File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/97-02-17.213, message 21


Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 23:24:15 -0500 (EST)
From: Kevin Cabral <kcabral-AT-freenet.columbus.oh.us>
Subject: Re: M-I: Young Workers and Walmart


On 14 Feb 1997, jonathan flanders wrote:

>  >> The *Toronto Star* ran the banner headline "A fight for 
>  'dignity'" across the front of their business section, 
>  complete with subtitle "23 year-old Windsor clerk led 
>  historic union drive at Wal-Mart" and a full colour 
>  photo of three young workers standing in front of 
>  the store. <<Gay Harley
> 
> Jon Flanders:
> 
>   I would appreciate you keeping the list informed of this development. I
> can think of nothing more important for the future of the working class 
> in North America than the efforts of the youth like those in the Canadian
> Walmart.
> 
>   This is the generation, and the type of workplace that will play a 
> decisive part in future developments in the class struggle.
									
	Once I considered trying to lead a union organization drive at a 
major electronics and computer superstore; the type that employs teenagers to
sell, on any given day, thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment
with an average profit margin of 20% on each $1,000 dollars worth of goods
at an average pay-rate of $6 per hour. Response to covert discussion of
unionization was strong in my department, and we even talked about calling
a meeting outside working hours to discuss the issue further with
employees from the rest of the store, and legal minds supportive of
unionism. I called and e-mailed the SEIU several times, and read up on
employment law; I concluded that our organization drive would be sunk
without establishing contact with national unions who could provide
monetary support, cultural capital, and solidarity for our cause not just
in the Columbus area but across the United States.  

	A year later I still have'nt heard anything from the SEIU and no longer
work at the store in question; most of my fellow travelers are also gone.
I see many of them, middle-aged men working multiple jobs, at a
competitors working for similar wages and with equally profound alienation.
In the meantime the old store is doing well, and the national chain
continues to finance expansion at a breakneck pace; Fortune magazine
reports it to be the premier example of 90s capitalism, and
labor-wage management. Perhaps that helps to illustrate the tranquil
background of establishment unionism which Sweeney was cultivated in, and
the odd irony his clique faces in trying to rescue the AFL-CIO from itself.
 
Kevin 
Cols, Oh
 




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