News - All Departments and Unions
This is the news page for all IWW Departments and Unions. This page displays *all* news items from every Department and Union. To see news only from a particular Department, click on the Department title below.
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"By building organizations based on solidarity, rather than on
bureaucratic chain-of-command, we build organizations that by their very
existence help to bring a new kind of society into being."
--Staughton Lynd, Solidarity Unionism
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In June, I had the opportunity to attend the IWW Centenary in Chicago, two days of panels and lectures. About 200 people attended, and the first day was spent in lectures and panels discussing theory and history of working class issues and organizing; the second day was spent hearing about current reports of on-the-ground organizing work. I went primarily interested in questions of feminist praxis (theory and practice) and analysis of and resistance to white supremacy in workplace organizing. Here, I’ve included my initial questions and reflections that emerged from the experience.
They publish and distribute tons of costly literature that point up the strong advantages of belonging to a union. They provide evidence that union members earn more and have better benefits than non-union workers for doing essentially the same job, and that it applies equally to women and minorities.
Every November we remember the rebel workers murdered by the employing class; a long list which grows longer every year. Fred Thompson used to speak of an IWW soapboxer whose rap went something like this: 'Workers are being fired for joining the IWW. Workers are being killed... Join the IWW.' It demonstrated, Fred used to say, a fine sense of solidarity but was not necessarily the best way to sign up new members.