Notes on the 2008 Labor Notes Conference

by Jon Flanders

The left press is buzzing about the SEIU disruption of the 2008 Labor Notes Conference in Detroit. Perhaps lost, as a result, is the significance of this event.

This bi-annual labor activist conference has been taking place for almost 30 years now, and it provides a space for labor activists to meet and discuss all the issues on labor's plate in main sessions and, more importantly, workshops. This year was one of the largest in Labor Notes history, with more than a thousand participating.

The workshops are the center of this conference, unlike the meetings of the "official unions" of which I have attended a few. These convocations are mainly occasions for speeches. Speeches by the top labor officials, and speeches by the politicians du jour. The ranks' expected role is to listen and applauded dutifully.

At Labor Notes, however, the grass roots have a chance to talk back and ask questions and, most importantly, to learn from leaders, who are not at the meeting to posture for the members with the next election in mind.

I was part of a seven-member contingent from the Capital District Area of NY. This is double the number that attended from our area two years ago. I traveled with four others in a rented van. We left at 3:30 pm on Thursday afternoon and arrived a little before 5 am Friday morning. We went through Canada without a major incident, even though an older member of our group didn't have a passport.

We crashed for some sleep in a hotel room -- at least one person slept on the floor. I had a Railroad Workers United Conference to attend at 9 am, so I was doomed to function Friday on two hours' sleep at the max. Somehow I did it.

I make a note of this, to highlight what the typical labor activist does to attend this conference, in many cases spending their own money and vacation time to make it. These are the kind of folks Stern's demonstrators hoped to disrupt.

Our RWU founding convention went well, with perhaps not as many people as we hoped, but we got through the agenda we needed to, and all felt satisfaction at what we had accomplished in setting up a real solidarity caucus in the rail industry, something sorely needed to counter the craft union divisions that have plagued us historically.

Then for me it was partying for a while with the rail workers. It was a particular pleasure for me to have some time to talk with former IAM General Chairman Will Snell, a remarkable man with a storied history, some of which I have attempted to mine in an interview on the RWU website. Will rallied round RWU from the get-go, and will be an invaluable resource for young rail labor activists.

The next day I could participate in the workshops, after attending the morning session, and had to pick from a wealth of choices. This is always a frustration at these LN conferences. Hopefully internet video technology will in the future make taping them and making them available for all a reality.

I decided to go to the workshop with authors Les Leopold and Sheila Cohen entitled "Tony Mazzocchi and Lessons from Labor's History." I have reviewed Leopold's book for MRZine and it was great to meet him and get an autographed copy. I can't say too much about this book -- its a page turner and an obvious labor of love.

I missed the bus trip to the American Axle picket line, due to the time out I took to have lunch with my brother who lives in Detroit. But reports were that the 200 or so labor activists were warmly received by these strikers, who have been out for something like seven weeks now.

I attended a workshop on Shop Floor tactics, for a little discussion of the ABCs of workplace organizing. One of the leaders of this workshop was Frank Halstead, son of the late great Fred Halstead, labor activist and leader of the Socialist Workers Party. My wife went on a 1982 Nicaragua tour with Fred, and I was able to tell Frank a good story she relates about his father on that trip. Frank looks much like his dad, big and friendly. But I wouldn't advise messing with him.

SEIU International Attempts Disruption at 2008 Labor Notes Conference
— The Labor Notes Staff

As the 2008 Labor Notes conference banquet was beginning 200-300 chanting SEIU members and staffers rushed through the side door of the hotel, nearest the banquet hall. The doors had apparently been opened from inside by SEIU staffers attending the conference (see below). Most were wearing the signature SEIU purple T-shirts; some carried signs denouncing the California Nurses Association. CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro had originally been scheduled to address the banquet, although her cancellation had been announced earlier in the day.

About 15 conference participants were acting as security at the banquet hall doors. When the chanting protesters entered, waving noisemakers, they and others quickly formed a double line in front of the doors, linking arms to block the way. Some participants were thrown to the ground by larger SEIUers. One protestor broke through the first line and, finding himself trapped between the two lines, flailed wildly. Former Labor Notes office manager Dianne Feeley, a retiree from American Axle, was pushed and fell, cutting her head, and was treated at an emergency room. Protesters continued to try to advance toward the doors, some nonviolently and others more aggressively.

Hotel security and Dearborn police eventually made their presence felt. They made no arrests. After chanting “we’ll be back,” the protesters returned to their buses (according to hotel security there were six buses).

Earlier, a number of SEIU staffers had disrupted workshops by heckling and attempting to shout down speakers from the CNA or its affiliate the National Nurses Organizing Committee. SEIU and CNA have long been at odds, often in direct competition to represent the same workforce and disagreeing vehemently over single-payer health care legislation, labor-management partnerships, and neutrality agreements that allow a union to recruit members without employer opposition. Their latest skirmish was over health care workers in Ohio.

Shortly after protesters left, SEIU’s national leadership issued a press release titled, “SEIU Members Stand Up for the Future of the Labor Movement and the Interests of All Workers.” SEIU Vice President Mary Kay Henry praised the demonstrators.

It is important to note that SEIU’s planned disruption would have frightened and intimidated hundreds of union members who are not party to their dispute with CNA. In the crowded banquet hall, in which there was barely room between tables; in the panic people undoubtedly would have been injured. As it was, the entire waitstaff, members of UNITE HERE Local 24, fled. We are grateful to the conference-goers whose quick thinking managed to keep the protest contained.

Labor Notes welcomes debate on any and all issues facing the labor movement, both at our conferences and in the pages of our magazine. But that debate must take place free from intimidation. The SEIU International is not the first union to protest at our conference. But in our 29 year history we have never had a group of protesters storm our conference, or assault the brothers and sisters who attend it.

Neither intimidation nor violence has a place within our labor movement. Whatever the original intent, bringing hundreds of people to behave in a confrontational way towards a union that leaders have branded as the enemy was bound to result in violence. Such actions cannot help the labor movement to grow. We call upon the officers of SEIU to repudiate such confrontations.