03.07.1997

Labour day in Detroit

Socialist Labour Party ‘voided’ member and Unison activist Barry Biddulph reports on workers struggle against the odds in the USA

On Saturday June 21 5,000 workers marched through Detroit in solidarity with workers from six unions, sacked in a union busting operation by the main Detroit newspaper owners. This was ‘Action Motown’ (Detroit is the car manufacturing centre of America). Militants had originally planned for ‘Shutdown Motown’. This sounded too controversial for the trade union bureaucrats. The march was only sanctioned nearly two years after the start of the strike and four months after national union leaders had effectively sold it out.

The strike began in July 1995 when newspaper workers refused to accept provocative cuts in jobs and conditions. The bosses sacked the unionised workers and brought in 1,200 scabs to break the unions and smash the strike. Workers fought back on the picket line in face to face battles with local cops.

Their aim was to prevent distribution of the newspapers produced by scabs. They had some success. Particularly at the distribution centre of Sterling Heights.

When the Detroit Newspaper Agency resorted to legal injunctions to prevent mass picketing, the union bureaucrats rushed to comply with court orders and call off mass pickets. Even before the bosses had turned to the courts the local trade union misleaders were nervous about clashes with the police. The official leaders acted to disperse the pickets over a large area.

By the spring of 1996 a fully fledged respectable strategy of relying on publicity and the good will of management was firmly in place. Instead of flying pickets, the unions were issuing their caricature of the mainstream bourgeois papers produced by the scabs. Moral appeals were made to consumers to buy the union newspaper and not the paper put out by the scabs. In addition appeals were made to public opinion about the unfair labour practices of the newspaper barons. This was as ineffective as similar union publicity campaigns in Britain.

Another disincentive to militant action was the reliance on the supposed friends of labour - the Democrats. No demonstration could be called until Clinton was safe again in office. If waiting for Blair has brought disappointment in Britain, reliance on Clinton was a false hope manufactured by union bureaucrats.

In February 1997 the official leaders surrendered unconditionally. They ordered the strikers back to work without consulting them. The workers were expected to return to work on any terms the newspaper owners were prepared to accept. Only a few strikers were allowed back. It was a serious defeat for the trade union movement.

Typically the leaders still talked of moral victory. This victory was expected to come from the courts. Even if the courts were to rule in favour of the sacked workers they would not obtain their jobs back. So far the courts have not compelled or shown any signs of compelling the bosses to act fairly to the strikers. Looking to the capitalist courts was a strategy for defeat.

Many workers protested at the union instruction to return to work. But the problem throughout the strike was the lack of a clear rank and file movement independent of the local and national leadership. Those Marxists arguing for rank and file elected committees on a class struggle programme to take the strike forward (eg, Workers Voice - a small Trotskyist group) were not numerically strong enough to have a decisive influence. Those on the left who did have some influence were unwilling or incapable of acting independently of the local officials.

Rank and file organisation in the unions appears to be far weaker than in Britain (if that is possible), with the trade union bureaucracy in a far more dominant position. The employers and the local city authorities were confident the official union leaders would prevent any angry outbursts or disorder from the demonstrators. A very small contingent of police kept in the background with none of the usual harassment of marches we experience in Britain.

The anger of the crowd was restricted to smashing up newspaper vending machines along the route of the march. When the police arrested some of the culprits the crowd chanted for their release, and the police let them go. But the police could afford to be generous. The authorities were well aware the demonstration was more of a funeral march organised by the trade union bureaucracy to formally bury the strike while claiming a moral victory.

The powerful influence of nationalism in the USA could also be seen. Many of the hard hat (blue collar) workers’ contingents carried the stars and stripes rather than traditional union banners. The rally was opened by the singing of the national anthem.

The defeat in Detroit follows a number of other defeats for newspaper workers in America. Indeed, workers in general have suffered serious defeats since the 1980s. The trade union struggle is at a historic low in the USA. Union organisation is down to nine percent of the workforce. Certainly in Detroit the economy and the strength of the workers’ movement has declined drastically since the 1950s and 1960s. Most black workers appear to be living in Great Depression-like conditions. The general standard of living in Detroit is well below London or South East England.

An indication of the weakness of the left and trade unions is the strength of neo-liberalism. Public services are non-existent or minimal. In the 1950s when Detroit was a workers’ stronghold there were extensive public services. Now if you do not have a car you cannot go anywhere in Detroit. Many workers are trapped in their neighbourhood.

The Marxist left also seems more isolated than in Britain. A meeting of various groups after the rally had a very incestuous feel about it.

The comrades from Workers Voice were the only tendency present to have a healthy approach to rank and file work in the unions. The League for a Revolutionary Party (which split originally from the International Socialist/Socialist Workers Party tradition) dismissed rank and fileism altogether. They have a sectarian approach of counterposing the revolutionary party to the rank and file in the unions.

The courage and determination of the Detroit newspaper strikers and the Marxist left who attempted to intervene in the dispute to offer alternative leadership demonstrates that workers in America are still prepared to fight. Communist organisation, though presently marginalised, is prepared to go beyond trade unionism and capitalism.