Labor Day marches, rallies and other events across North America reflected the step up in union battles today and the thirst of union members for a working-class road forward.
Some 40 Air Canada flight attendants, part of the 10,000 Canadian Union of Public Employees union members who struck Aug. 16-19 in defiance of a federal government back-to-work order, marched in Toronto Sept. 1. Their strike, the first in 40 years, was a fight over higher wages and pay for all hours worked.
This was the fourth time in the last year that Ottawa has used anti-labor laws to declare a strike illegal. The flight attendants are voting Aug. 27-Sept. 6 on the company’s proposal.
“If there’s something to celebrate it’s that we stood up to the government, and workers across the country saw that it is possible,” Larry Roy, a former flight attendant and CUPE Local 4092 vice president, told the Militant. “But I’m incredibly disappointed with the company. It’s clear to me that they never intended to negotiate in good faith and were counting on the government to rule us back to work.”
The flight attendants “showed how you can stand up to the corporations,” said Kaveh Ali-Akbar-Khani, a Toronto letter carrier and member of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, one of the unions Ottawa ordered back to work. They are still in negotiations with Canada Post.
At a Labor Day rally at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, flight attendant Trina Johnson told Edwin Fruit, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Minneapolis City Council, that she was inspired by their Canadian fellow workers defying the return-to-work order. Johnson is a member of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA at Endeavor, a Delta-owned regional airline.
At the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council event in Atlanta, Sharon Mason, a ramp agent at Delta, told Susan LaMont, SWP candidate for mayor of Atlanta, that she is part of the International Association of Machinists campaign to win union recognition for all Delta ramp workers. “Some co-workers are afraid to talk about the union,” Mason said. “And many young workers aren’t really sure what a union is, so we have to talk with them and answer their questions.”
“From the flight attendants’ actions here, as well as the union effort at Delta, more workers are turning to their unions to defend themselves against company assaults,” said LaMont. “We’ll get stronger as workers gain experience and grow more confident in ourselves.” Mason got a copy of the Militant to learn more about union-building efforts across the country.
Amnesty for all immigrants in U.S.
At Miami International Airport, some 300 workers, including airport, stadium and hotel workers, demonstrated on Labor Day. Lisa Eckscein, who works at the Miami Marlins stadium, said she was proud they “won higher wages, better health coverage and an extra paid holiday” last year.
“Bosses are using the government’s immigration crackdown and employee firings to shrink the workforce and make everyone work twice as hard for the same amount of money,” Patrick Volcin, an organizer with UNITE HERE Local 355, told the rally.
This question — how the unions can fight for amnesty to unite immigrant and native-born workers and fight more effectively — was on many workers minds.
At the Labor Day event of thousands in Wilmington, California, organized by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and others, one contingent chanted, “No hate. No fear. Immigrants are welcome here.”
Retired longshoreman David Alvarez told Norton Sandler, the SWP candidate for governor of California, that government raids targeting people “outside Home Depots and car washes anger me. They’re targeting people who are just getting by.”
“The trade unions need to break from the straight jacket of supporting the Democrats and Republicans,” Sandler said. “These are the parties of the bosses. We need independent working-class political action that mobilizes the vast potential of the union movement. We need a different class in power, the working class.” Alvarez agreed, saying he appreciated the discussion.
At a Central Coast Labor Council picnic in Oxnard, California, Aug. 31, several dozen farmworkers took part, with the program translated into English, Spanish and Mixteco. Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers union introduced Flor, a farmworker, who told the crowd, “It’s not right that we are working, scared to leave our houses, not knowing if we’ll return home or not.”
Many workers said at first they had skipped work fearing raids, but had to return to pay their bills. Several people took pictures of the SWP banner calling for amnesty.
Thousands of unionists and their families turned out for the AFL-CIO Labor Day parade in Philadelphia. The UNITE HERE Local 274 contingent, representing 4,000 hotel, restaurant and food service workers at eight city hotels, got out the word about their fight for a new contract.
Over the last few years hotel workers across the country have fought for and won union recognition and substantial contract gains.
After the parade, lunch was served at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 union hall. At one lunch table, SWP member and rail worker Chris Hoeppner spoke with six young sheet metal workers, all of whom knew about fellow union member Kilmar Abrego García’s fight for asylum, which they support.
They discussed common experiences with boss attacks on working conditions, safety and crew sizes. They agreed the unions should demand more workers be hired.
One told Hoeppner they only get one paid holiday every four years, to vote for president. “But they lay us off the week before and the week after so they don’t have to pay us even that one day!”