By Richard Mellor in California
It is common for the politicians on local municipal boards to say, as one does in the New York Times article (link below), that they agree with the demands of the teachers and then to direct the blame to Sacramento (the state capital), or to the state. They are half correct, but their role, if they actually ran for election to fight for public education should be to help orchestrate that fight which would include direct action and broadening the struggle.
Instead, they act as the local agents, not only of the power in the state capital, but also federally. They are an obstacle to the teachers’ fight and they work to undermine it. But look at the potential power of labour if it is brought to the table. The California Teachers Association (NEA affiliated) has some 300,000 members in California. The California Federation of Teachers AFT (AFL-CIO affiliated) has some 120,000 workers in education. What is the point of us belonging to national organizations and the union hierarchy boasting about numbers if we don’t use them except for electoral power which amounts to electing Democrats in to office? It is our power in the workplaces and communities of this nation that is key.
To win we have to generalize our offensives like the bosses do. California has 2 million workers affiliated to the state federation of labour. Los Angeles alone has some 800,000 workers affiliated to the LA Labour Council. And of course there are 14 million workers in unions and there is tremendous anger in US society at the state of affairs. As the workers’ enemy George Schultz said. “Negotiation is a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table.”
The way the union hierarchy has been running strikes is not the shadow of power. They are terrified of the potential power of their own members and have done everything possible to ensure the power of their members is subdued and activity limited to what is acceptable to the bosses and their friends in the Democratic Party. This has meant a disaster for US workers and our families.
2018 education battles in Republican states
That is why the teachers/educators struggles early last year were so important. These struggles were conducted in a way that runs counter to everything the present strategists atop organized labour have conducted things. The 2018 education battles should be front and centre in any discussions about organized labour today, not in a shallow congratulatory or cheerleading way, which is common – as they were successful to a degree – but to point out the methods and tactics used. They violated state law, they overrode their own leadership who were actually against strikes that threatened the relationship they had built with the bosses, based on labour peace and concessionary contracts.
The California grocery strikes 15 years ago were another opportunity missed. As popular and as much support as they had, the leadership offered concession after concession and refused to take the strike against global corporations state-wide or national.
As we have pointed out many times on this blog, the reason for the success in the red (Republican) states, or one of them, was this relative weakness of the labour hierarchy and therefore its inability to derail the militant rank and file movement. Here in California, the union hierarchy is stronger, but the membership is potentially more powerful as well.
Another factor in California is the presence of significant left forces. This does not necessarily lead to much, as socialists and other lefts in the unions, and the educators unions in particular, are often hardly distinguishable from the established leadership, in their policies on the ground and they rarely challenge the leaders openly. I spoke at a solidarity meeting organized by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in Oakland recently and as far as I can recall, despite numerous members of left groups being present and actually active in the teachers union, none made any of the points that need to be raised.
The Los Angeles teachers’ strike promises to be a titianic struggle. As the New York Times says, “There are 900 schools, 30,000 teachers and more than 600,000 students in the Los Angeles public school system. By the end of the week, a teacher strike could throw them all into crisis.
After months of failed negotiations, teachers are expected to walk off the job on Thursday, in a show of frustration over what they say are untenable conditions in the second-largest school system in the country…”
The rest of the New York Times article is here.
From the US socialist website Facts for Working People.
January 10, 2019
