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from Libertarian Labor Review #13
Summer 1992, pages 1
Editorial:
One More Nail in the Coffin
When UAW President Owen Bieber agreed to sent Caterpillar
strikers back to work on April 14 under the terms of Cat
management's final offer he drove another nail into the coffin of
organized labor in the U.S.
Bieber's motive in capitulating to the world's largest earth
moving equipment manufacturer was undoubtedly to preserve the jobs
of 12,600 striking workers (and the dues revenue generated for UAW
coffers?) who were threatened with permanent replacement by scabs.
Alternatives to surrender, risky as they might be, could have
been implemented. Mass picketing, plant occupations, or a
combination of both could have bee set up to keep out any scabs.
Thousands of unionists in the midwest who were anxious to come to
the Cat strikers' aid would have responded to a call for active
support. (On March 22, over 20,000 workers took part in a
solidarity rally held in Peoria, Illinois; there had been short
sympathy strikes of Cat workers in South Africa and Belgium, and
even some talk of a general strike in some UAW locals.)
However, one has to wonder if other alternative tactics were
even considered before the decision to surrender was reached.
Although there has been some talk recently of implementing a work-
to-rule to bring some pressure to bear on Cat management, the
seeming lack of any creative thinking about strategy and tactics in
the current economic climate only underlines the total bankruptcy
of business unionism.
The capitalists declared war on labor over ten years ago, and
the casualties suffered in this decade should have convinced any
sober unionist--even a reformist one--that the long battle of
attrition-style strikes is suicide. Not only that, the UAW's
failure to organize any pre-strike actions to reduce Cat inventory
going into the strike shows the severe short-sightedness,
approaching blindness, of the trade union leadership. In addition,
the fact that the rank-and-file were not even consulted, let alone
allowed to vote, on the decision to return to work indicates that
the business union leadership is more afraid of an active rank-and-
file than anything else.
Of course, negotiations between UAW leaders, Cat executives
and a federal mediator could produce a slightly improved contract
for Cat workers. But the rank-and-file will remain largely marginal
to the process, and this is the crux of the matter. The passivity
and lack of self-organization of the rank-and-file makes the
defense of hard-won conditions, let alone their improvement,
virtually impossible--not only for Cat workers but for workers in
all sectors of the economy.
Only when we decide to organize ourselves into self-managed,
revolutionary class unions that recognize the irreconcilable
conflict between labor and capital will we have the power to win.