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Million
Worker March reclaims labor's militant roots
D.C. protest calls for new movement
By Monica Moorehead
Washington, D.C.
Timely. Unifying. Forward moving. And most of all--necessary.
These adjectives and many more describe the historic Million
Worker March that took place at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 17.
For almost eight hours, workers, organized and unorganized,
along with anti-war and community activists heard speeches
and cultural presentations that emphasized the tremendous
need to build a new, independent movement that will fight
in the interests of working people.
The MWM was initiated by the Black leadership of Local 10
of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in San
Francisco. Clarence Thomas, a leader of Local 10 and a national
co-convener of the MWM, said at the rally: "The majority
of working people in America are not doing well. With jobs
being offshored, outsourced, privatized, our young people
are looking at a much more dismal future."
People came in buses, vans and car caravans as well as by
train and airplane from all over the country to get to the
MWM. In New York City, from which most buses came, union locals
like Transit Workers Local 100, Teamsters Local 808, Service
Employees/1199 health care workers and AFSCME District Council
1707 mobilized sizable delegations of workers.
From Pennsylvania, delegations of workers represented Service
Employees Local 668, International Electrical Union Local
119, the Federation of Government Employees and 1199C. Western
Massachusetts was represented by Auto Workers Local 2322,
the Graduate Employee Organization and Office of ALANA Affairs
at UMass Amherst, and a Worcester carpenters' union, along
with students from Mt. Holyoke, Smith and Hampshire colleges.
From Virginia, IUE Local 160 from Williamsburg along with
the Richmond and Blacksburg Organizing Committees of the MWM
were there. The Richmond Coalition for a Living Wage brought
its members to MWM.
The Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice
organized welfare rights and environmental activists for the
MWM.
Steel Workers Local 8751, school bus drivers and monitors
in Boston, mobilized. So did International Longshore Association
Local 1422 in Charleston, S.C., and the North Carolina-based
Black Workers for Justice. Haitian workers and activists also
came.
The police estimate of the crowd was 10,000, although some
MWM organizers felt that the participation was as much as
twice that number. Organizers reported that police had illegally
diverted at least 30 buses to RFK Stadium, located far from
the rally site.
Labor and anti-war movements join forces
When the MWM was first conceived in the beginning of 2004,
the initiators had hoped the national leadership of the AFL-CIO,
headed by John Sweeney, would give full political support
and the resources needed to fill buses. Instead, the AFL-CIO
leadership refused help to the march, and even undermined
it.
To counter the AFL-CIO leadership's negative response, MWM
organizers then reached out to the anti-war movement for broad
political and concrete support. The International Action Center
helped form "Anti-War Committees 4 the MWM" all
over the country, to link the anti-war struggle and the workers'
movement.
Some of the MWM's main demands were to bring the troops home
from Iraq and to divert money from Pentagon wars abroad to
human needs.
These struggles were linked not just in words but also in
deed. For instance, the Central New Jersey Coalition for Peace
and Justice shared a bus with Casa Freehold, an outgrowth
of the Workers Committee for Progress and Social Welfare and
Monmouth County Residents for Immigrants' Rights.
Rally speakers included Clarence Thomas, Leo Robinson and
Trent Willis from Local 10; Brenda Stokely, president of AFSCME
District Council 1707; International Concerned Family and
Friends leader Pam Africa, who introduced an audiotaped message
from Mumia Abu-Jamal; former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey
Clark; Larry Holmes, IAC co-chair and principal anti-war organizer
of the MWM; Dick Gregory; Danny Glover; Martin Luther King
III; Marlene Jean-Louis of Haiti's Lavalas movement; ANSWER
representatives; Chris Silvera of Teamsters Local 808 and
many more.
The rally co-chairs included Sharon Black, MWM's Washington
regional coordinator, and Ralph Schoenman, MWM's media coordinator.
On-going issue-oriented discussions took place in tents on
the Lincoln Memorial grounds during the rally, including youth
and student organizing, the environment, political prisoners,
reparations, the war on Iraq, women's issues and more.
Hundreds of MWM participants marched to the Hotel Washington
near the White House, where hotel workers looking out the
window greeted them with waves. UNITE HERE Local 25 Executive
Secretary-Treasurer John A. Boardman greeted the primarily
youthful marchers. He expressed appreciation to the MWM for
much-needed solidarity at a crucial time, when almost 4,000
hotel workers in the D.C. area are in fierce negotiations
with greedy hotel bosses for a new contract.
Leading the march to the hotel was Fight Imperialism--Stand
Together (FIST), a newly formed militant youth group; Youth
United for Change, a predominantly Black group from Philadelphia;
and a delegation of anarchist youth.
AFL-CIO leadership & the MWM
On June 23, AFL-CIO President Sweeney had authored a letter
regarding the MWM to all state federations and central labor
councils of the AFL-CIO. He told them "not to sponsor
or devote resources to the demonstration in Washington, D.C."
And Sweeney emphasized in the letter that "the AFL-CIO
is NOT a co-sponsor of this effort and we will not be devoting
resources or energies toward mobilizing demonstrations this
fall," but will work instead to remove "George W.
Bush from office."
In the eyes of the top AFL-CIO leadership, not only would
they spend tens of millions of dollars of union dues to try
to elect John Kerry, but they would prevent the mobilization
of millions of workers who might come to Washington, D.C.,
to fight for universal health care, a living wage, amnesty
for undocumented workers, guaranteed pensions, a repeal of
anti-labor legislation like the Taft-Hartley Act and much
more.
This approach sabotaged and undermined the full potential
of the MWM. For instance, SEIU/1199's rank and file in New
York City voted to endorse the MWM and arrange buses for its
members. Instead, the local leadership diverted buses to take
their staff and others to canvas for Kerry in Pennsylvania
and other "swing" states.
At a national Black Caucus meeting of the Teamsters held
in Florida over the summer, the locals voted overwhelmingly
to organize buses to the MWM. Soon afterward, Teamsters President
James Hoffa personally ordered the union's locals to abort
those plans.
In union after union, from the Postal Workers to AFSCME to
the National Edu cation Association, activists who wanted
to devote their time and resources to organizing workers to
attend the MWM were pressured to cease building for the MWM,
and in some cases in the week before Oct. 17, to canvas for
Kerry.
Despite these problems, thousands of workers and union activists
came to Washington.
What's next after Oct. 17?
On Oct. 18, regional organizers of the MWM met in the D.C.
area to both evaluate the march and brainstorm on proposals
to move the MWM movement forward.
Among the ideas that regional coordinators agreed to bring
back to their regions for further discussion were setting
a national day in solidarity with the hotel workers as well
as other low-wage workers struggling for contracts, and identifying
International Women's Day and May Day for MWM activities.
Other ideas included setting a "Repeal the Taft-Hartley"
day, setting up workers' boards, and setting dates for MWM
planning meetings and conferences.
In addition to proposing to the regions that Dec. 3-10 be
designated "Stop the War Now Week" for mass actions,
the meeting also began discussing its posture toward next
summer's AFL-CIO convention in Chicago, as well as setting
a date for another MWM day of action during the fall of 2005.
Despite the efforts of those labor leaders who promote the
Democratic Party as the primary organization for advancing
the cause of workers, the MWM has not only arrived--but its
leadership is making exciting plans to build a new movement
to push the struggle for workers' rights forward. Workers
World newspaper will continue its coverage and assessment
of the MWM as more information becomes available in the coming
period.
Reprinted from the Oct. 28, 2004, issue
of Workers World newspaper
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