Class Struggle Unionism

Join veteran labor organizers Joe Burns and Barbara Madeloni for a discussion about how to rebuild a fighting labor movement.
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Celebrate the launch of Joe Burns' new book, Class Struggle Unionism, with a conversation between Burns and Barbara Madeloni about how we can create a more militant, democratic and fighting labor movement.

How should workers relate to the union establishment which often does not want to fight? How much should the labor movement prioritize broader class demands versus shop floor struggle? How can we revive militancy and union power in the face of corporate power and a legal system set up against us?

Class struggle unionism is the belief that our union struggle exists within a larger struggle between an exploiting billionaire class and the working class which actually produces the goods and services in society.

"There is nothing more essential for the resurgence of the labor movement than cutting through the racial, social, gender and political divisions driven by the corporate class to deny working class power and keep workers in competition with each other. Class Struggle Unionism not only defines the urgency of our common struggle, it's a textbook on how to organize around our common demands right where we work in order to build a movement strong enough to realize an inclusive economy and thriving democracy." —Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO
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Speakers:

Joe Burns is a veteran union negotiator and labor lawyer with over 25 years experience negotiating labor agreements. He is currently the Director of Collective Bargaining for the Association of Flight Attendants, CWA. He graduated from the New York University School of Law. Prior to law school he worked in a public sector hospital and was president of his AFSCME Local. He is the author of Class Struggle Unionism, Strike Back: Rediscovering Militant Tactics to Fight the Attacks on Public Employee Unions and Reviving the Strike: How Working People Can Regain Power and Transform America.

Barbara Madeloni is a staff organizer and writer at Labor Notes. Prior to coming to Labor Notes she was the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, where she was elected out of a left caucus, Educators for a Democratic Union. She remains active in the caucus and in the United Caucus f Rank and File Educators.
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This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books. While all of our events are freely available, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work.

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[OneOopsimath]

@Haymarket Books

Thanks very much for this.

Is there another recording that doesn’t have sections where audio cuts out? Asking because it’s an engaging discussion and hate to be missing even small parts!

[Achrononmaster]

@50:00 you folks know capitalists do not control the monetary system, the currency monopolist does, which is government. So I'd suggest working on getting workers in seats of government --- dictatorship of the proletariat --- in other words, government _should_ be _the_ institution that protects labour and "the little people." Not the protector of capital. This should be the goal of the entire union movement, to put workers in control of the currency and legal system. Under capitalisms the labour market is not a fair game --- a boss suffers little lost income when they fire a worker, and a worker cannot fire their boss. Only governments can protect labour because governments are the monopoly currency issuers and sole tax authorities, any government failing to protect workers has to be viewed as illegitimate. So this means minimally (a) a Job Guarantee, (b) no FICA taxes (there is no need for the issuer of the currency ever to tax what is desired activity). Tax rent extraction and private property instead. Tax serves to drive only _demand_ for the currency, not _supply_ for the fiat issuer.

[Achrononmaster]

@35:0 worry less about breaking employment law and more about moral law. The way Japanese public transport workers stayed at work providing their social service but refused to take passenger's revenue. Teachers can stay in school teaching but refuse to submit the test scores to the state bureaucracy. Public healthcare workers can administer clinical services but refuse to accept payments (this will not cripple the health system, since public institutions are not tax payer funded, the government is the monopoly currency issuer, tax payments are a redemption, not supply of money for the issuer).