Precarious & Pissed Off: Lessons from the Montpelier Downtown Workers' Union (2003-2005) and Beyond

Precarious & Pissed Off: Lessons from the Montpelier Downtown Workers' Union (2003-2005) and Beyond

By Sean West--NEFAC Member--Philly

Published in Northeastern Anarchist # 12
excerpt:

"I could tell you the blow-by-blow story of how this organization rose and fell. The story would be comprised of tales of workers sitting down "eye to eye" with their employers, alongside stewards, and winning grievances; of a fierce and vibrant debate in the newspapers, coffee shops, and pubs of Central Vermont; of a dedicated group of downtown workers reaching their wits' end pulling together newsletters, holding long meetings, handling grievances, and talking endlessly with other workers; of marches in the middle of blizzards; of public forums; of acting like a union without any legal union recognition; of successful actions and mistakes; of asshole bosses, obnoxious lawyers, and workers who found their own voice; and of all the many ingredients that went into the ultimately unsuccessful two-year-long struggle to forge a lasting institution to defend downtown workers and advance our interests.

However, the more I look back on it all, the more I realize that this story is not what is important...What is more important now is that we draw some lessons from the experience of the Montpelier Downtown Workers' Union, so that other workers, especially those in the non-unionized retail and restaurant occupations and the service sector more generally, who attempt to gather co-workers together to build self-organization, concerted activity and collective resistance -- in short, a fighting union -- have an idea of what did and didn't work for us in the MDWU."
Read More @ http://www.nefac.net/en/node/2235

The Northeastern Anarchist is a magazine of class struggle theory and practice published by the Northeastern Federation of Anarchist-Communists (NEFAC). We focus on anarchist-communist theory, history, strategy, debate, and analysis in an effort to further develop our ideas and practice. The Northeastern Anarchist is published twice yearly by the Northeastern Anarchist Editorial Brigade.

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