Comments on the Official CWA "Strategy"

I stand in solidarity with striking SBC workers, but the CWA officialdom's strategy of calling for a consumer boycott and switching carriers (from SBC to ATT) is ineffectual. A more militant strategy is needed.

I am a member of (or at least affiliated with) four unions, including the IWW and three AFL-CIO union locals (the IBU, MM&P, and Sign & Display Workers Local 510). I have been a member of at least two others unions (ILWU Local #6 and CUE). I have a decade's worth of union activism which includes supporting many workers struggles. If that doesn't establish my credentials as someone with experience, I would be happy to list the individual campaigns if anyone wishes to contact me privately. But enough of that.

Let me cut right to the chase. The SBC workers will not win unless they hit the boss where it hurts, and that is economically. I do not need to belabor the point that capitalist businesses are inherently exploitative of workers and that the woring class and the employing class have nothing in common.

If it were even possible to convince a significant fraction of SBC customers to switch to ATT, the people most likely to be economically impacted will be the workers themselves. Less customers would essentially result in less demand for workers (though one could hardly argue that SBC workers are not currently overworked).

Even though the CWA officialdom has authorized a four day strike, it can hardly be considered a militant tactic, because the officials warned management when and where the strike would happen. SBC management is PREPARED for this strike; they have trained their managers to scab on the union. A four day strike will not make a significant dent in SBC's profits.

Suppose, however, that a sizeable percent of SBC customers (even as little as 5%) refused to pay the full balance of their phone bills, but chose to instead send in one dollar? By law, SBC cannot cut of phone service to customers who pay part of their bill.

Here's an even better idea (I learned this from the Bay Area chapter of the Sierra Club--give credit where it is due): customers could staple their $1 check to their invoices that they enclose in their payment envelopes. Normally a machine separates the check from the invoice. Stapling the check, or any other item of paper for that matter, to the invoice results in a paper jam which must be cleared by a live human being.

A striking CWA union member told me (from the picket line today) that another possibly useful tactic would be to coordinate a sizable number of SBC customers to order a bunch of services and then cancel them at the last minute. If I am not mistaken, the money must be refunded within a certain period of time.

I'm sure that if all of the activists here think creatively, we can devise some even better, more effective ideas.

I am part of a recently formed coalition called Bay Area Strike Support Organization. We meet every Thursday at 5 PM in Berkeley. We have been supporting the grocery workers in preparation for their upcoming contract fight (and possible strike) in September of this year. We have also offered our support to the SBC workers and the independent truckers, BASSO is not affiliated with the union officialdom of any AFL-CIO union. We welcome others to join as long as they agree that wage earners should take the lead in fighting against capital whether or not their unions back them up, (if they're in unions).

To find out more about BASSO, contact me at the email address listed above.

An Injury to One is an Injury to All!