Solidarity's Future Discussed

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Bill Fletcher Jr and Omar Salazar led a wide-ranging discussion on "The Future of Labor Solidarity in the Western Hemisphere" Monday night, May 5. "We have a lot to learn, from our own long history of international solidarity work, as well as from other movements around the world," said Fletcher, director of Field Services & Education for AFGE. "Unions have a hard time understanding that things change," added Salazar, director of the Asociacion Servicios de Promocion Laboral (ASEPROLA) in Costa Rica. "There are new ways of organizing, of production, new kinds of workers, and if you don't understand this, you can't organize." Both men cited the "imperialist" history of cross-border labor solidarity and organizing efforts in the Americas that both hampers and drives current efforts. "Unions organizing in Central and South America (in the early 1900's) stopped at Cuba because the U.S.-based unions - who had black and white locals - couldn't figure out which the Cubans were," said Fletcher. "This was one of the only times that racism has served the interests of the working class." Salazar grimly reminded the two dozen activists in attendance that "In Central America if you organize you just disappear; seven in the last 6 months alone." Recent efforts to develop more progressive approaches and build real cross-border solidarity are "very important," Salazar said, and Fletcher stressed that "The impact NAFTA had had on the agricultural and public sectors in Mexico and the resulting migrations to the U.S. cannot be underestimated." Salazar described an ongoing effort to organize tens of thousands of Central and South American banana and cut-flower workers. "We shout solidarity but we need more than good wishes," Salazar said, "We need money and resources." The discussion was sponsored by the International Labor Rights Forum. Fletcher's new book, "Solidarity Divided" is due out next month; details online.
- report/photo by Chris Garlock