Stranded Workers Find Lasting Solidarity

By: Diane Krauthamer
Careers & Workplace
July 17, 2012

http://www.examiner.com/article/stranded-workers-find-lasting-solidarity

    Workers fight for a fair contract on May 30,
    2012, in New York City 5 photos View the full
    slideshow » http://tinyurl.com/79ch7mn

When the union contract at Strand Bookstore
expired last summer, the workers did not anticipate
spending 10 months engaged in a dispute that
would fundamentally strengthen their voice on the
job and draw the support of labor activists
throughout New York City. On June 15, workers at
Strand-who are represented by the United
Autoworkers (UAW) Local 2179-voted to ratify a
new contract which prevents the company from
making significant cuts to personal and vacation
days and maintains cost-of-living wage increases
and an affordable health insurance plan. While the
contract was itself an achievement, the 10-month
period leading up to its agreement proved to be
where the power lied. In this time, Strand workers
engaged in a battle that fundamentally altered their
relationship with management and the union
-building shop floor power beyond the scope of
what a good contract could offer.

Cyrus Kleege, a shop steward with UAW Local 2179
who has been working at Strand for seven and a
half years, said that solidarity on the shop floor and
support from labor groups throughout the city
allowed him and his coworkers to "prevent the
company from being able to achieve the worst of
what they wanted to achieve."

View slideshow: Stranded Workers Find Lasting
Solidarity

The battle at Strand began shortly after the previous
contract expired on Aug. 30, 2011. Workers learned
of the company's plans for drastic cutbacks and
began regularly meeting with their negotiating
committee.

"Once we knew.how [the company was]
negotiating, and the offers that they gave us initially,
people really felt that they had to fight back. The
cutbacks management was imposing wasn't a
marginal thing that we could just ignore" said
Kleege.

"I think the biggest reason people began to meet,
began to care, began to engage in this manner, was
the company was looking for unprecedented
demands," added Will Brobowski, a long-time
employee who has been a shop steward at Strand
for the past eight and a half years. "People were just
legitimately concerned about their own livelihoods."

As the workers continued meeting, local groups
such as Occupy Your Workplace (OYWP) and the
Occupy Wall Street Labor Outreach Committee
began offering their support to the workers.

Sam Talbot, a participant in OYWP, said this
support was just as important as shop-floor
solidarity. "We get energy from their struggle, and
give it back to them by letting them know that other
people out there care what happens. The worst thing
for a union shop is to feel that their struggle is just a
dead end that doesn't reconnect to the larger whole,"
Talbot said.

While building a ground battle throughout the fall
and into the winter, the company dragged its feet
and made few concessions to the needs of its
workers. According to Brobowski, Strand argued
that they needed to impose significant cuts because
the economy was "tough."

"Strand's logic has always been couched in terms
like `the book business is tough nowadays,' and `the
economy is bad nowadays,'" said Brobowski.
Meanwhile, the company was bragging about its
profitability-especially during the holidays, when
the staff was told that Christmas was a record-
breaking season.

The busy shopping season came and went, and
soon January passed, then February, and March,
and "nothing was happening," said Brobowski. At
that point the workers went to the media to put
more pressure on the company and accelerate the
process. After a few key stories appeared in local
outlets, the company came back to the table with a
final offer-one that sought to reduce benefits,
impose an 18-month wage freeze, and which would
effectively dissolve the strength of the union. The
workers voted this down and coordinated a May 1st
demonstration at the store with OYWP and other
labor supporters, with hundreds in attendance
calling for a fair contract. When it was clear the
company would not concede, the union called in a
federal mediator. Mediation talks continued from
May until June, and workers maintained media
attention and actions at the store. Finally on June
15, the members voted to ratify a new contract.

Overall, the workers at the Strand believe that what
began as a contract dispute transformed into
something much more powerful than simply getting
the company to agree to fair treatment. The workers
found a stronger voice through their solidarity on
the shop floor and reinvigorated a greater sense of
union pride.

"The past few months definitely contributed to a
culture where workers are proud to be union
members and believe that the union really is there
to work in our interests as long as we have solidarity
with each other," said Kleege.

Talbot added that building shop-floor power was not
just about fair contracts or relying on the union to
resolve disputes. "We can't be passive and rely
solely on union officers. Rank-and-filers, stewards
and activists all have to take an active role in
leading our own fights. And we have to stay united,"
he said.

"When we feel that coworkers or union officials are
not being militant enough. we have to build the
power from the shop floor and sweep them along.
This is where union power comes from," he added.

At Strand, the fight for a fair contract will resonate
for years-both arming the workers with knowledge
and support for the next contract battle in two years
and unifying them in their day-to-day experiences
on the shop floor.

___________________________________________

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