Over the weekend of June 17-19, some 4,000 union members and affiliates
congregated in #Chicago for the 2022 Labor Notes Conference. Owing both to thefact that the biennial conference had been postponed in 2020 and to a modest (butnonetheless exciting) uptick in new union activity in recent months, most notablyat #Amazon and #Starbucks, this year's event set a new record for attendance. ----Labor Notes began its life in 1979 as a monthly newsletter intending to challengethe sedate business and service models of AFL-CIO affiliated unions. Thenewsletter focused on spotlighting and linking together rank-and-file reformcaucuses within these unions. Today, Labor Notes the periodical lives on, whileLabor Notes the organization has dramatically expanded in scope to support yearround "troublemaker" training schools and a publishing wing, in addition to itsgrowing conference.Labor Notes the organization acts on the social-political, or intermediate level,within the US (and Canadian) labor movement. Its goals revolve around developinga tendency within the labor movement oriented toward union democracy, militantaction and reviving strikes, aggressive new organizing, internationalism, andbuilding union reform caucuses. It does not promote revolutionary politics, andkeeps the focus on unity around these more short term union tactics. In the lastseveral decades, it has created probably the largest identifiable and consciousleft tendency in US and Canadian labor and its conference is one of the onlyplaces for national, cross-industry rank and file labor collaboration.The conference itself is a three day affair made up of some 100+ workshops, paneldiscussions, and trainings covering a range of topics-from analyses of esotericlabor law to beginner discussions on how to inoculate one's co-workers againstunion busting tactics.Labor Notes 2022, Friday night ballroom plenary session (photo by ChrisBrooks/@chactivist)In both 2018 and 2022, Black Rose/Rosa Negra's (BRRN) Labor Committee sentmembers to the conference in an effort to:Build relationships with other rank-and-file workers in the industries where wehave an active presence, such as healthcare, construction, K-12 and highereducation, and food serviceFurther our practical knowledge and skills in workplace organizingDevelop a better understanding of the current state of US labor strugglesBuild a public presence for anarchism and anarchist perspectives in the labormovementWith two years of attendance now under our belt, we've made hundreds of newcontacts in our industries, participated on several conference panels, connectedwith other anarchist and libertarian socialist attendees, and reaped valuableskills that we've applied to our own fights.At the 2018 conference, BRRN hosted a semi-formal Red & Black Party whichfeatured speakers from the IWW Burgerville Workers Union, teachers involved inthe Red for Ed strikewave, and Polish Amazon workers involved in theanarcho-syndicalist union Inicjatywa Pracownicza (Workers' Initiative). ThoughBRRN didn't host a public gathering at the conference in 2022, we intend to renewthe practice in the future.While there are legitimate criticisms to be made of Labor Notes in general andthe conference in particular-that it attracts a significant number of unionstaffers, that it's overly focused on changing the leadership of business unionsinstead of addressing the need to totally rethink the structure of unions fromtop to bottom, or that it gives too much space to progressive figureheads in thelabor movement-we've found that the center of gravity at the conference isordinary rank-and-file workers grappling with difficult questions on how best toapproach rebuilding the US labor movement. In this sense, Labor Notes is animportant site of experimentation for workers to discuss and debate strategy andtactics, and to learn from one another about how to best move forward.These discussions are peppered by various expressions of the organized left, someoperating openly-selling newspapers, tabling, or hosting parties-and otherskeeping a low profile. While the Democratic Socialists of America were by far thedominant political force at this year's conference, there is still plenty ofspace for other left tendencies to maneuver and build poles of attraction.Anarchists can and should be a more forceful presence among them.Anarchism has deep roots in the US labor movement, reflected particularly in thehistory of Chicago-where the Labor Notes conference is held-from the HaymarketRiot and the Central Labor Union to the founding of the Industrial Workers of theWorld and the "Chicago Idea" of the International Working People's Association.But like much of the left, anarchists have limited ties to current struggles inthe workplace, a crucial point of leverage in the fight against exploitation anddomination.To reclaim the influence we once wielded in the labor movement and to play a rolein developing its revolutionary potential, anarchists need to be embedded in awide-range of rank-and-file struggles and organizations on the shopfloor, insideand outside existing bureaucratic unions, and to be building public examples ofanarchist labor struggle. Our task is to rebuild a tradition of class struggleunionism from the bottom up, characterized by class independence, direct action,direct democracy, rank-and-file control, solidarity and internationalism. Webelieve that right now an important part of that work is making connections withother militant rank and file workers to establish industrial networks across thecountry that can support otherwise isolated revolutionaries, develop and promotea stronger shared anarchist perspective on worker organizing for our specificconditions, and prepare a foundation for larger upsurges of revolutionary struggle.While the current energy, activity, and excitement around unions marks a brightspot in otherwise troubling times, we are far from the militant labor movementthat is urgently needed to confront the cascading crises that have cast a darkshadow over the entire globe. But we remain committed to turning the tide.https://blackrosefed.org/brrn-at-labor-notes-22/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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