The Way I See It: Perspectives on the Labor Movement From the People in It
“People have been fired and it drags on and on. Arbitration isn’t easy. We have set procedures in the contract. If they are followed, it would be over in a timely period. A matter of weeks. Not four or five months and beyond. That DOES get members involved. They are concerned their union backs you. We have no answers. We’ve had scenes at the negotiation table. Things were promised to members and not delivered to people. Promised by the company to the local and by the local to members. People didn’t get them. Insurance. It’s bitter to see. Many would like to seek a different union. I tell them it’s as strong as the members in it.” Union steward.
He’s livid. He’s lost. He isn’t the first and won’t be the last to tell me “you ain’t shit and this union ain’t shit.” It is frustration and pain talking. I recognize it. Still, at moments like that I wonder why I try anymore.
“People accentuate the negative. What is good is forgotten in a heartbeat.” Union steward.
Some of us sit alone and swig from a bottle pulled from under the driver’s seat, or pour a glass at our kitchen tables. Some of us drink with others and call it “partying” or “letting off steam.” Most of us who drink do it in excess when we do, not out of pleasure so much as need, a need to laugh and to cry at the daily bashing of our righteousness and passion.
“You can’t walk in here and think it’s a nine to five job. You look at it and see a certain amount of extra you may put into it. When you talk to a worker, it’s not just job related. There are social issues. The union shouldn’t be about just whether you can file a grievance. It should be about a level of consciousness of working people. If something else is going on in their lives we have to be able to help give answers. Not to be their personal psychologist or attorney, but we can direct them to agencies. And just to listen. Listen and think of it as more than, ‘Ok, this is just another member calling on the phone.'” Union rep.
It was after a night of barhopping with a colleague that I began to think more about those lazy old men who were our predecessors. I looked around one bar and saw maybe ten of my contemporaries buying rounds, munching on popcorn, telling stories from the worksites. I imagined us twenty years older. I wondered what we would look like at 50 and suddenly I was afraid. What had become of those before us? I had not looked to see if any of the old guys had fought the same struggle at the bottom of a glass.
“I worked in a factory. After a couple of years I became a steward. Then a chief steward. For five years. I had good rapport with the business agent. He called me in, asked if I would be willing to be an organizer. I was able to organize a few plants. . . . I became a business agent. They asked me to run for office. We won 3 straight elections, then lost. . . . All of the officers were let go. I was unemployed. There were allegations that business agents were selling union cards. . . . [some] business agents fought to control the local and one became the next business manager [after the election]. They destroyed the local. Hundreds of cards went out that shouldn’t. [A rep] gave cards out. We couldn’t prove he was selling them. Just to get members. He would control their votes. If you’re a non-union contractor–I come to you, ‘I’ll give you a contract. You come with these ten people. Just say they’re your employees. We’ll give them cards.'” Union rep.