This is the opposite lesson from what the bosses had hoped to drive home. Over the last six and a half years, spokespeople for the employing class have periodically announced the defeat of the Caterpillar workers and their union.

But these fighters have proven them wrong every time. In voting down the company's February contract offer, they stunned the bosses, finally forcing them to give in on the union demand to reinstate all those fired in the course of their struggle.

Signing a contract won't end the conflict between the auto workers and the manufacturing giant, but the unionists are more seasoned now, having weathered many battles in recent years. After walking out to protest Caterpillar's unfair labor practices, including the firing of a number of union militants, the workers maintained strong picket lines for 17 months. Instructed by the union officialdom to return to work in late 1995, they shifted the battle to the shop floor. All kinds of skirmishes have taken place in the two years since, over everything from work rules to the company's attempts to ban union T-shirts and buttons. These and other questions will continue to be fought out, as the company keeps prodding, trying to make militant workers pay a price for standing up and fighting. These skirmishes will now take place with the benefit of UAW members having won back the jobs of some of the staunchest fighters.

The fightback mood and resulting gains of the Caterpillar workers are part of something bigger - a shift happening in U.S. politics. They are an important component of the broader working-class resistance that has grown over the last year, as the long retreat of labor movement has leveled off.

Other employers are driving to impose the same kinds of conditions Caterpillar sought - two- and three-tier wages that allow them to pay new workers less, "flexible" work schemes aimed at undermining overtime and seniority provisions, cuts in pensions and medical care, and other takebacks through which the bosses hope to shore up their declining profit rates and compete with rival capitalists.

Workers at other companies are looking for ways to fight. Many of them see the Caterpillar workers as an example. Among them are workers preparing for a possible strike at Case Corp. plants in Iowa and Illinois. Dozens of these unionists have bought the Militant in recent weeks, showing particular interest in its coverage of the fight at Caterpillar as well as working-class resistance internationally, from Kosovo to Indonesia.

One of the most important things for fighting workers at Caterpillar to do now, as they defend their rights on the shop floor, is to take their experiences beyond their workplaces and join up with other working-class fights that are breaking out in the broader class war today. Likewise, other union fighters will gain much by seeking out the veterans at Cat and inviting them to join in as they stand up to the employing class, our common enemy.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home