Dispatch from the Picket Line

For many of us in flyover farm country the idea of strikes and union busting only circulate among a tiny minority of folks.
We don't get much of that on the farm or oil derrick.
Mostly we don't think about it much.
Maybe you city folks know more about it than what we do.
Here is a report from the front lines of IWW organizing.

From the report:

IWW Canvassers On Strike, Nationwide Actions in Support.

Submitted on Wed, 08/01/2018 - 7:43pm

By Seattle IWW - It's Going Down, July 31, 2018

Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. (GCI) is a nationwide, for-profit canvassing contractor which fundraises for progressive nonprofits. GCI canvassers can be seen on countless street corners in large cities and college towns, talking to folks about groups like Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and Doctors Without Borders. Despite the company’s claims of a “progressive” platform, its record of worker abuse and union busting is extensive.

For several years now, GCI workers have attempted to organize with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Building interest has not been too much of a challenge, since idealistic folks get recruited for “organizing” and “activist” jobs, but soon find that miserable conditions lead to high turnover rates. New hires are often sympathetic to any drive to bring about change.

The larger hurdle in the past has been how to navigate GCI’s blatant disregard for labor law and the challenges of keeping a campaign going in the face of constant attrition. Past drives in Portland and Ann Arbor laid some of the groundwork for how to organize, but ultimately fell short of their goals and provided valuable insight into the company’s strategies.

The story is not a lot longer, I hope you take the time to look at it.