Why
We Need a Million Worker March and Why Now
by
Christopher Silvera, chairman, Teamsters Black
Caucus, and
secretary-treasurer, Teamsters Local 808, Long Island City, New
York
[This
statement by a leading African American trade unionist reflects militant fightback attitudes in the Black community and among Black
unionists, who are playing a key role in efforts to organize a Million Worker
March. The influence of the Teamsters Black Caucus in the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is reflected in reported information that Thomas
Keegel, IBT general secretary- treasurer, made a
donation at the national conference of the Teamsters Black Caucus in Orlando,
Florida, on August 18, sufficient to pay for 75 buses for the October 17 march.
This march has the potential to be a major combined action of the labor
movement and the antiwar movement.
[In my opinion, what is of major
significance in this effort is the role of Black trade unionists. Besides the
Teamsters Black Caucus, the march is supported by the Coalition of Black Trade
Unionists, the 35,000-member, largely African American subway workers local in
New York City, the Charleston, S.C., and West Coast longshore
workers unions, and several major district councils of AFSCME (in
Baltimore/D.C., and NewYork City). In addition, a
number of local unions, including Local 3800, the militant clerical workers
union at the
[Chris
Silvera’s statement, written June 16, 2004, has been
edited for Labor Standard. It has been excerpted, nearly in full, from
the web site www.millionworkermarch.org.
—George
Saunders]
The labor
movement has been under continuous siege for over forty years. The Democratic
Party passed deregulation both in the trucking and airline industries, passing
countless trade agreements including NAFTA and PNTR. There is a difference
between getting a bullet in your toe and getting one in your head. The passage of these agreements were bullets in the head for the
working people and their labor organizations. With a Democratic president and
both houses of Congress under Democratic control we still could not pass a
Striker Replacement Law. We must not make ourselves stooges of the Democratic
Party. We are the collective resources of the working class in their struggle
to reverse their decline from the high water mark in 1955. The Republican Party
used one bullet to execute their victim when Reagan fired the air traffic
controllers, giving the signal to release the final permanent assault on
working families in
Have we
become more concerned with getting handouts for our electoral support, or do we
trust in the collective will and might of the working class? The members we
represent want this march. The very survival of our movement calls to a Million
Worker March. We must exert our energies and insert into the consciousness of
this Great Nation the issues facing working families across the land.
This march
will change the dialogue of the candidates running for office in November. Such
a display of power will allow the Labor movement to place its issues back on
the table. Neither candidate is articulating positions that are of real benefit
for working families. This is a crucial moment for us to hold their feet to
the fire.
Our members
elected us to lead. They did not elect us to ponder the fate of two Skull and
Bones members. They will freely discuss with you the CIA, NSA, FBI, and the
Pentagon but will not speak to the direction or actions of their secret
fraternity. Virtually all religious groups can agree to the concept of one God.
All labor groups believe and understand the concept of the power of mass
mobilization of the workers to action. We are all aware of the effects of what
the Million Worker March would do for our struggle. Why then do we refuse to
act?
The advances
of trade unionism have only come through mass mobilization of the working class
to action. The developments in the second half of the twentieth century and the
beginning of the twenty-first century justify the call to mobilize. For all the
reasons that working people know
and feel every day this call to mobilize is necessary. Global cabals through
the General Agreement on Trade and Tariff, the World Trade Organization, and
the International Monetary Fund have wreaked havoc on the advances of labor in
the first half of the century.
It was
defiance that allowed Local 808 members to be the first to enjoy a five-day,
forty-hour workweek in the railroad industry. It was defiance that allowed us
to achieve the greatest advances for railroad workers in the history of
organized labor. Through defiance, workers have achieved a high standard of
living for working men, women, and their families. Are we prepared to lead the
twenty-first century [version of the] Minneapolis Strike of 1934? [Remember]
the Haymarket [martyrs], the Molly Maguires, the Knights of Labor, the Chicago Stockyard Strike, and the
list of battles that produced the outcome that we so freely squander away every
day.
Workers join
labor unions to wage their battle against the bosses. Are we the leaders of a
workers’ movement or the CEOs of service organizations? Are we labor
bureaucrats or are we militant labor leaders with a cause?
The
unorganized will be impressed with our strength and solidarity and will flock
to our doors seeking to be a part of this powerful force called the labor
movement. We will begin to rebuild critical mass. We must become thirty-five
percent of the private sector workforce again.
The Million
Worker March is a crucial vehicle for voter mobilization. The timing of it,
coming two weeks before the election makes the march the cheapest, most
effective get-out-the-vote initiative ever undertaken by the Teamsters and the
AFL-CIO. We freely spend millions gambling on the two political parties to
deliver for the workers. This approach has borne very little fruit. It is now
time to invest that same money on moving our members to mass action. Why do we
quickly hesitate to spend our money on our own members? Let us invest in our
March to Victory.
With the
passage of fascist laws like the unpatriotic “patriot act,” we might not be
allowed to march next year—a matter of national security. I am sure you all
understand.
For fifty
years we have continually lost ground in every aspect, from loss of membership
and the right to strike to the diminution of health and pension benefits and
two-tier systems that now currently exist in many workplaces today. After fifty years of losses piling up, if not now, when?
The call to
mobilize was started off by the International Longshore
and Warehouse Union, Local 10 (AFL-CIO) at a mass rally attended by many labor
leaders in
Danny Glover
was the keynote speaker along with Brenda Stokely,
president of District Council 1707 AFSCME, and myself.
I was afforded the honor and privilege to address the Western Region Conference
attended by the leadership of all ILWU Locals from
Responding
to the call was a no-brainer. Local 808 quickly responded by endorsing the call
and working to make the March a success.
Locals
created the International and the affiliated subordinate bodies to empower the
locals, not run them. The International does the business of the collective
interest of the Locals. We tell them; that is the power of the delegates at
convention. The Convention of Delegates is the final authority in this union.
We set goals, policy, and governing rules, then elect people to carry them out.
We do not need their approval to take action as autonomous Local unions. We
would urge the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to endorse and bring the
power and prestige of the Hoffa legacy to bear.
I am calling
on all the autonomous Teamster Local Unions across this great nation to
mobilize their members to march on
I ask for the
support of every Local Union to come out and support the Million Worker March
and the intensification of the workers will to Fight Back.
Fraternally,
F.
Christopher Silvera
Secretary-Treasurer
Teamsters,