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DSA and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) have formed the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) to help workers organize for workplace closures, safety protocols, just compensation, and a union during the coronavirus crisis. Want to start a union to protect yourself and your coworkers but don’t know how? Fill out this form, and an organizer will get in touch. Fight Covid-19; Organize at Work https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSerf2QzafRMvvM1zjr8Oynz4ZYZ_bQ1U0cKJ5eeWclnT8yCgA/viewform “It’s Time to Engage in as Much Class Struggle as We Can” Meagan Day interviews Mark Meinster, an International Representative for UE Jacobin magazine, April 16 https://jacobinmag.com/2020/04/united-electrical-workers-dsa-workplace-organizng-coronavirus . . . MD: You don’t often see socialist organizations and unions collaborating this closely on projects of this magnitude. Does it bode well for future of the working-class movement? MM: I think it’s absolutely necessary for the future of the working class... Our union was founded by people who had a critique of capitalism, and who were fundamentally opposed to the idea that the interests of the boss and the interests of the workers are the same. Our whole outlook flows from that belief that there is clear, sharp class struggle happening in the world, and that this economic system is not working for workers. But this has often set UE apart. Talking critically about capitalism in the labor movement wasn’t that possible before ten years ago or so. Now we’re seeing changes happen politically, and we’re seeing new openings for unions and left organizations to work together. And we’re seeing, hopefully, the resurgence of the Left and labor working together to try to rebuild working-class power. We Need the Labor Movement To Organize Worker Fightback in the Face of the COVID-19 Crisis by Carl Rosen, Andrew Dinkelaker and Gene Elk In These Times, April 10 http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/22459/workers-strike-walk-out-covid-19-coronavirus-labor "Life-and-death circumstances are being imposed on U.S. workplaces and workers are increasingly responding by standing up, fighting back and walking out, but frequently without the support of organized labor. Unions have a choice right now: Hunker down and try to ride out the COVID-19 storm or put our shoulders to the task of assisting workers in their fight to either improve conditions on the job or shut their workplaces down..." . . . "Our union, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), has called on all workers, both our members and nonunion workers, to stand up and fight. We have created online resources to help nonunion workers take action to win safe workplaces. We have published a special issue of UE Steward on how to organize members around COVID-19 issues in the workplace. Alongside the Democratic Socialists of America we are launching a joint effort called the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, which will provide organizing and logistical support to workers who are ready to take on their boss. Our members, both in organized shops and in workplaces where we have organizing campaigns, are winning concessions from their employers through militant and creative tactics." Bernie’s Army Redeploys to Support Covid-19’s Frontline Workers by Steven Greenhouse In These Times, April 29 http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/22491/frontline-workers-organize-with-DSA-UE-EWOC-Bernie-campaign-organizers _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
