Tag Archives: unions

Rising from the Rails: How A. Philip Randolph and the Pullman Porters Helped Pave the Way for the Civil Rights Movement

  By la Macha | May 11, 2009 - 11:41 am |
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From Democracy Now! comes this amazing story about the Pullman’s Porters.

Saturday was National Train Day. This year, Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station hosted an event honoring the Pullman porters, the African-American men who worked long hours as attendants on the luxurious sleeper trains operated by the Pullman company from 1868 to 1969.

The first porters George Pullman hired after the Civil War were former slaves. In the 1920s, over 20,000 African-Americans worked for the Pullman company, making it one of the largest employers of African-American men.

Today, there are only about 40 surviving Pullman porters, four of whom were at the event in Philadelphia this Saturday.

The Pullman porters played an important but unsung role in the history of this country. In 1925 they formed the first Black labor union under the stewardship of A. Philip Randolph called the “brotherhood of sleeping car porters.” They helped pave the way for the Civil Rights movement and are also credited with building the Black middle class in this country.

Of course, things are not perfect for black workers–black lesbian women and black trans people in particular are chronically and systematically underpaid/underemployed/unemployed. But it’s always amazing to me to see how unions could actually improve things–actually made a difference.

I think it’s wonderful that the current white house supports and protects labor–but now labor needs to work on unionizing the people who need it most: women, youths, non-U.S. citizens.

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May Day protests/celebrations throughout Europe

  By la Macha | May 1, 2009 - 12:27 pm |
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maydayattacksAs May Day activities heat up here in the U.S., Europe is already in the thick of things. France, of course, is in the workers rights lead–managing to bring out tens of thousands (as compared to–um, NONE where I live).

From the BBC News:

Some 300 rallies are taking place across France, which has already seen strikes by hospital staff, fishermen and university staff, among others.

Across the country, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in cities such as Marseille, Bordeaux and Grenoble, ahead of a major demonstration in Paris.

This year’s traditional Labour Day in France comes against a backdrop of mounting social tension, reports the BBC’s Paris correspondent Emma Jane Kirby.

There is a growing perception that little has been done to protect the ordinary person’s job and wages, while executives from banks bailed out by the government have enjoyed generous pay-offs and bonuses, she says.

The country’s eight main unions have urged people to come out and protest in their third such day of action this year.

Violence erupted in Istanbul as hundreds of left-wing and trade union groups tried to pass through police checkpoints into the city’s main Taksim square.

The protesters had been refused permission to hold rallies in the square but, as in previous years, they chose to ignore the ban, reports the BBC’s David O’Byrne in Istanbul.

The marchers took to the back streets after they were met with police water cannon, and hurled stones and other missiles at police who responded by firing tear gas.

When capitalism exists as a world wide economic structure, it doesn’t make much sense to me to have an ununionized work force. Make no mistake, unions have their problems–they aren’t the perfect solution to all the problems works face. But they’re the best thing the worker has right now–and workers are *entitled* to the protection (however limited) unions can bring them.

Solidarity forever!

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Accountability versus Begging.

  By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo | December 8, 2008 - 1:34 pm |
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As somebody who lives in the middle of union world, it disgusts me that blue collar workers have to run all over hell and back begging for their jobs, all the while white collar workers get whatever they want, even if it means kicking blue collar workers out of jobs. How many bank officials did we see on t.v. begging and pleading and promising to ‘make sacrifices’ to get what they needed?

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Colombia Trade Deal Answers

  By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo | November 13, 2008 - 3:36 pm |
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So, if you’re like me and you tend to decide things without really having a full grasp of a situation, but can sense on a gut level why something is wrong–I found this article in the NYT’s about the Colombian Trade Agreement, Obama and Bush, and why there is so much tension around the whole thing. It answered a lot of my questions and helped me to further see and understand Erwin and LC’s separate thoughts–although I think that the article is incredibly lacking in explaining the Agreement from Colombia’s perspective–whether the perspective be from a unionist point of view or a ‘free trade’ point of view.

An excerpt:

Mr. Bush has drawn his line at the automakers’ doors, having already been forced to shelve the free-market principles of his Republican Party to bail out the financial industry over the past two months. But Republicans say he would acquiesce in aid to automakers in return for Congress’s ratification of the Colombia pact and pending trade agreements with Panama and South Korea.

I still am inclined to believe that there’s nothing good about free trade, especially when it can be used to justify the silencing of violence against workers–but I am open to continuing to think about it.

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Bush Links Auto Industry Bailout to Colombia Trade Bill

  By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo | November 11, 2008 - 9:51 am |
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safeworkerssafejobs.jpgRemember how we all felt so good that Obama recognized that Colombian union leaders were getting murdered by corporations and stated as such during the debates? Remember how the Colombian organization, Association of Indigenous Couincils, wrote their letter to Obama detailing their lives and what they’d like to see happen under an Obama presidency?

Well, now we have President Bush’s response to their reality:

Bush said he would back demands for an auto industry bailout if Democrats support the stalled “free trade” deal with Colombia. Congressional Democrats have held up the deal over human rights concerns. Obama cited the repeated killings of Colombian union leaders during his final debate with John McCain last month. Democrats want to use some of the $700 billion in bailout money for major car companies like General Motors.

Basically, what this boils down to is if people in my community wants jobs, we must sign on to the murder of fellow workers down in Colombia. I vote an emphatic no on that choice. I hope that the unions in my area stick to their pre-election guns and recognize the blatant violent racism they will be participating in if they too, do not reject such a compromise.

via Democracy Now!

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Northwest Tree Planters and Farmworkers United

  By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo | September 9, 2008 - 1:44 pm |
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It’s always inspiring to me to see workers coming together to stand up for their rights in spite of incredible odds, so I was really moved when I learned about the Northwest Tree Planters and Farmworkers United out in Oregon.

This organization works to, “empower farmworkers to understand and take action against systematic exploitation and all of its effects. To achieve this end, PCUN is involved in community and workplace organizing on many different levels.”

The thing is, most of the workers in this organization are from Mexico or Columbia, and many speak indigenous languages rather than Spanish. Not to be deterred, PCUN uses multiple forms of media (including radio and theater) to do educational and grassroots outreach.

Given that employers often work very hard to make sure that traditional tensions between workers are exploited to their benefit, it’s always good to know that some workers are finding ways to negotiate that and become stronger because of it.

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Mississippi ICE Raid Connected to Union Organizing

  By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo | September 4, 2008 - 6:58 pm |
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Remember the ICE raids that happened recently in Mississippi? I just read a really important analysis about those raids and why they happened. Among the article’s assertions (for those of you who hate unions, socialism, etc, be prepared to get angry):

* Many of the undocumented workers were demanding and agreeing to join the local union.

* There was a historical legacy of tension between workers provoked by politicians and lawmakers.

* There is a historical legacy of the company in question being sued by the union and workers for working conditions and infringement on workers rights.

* Although its been reported that the ICE investigation began because of a phone call tip by a union member, ICE refuses to substantiate or otherwise give evidence of the truth of this assertion.

It’s interesting exactly how many of the ICE raids conducted in just this summer alone have been connected to unionization of workers. It seems to me that workers that have citizen papers are cutting off their noses to spite their faces when they rally against undocumented workers. As long as there is an underclass of worker, there will always be a reason to export jobs, no?

via/Political Affairs Magazine

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Could a Triangle Shirtwaist Happen Today?

  By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo | March 26, 2008 - 7:50 am |
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trianglecov1.jpgYesterday, I was reminded, marked the anniversary of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that claimed the lives of 146 people, mostly young immigrant women. Because the doors of the factory had been locked, the only method of escape for the workers was jumping for their lives and ultimately to their deaths.

The Triangle Fire tragically illustrated that fire inspections and precautions were woefully inadequate at the time. Workers recounted their helpless efforts to open the ninth floor doors to the Washington Place stairs. They and many others afterwards believed they were deliberately locked– owners had frequently locked the exit doors in the past, claiming that workers stole materials. For all practical purposes, the ninth floor fire escape in the Asch Building led nowhere, certainly not to safety, and it bent under the weight of the factory workers trying to escape the inferno. Others waited at the windows for the rescue workers only to discover that the firefighters’ ladders were several stories too short and the water from the hoses could not reach the top floors. Many chose to jump to their deaths rather than to burn alive.

(more…)

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