Would You Like a Union With That, Comrade? (says IWW is communist)

[Omaha Steve]

http://spectator.org/archives/2010/10/19/would-you-like-a-union-with-th

By F. Vincent Vernuccio on 10.19.10 @ 6:08AM

Workers at some of America's fast food restaurants could be in for some interesting times soon. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is attempting to unionize several Jimmy John's sandwich stores in the Minneapolis area. The IWW's campaign against Jimmy John's could be the start of organizing efforts at several other restaurant chains. (Today, only 1.3 percent of workers in the food service industry are union members.) This should concern not only restaurateurs, but also consumers and young workers.

The IWW is an avowed communist organization that doesn't mince words about its goals. The preamble to its constitution states that "between a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the earth…. It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism."

IWW claims it has members in several Starbucks locations across the country but has yet to fully organized any of them. Attempts to organize these locations failed so IWW is limited to voluntary dues paying members without any official standing.

The idea that anybody in America would want to join such an organization sounds like a bad joke. And on its website, it claims that it has 75,000 members in 125 affiliated labor unions ready to throw their weight behind the Jimmy John's organizing campaign.

The IWW is spreading the effort nationally. In September, it hosted a "National Week of Action," picketing in 32 of the 39 states with Jimmy John's restaurants. IWW says the main workers' grievances are low wages and dead-end jobs. Strangely enough, the union admits that "Many Jimmy Johns workers are either attending college, paying back student loans, or hoping to go back to school for additional job training."

Slinging sandwiches at a fast food chain eatery may not the best long-term career goal, but most of the workers will graduate from school and go on to jobs with more potential. And some successful entry level workers move up within the company. As Minnesota Jimmy John's franchise owner Mike Mulligan, whose restaurants are the target of IWW's campaign, points out; "Every one of our managers and assistant managers was promoted from the ranks of sandwich makers and delivery personnel."

FULL story at link.

[OutNow]

1. Not Even a Clue

Well, the IWW is not like your average local of a big industrial union, but then again the average AFL/CIO union hasn't shown much interest in organizing food chain workers in what. the last 50 years?

Their tactics are also different, but then again so are young workers. Maybe it's a cultural thing, and I'm far too old to understand many aspects of how young people live.

But I give the IWW a lot of credit for trying to help improve the lives of Starbucks and Jimmy John's workers.

And the claim that the IWW is a communist organization? Looks like Mr. Vernuccio has some reading to catch up on about the political spectrum. LOL