Labor Action to Defend Democracy
Template:TOCnestleft Labor Action to Defend Democracy was founded in 2020.
LADD convenors
Labor Action to Defend Democracy conveners Ed Bruno, Southern Workers Assembly; Gene Bruskin, National Writers Union; Michael Eisenscher, Peralta Federation of Teachers/AFT local 1603, retired; Carlos Fernandez; Jonah Furman, former national labor organizer, Bernie 2020; Norine Gutekanst, Chicago Teachers Union, retired; Alex Han, Bargaining for the Common Good; Barbara Madeloni, Labor Notes; Carl Rosen, General President, United Electrical, Machine and Radio Workers of America (UE).[1]
Unions against Trump victory
Will unions be ready to strike if Trump won’t step down? The sizable share of union members backing Trump makes it tough for some unions to frame the fight as anti-Trump, or pro-Biden. But if unions commit to the integrity of the democratic process, they have more ground to stand on.
The Rochester Central Labor Council in New York passed a resolution calling for a general strike in the event that Trump loses and does not step down. The resolution calls on the national AFL-CIO and all other labor organizations to “prepare for and enact a general strike, if necessary, to ensure a Constitutionally mandated peaceful transition of power as a result of the 2020 Presidential Elections.” A handful of other labor bodies have followed suit.
Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO, is also taking a bold stand, stating that in the event of a contested election, labor “has to be ready to mobilize in a series of strikes or leading to a general strike.” Despite high unemployment, workers still have power, she says. She points to how the federal government ended its shutdown last year, after Nelson spoke publicly about the idea of a general strike and a handful of air traffic controllers did not show up for their shifts. “Where can we actually flex that muscle in a series of strikes . . . in a way that is going to be very effective?” she asks. “And frankly, if the planes all stop that is something that will grab everyone’s attention and suddenly there has to be action to fix that.”
Writers following these discussions have described some of the history and challenges of general strikes. We have never had an actual national general strike in the U.S., although some have argued that the 2006 immigration protests were a version of one. And W.E.B. DuBois made a case in Black Reconstruction that up to a half a million enslaved workers held a general strike during the Civil War, by stopping work and leaving plantations.
Finally, when workers do strike, it is usually for their own wages and working conditions: an economic strike. To pull off a job action in defense of democracy means moving to a political strike: something the U.S. labor movement has even less experience with. “Just getting workers to strike for their own contract is really hard,” says Liz Perlman, Executive Director of AFSCME 3299. “Most people just don’t do it. And we don’t teach strikes, we don’t talk the language of strikes in labor.”
In 2016 the Chicago Teachers Union held a one-day strike that had wide participation across the city. According to Alex Han, a longtime labor organizer, in addition to almost 100 percent participation by teachers, there were job actions at a few fast-food restaurants, daycare centers, a public university, a Nabisco plant, and more. Workers left their jobs to join actions happening all over the city. They were joined by supporters from other movements, including leadership from the Movement for Black Lives, and over 40 community groups.
Han explains, “There is a tension in organizing between going deep and going wide. With a strike, a job action where people are taking a real serious risk with their livelihood, you have to go deep. But then the question is, how do you go deep in as many places as possible, in some sort of aligned fashion?” The CTU one-day strike showed the possibilities of deep and wide organizing happening altogether. It wasn’t a general strike, but, says Han, “it was an illegal political strike.”
In June 2020, on one day’s notice the CWA called for a national 8 minute, 46 second walkout to protest the murder of George Floyd and voice support for Black Lives Matter. “This was certainly the first time in my 40 some-odd years in the labor movement that I had seen a union essentially call a political work stoppage,” says Bob Master. “Now 8 minutes and 46 seconds is very different than one day or two days or three days of completely stopping work but it did suggest that something that was essentially inconceivable in April happened in June and there was very little hesitation on the part of the leadership.” The leadership, and members, felt that what happened was so outrageous it demanded a response.
Political strikes are now on the agenda more than they have been in many years.
In normal times strikes can take years to plan. Alex Caputo-Pearl, NEA Vice-President of the United Teachers Los Angeles, led a large successful teacher strike in 2019. “We knew we needed to strike four years ahead of time, that we wanted to shift the political dynamics,” he says. They spent four years building the support and laying the groundwork necessary to pull off the strike. Still, he says, “We are in a very dynamic period. There are many legitimate demands right now that we should be organizing around, and I would never want to discourage anyone from taking action.”
And while the labor movement may not normally train leaders to strike, over the past two months, thousands of labor activists from 70 countries participated in a Strike School run by organizer Jane McAlevey and sponsored by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung.
While some local-level labor leaders may be willing to take the risks to lead strike actions, others might be able to at least know how to step back and let movements lead when the time comes. “Let’s assume a time comes when workers feel that they need to withhold their labor,” says Lauren Jacobs, Executive Director of the Partnership for Working Families. Union leaders have a responsibility, when they are in elected office, to protect their institutions and this can put a conservative brake on striking. But Jacobs suggests leaders can at least not default to this position. Instead of putting up barriers, leaders must ask: “How do we embrace whatever is unfolding?” Whether their own rank and file members, or others, are taking to the streets, union leaders will need to step in to enable and nurture the movement.
Anticipating the possibility of electoral interference, a coalition of unions and labor leaders, staffers, and activists have convened “Labor Action to Defend Democracy” (LADD), to coordinate post-election actions. LADD will “plant seeds and stir the pot, make available tools and be ready to do what is needed to protect democracy.”
The initial formation includes leaders from the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU – AFT Local 1); Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way (BMWE – Teamsters); Carl Rosen, president of UE (United Electrical Workers); Sara Nelson, president of the Flight Attendants union; Gene Bruskin, long time union organizer; several ILWU locals; United University Professions (UUP – AFT 2190 for SUNY faculty and staff); and Jobs with Justice. Other labor bodies are joining each day.
“LADD is a network helping unions to connect geographically and help them link to actions by broader fight back network in their area,” Norine Gutekanst from the Chicago Teachers Union explains. “We are sharing resolutions that locals/labor councils have passed, resources (sample resolutions, pledges, petitions, memes) and encouraging unions to act.” LADD is working closely with the non-labor driven coalitions, Protect the Results, led by Indivisible, and the Democracy Defense Coalition, led by the FightBack Table. Unions, including SEIU, CWA, and UNITE-HERE are active in these two coalitions. Protect the Results has a website with a map where people can schedule protests the day after Election Day, November 4th. The groups are prepared to make decisions late November 3 or early November 4th about the plan for action.[2]