Labor Conflicts

“Each major strike forces the state to decide whether it represents workers or employers.” Erik Loomis

 West Virginia teachers strike in 2018

“A History of America in Ten Strikes” by Erik Loomis contends that labor strife has been a constant of capitalism, yet it receives scant attention (“a footnote at best”) in accounts of recent American history or public discussion.  The book opens with an account of the successful February 2018 West Virginia direct action involving 34,000 teachers who were defying the law in a right-to-work state due to their dire conditions on account of actions by Republican officeholders who drastically underfunded public schools while supporting corporate tax breaks and for-profit, privately-run, nonunion charter schools. One placard read, “Will Work for Insurance,” a take-off on indigents who advertise, “Will Work for Food.”  Loomis argues that both political action and union vigilance, including, if necessary, the use of strikes, are vital or order to combat employers and, too often, their governmental allies.  In the chapter “Take Back Power,” he concluded that true freedom cannot come without “economic emancipation”  and offers this bleak assessment of  our uncertain times:

  We live in what I call the New Gilded Age.  Today, we are recreating the terrible income inequality and economic divides that dominated the late-nineteenth century and created the violent responses that included the Haymarket bombings and the assassin of President William McKinley.  Once again, we have a society where our politicians engage in open corruption, where unregulated corporate capitalism leads to boom-and-bust economies that devastate working people, where the Supreme Court limits legislation and regulations meant to create  a more equal society, and where unions are barely tolerated.  Life has become more unpleasant and difficult for most Americans in our lifetime.

 Oakland workers strike in 1946

I was familiar with most conflicts Loomis analyzed, including the tragic 1981 Air Traffic Controllers work stoppage but not the 1946 Oakland (CA) General Strike. The latter commenced when at Kahn’s department store clerks struck for tolerable working conditions and a living wage. After local police used strong-arm tactics against the women, over 100,000 AFL-affiliated workers walked off the job in sympathy.  Several days later, with the Oakland Tribunered-baiting rank-and-file leaders, corrupt Teamster boss Dave Beck ordered members back to work.  Faint-of-heart AFL International leaders accepted a compromise that did not address the retail clerks’ grievances nor gain prior approval from local leaders.  The Kahn employees kept up the battle for five more months before capitulating with most demands unmet.

Post-World War II strikes were, like in 1919, a result of inflation and, in Loomis’ words, “an economy that had created large profits for companies during the war but few material gains for workers.”  1946 job actions affected 4.6 laborers, including steel, rubber, shipyard, and auto workers.  Successful general strikes in Stamford, CT, Lancaster, PA, and Rochester, NY, made business leaders and their governmental allies, in Loomis’ words, “determined to reverse this aggressive union tide.”  Nowhere was the unholy alliance more overwhelming than Oakland.

Ed Sadlowski

Loomis titles his chapter on the 1972 Lordstown wildcat strike at a G.M. Chevy Vega plant near Youngstown, Ohio, “Workers in a Rebellious Age.”  The civil rights and antiwar movements had divided labor’s ranks generationally, and the primarily young automakers at Lordstown, concerned with dignity issues and hating being mere cogs on assembly lines, wanted more, according to J.D. Smith, treasurer of the UAW local, “than just a job for 30 years.” After plant managers introduced a speed-up (requiring 8 separate operations in 36 seconds) and compulsory overtime, rank-and-file workers responded with various forms of sabotage and, in defiance of union leaders, a wildcat strike that lasted 18 days.  UAW honchos stepped in and eventually negotiated a settlement that contained sparse gains for those on the shop floor, and in the years ahead autoworkers would fight rear-guard actions simply to hold on to their jobs. Loomis wrote:

   The Lordstown factory stayed open, but the UAW started giving back their hard-won gains in wages and benefits in contracts by the early 1980s in order to incentivize GM and other auto companies to stay in the United States.  Despite this, hundreds of auto and auto-supple plants have closed in the past 40 years.

Loomis links Lordstown to democracy movements that erupted in the steelworkers and mineworkers unions that enjoyed temporary but not long-lasting success.  He mentions Eddie Sadlowski’s unsuccessful 1977 bid to become President of the United Steelworkers of America and frequently cites Jefferson Cowie’s “Stayin’ Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class” (2010).

Just yesterday GM announced that, despite massive recent tax breaks, it is laying off 14,700 workers at five assembly plants, including Lordstown.  The official explanation: the weakening market for the Chevy Cruze. Trump is huffing and puffing and saying mean things against about GM CEO Mary Barra but will likely not do anything harmful to the corporation.

NWI Times photos of 2015 steelworkers rally by John J. Watkins

 

“Getting into the streets to stand up for our rights,”Loomis wrote,“must play a central role in labor struggles.”In the third edition of “Gary: A Pictorial History” a page is devoted to a 2015 steelworkers rally outside city hall, when some 3,000 ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel union members and their supporters, many carrying signs reading “FAIR CONTRACT NOW,” were opposing proposed cutbacks to their health insurance.  Addressing the crowd were Mayors Karen Freeman-Wilson, James Snyder (Portage), and Brian Snedecor (Hobert).  After prolonged negotiations, a new contract was approved that included no pay raises nor coverage of health cost increases, especially hard-hit were retirees.  Local 1010 President Tom Hargrove commented: “We were bargaining in some real bad times for steel.”

The November 2018 issue of Duneland Today contains histories of the Porter County Museum (PO CO MUSE), the Duneland School Corporation, Westchester library, and the cities of Porter and Chesterton.  None mentioned labor strife, Native Americans (unwelcome after white settlement), or African Americans (unwelcome until very recently). Prior to its incorporation in 1899, I learned, Chesterton went by several other names, including Coffee Creek and Calumet, and there is uncertainty over the origin of its present name.  One theory is that Chesterton was derived from Westchester County.

 Thanksgiving photos by Miranda and Angie

Our Thanksgiving dinner at the condo took place on Friday with 20 people in attendance, including good friends Charlie Halberstadt and Naomi Goodman.  Pregnant Tamiya Towns, Dave’s former student, who calls me Poppa Lane, told them that she planned on naming her baby Charley should it be a girl or Charles (after the father) if a boy.  Phil, Dave, Josh, and I had several lively euchre games; the evening was devoted to Werewolf, which an unlimited number can play.  By days end there was hardly any turkey left but enough ham for a few lunches.  I’m glad the downstairs fridge was stocked with Yuengling lager.  

Over the long weekend I watched numerous NFL games.  The Bears won despite missing starting QB Mitch Trubisky, and the Eagles barely beat the lowly Giants.  Without injured QB Alex Smith Washington bowed to the hated Dallas Cowboys, whose wide receiver Amari Cooper nonetheless earned me 30 Fantasy points thanks to a 90-yard TD reception, enough to knock Dave out of the playoffs.  Near the end zone Cooper nearly went out of bounds. During the review I was hoping the TD counted.  Thanks to spectacular late games by running backs Dalvin Cook and Lamar Miller, I had the most points of all 8 teams -  and that was with Todd Gurley on a bye week.  The evening news covered recreational marijuana now being available in additional states, emphasizing the long lines that ensued.  Evidently, juiced up gummy bears are an extremely popular item. Hard to believe the penalties once imposed for pot possession. Some are still paying the price.

Appearing on MSNBC was Rudy Valdez, director of “The Sentence,” who made an eloquent plea for getting rid of mandatory sentencing, as happened to his sister, incarcerated on vague conspiracy charges as a result od crimes committed by her then-boyfriend.  There is bipartisan Congressional support for such legislation, but reactionary Republicans are dragging their heels.  I told Michigan State professor Juan Coronado about “The Sentence.”  He replied that the victim is from Lansing.

 abandoned Masonic Temple in Hammond by Kyle Telechan

Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club members

Some 297 emails awaited me at IUN.  Most were unimportant, but John Attinasi reported that horn player Art Hoyle, 89, enjoyed our interview and had additional anecdotes about performing in the segregated South.  Times columnist Joseph Pete sought to speak with me about a proposed book about Hammond “Haunts.”  I advised visiting the Archives.  If so, I’ll show him Lance Trusty’s pictorial history and other sources, including the “Urban Legends” exhibit booklet that contains a photo by Larry Mickow of the abandoned Masonic Temple.  VU History prof Heath Carter wants to have lunch with Ron Cohen and me in December. He was recently in the news for protesting the use of Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club members as Salvation Army bell ringers because some wore “Aryan” patches.  In response to the furor, the charitable organization deemed that the Hell’s Angels violated their dress code and would no longer be soliciting donations although I don’t doubt they were effective at it.   

 Dick Flood

Ram Prasad

Barb Walczak’s bridge Newsletterwelcomed two newcomers, VA doc Ram Prasad and retired William and Mary prof Dick Flood.  The feature is a reminder that our ranks are being replenished as more Baby Boomers become seniors.