bankers Association who met at the Art Institute last fall.

Overall there was a spirit of optimism throughout the
conference, but no one was underestimating the challenges
ahead. The wave of legislation against public employees led
to huge demonstrations in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio, but
they have also resulted in layoffs and a full frontal attack
on the very existence of unions. Private sector workers like
Longview Washington’s longshore workers from Local 21 of the
IWLU who sat down in front of trains to protest job losses
and Verizon CWA and IBEW employees who hit the picket lines
last summer were defending not just themselves, but workers
everywhere who want to end the "race to the bottom" that the
dominates the global economy today.

Troublemakers know how to party and laugh too. There was
music and dancing to the sounds of  Mwelwa and Quinto Imperio
Rebel Diaz delivered some scorching political hiphop. Anne
Feeney and Elise Bryant led the acoustic music crowd in two
song sharing sessions. There was even a special workshop on
making labor mischief to spark organizing with humor, skits
and songwriting.

You can be sure that the 1500 "troublemakers" who met in
Rosemont IL will be in the front lines of resistance. During
the Saturday noon break, hundreds of Labor Notes conferees
skipped lunch to march over to the nearby Hyatt Hotel to
support the hospitality workers who are confronting the
powerful Pritzker family(owners of the Hyatt chain. The
Pritzker family is hellbent on turning hospitality work into
a hellish nightmare of injuries and rock bottom wages. Did I
mention that the Pritzkers are close allies of both Mayor
Emanuel and President Obama?

The mid-day Hyatt protest near the Labor Notes conference

But of course Labor Notes readers are not really the
 "troublemakers." That role falls to  powerful global
 corporations and their hired politicians like Wisconsin’s
 Scott Walker(Republican) and Chicago’s Rahm
 Emanuel(Democrat). Labor Notes is really a journal for "The
 Troubleshooters", the first responders who will take on the
 toughest labor conflicts. They thrive on difficulty and meet
 obstacles with creativity and courage. In today’s ongoing
 class war, they carry on the tradition that was expressed in
 the most desperate days of World War II,"The difficult we do
 right now; the impossible will take a little longer." .
 
 Originally posted to BobboSphere on Mon May 07, 2012 at
 06:06 PM PDT.

Also republished by Occupy Wall Street.

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