Labor activists are strategizing survival tactics at Labor Notes Troublemakers Schools around the country, in this year of attack and apprehension.
Labor Notes is planning schools in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, Madison, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles—and more if we can keep up with the demand.Organizers of the Vermont school January 16 had planned for 35 people but found 100 troublemakers filling the room on a snowy Sunday. “May be a good sign that people are ready to start fighting back,” observed Traven Leyshon, one of the organizers.
First in the door, and living proof of the Troublemakers creed, was CWA-IUE Local 81359 President Dominick Patrignani, fresh from a victorious grievance strike at the Momentive Performance Materials plant in Waterford, New York. The 360 workers in his local had just returned to work the day before, “together, with their heads held high,” Patrignani said.
Speaking on one of the panels, Patrignani pointed particularly to cross-union solidarity from Troy and Albany-Capitol Region unions and labor councils. He told participants that his local’s ability to conduct a militant, rank-and-file strike--over the grievance of a single member--had not sprung from nowhere, but was part of an activist culture he’s been promoting for several years.
“Whenever there’s a picket line anywhere, I bring my members,” Patrignani said. “I get them to see the struggles other workers are in. So they’re more confident… and, of course, a lot of people came out to support us when it was our turn.”http://labornotes.org/blogs/2011/01/vermont-kicks-first-troublemakers-school-2011
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