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US WalMart Strikes InspireWorkers Around the World

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the ActivistIssue 37

November 2012

Bulletin of Socialist Party members in

Readers of the Activist will nodoubt have been inspired by thenews from the United States thatworkers for WalMart, the biggestretail company in that country andnotorious anti-union employer,

have recently engaged insuccessful campaigning and strikeaction against low pay and poorworking practices. Below wepresent two articles, one, writtenby a supporter of the Activist,gives a brief overview of the firststrikes and draws some lessonsfor USDAW members. The second,taken from the website of SocialistAlternative, the US sister party of

the Socialist Party, reports onvictory of warehouse workers andthe next steps for the movementthere.

US WalMart WorkersStrike AgainstBullying Bosses

On Thursday 4th October, US retailworkers made history when they went

on strike in several Walmart stores inFlorida. Around 60 morning-shiftworkers picketed the Pico Riverastore, whilst other workers from latershifts and 9 other stores in the Los

Angeles area joined them later.

The strike was organised byOrganisation United for Respect atOUR Walmart (OUR Walmart), whichis backed by the United Food andCommercial Workers (UFCW) andfollows a several thousand strongmarch in Los Angeles a few monthsearlier and a fifteen day strike byWalmart warehouse workers inFlorida, which included a six-day

march to draw attention to theirworking conditions (which includeworking in 120 degree farenheittemperatures).

The strike was organised around aseries of clear demands put forwardby UFCWs Making Change atWalmart (which includes OURWalmart). These include a minimumpay for Walmart employees of$25,000 a year (around 15,500 ayear), compared to the $15,500 theaverage fulltime worker gets currently.

It also includes demands around

quality, affordable health care andWalmarts signature on a global unionagreement to recognize workers rightto organise amongst others. OURWalmart has also raised the demandthat full time jobs are made availableto all that want them to current thetrend towards cutting workers hoursthat many UK retail workers willunfortunately be familiar with.

These events show that there shouldbe no no-go industries for the trade

union movement, industrial action canbe organised in even the most bitteranti-union employers with the mostdowntrodden employees. OUR

Walmart adopted a strategy ofmobilising its members into activecampaigning through a variety ofcampaign strategies from petitioningto protests, building towards industrialaction. This also, makes a mockery ofthe ideas of some that retail workerswill not take industrial action.

This brings home all the points thatthe Activist has raised in opposition tothe partnership approach of theUSDAW leadership around JohnHannett. Bold action to defendUSDAW members interests can bringun-organised workers into our union.

WalMart WorkersTaking Action Against

the Corporate Giant

Many workers and activists have beenexcited by the recent reports ofwalkouts and strikes against Walmart.For years unions have tried toorganize workers in this notoriouslyantiunion corporation. Walmartemploys over 1.4 million people in theU.S. and many earn so little that theyhave to rely on food stamps and othergovernment assistance.

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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW


Activists want to know if the strikes atwarehouses in California and Illinoisand walkouts at retails stores inmultiple states mark a turning point, ormerely a ramping-up of the UFCW'spublic relations campaigns against the$400 billion retail giant?

The warehouse strikes were launchedby two separate campaigns, the one inIllinois led by Warehouse Workers forJustice (WWJ) with organizing stafffrom UE - the independent, Left-wingunion that successfully occupiedRepublic Windows in December 2008- and the California WarehouseWorkers United which is sponsored bythe SEIU and UFCW.

In these warehouse strikes,"permanent temps" employed throughemployment agencies (rather thanWalMart "associates" who aresubjected to an intensively anti-unionregime, complete with token companyshares and an imposed rah-rahculture) were fighting back on behalfof workers who were fired for filingwage-theft claims. Having stepped tothe front of the struggle the warehouseworkers then marched to take theirmessage to company HQ in Benton,

Arkansas and to the retail stores,dozens of which have now seenwalkouts. The Elwood, Illinoiscampaign was a smash success, withall employees returned to work after21 days with back pay for the periodthey were on strike. This is a sharpvictory which needs to be publicizedfar and wide.

The warehouse organizing campaignsare of vital importance. In both casesthese well-planned actions are aimed

at organizing massive inland containerports - the Californian "InlandEmpire"in the San Bernadino Valleyand the giant warehouse complexes inand around Chicago which by someestimates is the world's biggest inlandcontainer port, built with public funds

to take advantage of the existingconfluence of road, rail and watertransportation in the center of thecontinent - and handling almost atrillion dollars of goods every year.http://www.warehouseworker.org/industry.html

Ongoing Campaign

The United Food and CommercialWorkers union or UFCW has beentrying to organize WalMart storessince at least 1999. The onlysuccessful NLRB campaign in the US,in which meat cutters at a store inTexas voted to join the union, was metby WalMart closing all meat cuttingoperations at its US stores.

A handful of election wins in Canada,where labor laws are less anti-unionthan in the US, have been confrontedwith store closures and also in severalcases, decertification elections afterthe union failed to win a first contract.

All of the big-box stores in the U.S. areanti-union. Target, Home Depot,Menards, Walmart and Costco(Costco, whose CEO was greeted asa savior at the Democratic Partyconvention!) try to brainwashemployees with anti-union videos as acondition of employment and requiremanagers to report anyone who theysuspect of pro-union sympathies. Thiscan reach such ludicrous extremes as

supervisors being told to try to preventemployees from socializing off the jobor even from learning each others' lastnames or friending each other onsocial media.

WalMart was targeted by the UFCW

and other unions because it's by farthe biggest and fastest-growing, withmore than 1.4 million workers in theUS and profits so fabulous that theWalton family owns assets worth morethan 42% of the rest of the inhabitantsof the USA.

WalMart has the most aggressive cost-cutting practices, subjecting workersto dangerous and discriminatoryworking conditions and pay andbenefits so low that Human Resourcestaff routinely send workers to applyfor public benefits - a taxpayer-fundedsubsidy for low pay and unaffordablemedical benefits. (WalMart supportedthe passage of the Affordable Care

Act, aka Obamacare).

The UFCW began its campaign whenit saw that grocery chains likeSafeway and Albertsons with whom ithas existing contracts were threatenedby competition from WalMart. Thosecompanies' response to thiscompetition was to demandconcessions from their employees andthis led to the initial organizing drives.

When organizing was stymied byWalMart's highly sophisticated anti-union methods, the UFCW resorted toa series of campaigns that aim toenlist small businesses,environmentalists and organizations ofwomen and people of color to paintWalMart as a bad corporate citizenand try to keep it out of urban markets.

The problem with this approach hasalways been that it relies on peoplewho don't work at WalMart to do the

job. It is in effect a popular front, inwhich the feelings and agendas ofsmall businesses and middle-classpressure groups, as well as theunion's existing relationships withother employers, were given moreconsideration than the needs of theemployees themselves.

Following internal struggles within theUFCW, in which more militant tacticswere given a boost by successes in
http://www.warehouseworker.org/industry.htmlhttp://www.warehouseworker.org/industry.htmlhttp://www.warehouseworker.org/industry.htmlhttp://www.warehouseworker.org/industry.htmlhttp://www.warehouseworker.org/industry.html

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the meat-packing field as well aselsewhere in the retail supply chain,the "OUR Walmart" group, anassociation rather than a union, whichany employee can join for $5 a month,was launched as a counter to thisproblem and as a way for retail

associates to gain a voice and someownership over future campaigns.

OUR WalMart

The OUR Walmart campaign differsfrom previous unionizing efforts in thatit is not immediately trying to organizeworkers into UFCW. OUR Walmartworks to ensure that every Associate,regardless of his or her title, age, race,or sex, is respected at Walmart. We

join together to offer strength andsupport in addressing the challengesthat arise in our stores and ourcompany everyday.

More organizing drives should take onthis model or some of the ideas fromthis model. Unions in their essence areorganizations of workers bandedtogether for mutual respect and poweragainst the boss. A union is only asstrong as the workers are united intheir resolve to fight the bosses. Nounion can guarantee any raises orimprovements in working conditions toworkers, it can only promise thatworkers, by forming a union, will havethe tools necessary to fight for whatthey need.

Union organizers and supporters mustreturn to making these class-basedarguments for building unions. Unionbureaucrats have buried these ideasas a threat to their status quo ofnegotiations and lobbying to formunions.

This gives to workers the impressionthat they are little more than a duesunit, an idea reinforced in someunions that then discourage any shopfloor organizing in favor of call centersto handle grievances and organizing. Ifunion organizing drives operate onlyon the basis of promises of vote forthe union and youll get higher wagesand benefits oh and dues will beminimal then working people will be

forced to choose between theemployer they dont really trust, butwho promises continued employment,versus the union which they dont

know and which they justly fear maybe unable to effectively protect themfrom employer retaliation.

OUR Walmart is also buildinginternational links. The Swiss-based

organization UNI (http://www.uniglobalunion.org) held a threeday conference in Los Angeles onOctober 3rd to prepare to launch aWalmart Global Union Alliance. All ofthis has enormous implications for thefuture of union organizing.

To quote Sarah Frances, an OURWalmart organizer who wasinterviewed for this article:

"This coordination in organizing alongthe supply chain is especially notable,not only because it's against theworld's largest (under)employer, butbecause it doesn't even bother toconform to the archaic NLRB rules.NLRB rules are for unions pre-globalization, in this day and agewhere we have a GLOBAL 1% that isexploiting us as a GLOBAL workingclass, we absolutely need to think onthat GLOBAL scale. We have to cutout all the "who's in the bargainingunit? who's not?" and "Buy American"and just ask ourselves plain andsimple, "who all needs to fold theirarms to influence production?". Thiscampaign answers that question byreaching out to the entire supply chain-from retail store employees across theUS, to warehouse employees at themajor ports in CA and IL, and textileemployees in Bangladesh".

Momentum is now building for actions

at WalMart stores on "Black Friday",

the day after Thanksgiving. WalMart is

a huge foe of organized labor. The

boycotts and publicity campaigns of

the past thirteen years have not

organized one single store. It is vitally

important that the labor and pro-labor

community supports their efforts to

organize with their coworkers. All of

organized labor should be prepared to

help shut down WalMart with mass

picketing at both retail stores and

warehouses on November 23.

MailbagDont Mention October 20th

I look forward to hearing the clankof the letterbox on the arrival ofmy copy of Network, our unionUsdaws magazine. I am unfortunatelyunable to participate actively and soNetwork is my link to the union.

Evidence documenting the attackson our members by thisvicious Con-Dem coalition isclearly shown. JJB Sports job cuts,attacks on employment tribunals,pensions, etc, etc. The magazineis full of the campaign to raiseawareness of violence against ourmembers, first introduced by thehealth and safety executive and iscommendable. However, where isthe unions support for the TUC ledcampaign against poverty andausterity?

It is a disgrace that only ten words,hidden in the interview of TUCgeneral secretary Frances OGrady,give publicity to the demonstrations inLondon, Glasgow and Belfast on 20

October.

Usdaw general secretary JohnHannett should hang his head inshame at this omission which createsa split between shop workersand other trade unionists in theprivate and public sector unions.Robbie Segal

Living Wage Needed Urgently

A new report by accountants KPMG

has shown that over 5 million peoplein the UK earn less than a living wage(although other figures put it at 10million). The most shocking facts arehow concentrated this is in certainsections of industry with 90% of pubworkers earning less than a livingwage.

Retail workers will be unsuprised tohear that we make up the largestgroup of workers not paid the livingwage, some 780,000. All the more

reason to back a campaign on thisissue as the Activist has urged.Dave Ingham
http://forrespect.org/http://www.uniglobalunion.org/http://www.uniglobalunion.org/http://www.uniglobalunion.org/http://www.uniglobalunion.org/http://www.uniglobalunion.org/http://forrespect.org/

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The TUC demos on 20th October havepassed of successful, with severalhundred USDAW members taking part

in a colourful contingent with severallarge banners and balloons helping theunion stand out.However, the turnout from USDAW,the fourth biggest union in the country,could have been much bigger. Thecontingent was dwarfed by those ofthe much smaller RMT and PCScontingents.As a letter in this issue points out, theunion didnt really campaign to getmembers to attend the marches. Thiswas reflected in half-full coaches withonly 14 on the USDAW coach fromYorkshire.Activists need to build links throughTrades Council etc to strengthen linkswith other union activists fightingausterity, as well as putting pressureon the USDAW leadership to makesure were fighting with them too.Below we reprint a short reportpublished the day after thedemonstration by the Socialist Party.For more reports and analysis of theway forward seewww.socialistparty.org.uk

Workers travelled from across Britainto London today to express their furyat the Con-Dem government's viciouscuts in living standards.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC),which organised this march againstausterity, estimates that over 150,000attended in London, along with tens ofthousands in Glasgow and Belfast.

The mood of the demonstrators wasdifferent to the previous TUC march 18

months ago. The realityof the cuts, combinedwith the experience ofthe previous year'sstruggle, has lead to a

greater awareness ofboth the urgency of afightback, and for it togo beyonddemonstrating and ontothe industrial plane.

While massive, this wasnonetheless a smallerdemonstration than on

26 March 2011 - when over half amillion took to the streets.

Without doubt, having experienced thecapitulation of the leadership of theTUC in the battle against pensions,some workers stayed away becausethey doubted that this demonstrationwould be the launch pad for anescalation of the battle against the Con-Dems.

The many who attended, however,came determined to make sure that itwas more than a 'parade'.

Len McCluskey, general secretary ofthe union Unite, got the overwhelmingendorsement of the crowd when heasked all those who supported theorganising of a general strike to raise

their hands.

Bob Crow, general secretary of theRMT and seconder of the motion to'consider a general strike' that waspassed at the recent TUC congress,got massive applause when he calledfor a 24-hour general strike (see videobelow).

Mark Serwotka, general secretary ofthe PCS union, also called forcoordination of strike action across thetrade union movement.

Huge support was received for thecampaign by the Socialist Party and

the National Shop Stewards Network(NSSN) to demand that the TUC namea day for a 24-hour general strike andthen launch a massive campaign tomobilise the working class behind thiscall.

In contrast to the enthusiasticreception given to leaders calling forgeneral strike action, Labour leader EdMiliband was booed by many in thecrowd when he talked about the needfor any government to make cuts,

including Labour.

This demonstration opened a newphase in the war against austerity,giving a glimpse of a more hardenedand militant working class.

TUC Marches Success - Next Step, Co-ordinated Strikes Against Austerity

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TUC Marches Success Photos fromthe USDAW contingent in London

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We have entered into the periodwhere branches can discusspropositions for ADM 2013. TheActivist is keen to encourage tosubmission of a wide range ofresolutions tackling the impact of

austerity upon retail anddistribution workers, as well asoutlining a strategy for masscampaigning amongst ourmembership to fight such attacks.

Below we list a few propositionsthat take up some of these issues.

Housing Benefit Cuts

The coalition government's cuts tohousing benefit have meant under35s can now only claim for living inshared accomodation rather thantheir own housing. David Cameronhas since announced he favoursremoving housing benefit fromeveryone under 25.Housing benefit is a vital supportfor those who find themselves outof work or unable to get enough

hours to earn a decent income. Tocut it threatens people losing theirhome as a double blow to beingout of work.Whilst the government justifies thissaying that welfare spending is toohigh, money from housing benefitgoes to pay rent, and therefore thereal beneficiaries are landlords whocan charge ever larger rents.Therefore this ADM agrees

to oppose cuts to housing benefit,and instead support theintroduction of caps on rent ataffordable rates.

NHS Cuts & Privatisation

An estimated 21 NHS trusts acrossthe country now haveunsustainable debts as a result ofPFI scheme repayments and so-called efficiency savings.This crisis is being used as anopportunity to carry outwidespread privatisation of the

NHS by the Con-Dem government,as a way of helping their privatesector backers secure anothersource for enriching their wealth.The privatisation of the NHS wouldlikely see a two-tier health system

emergeTherefore this ADM restates itsopposition to privatisation of thehealth service and calls for the NHSto be publicly owned,democratically run and fullyfunded. It also supports Labourgroups on local councils calling in,for scrutiny, cuts and privatisationin local health services.

Minimum wage

This year the Low Pay Commissionrecommended no increase in theminimum wage for those under 21.Whilst USDAW has succesfullycampigned to get companies suchas Tesco, Co-op and Morrisons tophase out lower youth rates of pay,this is not the case with theminimum wage which has 3

seperate age related rates.Differential age rates canencourage employers to hirepeople on the lower rates andundercuts the job security of thoseon higher rates.Those under 21 do not get adiscount on their tax, rent, bills etc.for being under 21, so neithershould employers get a discount onhiring them either.

Therefore this ADM agrees tocampaign for a minimum wagewith no age distinctions of at leastthe European decency threshold.

Kazakhstan

Over the past year numerous tradeunion activists and their supportershave faced vigorous repression forstanding up for their rights.Workers on strike for a decentwage in the Mangistau region weremassacred by government troopsand their leaders put on trial for

inciting violence! VadimKuramshim, a prisoners rightscampaigner was put on trial afterhe began an investigation ofcorruption within the Kazakhjustice system, himself accused of

corruption!Nursultan Nazarbayev, thePresident of Kazakhstan wasrelected after a rigged election inearly 2012, has recently hadhimself declared 'leader of thenation'.Amongst the advisors to theKazakh regime have been AlastairCampbell and Tony Blair (whoallegedly recieved 10m for his

services).Over the last few years CampaignKazakhstan has been set up toorganise solidarity with workersand social organisations in thecountry.Therefore this ADM agrees tosupport Campaign Kazakhstan.

Living wage

This ADM notes that the recentLabour Party conference passed aresolution supporting theestablishment of the living wage bya future Labour government, whichUSDAW supported.With rising rents, utilities and othercosts of living, as well as cuts tobenefits and public services,USDAW members cant waitseveral years until such a wage is

introduced, its needed now.An immediate campaign couldattract huge support from thearound 2 million retail workers notin a union.A well publicised campaign wouldbe necessary that could involve allforms of campaign action, includingpublic rallies for a living wage andlobbies of MPs.Therefore this ADM supports thelaunching of a campaign for aliving wage for all retail workers.

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Nearly 200 Tesco drivers inDoncasterwere transferred over toEddie Stobart's Logistics (ESL) firmin August and immediately losttheir pension scheme and otherbenefits.

That is bad enough, but within onemonth of the transfer the driverswere all given three months notice,with no promise that they will be re-

employed once the 90 days is up.

Some of these workers have beendriving forTesco for twenty yearsbut have been shown none of theloyalty that they gave to theiremployer.

Tesco is the most profitablesupermarket in Britain and made3.8 billion profit last year. Itshighest paid executive was paid

over 1.6 million.

After the drivers voted by 91.7% to8.3% forstrike action they havegone on a 48-hour strike, which

started at 12.05 am on Tuesday9th October, and there is a picketoutside the distribution depot forthe full 48 hours.

Unite, their union, fully supports thestrike and has provided a mobilecanteen for its duration.

The pickets are in a very angry buthopeful mood; there were a lot of

drivers beeping in support as theypassed the site.

The strike will be well supported bythe residents of Doncaster, a once

proud industrial town. The localTesco shops will be leafletedthroughout the strike and I'm surewill see many local shoppersrefusing to go in.

This is just one more example ofthe naked greed of the capitalistbosses who show no respect to norregard for the workers who actuallycreate their profits.

The 200 drivers who are beingtreated so shamefully deservebetter but the system that is builton the exploitation of workers willcontinue to grind us down until wemake a stand.

The national TUC march on 20thOctober in London needs to be alaunch pad for a 24-hour generalstrike to get rid of this hated

government.

Mary Jackson, Doncaster SocialistParty

Tesco drivers strike in Doncasteragainst shameful treatment
http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Doncasterhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Drivershttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Tescohttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Supermarkethttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Strikehttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Strikehttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Supermarkethttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Tescohttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Drivershttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Doncaster

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