Labor's
Gotta Play Hardball to Win! Chicago Plant Occupation Electrifies Labor (December 2008). click on photo for article
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July 2009 Internationalist
Group Statement
At Stella D’oro, the Struggle Continues
Mobilize NYC Labor to Stop the Plant Closing – No Concessions! Stella D’oro workers return July 7 after 325 days on strike. Workers hung tough and beat back bosses’ attack, but now they face a new assault. (Photo: Librado Romero/New York Times) On July 7, after 325 days on strike, workers
at the
Stella D’oro bakery in the Bronx went back to work under the contract
that the
company management had ripped up. The scabs who had replaced them were
gone.
Yet while workers were glad to be back on the job, the owners viciously
announced
they would shut the plant for good. With their steadfastness, the
strikers beat
back one attack. Now they face a new assault that is just as serious.
For Stella
D’oro workers and all New York labor, la
lucha continúa – the struggle continues! For working people throughout the area, the
battle of
135 mainly immigrant workers has become a symbol of struggle for the
most basic
rights of labor. Faced with outrageous takeaway demands from the
private equity
firm (Brynwood Partners) that bought the plant in 2006, the workers
refused to
buckle under. Instead, they went on strike – and as the strike
continued for
eleven hard months, not a single one crossed the picket line. The
strikers’
solidarity and determination inspired labor, student and community
activists,
and drew considerable media attention. At the same time, the strike was
a
challenge to NYC labor to move from words of solidarity to militant
mass action,
to decisively win this fight. On June 30, an administrative law judge for
the
National Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of a complaint against
the
company brought by the strikers’ union, Local 50 of the Bakery,
Confectionery,
Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers. Yet the vindictive company
immediately appealed
the ruling, and filed a formal announcement under the federal WARN
(Worker
Adjustment and Retraining Notification) Act that it will close the plant down in October. The
whole system is stacked against
the working class. It is crucial to the future of
workers in New York that
labor’s power be unleashed to stop
Brynwood’s plan to shut down the Stella D’oro plant. The entire workers movement, immigrant rights
and
community groups must mobilize and prepare for whatever it takes to win
this
fight. This will require hard and determined struggle. As Juan Gonzalez noted in his Daily
News (8 July) column, “in a town that prides itself as the
heart of organized labor, the other unions were AWOL” during the
strike. Staking
everything on the bosses’ legal system and the Democratic Party, labor
bureaucrats let the Stella strike twist in the wind. The “only
consistent
support” on the picket lines, Gonzalez noted, came from
teachers, City
University (CUNY) faculty and staff, hospital workers, and some others.
The
Central Labor Council turned a deaf ear to repeated appeals to mobilize
real
backing. Now more than ever, the stakes are
too high to allow a
play-by-the-bosses’-rules, wait-and-see response. IG and
Class Struggle Education Workers at May 30 Stella D’oro strike support
march. (Photo: Next Left Notes) Appealing to “Mobilize
New York Unions’ Power to Win
the Stella D’oro Strike!” (30 May), Internationalist Group
supporters were able
to make some impact in helping organize efforts to get the scab
products off
the shelves and track down the supplies flowing into the plant – some
from
unionized companies. UFCW-represented supermarket workers in
particular, as
well as some Teamster activists, expressed eagerness to help the
strikers.
Brynwood got rid of Stella’s Teamster drivers in 2006 – paving the way
for its
assault on the bakers and packers two years later. Yet due to the
narrow
business-union outlook typical of the labor tops, Local 50 had crossed
the
drivers’
lines during the 2003 Teamster strike at the plant. As Stella workers
have seen, picket
lines mean don’t cross. In a difficult struggle, it is crucial to
have clarity about who
are your
friends and who are your enemies. Illusions in the
capitalist state
are among the key obstacles that must be overcome. One striker said
realistically: “We got out of one hole, but we got in a bigger one now.
We didn’t
win anything yet.” In contrast, some leftists rushed to proclaim the
judge’s
ruling a flat-out “victory.” Thus Workers
World (8 July) hailed the “major victory” won through the NLRB.
Progressive
Labor Party (whose supporters have, to their credit, been very active
in
strike-support activities) put out a leaflet proclaiming “Stella D’oro
workers
win the battle – but the war against capitalism continues!” But while
the war
against capitalism certainly continues, the battle of Stella D’oro
workers is
far from won. As Juan Gonzalez reported, Brynwood
first told the union: “Because we’re a hedge fund,
our
investors expect a higher rate of return, and your members should
expect a wage
cut.” Now the arrogant bosses use
their “right” as private-property owners to decree the plant’s closing,
while
workers who have toiled there for decades are supposed to have no say
in the
matter and be dumped into the street. Workers aren’t buying it. After
returning
to the plant (where the bosses installed 20 new cameras to spy on
them), many
vowed to resist Brynwood’s vengeful retaliation, to “find ways to beat
them”
and “keep the plant open.” This
means “no messing around,” another said. A number of leftists are now looking to the
White
House, or even billionaire NYC mayor Bloomberg to aid the workers. An
International Socialist Organization spokeswoman talked of “the
importance of
pressuring politicians.” We say: workers must rely on their own
strength.
“Fire the boss!” became the slogan of workers in Latin America
taking over
factories to stop mass layoffs. Last December, Republic Windows and
Doors
workers
in Chicago electrified labor with their bold sit-down strike – and
workers in
Britain, Ireland, Canada and elsewhere have recently done the same. In New York City, working and poor people,
immigrants,
oppressed communities, students and even members of the hard-pressed
middle
class are angry at Wall Street rip-off artists – and private equity
buyout
firms like Brynwood. As the economy spirals downwards, Democrat Obama
and
Congress “bail out” billionaires with trillions in taxpayer dollars. In
order
to defeat the bosses, militant action to save Stella D’oro workers’
jobs, such
as a plant occupation, could win wide support. But this would require
systematic, careful preparation, and the active mobilization of
hundreds and
thousands of workers in the streets. To
contact the League for the
Fourth
International or its sections,
send an e-mail to: internationalistgroup@msn.com
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