General Strike is Needed Response to Hotel Lockout

What are the details on this, I thought it was a strike not a lockout.

The details are here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/a/2004/10/01/state1305EDT0058.DTL

Generally there are so many people on here going on and on about 'labor' and the 'workers rights' in big gestures, but now when this really intense thing is happening in SF, where on the local news you see old Asian women holding signs and banging things, we're supposed to go to SF-fucking-Gate to find out what's going on?

Seems bizarre. I would think the crew would be on this.

go walk a picket line. Talk to the other people there. They'll tell you what's happening.

I am not part of the Indymedia Collective and I am not a member of UNITE HERE Local 2. It is up to them to be "on top of things". If they aren't then I must use whatever sources are available.

Remember that unlike the Chronicle (which is a union paper, by the way, even though it' editorial policy is pro-boss), all of us are unpaid volunteers. We all have real jobs on top of being activists and volunteers. Cut these guys a little slack OK?

By the way, I am busy with IWW organizing efforts so I can't always walk a picketline, but I intend to be there soon.

Use it.       

Visit these web pages:

http://www.hotelworkersunited.org/

http://www.unitehere2.org/

http://www.unitehere.org/

I cannot think of any others that would have more up-to-date news than these.

It's important to note that the upswell in threatened and real strike activity of late--some of which is alluded to in the SFGate article--is occuring mostly in industries where the bosses can't plausibly threaten to relocate to avoid insurgent workers: Grocery stores, schools, hospitals, hotels, building maintenance, what else?

So long as each struggle stays within the confines of each supposedly discrete industry, all the struggles are weakened.

The hotel bosses--allegedly great rivals--have united to stomp out the strike action because each knows that the real struggle isn't between capitalists but between capitalists and workers. This is exactly the strategy the grocers have planned (pooling losses etc) in case of a strike.

Our side should, to the best of our ability, push to spread the strike across industries--including unionized and non-unionized workers--knowing full well that the capitalists will unite as well across these artificial boundaries. They will have the state on their side as always, but we'll have the numbers and it will be fucking beautiful.

I agree with Aaron in principle, but what is the plan for making this happen? Ideas are great, but we need to put them into action.

I am not trying to be a wet blanket. I am actually interested in making something like this happen. How do we do it?

I have some ideas of my own, but I don't think my ideas will bear results in two weeks, especially given the factthat most workers are disorganized.

We have a despotic president engaged in endless war, torture, round-ups and state terror. And from grocery stores to hotels, workers in California are under attack. It's time for the working class of the Bay Area to fight back against the bosses and organize a general social strike.

Are there going to be real picket lines trying to prevent guests from entering the hotels or just symbolic pickets 'asking' guests for their support?

It would be great to have massive demostrations every saturday at 1pm to screw up the check-in time, just like the one 'before' the strike.

The bosses understand only one thing: profits! The only way to fight is by hurting they profits for real.

Sounds good. I'll be there tomorrow. A lot of hotels to cover though..

What are you trying to say here, that you have time to help your own union, but not time to help another?

That's a lot of what's wrong with unionism as we know it today. The working class has been Balkanized. Butchers work while bakers strike and candlestick makers pay no attention to either of them. The bosses laugh clear to the bank.

A worker is a worker is a worker. Every strike should be a general strike. No striking union should ever have to walk their picket lines alone.

What went wrong with unionism that unions don't work together? Can it be fixed, or do working people need a new model of organizing before our resistance can succeed?

Dear "Just Wondering"

What are you trying to say here, that you have time to help your own union, but not time to help another?

Not at all. In fact, I plan to support the picket-line on Monday and I have already forwarded news about this struggle to others. Some other IWW members have already supported this struggle by walking the picketline.

That's a lot of what's wrong with unionism as we know it today. The working class has been Balkanized. Butchers work while bakers strike and candlestick makers pay no attention to either of them. The bosses laugh clear to the bank.

I agree with you, but it is not the IWW that created this situation (And you certainly cannot blame me for this, because the conditions that exist now were mostly put in place over the past fifty years. I am only 33). Considering that almost 90% of workers in the US are currently unorganized, I am doing what I can to change that.

A worker is a worker is a worker. Every strike should be a general strike. No striking union should ever have to walk their picket lines alone.

Where do you see anyone suggesting that they should? We're all human beings though, not supermen. We have to pay rent, eat, and deal with our own survival needs as well as provide mutual aid to others. I can't walk a picketline 24-7, and I certainly wouldn't expect anyone else to either. If I didn't say it loudly enough, I encourage anybody who has the time to support this struggle.

As for every strike being a "general strike", you're living in fantasyland. If it were that easy to organize workers would have overthrown capitalism ages ago. Even the IWW back in its "glory days" knew this and accepted and advocated general strikes whenever possible, but they never expected all strikes to be general strikes. General strikes don't just happen because militants call for them or they're a good idea. Conditions have to be right. You have to convince most workers that it is in their best interest to engage in one. I would be certainly willing to join in any serious effort to organize a general strike, but you're effort isn't serious unless you have a plan. (Hint: loudly proclaiming that all strikes should be generalstrikes and then expecting others to do the work is not a viable plan)

What went wrong with unionism that unions don't work together? Can it be fixed, or do working people need a new model of organizing before our resistance can succeed?

What went wrong with unionism is that business unions gained most of the power and revolutionary unions did not, and this process happened over a century. It would certainly take more than a day or a week to fix it. As for "new models" what brilliant ideas do you have that haven't already been thought of?

I suppose you think that I should do everything in my power to mobilize the IWW to support this strike, and use every last IWW resource in doing so, but even if that were a good idea (which it isn't for reasons which I will explain below), it wouldn't make much of a difference. The entire IWW membership in California would still be dwarfed by 40:1 by UNITE HERE Local 2's membership. That wouldn't be very substantial support even if I could convince every last member to walk the picketlines. (Why aren't you using this energy you have to berate the San Francisco Central Labor Council who represents 100,000s of workers to engage in a General Strike?)

In any case, using IWW resources to promote another union's strike is folly, and even the IWW of the 1920s would not have done that. Think of the situation. You have a choice of supporting 2000 unionized workers or organizing 2000 unorganized workers. If you spend your energy on the already organized workers (in another union) and don't organized the unorganized, then you don't build the labor movement. UNITE HERE is quite capable of mobilizing the city of San Francisco without the IWW's help and they should do it (I would support such an effort), but there is little the IWW can do that ithasn't already done that would make much of a difference.

I just bicycled past the Four Seasons and the Argent.

It was about 1 AM. There were were about 6 strikers at the Four Seasons on Market Street. Their spirits were high. Most spoke Spanish. The security guard looked amused by it all.

These strikers were serious and good people. All understood the stakes-- all were proud to be WORKERS.

At the Argent on Third Street there were only 2 strikers when I passed. I asked how they could have signs leaning against the hotel-- they answered, "The Police are cool about it-- they are Union People too... we just have to be careful not to block people's right of way."

The two workers, one female with blonde hair, the other a Hispanic male-- where in good spirits-- although their co-strikers had left them alone in the wee hours. Both understood the stakes and told me how the management harrassed them on the job because they were pro-union.

Both said that the fill-in workers hired to cover the lock-out will probably streal from the guests. They told me that the fill-in workers were not subjected to criminal background or drug tests.

A sympathetic guest brought the strikers some Snickers candy bars as a token of support.

One striker said they would vote for Bush. I said, "You've got to be kidding!"

The striker answered, "I don't believe in welfare."

I went by the Mark Hopkins and the Hilton after midnight last night and the pickets were still energetic and active. I think we all need to draw in others to make this an act of massive community solidarity.

It would be great if grocery workers could be encouraged to walk the picket lines with the hotel workers, which would pave the path of solidarity should they go out on strike later themselves.

And lots of teachers and nurses need to join in and talk about the lay offs and reductions in wages and benefits they are facing too. If this could be a class-based activity that draws in more working folks it can not only succeed, but strengthen any other strikes--or struggles--in any other sectors. And more importantly, break down those divisions that weaken the working class. Especially by demonstrating that we as working people need to unify in our struggles against the bosses. The ruling class scum that run these multinational hotel chains are obviously well prepared to wear the strikers down--especially with the union calling for only a 2 week strike. It needs to spread beyond the hotel workers to all of us and we need to intensify efforts to shut these hotels down by preventing scabs and not allowing business to go on as normal.

Sure, the rank-and-file are legally hamstrung regarding such things, but it doesn't mean that we, as the working class community, can't do it. If we do, we'll take this thing on the offensive and put the management bastards up against the wall. The Bay Area has a rich history of uniting in this way--just look up the history of longshoremen refusing in 1919 to load armament ships going from SF to supply the white reaction to the Russian Revolution. Or the fiece battles of the united working class in 1934 General Strike that not only shut down all commerce in SF, but shut the Port of Oakland down tight too. Or the 1946 Oakland General Strike, where the whole East Bay shut down to fight in solidarity with striking department store workers.

I can happen again.[the following from the Chronicle 9/30] In this strike already, Ruth and Will Anderson of Albuquerque woke to picketers at the Argent Hotel where they'd stayed the night. They checked out. Will, a family doctor here for a medical conference, said "I hate to cross a picket line." The conference was canceled and they went to a hotel not struck or locked out and decided to enjoy Muir Woods instead. If out of towners can honor the picket lines and support the strikers, those of us who live here can do a hell of a lot more.

Let's get out there and win for once. It's about time.

gifford

Your language betrays your mentality. To talk about "organizing workers" is to think of workers as "others." The problem is not that you haven't been able to organize us, but that we haven't yet learned how to organize ourselves.

This is one of those moments that tests the seriousness and relevance of the anti-capitalist movement in the Bay Area.

I support Gifford's efforts completely and will do what I can to make them happen (just let me know what you want me to do).

In response to "Fellow Worker", I am a union worker and have been one for a decade now. I am currently a member of FOUR unions and am likely to volunteer to be on the contract negotiating committee for my own workplace when the contract is up soon.

The fact that I work fairly long and irregular hours (because I don't have a lot of seniority yet) is one reason why I cannot devote my entire life to marching on another union's picketline, as important as that picket may be. I do everything in my power to support the picketline by forwarding alerts to various news lists around the world and donating momey. Sometimes I even walk the picketline (as I did for the Hotel Workers on Labor Day).

As for organizing (my fellow) workers, I have been working on that for over a decade now. As you can see, by visiting this page:

http://www.iww.org/unions/iu530/truckers/truck9.shtml

. . .The IWW is having a significant impact (even the Teamsters haven't been able to help these guys organize).

When I am not busy supporting my fellow IWW volunteers in such efforts, I also maintain the IWW website (http://www.iww.org), sevre on various commitees in my other unions (as a militant rank & filer), including teaching new members the principles of labor solidarity. I have also devoted what limited time and energy I have (which is not nearly enough, I am afraid) to supporting the efforts of Bay Area Strike Solidarity Organization (BASSO). BASSO is working really hard to encourage Northern California grocery workers to take a more militant stance than the sorry ass UFCW bureaucrats in the northern California contract fight. I have also contributed a small amount of energy towards promoting the Million Worker March. I have been involved in various union struggles for over a decade. Who the FUCK are YOU to call me apathetic?!?

You want to know what apathy is? Apathy is members of the Masters Mates & Pilots (one of my AFL-CIO unions) not even knowing that our fellow workers at a tug boat company (Oscar Niemeth) have been on strike for MONTHS (a struggle which *I* posted to this website by the way which was like dropping a stone down a well). Apathy is a bunch of older union members with many years of seniority bitching and moaning about the "crappy" leadership of one of my other unions (The Inland Boatman's Union), but never lifting a finger to volunteer themselves (and afterall a union is only as strong as its rank & file!). Apathy is helping fellow IWW recyclers negotiate a kick ass contract and still having to cajole them to attend union meetings and pay dues on time. Dont you *DARE* talk to me about apathy. I deal with it on a daily basis my friend.

If you devoted even so much as a TENTH of the energy that I have over the past decade you;d understand that I have a right and just cause to demand that well meaning but naive young radicals walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Calling for General Strikes are easy (and don't get me wrong, I SUPPORT the idea); organizing them is difficult.

Gifford has the right idea. It seems to me to be successful, a general strike in support of the hotel workers would hitthe boss in the pocketbook. The best way to do that involves the following:

(1) Huge picketlines at *ALL* Hotels in the Bay Area, even the non-union hotels;

(2) A massive, dedicated effort to organize workers at all of the non-union hotels;

(3) Wildcat or sympathy strikes at *ALL* Bay Area restaurants (union and non-union);

(4) A massive, dedicated effort to organize workers at all of the non-union restaurants;

(5) Securing support from all rank & file union workers who could potentially cross a picketline (such as Teamsters and SEIU Janitors);

(6) Wildcat or sympathy strikes at all union and non-union recreational facilities and tourist attractions.

(7) Ditto organizing the unorganized recreation workers.

The point is to hit the tourist industry deep in the pocketbooks. Now, considering just how big the tourist industry is and just how many workers we're talking about here, carrying out this plan is no easy task.

Alternatively, or in conjunction with this effort, I would suggest that the UNITE HERE members should modify their tactics and adopt a more militant strategy, perhaps occupying the hotels and making so much noise (particularly at night) that no business can occur at all.

For EITHER tactic to work, the rank & file UNITE HERE workers have to want to take these steps. Others cannot fight their battles for them (though they can offer support). The power of the union ultimately resides in the hands of the rank & file (whether they know it or not).

Certainly UNITE HERE's demands for a contract that expires when other major cities hotel contracts expires is an excellent strategy, and I certainly will do what I can to help them achive that (but admittedly it isn't much). However their walkout strategy is risky and could hurt them (whereas a sit in might have been more effective), because the hotel bosses have responded with a lockout (and they appear to have been prepared for it). Now the struggle is a war of attrition, and those tend to favor the employing class.

Now, you may invoke the Longshoremen of 1934. There is a difference between longshoremen and hotel workers. Like it or not, longshoremen are skilled workers. It is not easy to replace them with scabs. Most hotel workers (with all due respect) are another story. As such it is not as easy to win with a walkout.

Ultimately, I predict that the Hotel Workers will win some but not all of their demands.

In any case, I support (in principle) any effort that you or anyone else does to bring about a General Strike, but as I said before, it's hard to take a call for such an event seriously without a plan. Hurling insults at me for not being "left" or "militant" enough won't do it. I know this because I used to do the same thing to others. It didn't work.

An Injury to One is an Injury to All.

Every gain working people have made in this country was wrested through hard struggle. To hold onto and expand these gains means politically combating the current pro-capitalist union leadership, which in a thousand ways impedes class struggle by tying the working masses to the capitalist order, primarily through support to the Democrats. It will be through the struggles of working people that a new class-struggle leadership will be forged in the unions. From the militant strike waged by UFCW grocery workers earlier this year to the potential strike by hotel workers on the West Coast and Washington, D.C., there is a palpable sense among workers and the oppressed that they have to fight to defend their livelihoods and better their conditions of life. The question is one of educating the working class that it must not only fight against expressions of its exploitation, but to overthrow the very capitalist system that breeds its exploitation.

...kevin keating calling them *workers vampire* and then insulting them as human beings, instead of critiquing their ideas. he must be too busy on the picket lines telling everyone the gospel of may 1968 in france and how the air smelled with a bouquet of revolution....

you are Canadian if,You've ever climbed a water towerwith a bucket of paint to defend your sister's honor.

>>One striker said they would vote for Bush. I said, "You've got to be kidding!"

>>The striker answered, "I don't believe in welfare."

This was a similar experience when supporting workers at the Safeway, some had come up from LA and were voting for Arnold. We were surprised to hear it. But now we're all stuck with him. If these people are in a union, don't they get *any* type of education about what's going on politically? Are the unions supporting Bush? At the very *least* the unions could be educating workers about Taft Hartley, not just waiting for bosses to fuck up.

Many thanks to the reader who suggested my 10/2 article be linked to this one; I have done just that. See:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/10/1697438.php
I repeat the list of hotels and their addresses below to where you can and must deliver food and beverage. Anything is helpful; if you can only afford $10 of food and water, that is fine. Every single contribution will be warmly received and the solidarity will be magnified a thousandfold. For $40, if you shop wisely, you can get a lot of pastry and bread, plus water. Those of you who love to cook and bake, this is your time to rise and shine!

Your warm body is also needed on the picket line. If you just have a half hour, or can only walk for a half hour, that is wonderful, because that is more strength than many people have to walk on that hard cement.

When you walk that picketline, be sure to tell the delivery people that they too are scabs if they continue to cross the picketline. The Teamsters union must be called to be told to stop all deliveries. There are non-Teamster delivery people too; they must be told to stop delivering to the scab hotels.

Please also call, fax, E-mail the mayor's office and the district attorney's office to demand that the importation of strikebreakers (scabs) be stopped and that all scabs be immediately removed from the union-busting hotels listed below.
Mayor Gavin Newsom
http://www.sfgov.org/site/mayor_index.asp?id=22018
City Hall, Room 200
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102

Telephone: (415) 554-6141
TDD: (415) 252-3107
Fax: (415) 554-6160
Email: gavin.newsom [at] sfgov.org

District Attorney Kamala Harris
http://www.sfgov.org/site/da_index.asp
Office of the District Attorney
Hall of Justice
880 Bryant Street, Room 325
San Francisco, CA 94103

General Information
(415) 553-1752

Public Information Officer
Debbie Mesloh: (415) 553-1752
EMAIL: Debbie.Mesloh [at] sfgov.org

The picketlines are at :
(from http://www.hotellaboradvisor.info/hotelguidestrike.asp)
Argent Hotel (50 Third Street near Market)
Crowne Plaza Union Square (Sutter and Powell)
Fairmont Hotel (California and Mason)
Four Seasons (757 Market between 3rd and 4th Sts)
Grand Hyatt (345 Stockton at Sutter)
Hilton (333 O'Farrell at Mason)
Holiday Inn Civic Center (50 Eighth St at Market)
Holiday Inn Express at Fish Wharf (550 Northpoint)
Holiday Inn at Fish Wharf (1300 Columbus)
Hyatt Regency(Market at Embarcadero)
Mark Hopkins (California and Mason)
Omni San Francisco (500 California)
Sheraton Palace (Market and New Montgomery)
St. Francis (Powell and Geary)

As I Resident of one of the hotels that is being picketed, I am quite upset about how the strikers show no respect to us nor the guests of the hotels..do they not realize that we are the ones that tip them daily? I can assure you that I will no longer tip at all since they show no respect to us Residents whom are not part of the hotel. As of today onward, I will requests more work from them with no tips.

Which fucking flop house might that be, my friend? These aren't residence hotels. We're talking about big corporate chain hotels screwing workers. I'm sure even if you did stay at a "real" hotel, you'd forget to tip the staff anyway.

First of all, the Four Seasons Hotel is a combination of a Residence and Hotel. Second...I "tipped" extremely well to everyone from the porters to servers. However, there are over 120 Residential Units here at Four Seasons and with them blowing horns in our faces and yelling at US whom have been so good and rewarding to them...they have turned many of us into a frustrated customer. Do you realize that at the end of the year we have the option of contributing to bonuses...last year I contributed a $1000 addition. This applies to the staff that works with the Residential sector which are striking since Four Seasons manages our labor. SO...you lost my respect with this noise. I saw some familar faces in those lines and they did nothing to tell the co-workers not to blow it into my face. When they come back to work...I will demand every service with NO tips. I will complain if their service is not perfect. The only tips I will give will be to Concierge and those that treated me with respect. Its ok to strike but the noise shows your lack of maturity and respect. Many Residents have the same opinion and our attitudes will change when they come back to work.

apparently it hasn't occured to you that those you allegedly tipped so well would prefer to be compensated well enough that they don't have to rely upon the whims of self-congragulatory balls of shit like you to get by.

With those comments only shows why many of us have lost respect for your cause. I have no problem with the health benefit issue but to be so violent with drums,etc. in front of our HOME which is shared with Four Seasons Hotel, only hurts those that support you daily. UPDATE>> if you noticed, your so called "strikers" are now prohibited from blowing horns,drums,etc. in front of our Residences (Four Seasons) so you not only lost the ability to hurt and insult US but also you lost our support when you do come back to your jobs. I am sorry for those that I hurt with these comments but you strikers made a serious mistake by being violent. Good luck but you are now to me, only a worker not someone I have sympathy with.

<<I am sorry for those that I hurt with these comments but you strikers made a serious mistake by being violent.>>

But, resident, a noisy picket line isn't an example of "violence." This FACT renders your criticism absurd, at best.

<<Good luck but you are now to me, only a worker not someone I have sympathy with.>>

Translation: I have no sympathy for hotel peons--who are "only workers" to me--unless they assume and forever stay in the role of docile low-paid help for the likes of moi.

Enjoy Four Seasons, Schmuck!


.

The workers have to be loud if their bosses are deaf. We're talking about people that are trying to raise families and provide healthcare on a small salary. If they don't make a noise now, they will not be able to provide for their families. Surely that is more inconvenient than a noise which will last at best for a week or 2. If management won't discuss the issues at the table and bargain, there is no other option.

As if the TL isn't effing loud all night long. Crackheads, trash trucks, Friday night. Maybe it's different up the hill, maybe this is a containment zone for that.

BTW, from what little I've seen, pickets are spending way too much time up in the foyers to the lobbies, and not enough time on the sidewalks directly across the streets from the multistory walls full of rooms. Let me recommend the 2-4 a.m. time zone, for maximum impact on guest sleep cycles... although there is a certain poignancy to the 4-5 a.m. time slot, just ask yer Golden Gate trash truck woman or man!!

Speaking of high-pitched bleeping sounds at broken intervals... Car sirens do the work for you, while you walk away. Bounce, bounce on the bumper, and bye bye, sweet dreams! It'll go off but don't worry, you can do it again on your way back down the hill.

When it's over, call the Mayor or something, and complain about the quality of life impact all that noise pollution has on the people's lives downtown. The corroboration of the local business establishment will be a refreshing change of pace to the weight TL discontents usually carry on that particular agenda.

There are these aerosol horns that are sold to boaters, I believe they are used as a kind of distress-signaling device. They are really fucking loud, and would be effective for hit-and-run harassment of lowlife hotel guests attempting to sleep while staying at struck hotels.

It should be possible to acquire them at fishing and bait stores, I think. There should be a place on Jefferson at Fisherman's Wharf.

That 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. period would be ideal for a little proletarian wake-up call

There are these aerosol horns that are sold to boaters, I believe they are used as a kind of distress-signaling device. They are really fucking loud, and would be effective for hit-and-run harassment of lowlife hotel guests attempting to sleep while staying at struck hotels.

It should be possible to acquire them at fishing and bait stores, I think. There should be a place on Jefferson at Fisherman's Wharf.

That 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. period would be ideal for a little proletarian wake-up call

Do this by bicycle, a non-violent sonic drive-by -- it's almost fucking flawless. Give 'em a wake up call they'll remember...

How about a Chinese New Year's celebration a little early, in addition to landlubbing navigation activities? The supplies are readily available in Chinatown.

Long Live Hyung Myung!

There's going to be a community flying picket in support of the hotel workers, starting at Union Square (Powell and Geary) at 7:00PM on Sunday, October 17.

the first flying picket Sundaywas splendid. let's make this next one even better than that.

those hotel jobs are a NiCE gig and with a lock out we can get management to hire us. this is great much better than my old high tech production work. if these union slobbs are stupid enough to walk they will be in for a big suprise.

The companys locked the workers out cause they want them to do more work for less pay and less benefits. If you want to cut someone elses throat in the race to the bottom, just realize that you may just as easily have your own throat cut by the next person. Afterall, when you think so highly of yourself that you think that you don't need a union or anyone else but yourself with your high skills and great education, well that doesn't stop your job from being outsourced or somehow undercut by the next person does it.

Workers of the World Unite! - the ghost of joe hill

ps - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you...

You said : "ps - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you..."

So the guests of the hotels can call the strikers at night yelling "Wake up now !" ?
There are guests in the hotels who have kids, people who planned their trip months in advance, trying to enjoy their only vacation of the year, paying it with money they worked the whole year for. And what happens ? They're woken every morning at 7am by people who don't show any respect for them.
Personally I hope those strikers who behave like that are simply fired. If they don't show any respect now, they won't show any respect while they're on the job either !

where workers are locked out get what they deserve. I was on the picket and one of those patrons smarmily said to my co-worker and I (from another union, not local2) "talk english". This was in response to one of the people leading chants with a bullhorn. We don't need that kind of racism in this town. That cow can take a hike and her business elsewhere.