Picket Lines and Political Pressure

by Ron Lare, UAW Local 600 retired, Ford Rouge, Detroit DSA Member

The author, center, at the picket line March 19th with fellow Detroit DSA members. Photo by Lauren Trendler.

I applaud striking Teamster 337 members for inspiring the rest of us with a fight-back.

I have learned lessons from strikes. I think these lessons are relevant to the current Teamster strike against 7Up (Keurig-Dr. Pepper company).

Beginning in July 1995 and officially ending in 2001, the Detroit newspaper strike was full of lessons for the Detroit labor left — the labor activists with radical tendencies. Some strikers were permanently injured. One ran for public office based on strike demands. As a strike supporter, I was in jail for two days. By most measures, that strike was defeated. It was diverted from stopping production and toward consumer boycotts, which were ineffective. This experience still haunts Detroit activists but brought the labor left together.

Workers respect fighters, win or lose — again, my kudos to the 337 strikers. But what if the company goes all-out to defeat a strike and eliminate the union, rather than just reduce the union’s demands to something the capitalists can live with? Evidence of this danger includes the recruitment of scabs from as far away as Toledo, a hotel for scabs to stay in, and utter lack of seriousness at the bargaining table. The company may not want to settle the strike, but rather replace the workers permanently. (In more civilized countries, permanent replacement of strikers is not legally permitted.)

Here are my guidelines about how to win against such a company strategy:

1. Stop the scab trucks

Following the arrests early in this strike and the prospect of an injunction, the union ceased trying to stop trucks at the gates. Stopping them would likely require “extra-legal” picketing measures. But what if the strike is isolated in Redford and the company uses other distribution centers? Even with help of supporters from outside the Teamsters, this effort might be crushed. What else is possible?

2. Spread the strike to other facilities and even companies

This might be termed an illegal “secondary boycott,” but like method “1”, its viability can be enhanced by “3” below.

3. Generate political pressure

This may be the moment. The Democratic Party seems to have rhetorically re-discovered unions, locally and nationally. That’s limited to politicians’ speeches on 337 picket lines locally — and to media soundbites about Amazon nationally. But Democrats desperately need to win back Trump supporters; there aren’t enough millionaire wannabes in the suburbs to hold the Senate. A Labor Notes article described how local sit-down strikes were won in the 1930s not just because the shop floor was occupied, but because local politicians sometimes refused to call the police. This happened because of mass political pressure on office holders and companies alike. Much bigger picket line mobilizations could generate such political pressure. “OMG, Mr. 7Up, I’m losing control of my constituents as the picket lines grow. And you remember Black Lives Matter numbers in the streets from last summer, right? Alas, no one can control kids these days.”

4. Don’t divert mobilizations away from mass picketing that could stop production

Don’t send supporters to pressure consumers away from the picket lines. Consumer boycotts are a toothless, bureaucratic strategy — as in the Detroit newspaper strike. They make participants feel like they are doing something, but they are too few to hurt the company, especially one with multiple sites and profit sources.

MSU YDSA members at the picket line March 19th. Photo by the author.

Here’s some more of my own experience that I base this article on.

1. I was on a seven-month strike as a UE member near Boston in the 1970s. Eventually scabs broke the strike and the union was decertified by three votes.

2. Ford did not have a national contract strike while I worked there for 30 years. Instead, the UAW let the company cut new hires’ pay almost in half and eliminate their pensions.

Respect to the 337 strikers! They have already affected the labor climate in SE Michigan. DSA should continue to make connections and give the strikers our wholehearted support on the picket lines.

The Detroit Socialist is produced and run by members of Detroit DSA’s Newspaper Collective. Interested in becoming a member of Detroit DSA? Go to dsausa.org/join to become a member. Send a copy of the dues receipt to: membership@metrodetroitdsa.com in order to get plugged in to our activities! Detroit DSA’s Labor Working Group meets biweekly on Tuesdays at 5PM.