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| At the U.S. Social Forum: Unions organized a march through downtown Detroit demanding “Money for Jobs, Not for Banks.” UE members taking part include, from left, April Edwards (Local 203), Cindy Marble (Warehouse Workers for Justice), Jake Altman (896), Ali Goguen (225), Derek Martine (1121), Tim Billaddo (203) and James Johnson (150). Center: UE organized an assembly in support of democratic unionism in Mexico. Speaking is Martin Esparza, general secretary of the Mexican Electrical Union (SME). To his right are Carlos Esquer, national executive committee of the Mexican Mineworkers Union (Los Mineros) representing the Cananea miners; Benedicto Martinez, co-president of the Authentic Labor Front (FAT), and Bob Kingsley, UE director of organization. Third photo: Speaking at UE-sponsored assembly on “Plant Occupations and Other Strategies”, Ashim Roy of India’s New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI) describes how Indian workers developed the plant occupation tactic they call “confinements” where workers not only sit down in the plant, but also they lock the bosses inside. Listening are Cindy Marble of Warehouse Workers for Justice, Larsene Taylor of UE Local 150, and Raul Perez Guzman of the FAT. |
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| Solidarity! Top: Larsene Taylor of Local 150 gives the solidarity salute during the big march opening the USSF. Next to her is James Johnson, also L. 150. Center: Also participating in the opening march are Ali Goguen (225), April Edwards (203), and Jonah Neale (225). Behind the blue UE banner are Larsene Taylor, Scott Brozell and Mike Michaelson (both L. 506.) Last photo: Members discuss next steps for the UE Young Activist Program. From left, Derek Martine (1121) Tim Billado (203), Sonia Johnson, (896) and Ben Carroll (150). |
Nearly 50 UE members and staff were among the 10,000 social justice activists who met in the Motor City June 22 to 26 for the second United States Social Forum (USSF). No union played a bigger role than UE. Members of UE led or spoke as panelists in eight different workshops or assemblies, and UE banners and signs were prominent in four marches and rallies. Half of UE’s delegation consisted of young members who are participants in the Young Activists Program, and 10 UE locals were represented.
UE organized several events during the forum, including a workshop on public sector workers fighting to protect jobs and services in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Panelists included members of UE Locals 150, 170 and 893, as well as representatives of the CSN from Quebec and the FAT from Mexico. UE also organized a people’s movement assembly in support of democratic trade unionism in Mexico. Speakers included Martin Esparza , general secretary of the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME); Carlos Esquer, executive committee member of the Mexican Mineworkers Union in Cananea; Humberto Montes de Oca, interior secretary of SME; and Benedicto Martinez, co-president of the Authentic Labor Front (FAT). They were introduced by UE Director of Organization Bob Kingsley. Democratic Mexican unions – in particular the electrical and mineworkers unions, are under violent attack by the government. In the second half of the assembly, representatives of unions in the U.S. and Canada, including UE, the Steelworkers, AFL-CIO and Canada’s Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) discussed solidarity strategies to defend independent unionism in Mexico.
The biggest UE-sponsored event was a people’s movement assembly titled “Plant Occupations and Other Strategies for Organizing and Defending Workers’ Rights” and attended by more than 80 people. Local 1110’s President Armando Robles recounted the Republic Windows and Doors plant occupation, and he was followed by union representatives from Mexico, France, and India who described how factory occupations have been repeatedly and successfully used by workers in their countries to prevent plant closings.
A second panel in this nearly five-hour meeting described struggles by workers at the bottom of the economy or denied rights under labor law. These included UE Local 150’s organizing successes among North Carolina public employees who are denied the legal right to bargain; Warehouse Workers for Justice’s campaign among Chicago-area logistics workers; Domestic Workers United from San Francisco; and the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, which is leading struggles by “guest workers” who live and work in conditions of near-slavery in and around New Orleans. Before adjourning, this assembly adopted worker rights’ planks about jobs and the right to organize that were later incorporated into the final policy statement of the USSF.
UE contingents were prominent in the big opening day march from central Detroit to the conference site at Cobo Arena on Tuesday, June 22; in a labor march the following day calling for “Money for Jobs, Not Banks”; and in a third march, organized by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, targeting JPMorgan Chase and its roles in both foreclosing working class families’ home and bankrolling RJ Reynolds’ exploitation of tobacco field workers in North Carolina. The Fruit of Labor singers, including UE 150 leaders Nathanette Mayo and Angaza Laughinghouse, also sang at an environmental justice rally and at several other events during the week.
Other workshops in which UE members were featured panelists included one on rebuilding manufacturing, sponsored by the United Steelworkers, where Eastern Region President Andrew Dinkelaker spoke. April Edwards of Local 203 and Ali Goguen of Local 225 spoke on a U.S. Labor Against the War panel on organizing union members against war and excess military spending. UE members from Vermont and North Carolina spoke in a workshop on human rights as a centerpiece of healthcare and worker rights campaigns. Cindy Marble and Tory Moore, two activists in Warehouse Workers for Justice, a UE-organized campaign in the Chicago area, spoke in a workshop on the logistics industry and how its low-wage business model impacts workers and communities. Longtime UE ally Benedicto Martinez of Mexico’s FAT spoke in a workshop on how NAFTA continues to destroy jobs as well as Mexico’s farming communities.
With so much going on, UE members still their own orientation meeting at the beginning of the forum, and the UE Young Activists had their first meeting with members from all three UE regions, to discuss the next steps for UE’s youth program.
UE’s participants enjoyed the week’s events and found the experience very worthwhile. There will be more coverage of UE’s participation in the USSF in the next issue of the UE News, appearing in August.