The best of quotes contain so much meaning crammed into a few choice words that it can be tempting to just
leave it at that. Eugene Debs, though, wasn't about just saying pretty words. Neither are we. We encourage
you to read the article below and think about it, discuss it, with your brothers and sisters. We took the four elements
that Debs said were the difference between a union barren of results and one to be reckoned with. What do you think?
You can discuss it in our forum.
Identity of Interest – interests we hold in common, common cause –
values we can all believe in for ourselves and our brothers and sisters and unite behind.
For a labor union, these interests boil down to wages, benefits
and working conditions. The adequacy of these basic interests are vital to our
ability to safely and effectively carry out our work. They secure our ability
to provide for our own human needs – food, clothing, shelter, etc. – and that of our families in fair exchange
for our labor. The very basis – the reason for union is our ability to
stand united behind these basic needs and to effectively fulfill them at the bargaining table and in the workplace.
The details of those basic or core interests must be the subject of adequate
discussion and debate. This discussion and the absolute freedom to debate is
vital. The debate cannot be private. It
must be open to all. By that definition, others in the community and those in management will be privy to it. This can be seen as a threat to our success because management and others will know what we’re discussing. Or if we are united, it can be seen as fair warning to any who oppose us. They will know what we are discussing, the freedom with which we come to our conclusions, and both the
solidarity and the rightness backing our cause. We have nothing to hide and nothing
to be ashamed of. We build support in the larger community of workers by the
openness of our process.
Without the continuing open debate as necessary, a union cannot achieve or maintain
the consensus to come to oneness of purpose. It will also have great difficulty
in attracting the interest or enlisting the vital participation and support of the rank and file. The involvement of the rank and file in running their own organization is the basis of the effective union. Open debate makes that possible.
Further without the openness of the process, the rank and file is subject to
coercion and manipulation by leadership and union management gone astray. Union
leadership and union management are both subject to the human vanity of caring more about look-good
than do-good. A decent fidelity to the interests of the
membership and a prudent recognition of the frailties of human nature requires that we not lead our leaders into temptation. Only the sunshine of openness can warm and protect the whole of the union body from
vanity and corruption of purpose.
Clarity of Vision – the ability to see clearly what is important and what is not –this
is insight of both head and heart.
It is purpose developed from recognition of what is and cognition of what can
be. It may also be seen as the ability to speak to these things among ourselves
and to those outside our union body. It is nothing magical or reserved for great visionaries.
We rank and file workers know from our own experience what we need. We know from our own experience what can block
our needs from being met. We have the ability to deal with realities with the
benefit of our common experience, interests and wits. We need only leaders with
the clarity of vision to see that they are our servants and our representatives – that we run them and not the other
way around.
Honesty of Intent – no hidden agenda, no divisive alliances or accommodations –
loyalty only to our original purpose, our permanent interests, and to each other.
Each union member is an individual. Each
of us have our own families, our own history, our individual interests in public and private life. We have differences in religious and other values. We have
every right to these and to work for and support our interests. What we don’t
have as union members is the right to mix or blend our individual issues, causes or beliefs into the fabric or programs of
our union in any way that would be at cross purposes or cross-interest with other members individual purposes or interests.
This is not a value judgment of any cause or purpose. It is simply a recognition that any such action weakens the ties that bind our union and thereby weakens
our power to further and defend our core interests as a union. We must have the
integrity to realize this and to pursue outside interests appropriately as individuals or members of other political
or social organizations outside our association with the union.
Even causes or issues that we as individuals value as much or more than
we value the core issues of our union are inappropriately, counterproductively, and dishonestly furthered when mixed or made
to compete with the values that make us united members of a labor union.
We recognize that our core issues are not addressed within the limited confines
of our relationships with employers at the worksite. They are also deeply and
directly affected by political considerations. So the legislative, executive
and judicial actions of government are of great importance to us. We must be
able to address and to act in solidarity in those forums if we are to protect our interests.
However we also recognize that the players in these governmental forums have
their own issues, their own interests and their own values. We know these will not always meld smoothly with our own. In fact, we know that they will often be diametrically opposed to our own. They'll
be subject to the influence of those with financial resources beyond our ability -- individually or collectively -- to match.
Our ability to have an effective seat at the table where decisions that affect
our working lives are made depends on our wise use of our own power. Our power is in the solidarity of our membership
in voice and determination. Our cause is just and we have the ability to articulate
our issues and our viable answers. It is our duty and within our power when we
maintain our solidarity to argue and lobby successfully for our issues.
Yet we have only as much influence as we have solidarity and we cannot possibly
buy that influence one lawmaker at a time. Further, to the extent that we manage
to buy the influence of one, we simultaneously buy the opposition of another. We
know through experience that it is illusory to think that endorsing this particular politician or that one is more
than marginally helpful to our cause.
We have learned that to buy a politician or to be seen as a safe vote for a
political party actually weakens our ability to influence whoever wins political office.
Moreover, to the extent that we endorse politicians who may hold positions we support and positions that a significant
segment of our membership oppose, we dilute our unity and defeat our purpose. The
fact that we need to be involved politically does not mean that we can do so effectively through the endorsement and political
contribution process. We have lost as much as we have won in that attempt and
we must be aware of the folly of that approach. If we’re not smart enough
to be politically effective, we only waste our members money and our precious solidarity in the vain attempt.
Oneness of purpose – solidarity in intent born out of our shared circumstances and
gut-level recognition of our shared interests – energized by cognition of our power when we stand united.
We are employees, workers who are hired, employed and fired by other people. Without our labor the job would not be done, without our dedication, productivity
would be non-existent. We would be satisfied to stand on the merit of our performance
in a world where our efforts were objectively recognized and fairly compensated.
We know that as individuals we do not have the power to make that so. We are students of history – both long ago and recent so we know that. However, in spite of that recognition, we also recognize the power that we do have. We can withhold our labor or take other collective actions that demand the attention and the respect, begrudging
or otherwise, of management. Having gotten that attention, we have the power
to hold it while we bargain our contract, seek redress of our grievances, demand and receive respectful treatment.
Our purpose is intertwined in our power because our purpose cannot be attained
without our power. We are aware at the gut level that an injury to one is an injury to all and that a victory to one is a
victory to all. Therefore we recognize that maintaining our purpose is dependent
upon maintaining our power, which is dependent on maintaining our solidarity which is dependent on sticking to the core issues
for which our union was established.
We depend upon the sweat of our brows to make a living and we depend upon the
power of our solidarity to make it more than an existence. Any leader that can’t
get how important it is to maintain that solidarity is not a leader worth having. It
is up to us to choose better leaders, and keep them honest. Their grandiosity
avails us nothing.
We owe a great debt to the heroes of labor past such as Eugene V. Debs. Their struggles and their sacrifices, the things they learned and sought to pass on
to us, were hard fought and hard bought. Their wisdom still rings through the
years, and we owe it to ourselves and our children – and to our brothers and sisters on the job – to keep up the
fight, the effective fight for effective union. To that cause, the best way to
end this article is as it began:
Solidarity is not a matter of sentiment but a fact, cold
and impassive as the granite foundations of a skyscraper. If the basic elements, identity of interest, clarity of vision,
honesty of intent, and oneness of purpose, or any of these is lacking, all sentimental pleas for solidarity, and all other
efforts to achieve it will be barren of results.
