Fletcher urges CTU delegates to remain active at all levels...
Bill Fletcher Jr., Author of �They�re Bankrupting Us!� And 20 other Myths about Unions", spoke to the Chicago Teachers Union delegates training at Westinghouse High School on March 14, 2015.
Fletcher told the group that he likes movies especially 1980s Science Fiction because they often resemble life in the future. According to Fletcher, �there are three themes in Science Fiction movies. The first theme is Zombies or walking dead (Xenophobic). The second theme is apocalyptic referring to the end of the world and last but not least, dystopia which projects five or ten years in the future when there is environmental devastation."
Bill Fletcher speaking to the CTU leadership training conference on March 14, 2015. Substance photo by Jean Schwab.Included are large corporations and massive polarization of wealth concentrated in the hands of a few and a revolt in the hands of a few. But there is a revolt, and the revolt is made up of a small number of people.
"Doesn�t that sound like today? I say the revolt has to be big. Leadership has to inspire a change. It is worth the sacrifice."
In 1960 there was very little to be optimistic about. There were still lynchings in the South and no vibrant black freedom movement. You need trained organizers for a freedom movement. Rosa Parks was not just tired and did not want to give up her seat -- she was trained by an organizer.
Today we need North Star organizers and we need to know our enemy.
�The Right wing (populism theory of irrationality) is our enemy. They are the Herpes of the system. When the body begins to weaken, herpes breaks out. They have succeeded because they do not want their earnings or money shared with undeserving people such as ourselves. You may ask yourselves don�t people at the bottom revolt? In Science Fiction people refuse to join together because they believe things will get better and they can become a Koch brother.�
�Scott Walker used the race issue to win the recall election by saying, 'You don�t want Wisconsin to be like Milwaukee, meaning mostly Latino and black.'" Fletcher continued.
Later, this reporter (a CTU Retiree Delegate) requested clarification.
Fletcher replied in that Walker meant that Wisconsin is a segregated state and the result of segregation, Milwaukee was demonized because they had many blacks and Latinos living there. This was built on decades of the right wing, George Wallace, Reagan and others speaking in codes. The message, Black and Latino people were trying to steal what we got!
When people talk about immigration, they do not talk about the Irish, Polish or Russian immigrants. Although Russians have outdone the Serbian Mafias in brutality, Serbian Mafia would not hurt the family of someone that displeased them. Russians will take it out on their whole family. All you hear about is immigrants from certain places, especially Hispanics.
This reporter asked Fletcher if he had any advice for Chuy.
�When Chuy wins he needs to get good people in city government immediately. It�s like the drones where no one knows who is directing them. The down side of that is that if he takes the entire good activist into city government, it will leave the movement without leaders. When you get all the good activists into government, they may make the same decisions that the activist wanted before the election. If Chuy does not bring in good people he will have to work with the same people that were already there."
During the same interview Fletcher said: Lenin Stated �Force of habit� which means that any organization develops a specific culture, the culture of these organizations takes on a power of its own. Chuy will have to deal with the City Council and the state government. He may have open opponents and others that warn him saying, �I�m on your side, but tone it down.� He will have to make sure the advice he gets is sound advice.
During a strategy meeting with other delegates, Fletcher asked, how does the union work? A Union is an organization of workers that have come together for an abstraction of fairness to build power in the workplace. The culture exists as an aberration hanging around. People get used to the culture and they get used to the way it�s been.
An example is the Letter Carrier Union, who had a resistance to using computers because they represent the letter carriers. A successful organization is always in transformation, otherwise it is dying. Fletcher�s response: My position is if voting wasn�t important than the Republicans would not be trying so hard to destroy it.
"If someone is not voting, I would kick their ass," he said.
Fletcher�s advice to unions. When Chuy is elected he must look at how decisions are made. You need to make a new strategy. Who are our forces? If you plan to intervene in that situation, what tactics do you need? Think about how we can transform education reform. Teachers become the basis of educational reform. Our union is the voice of education reform, our mission is to save and transform education.
Comments:
By: Jean Schwab
Comment
Thanks Terry, I really wanted to know how people responded to Fletcher's comments. I was fascinated because he brought up topics that made sense but I had never thought about
them before (ex. Herpes and spread of right wing ideas.) I'm going to read his book and see if it's as interesting as his speeches.
By: Theresa D. Daniels
Fletcher's Interesting Views
I'm glad Fletcher was able to present at the union delegates workshop and that he was interviewed as well so that those of us who missed that workshop could be exposed to his views and advice. His analysis was worth noting in these times and I'm glad we had access to it.