Resistance and Recovery Speaking Tour comes to Buffalo

In the most stirring recent victory of the US labor movement, workers at the Chicago Republic Windows and Doors militantly fought the company as it closed. On the last day of scheduled work, these members of UE Local 1110 chose a tactic from a different era of labor and occupied the factory. In six days they won an agreement with the company and its financier, Bank of America, which gave the workers $1.75 million in severance and vacation pay. In these six days the Republic workers provided an inspiring example of how organized workers can respond to the layoffs and cutbacks forced upon them in a recession. Since this victory, they’ve organized a speaking tour to share their story with activists and workers throughout the country.

The UE Comes Home

On February 12^th this tour made a stop in Buffalo. Organized by the Coalition for Economic Justice, the event had around 100 people in attendance with people from People United for Sustainable Housing, United Auto Workers, the Teamsters, Buffalo Class Action, and University at Buffalo Students Against Sweatshops.

It was Emanuel Fried who started the night off. Fried is an activist and playwright from the Buffalo area and former organizer with the UE that had once been forced to appear before the House of Un-American Activities Committee. He reminded each of us of Buffalo’s legacy as the birthplace of the militant and member-run UE. Fried spoke about the important role the UE has consistently played in reminding the US labor movement that their role is to take powerful and daring collective action to win the demands of their members rather than treat their members like clients of a service organization.

Chicago Shows Us How It’s Done

After screening a brief documentary about their experiences, Ron Bender, a Republic worker spoke about the UE’s most recent reminder that a real labor union is one that fights. He spoke of his experiences organizing the occupation with other rank and file members, how workers maintained a 24-hour watch over the factory equipment, and how the community came out to support their efforts. Through his words and actions we were reminded that it’s in uncompromisingly and courageously asserting our demands with a willingness to take aggressive action that will assure the broader working class the victories that we need. In the first days of negotiations the Bank of America made it clear that they were a business that needed to make money and that the Republic workers were not their concern. However, in only a couple of days Bank of America had completely different priorities, even saying that the well-being of the Republic workers was a primary concern. This change in priorities comes from a change in power dynamic, as more people came out to fight alongside the UE local.

This fighting mentality didn’t appear from nowhere. It is no coincidence that the first union to act this boldly in the interest of its members is a union clearly controlled by its rank-and-file. As Ron said, “The UE really is the rank-and-file union.” Strategic decisions leading up to and throughout the occupation were made democratically by members on the shop floor. This ownership of the organization that members feel is an essential ingredient in the militancy that followed, empowering workers to take greater risks than they normally would and allowing them to trust that their actions wouldn’t be used to sell them out at any point in the struggle.

Moving Forward as a Movement

Throughout the evening it was repeatedly stressed that the importance of the Republic workers victory is not simply to a single factory, but an example to an entire movement. We are in a critical moment for working people throughout the world and we need to act with the serious urgency that these moments deserve. Spreading their story now becomes an essential task. Every militant throughout the country should know the story of UE Local 1110. In our organizations we should be organizing discussions of the struggle at Republic, distributing their documentary outside of workplaces threatened with layoffs, and organizing rank-and-file resistance groups within our workplaces. UE Local 1110 workers have offered an inspiration to us that can help to unify the left and thrust existing worker discontent into a commanding movement of aggressive collective action. Now, the responsibility falls on the rest of us to continue the struggle that they have so powerfully pushed forward.