April 2014

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Industrial Worker

• Page 3

__I afrm that I am a worker, and that I am not an employer. __I agree to abide by the IWW constitution. __I will study its principles and acquaint myself with its purposes.

Name: ________________________________ Address: ______________________________

City, State, Post Code, Country:

_______________ Occupation: ____________________________ Phone: ____________ Email: _______________ Amount Enclosed: _________

The working class and the employing

class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and wa nt are found among millions of working people and the few, who make up the em-

ploying class, have all the good things of

life. Between these two classes 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.

We nd that the center ing of the

management of industries into fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions un- able to cope with the ever-growing power

of the employing class. The trade unions

foster a state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be pitted against another

set of workers in the same industry, thereby helping defeat one another in

wage wars. Mo reover, the tr ade unions

aid the employing class to mislead the

workers into the belie f that the workin g class have interests in common with their

employers.

These conditions can be changed and the interest of the working class upheld

only by an organization formed in such a way that all its members in any one industry, or all industries if necessary,

cease work whenever a strike or lockout is

on in any department thereof, thus mak

-

ing an injury to one an injury to all.

Instead of the conservative motto, “A

fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work,” we

must inscribe on our banner the revolu-

tionary watchword, “Abolition of the wage system.”

It is the historic mission of the work-

ing class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for the everyday struggle w ith capitalists, but also to carry on produc

- tion when capitalism shall have been

overthrown. By organizing industrially

we are formi ng the str ucture of the new

society within the shell of the old.

TO JOIN:

Mail this form with a check or money order for initiation and your rst month’s dues to: IWW, Post Ofce Box 180195, Chicago, IL 60618, USA.

Initiation is the same as one month’s dues. Our dues are calculated

according to your income. If your monthly income is under $20 00, dues are $9 a month. If your monthly income is betwe en $2000 and $3500, dues are $18 a month. If your monthly income is over $3500 a month, dues are $27 a month. Dues may vary outside of North America and in Regional

Organizing Committees (Australia, British Isles, German Language Area).

Membership includes a subscription to the

Industrial W orker

.

Join the I WW T oday

T

he IWW is a union for all workers, a union dedicated to organizing on the job, in our industries and in our communities both to win better conditions

today and to build a world without bosses, a world in which production and distribution are organized by workers ourselves to meet the needs of the entire population, not merely a handful of exploiters. We are the Industrial W orkers of the World beca use we organize industrially – that is to say, we organize all workers on the job into one union, rather than dividing workers by trade, so that we ca n pool our strength to ght th e bosses togeth er. Since the IWW was founded in 1905, we have recognized the need to build a truly international union movement in order to confront the global power of the bosses and in order to strength en workers’ ability to stand in solidarity with o ur fel

-

low workers no matter what part of the globe they happen to live on.

We are a union open to all worke rs, whether or not the IWW happens to have

representation rights in your workplace. We organize the worker, not the job, recog

-

nizing that unionism is not about government certication or employer recognition

but about workers coming together to add ress our common concerns. Sometimes this means striking or signing a contract. Sometimes it means refusing to work with

an unsafe machine or following the bosses’ orders so literally that nothing gets done. Sometimes it means agitating around particular issues or grievances in a specic workplace, or across an indus try.

Because the IWW is a democratic, member -run union, decisions about what is-

sues to address and what tactics to pursue are made by the workers directly involved.

IWW Constitution Preamble

Organizing

Fighting Back In High-End Hotels: An Interview With A Miami Wobbly

By the Miami IWW

In Nov ember 2013, the Miami IWW interviewed one of its members, Eduardo Segundo, about his organizing and expe- riences in a high-end hotel in Miami.

Miami IWW (M):

Describe your work

- place. Who were the clients, workers, and

how was the environment when you got

there?

Eduardo Segundo (E):

It was a very draconian-style workplace, so for example,

if the boss didn’t like the stubble under

your chin, or didn’t like the dirt on your socks, that was considered a heavy burden. They would call you out on it—it was that

kind of workplace. It was so trivial at the

time; I didn’t really know what to make of

it, but I knew what I was getting into (i.e.

high-end hotels have an orthodox view of how particular employees should look). I mean, right from the very start, I

saw all kinds of things: degradation of female workers, atrocious treatment of immigrants, management being unorga-

nized in every aspect (from the kitchen

to the pool). During that time, I didn’t

really know anyone, and even when I did, which was only a few people, they didn’t

have much of a reaction to the abuse (most

of the workers had years of experience under these conditions and were already ingrained into the system). As for patrons , t hey were mostly CEOs,

and their families, celebrities, all those sort of people. In fact, whenever a big-shot

venture capitalist showed u p, they ’d make a big fuss out of it by printing a shot of his face, his biography, the kind of foods they liked, what time they wanted their alarm

to be rung, all kinds of interesting things.

M:

What about the workers like you? Mostly young? Immigrants? Low wage?

Or more of a spread?

E:

Yeah, it was mixed—old, young, im

-

migrants, gays, etc. I can’t say it was low wage, because in my opinion, all wage is

intolerable, but I guess there’s a so-called thing as humane wages. I think the wages

were fair, to some extent, but no one’s ever content with any kind of wage. Look,

whatever the wage w as at the time, it di dn’t

matter, we wanted more. I mean, why

should the manager be paid more when

all he ever did was stop by the kitchen and

pick out fries?

M:

In that situation, were workers talking about the problems or was it just some-

thing you noticed?

E:

They were, but the guys who were talk

- ing about it were ones who came from a union background; in fact, there were two

brothe rs w ho spark my memory , both from Chic ago, and they

were the ones who had some idea of how helpful a union would be. Agai n, most of the

workers—I know from experi

-

ence—are already ingrained into the system: they speak when only they’re spoken to. That kind of militarized-style of hospitality only leads to the worst kind of conformity. So there was a ton of isolation, mainly because of the competitiveness, but

there were sectors of the pool and beach who spoke out against it, but it was no th-

ing too noticeable. If you were lucky, like these two brothers, then you already knew

the situations at hand.

M:

What got you to start organizing

there? Was there some spark or caus e that

made you think it was time to start doing

something?

E:

It’s the service sector, why waste a sec

-

ond not to organize? This is an industry that takes you nowhere, unless you want

to reach the level of management, but even

there, you’re someone else’s boss. But to more accurately answer your question, the spark comes at the very second you walk into work and punch in: you’re w orking for someone else at that

point.

M:

When did you start to think you could ght back though? From the beginning?

E:

My gut feeling was that there was

something I could do, it’s just that I didn’t know how to, hence I joined the IWW. And the IWW wa s helpful. For ins tance, the IWW provided workshops that were

tremendously helpful in assisting me in ways to work and combat these systems of power. And I used them, to the best ex

- tent I could, but if it weren’t for the IWW, I would have had zero knowledge about the interventions of a business union (and

I was approached by them, too). So from a revolutionary perspective, it gave me an open eye—ghting

ba ck , tha t is . Fi ght ing ba ck

doesn’t mean throwing yourself

into the pit; it means getting along with others and doing

things collectively.

In fact, another worker and I fought for

better pay and we managed to ge t $10.50 an hour for food running, up from $10. But if it weren’t for my co-worker, that

wouldn’t have h appened. I had to con vince

him to ght for better pay. He was ne with $10 an hour until the workload picked up. It took him a while but I got him to ght

with me.

M:

How did you convince him to ght? And how did you all win that raise?

E:

He was the food-running veteran. He

was hire d as a barb ack but eventually they

forced him out and into food running. When I got there, it was just him doing

the work by himself, but at the beginning,

it was slow.

I maintained loyalty with him, but I was a lways pe rsistent and I wanted h im to

know that he was worth more than what he

was barga ining for. E very worker is worth more than what they’re paid. That’s not even an argument; you have to be a fascist

to argue otherwise.

But anyway, when we were hired, they were paying him $9 an hour as a

food runner; another runner and I were

getting paid $10. It wasn’t until he found out about the pay disparity that he really became angry. We didn’t know it at the time, but they eventually back-paid him

all the dollars for that month.

M:

How did that happen? Just by con

-

fronting management individually?

E:

No, collectively. He was getting paid

the wages he worked as a barback. When

they transferred him as a runner, they just kept him at $9 (the wage actual wage for a runner is $10).

M:

Did that include the raise to 10.50? Or

did that come later?

E:

That came later.

M:

How’d you get that?

E:

Same, we went to the manager. The managers promised us a raise, but it wasn’t

easy. We had to ask every week, reminding

them...The managers had so much to do,

because of the busy season, and just to nd time for us...I thought we got lucky.

I mean, managers were clocking in at 7

a.m. to help whatever way they could (of course, all the real physical labor was on the workers), but they were stressed out.

M:

And eventually they gave in?

E:

They did, but only with that issue. We had other issues, all completely ignored,

as usual.

M:

Were there ever times when your

co-workers confronted management to- gether?

E:

Oh, yeah, of course. I remember one

time, a female pool server was demand-

ing promised pay or something, but it was only involving the servers (the majority of whom were females). I was at my lunch

break, and I saw this pool server confront

the boss, I had never seen anything like it. But she was demanding better pay or

something like that.

M:

Anything come of it?

E:

No, nothing. Just promises.

M:

Anything you would do differently a

second time around?

E:

Doing things a second time around

means learning from your mistakes—and

there were mistakes, without a doubt.

Personally, I’m someone who goes through SAD [social anxiety disorder] so just talk

- ing in groups or whatever is a tough task

in and of itself. Having joined a syndicalist

union has helped me to break these fears, it’s helped me to jump into situations which I would have never dared to do. Furthermore, just having a base of solidar-

ity has played a critical role in my politics, which is why I joined the IWW in the rst

place (I’ve been anti-authoritarian since I was a kid).

Name: ___________________________ ____ Address: __________________________ ___ State/Province: ______________________ Zip/PC________________________ Send to: PO Box 180195, Chicago IL 60618 USA

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