I feel a great deal of sadness at a lot of the recent diatribe against unionism on this list, particularly from my good and valued friend, Bill Mitchell. To do justice to the subject would take a very long post, but I thought maybe I could suggest a debate (shades of Marx and Engels in the mid-nineteenth century) about unions and the class struggle in the late-20th century. At this point, I would just like to make a couple of points. 1. The faculty association here at the university of manitoba just completed(?) a 3 week strike over the issue of academic freedom. We won the strike on this issue -- with the support of our secretaries, janitors, GRADUATE STUDENTS, technicians, etc. who joined us on the picket lines, brought food to the strike headquarters, etc. Why? because we were fighting for the public sector -- and because when the support staff went on strike several years ago we supported them and donated money to their strike fund, refused to do their work, etc. (There is a good chance we will be supporting them again in the near future as the administration tries to steal from them what they couldn't get from us.) The fact of the matter is, despite the rather 'guild' attitutde of the faculty, we have been able to build up a degree of solidarity with other elements of labour, and the students -- or at least our graduate students. We have tried, over and over again, to organize the part-time instructors. We have been blocked, over and over again, by the administration. Our grad students and part-timers are organized by another union, CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) with whom we co-operate. We would never raid them unless they asked us to take over their jurisdiction. 2. Unions in Canada don't seem to have the same weakness as in the US or, according to Bill, in Australia. For one thing, they still have a social conscience and are deeply involved in the kind of issues Bill is concerned with. Here in Manitoba, we have a political collective called Cho!ces which is dedicated to social justice which includes womens', poverty, aboriginal, green, public sector, -- hey, all the good people -- which is also supported materially and morally by the labour movement -- hell! they are fantastic. (Oh, I forgot, a lot of the religious movement too). Yes, there are problems when we come to the green movement. I come from British Columbia where my family resides -- and are involved with the forest industry. I am a 'tree hugger' and support the environmentalists. My nephew works in the forest industry and if they close the forests to logging, he loses his job and goes on welfare. Yea, tell me what to do. We have many friends/acquaintances connected to the aboriginal community in Manitoba. When the europeans ban furs, they convict our native people to starvation. Tell me what to support? In short, the discussion here has been simplistic. Let us expand it to the larger issues. Bill wants us to discuss the larger issue of "where unionism". I think that would be great. Let me put in my first thoughts. To me it is simple. As long as we have capitalism, unionism is ESSENTIAL. After coming through this last negotiation and strike, I can personally affirm the EVEN IN THE ACADEME, unions are necessary to protect even the most primitive civil rights. The whole discussion on the list about faculty as guild members and not members of the working class I thought was the kind of abject nonsense that university pontificators are famous for. If you have any doubt, volunteer for the bargaining team in you next collective bargaining session. But don't give me any shit that professors are some adjunct members of the ruling class. As long as there is capitalism, unions are necessary. (I would probably argue after working in Yugoslavia for 8 years before the breakup, that even with 'socialism' unions are necessary. Indeed, even in Mondragon, with worker co-ops, pseudo-unions have proved to be necessary.) Will unions be the vanguard of change to socialism? That is a hard one. The simple answer is no. The complex answer is 'they may be a help'. But, they will be a hell of a lot more help than the 'chambers of commerce' or other business cartels. And, they are a hell of a lot nicer people to have a beer with (or a vegi-burger). I know the unions in Australia have not been a major progressive force. As Bill is probably aware, I did a comparison on the macro economic outcomes of Australia and Canada from 1983-1992 under different policy frameworks. (Shameless hucksterism: coming out in the December issue of _JIR_) Interestingly, during the early macro-expansionary period, Australian did much better -- the more monetarist it became, it did much worse. And as it abandoned central wage determination for enterprise bargaining, also the less well it did -- though I am not yet prepared to lay the blame at the micro as opposed to the macro policy level for this. I hope this originates a strain in the pen-l dialog -- Unions? I just happen to come off a high from being on the winning side of a bitter strike (Since I was chief negotiator for the workers --sorry, professors-- it was particularly uplifting and I am particularly pro- union). Not only that, but the vice-president of the university accused me (and the rest of the bargaining team of being Marxist- Lenininsts) which was a terrible affront to me, a long time member of the IWW and an anarcho-syndicalist. My god, they have to get their terms straight! To the General Strike!!! (Brother) Paul Phillips
