Raising Hell for Workers' Rights

Jobs with Justice battles against deteriorating US working conditions.

by Brian King
The Free Press

A new national group called Jobs with Justice (JwJ) has come onto the scene here in the last couple of years. With an active Washington state affiliate, it has shown the kind of energy and commitment that warrants a close look by those of us who care about labor unions and what they stand for in America.
Let's talk a little union, OK? Sometimes it seems that unions are like the old saying about the opposite sex: You can't live with 'em and you can't live without 'em. To be honest, things don't look so hot these days, especially if you consider labor unions to be a vital ingredient in any recipe for a decent, democratic society here in the US.
Membership in unions is down from 35 percent of the US workforce in the mid-1950's to about 16 percent in 1995. If you take out government workers, the number drops to around 12 percent. Some claim that workers in the US are too wealthy and complacent to care about organizing themselves. But it's pretty hard to go for the fat, happy American worker theory when you consider that the average weekly wage, when adjusted for inflation, has dropped by 20 percent since 1970.
Then there's union corruption. Some claim this is a reason for union decline. Goodness knows there's a real problem here. Most union officials and organizers, being honest and hard working people like the rest of us, are as disturbed by this as anyone. But do people quit or decide not to join unions because of a few bad apples in the leadership? It's hard to go for this one when you consider this: unions deliver the goods. Union pay is, on average, 1/3 higher than non-union pay for comparable work. More than enough to pay your dues.
So why have unions been in retreat? It mostly comes down to a question of raw power. The trade union goal of getting corporations and government to accept contracts favorable to their members is based upon the ability of workers' organizations to both threaten and carry out strikes. That's the way to get bosses to share the wealth. Tell them you'll close them down if they insist on keeping everything for themselves. Problem is, it's getting harder and harder these days to mount effective work stoppages in the face of the growing ability of business to defy union threats to shut down production.
Hiring replacement workers (scabs) is an all too frequent response to strikes nowadays. Automation and computerization have, contrary to popular myth, made most production jobs simpler and easier to fill through plugging in new and relatively inexperienced workers. In most basic industries (auto, steel, etc.), there is a surplus of plant capacity, when viewed on a world scale, so that bosses often threaten to simply shift production elsewhere when union reps ask for more during contract negotiations than bosses want to give. Many observers believe that NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) is of great assistance to companies seeking to shift production to Mexico, where wages are often less than 10 percent of those paid workers here in the US. US labor law also makes it harder to organize new unions than in almost all other advanced economies. Not only does it allow permanent "replacement" workers, but it also gives employers greater legal leverage to clobber unions for real or trumped up violations than unions in turn can wield against management. Statistics released by the Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations in 1994 show that employers have greatly increased their use of illegal tactics to prevent unions, and that when these tactics are used union success rates drop dramatically. And, increasingly, politicians of both parties are less and less willing to stand up for union interests.
What to do about all of this? Jobs with Justice thinks it has found ways to address these and other problems facing working people today in the US. I spoke recently with JwJ leader Jonathan Rosenblum.
According to Rosenblum, "Jobs with Justice is committed to militant, non-violent struggle toward a society based upon social and economic justice for all. We want to be a vehicle for articulating what working people are demanding, such as family wage jobs and decent health care for all. We believe in broad-based unity among unions, churches and community organizations to work together toward these goals."
Nationally, Jobs with Justice formed in 1989 in response to what its founders saw as steadily deteriorating conditions for working people in the US. Not only were wages and union membership in a long-term downward slide, but the federal government seemed to be siding with employers against unions and those attempting to organize them. JwJ's leaders, emerging from a support group for the 1987 Eastern Airlines strikers, decided from the beginning that they wanted to operate as a coalition of labor, community and religious groups that would fight for the interests of American working people.
Drawing inspiration from the Civil Rights and other movements of our recent past, JwJ opted for a grassroots strategy of non-violent direct action. In March of this year JWJ activists occupied the Atlanta offices of House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, protesting the Republicans' Contract With America. Many of the protesters were arrested on misdemeanor charges and two leaders of the group were charged with inciting to riot, a felony which carries a possible stiff prison penalty.
Here in Washington State, JwJ has been busy as well. The local group formed as a result of organizing efforts for a May, 1993 rally called by a coalition of local unions and community organizations, and held at the local office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Downtown Seattle. One hundred seventy-five people showed up to demand reform of federal labor laws so workers would have a fair chance to organize unions. During the demonstration, the elevators at the Federal building were blocked in an effort to convey to the government the group's opposition to what it sees as a pattern of rulings in favor of management rather than labor.
Other actions the local JwJ group has been involved with include: JwJ has plans to continue its hell-raising. "Our mission is to be a mobilizing arm in the movement for social and economic justice," says Rosenblum.

Having trouble with your boss? Why not give Jonathan a call? I bet he'd like to hear from you. For more info, contact Jonathan Rosenblum at (206) 448-7348.





[Home] [This Issue's Directory] [WFP Index] [WFP Back Issues] [E-Mail WFP]

Contents on this page were published in the June/July, 1995 edition of the Washington Free Press.
WFP, 1463 E. Republican #178, Seattle, WA -USA, 98112. -- WAfreepress@gmail.com
Copyright © 1995 WFP Collective, Inc.