From: "Nate Holdren" <nateholdren-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: AUT: Flying Squads and the Crisis of Workers' Self-Organization
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 03:18:37 -0400


Hi Enda and everyone.

Thanks for posting this article Enda. As usual, some questions...
Is there still anyone on the list from the NEFAC? Last I heard NEFAC was 
working on some Canada wide workplace network and starting one in the US. 
There was talk of flying squads around that but I don't recall the 
specifics. What's going on with that?

Also, on a tangent, the article mentions HERE in Canada. This may be a 
foolish question, but out of curiousity, does anyone know about the 
relationship of HERE in Canada to HERE in the US? Is Canada HERE taking part 
in the merger with UNITE? I know UNITE has folks in Canada but since my mind 
stops at the US border I never thought about whether HERE was up there as 
well and what was going on up there re: the merger. Anyone heard anything 
about this merger?

I think the new name is kind of dull. UNITE-HERE? Ugh. On the other hand it 
might just work though (aesthetically speaking) if they could build some 
sort of organizational ties to the national organization of women...

cheers,
Nate


All we ever wanted was just everything.
All we ever needed was just everyone.
-The (International) Noise Conspiracy, "A Small Demand"





>From: Enda Brophy <2eob-AT-qlink.queensu.ca>
>Reply-To: aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.Virginia.EDU
>To: aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>Subject: AUT: Flying Squads and the Crisis of Workers' Self-Organization
>Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 21:09:02 -0400
>
>This is somewhat old now but I don't remember seeing it posted on autopsy 
>and thought some might be interested.
>
>e.
>
>
>http://resist.ca/story/2003/3/5/64228/42859
>
>Flying Squads and the Crisis of Workers' Self-Organization
>
>BY ALEX LEVANT
>(This article appears is forthcoming in New Socialist Magazine)
>
>On September 7, 2000, over 100 people from the Somali community and union
>supporters visited an immigration office in Toronto in defence of four 
>families
>facing deportation and waiting for decisions on their appeals to stay on
>humanitarian and compassionate grounds.  Although they were confident that 
>their appeals would be successful, they feared that they would be deported 
>before a decision was made (a common practice for Immigration Canada).  At 
>the families'request, an action was called to secure a commitment from the 
>authorities that this would not happen.
>
>The action was organized by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) 
>and
>supported by activists from a number of unions, including the Canadian Auto
>Workers (CAW) Locals 40, 112, 199, 397, 504, 673, 707 and 1285, the 
>Canadian
>Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Locals 79 and 3903, as well as Hotel 
>Employees
>Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 75.
>
>We all met at a nearby church, where members of each family explained their
>situation.  After the briefing, we walked to the immigration office and 
>unfurled our union flags in the lobby.  Representatives from OCAP asked to 
>meet with management to discuss the cases in question.  Immigration Canada 
>responded by calling security and the police.  We continued to press our 
>demands while two
>small groups negotiated with immigration officials and police.  The 
>presence of
>so many people in the office made it more appealing for the officials to 
>meet our demands than to endure the disruption caused by our presence.  As 
>a result of our action a commitment was secured, and the deportations were 
>prevented.
>
>What is a Flying Squad?
>
>Most of the union activists at this action were organized in flying squads. 
>A flying squad is an association of union activists who confront our bosses 
>and
>their lackeys by disrupting the normal operations of their organizations, 
>much
>like during a strike.  When workers go on strike we do not only withdraw 
>our
>labour, but we also disrupt the functioning of our workplaces.  Flying 
>squads
>take this tactic beyond their own workplaces, challenging the effects of
>capitalism and the forms of oppression that capitalism mobilizes. 
>Supporting
>striking workers, as well as unorganized, unemployed, and unpaid workers,
>stopping deportations, challenging abusive landlords, and mobilizing for 
>mass
>protests against capitalist globalization are some of the activities that 
>flying squads in Canada have engaged in.
>
>Recent History
>
>There is no definitive answer to when flying squads first emerged. 
>According to Joanne Beck of CAW 598 Flying Squad in Sudbury, flying squads 
>first formed in the early 1900s in the Industrial Workers of the World 
>(IWW).  In his book, Teamster Rebellion, Farrell Dobbs contends that their 
>prototype, cruising picket squads, first appeared during the 1934 Teamsters 
>strikes in Minneapolis.  However, they re-emerged as a promising force in 
>Ontario in the CAW in the mid-1990s.
>
>According to Steve Watson, a National Representative in the Education 
>Department of the CAW, the first CAW flying squad was jointly started by 
>locals 195, 200 and 444.  "In 1995-96, with the election of the Harris 
>government, in Windsor local activists first set up a flying squad to 
>ensure that there would be a rapid mobilization capacity around social 
>actions."  This idea spread through the CAW Education Center and its Paid 
>Education Program, as part of the mobilization for the Ontario Days of 
>Action against the Tory government.  Today there are flying squads in CAW 
>locals across Ontario, with the largest ones in Ingersoll, Kitchener, 
>Oakville, Hamilton, and Sudbury.
>
>Inspired by the CAW flying squads, activists in CUPE began to form their 
>own
>flying squads.  CUPE local 3903 (contract faculty and graduate student 
>workers at York University), formed its flying squad in July 2000.  This 
>quickly grew into the largest and one of the most active flying squads in 
>the union movement, with 80 members on call.  Flying squads also formed in 
>CUPE locals 79 (City of Toronto inside workers), 1281 (a composite local of 
>staff workers across Ontario), and 5500 (Ottawa transit workers).
>
>Our success at making immediate visible gains sparked an interest in other
>unions.  In the fall of 2002, following the opening of the "Pope Squat" 
>organized by OCAP, members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' 
>Federation (OSSTF), the Elementary Teachers of Toronto (ETT), and the 
>Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) formed the Toronto 
>Teachers Flying Squad. "The motivation behind this was to give teachers a 
>more visible presence in protests as teachers," explains Rob, a founding 
>member of the Toronto Teachers Flying Squad.  
>
>The Toronto Teachers Flying Squad is unique because it draws its members 
>from
>several unions. "We are open to all educators," Rob continues.  "The idea 
>behind this coalition was to have a space, which crosses some of the 
>unions, so that elementary teachers, secondary teachers, and Catholic 
>teachers could all work together, which we don't often see from our 
>unions."  Although they just started a few months ago, they already have 
>more than 20 members on call.
>
>Significance
>
>The power of flying squads to make a significant difference in people's 
>lives has struck a chord among unionized workers with flying squads 
>sprouting across the union movement in Ontario.  Their potential is vast. 
>"My dream is that anywhere an injustice is taking place, and people call 
>for help, to have union members there in force to help them in their 
>battles," says Watson.  "A lot of repressive laws would become inoperable." 
>The significance of flying squads goes far beyond their capacity to 
>mitigate the effects of capitalism on specific individuals.  What is 
>particularly exciting about their emergence is not only their success at 
>"beating back the corporate attack", but their potential to help end this 
>attack altogether.
>
>By focusing on employed and unionized workers, flying squads tap into the 
>most
>potent source of resistance to the capitalist bulldozer. Employed workers 
>occupy a unique structural position in society. Since the employing class 
>depends on us selling our labour, we have a special power (and 
>responsibility) in the struggle for social justice.
>
>However, our power as employed workers remains largely untapped.  Unions 
>mobilize our collective strength to improve our wages and working 
>conditions, but this tends to be the limit and only scratches the surface 
>of our potential. In reality, we have much more power than our employers 
>would have us believe.  There is no reason why we could not operate our 
>workplaces democratically, reaping the full product of our labour.  Instead 
>of following the dictates of our employers and producing whatever makes a 
>profit for them, we could democratically decide what, when and how to 
>produce, taking into consideration our collective needs and that of our 
>shared environment.
>
>But there is a gap between what we are objectively able to achieve and what
>appears possible in the minds of most workers. While the global justice 
>movement has made considerable headway in recent years on this front, most 
>workers in the overdeveloped world still believe that another world is not 
>possible. This gap reflects the crisis of working class self-organization. 
>This crisis often paralyses the working class, and flying squads are key to 
>overcoming this paralysis.
>
>The crisis of working class self-organization is produced not only by 
>deliberate disinformation and propaganda of the corporate media, but also 
>by our actual life-experiences under capitalism.  For example, the 
>experience of having to compete with each other for work atomizes us and 
>stunts our capacity for collective action.  Similarly, experiencing our 
>workplaces as dictatorships of our employers pacifies us.  This contributes 
>to our transformation into spectators rather than actors.  A whole range of 
>our abilities atrophy as a result of life under capitalism.
>
>In response, flying squads help foster our capacities for collective 
>action. They give us an opportunity to experience our collective power to 
>effect change.  
>
>Such experiences are transformative: they develop our abilities and feed 
>our imaginations, extending the horizon of possibilities. By developing 
>abilities
>that normally atrophy under capitalism, flying squads help overcome the 
>crisis of working-class self-organization.
>
>Flying Squads and Unions
>
>Flying squads build on the achievements of unions and help to overcome the 
>crisis of working class self-organization by facilitating collective action 
>beyond the limits of unions.  The "no strike, no lockout" clause that is 
>part of every collective agreement in Canada pacifies us by cutting us off 
>from our power to disrupt the functioning of our workplaces during the 
>lives of our collective agreements.  This "class truce" demonstrates both 
>the power and the limit of unions today.
>
>By mobilizing workers for direct action between rounds of bargaining, when
>disruption of workplaces is prohibited by collective agreements, flying 
>squads maintain mobilization and continue to develop our capacities for 
>collective action.
>
>But in order for flying squads to be effective, they must work as 
>autonomous
>organizations, rather than committees of union locals.  This approach is 
>vital if flying squads are to exceed the limits of unions.  
>
>The CUPE 3903 Flying Squad maintains its autonomy by structuring itself as 
>a
>separate organization from the union with a common membership.  It is 
>completely separate from all the decision-making and financial structures 
>of the local.
>
>Similarly, the Toronto Teachers Flying Squad aims to maintain autonomy with 
>respect to the unions from which it draws its members.
>
>According to Euan Gibb of CAW 707 Flying Squad: "There is no formalized
>relationship" between flying squads and the local and national executives 
>in the CAW. Watson characterizes the relationship as one of "give and 
>take." "As a staff member of the union, I try to respect the autonomy of 
>the flying squads.  At the same time they appreciate any support they can 
>get from the national union."
>
>Beck is more critical of how this relationship actually takes place on the 
>ground.  "Some local executives are still not completely for this method of 
>getting the message out, but they are in the minority."
>
>Flying squads have generally been received by union executives with caution 
>and
>ambivalence.  "They're not against it, but they're not wonderfully 
>supportive
>either," explains Rob specifically with respect to the OSSTF executive. 
> "They
>won't allow you to identify yourself as a union member" at flying squad 
>actions.  
>
>Flying squads have become a pole of attraction for activists in locals 
>dominated by conservative leaders who practice "business unionism" - 
>treating unions as businesses that provide services to members in exchange 
>for dues payments. Such locals themselves contribute to the crisis of 
> working-class self-organization by discouraging members' self-activity. 
> Flying squads pose a threat to such union leaders' positions by fostering 
>membership activism, which bolsters left opposition currents in these 
>unions.
>
>But even unions that practice "social unionism" - making unions part of 
>struggles for social justice - have not fully embraced flying squads.  
>Progressive union leaders would be wise to recognize the different roles 
>flying squads and unions are able to play.  Both unions and flying squads 
>work best by respecting each other's roles in our common struggle.
>
>Perhaps the greatest mockery of the flying squad phenomenon has been the 
>Ontario Federation of Labour's (OFL) Solidarity Network.  While the 
>objectives of this network were ostensibly similar to those of flying 
>squads, its top-down structure prevented it from being effective. All 
>actions had to be cleared by the OFL bureaucracy, including its President, 
>Wayne Samuelson.  Rather than fostering workers' participation, the 
>Solidarity Network simply reproduced the same decision-making structures 
>that turn people into spectators under capitalism.  As a result, the 
>Solidarity Network was a flop.  The link to subscribe to it on the OFL 
>website aptly leads to a dead end.
>
>In contrast, flying squads help overcome the crisis of working-class self-
>organization and reduce the gap between what is objectively possible for us 
>to achieve and what appears possible in the minds of most workers.  They 
>are a key next step in the development of workers' abilities to govern 
>themselves and hint at the self-management of our workplaces that is vital 
>if we are to build a truly democratic society.
>
>Alex Levant is member of CUPE 3903.
>
>
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