Anarchists in the Labor Movement #4
From Black Rose Anarchist Federation
This is the fourth installment in our Anarchists in the Labor Movement series. Click through the links to read installment #1 with an education worker, #2 with healthcare workers, and #4 with a metal worker.
In this interview we speak to Alex, a public library worker in North Carolina.
As the title suggests, this series engages with anarchists who are active in workplace organizing. Some of those we speak to in this series are buildng a militant minority within the rank-and-file of their existing union, others are organizing the unorganized through new union campaigns, while others still are finding ways to build the capacity to win shop floor fights in contexts where union support is not available.
In part, our aim with these interviews is simply to shine a light on the presence of anarchist militants in the U.S. labor movement. More substantively, we ask participants to critically reflect on their experiences, including both successes and failures, to draw out generalizable lessons.
Some, but not all of those interviewed in this series are members of Black Rose / Rosa Negra.
Answers have been edited for clarity and length.
Alex – Public Librarian
BRRN: How would you summarize your politics in one sentence?
Alex: My politics are of the anarcho-communist persuasion with a platformist bent.
BRRN: Share background about the campaign you are working on.
Alex: I work as a public librarian in North Carolina. Because we are considered county government employees, and because of the particularly draconian labor laws in our state, we as public employees do not have the right to collectively bargain.
Practically speaking, this means we do not have many of the same tools that unions in other states do. We have to get creative about how we exert pressure on library administration and county commissioners in a way that protects us from retribution. Throughout the library system there are about 100 “non-supervisory” employees who are eligible for our union recruiting efforts. This campaign started almost 2 years ago when library administrators sought to expand our operating hours and services without increasing staffing levels. We’ve been horribly understaffed since the COVID pandemic began and are already struggling to maintain operations with the people we have.
These unpopular moves by the administration pissed off enough people that myself and several other coworkers saw it as a ripe opportunity to begin formally organizing library employees! We are still a minority in our workplace but have successfully reversed several unpopular policy expansions like this.
BRRN: Are you working with an established union or going independent?
Alex: Whether to go with an established union or go independent is something our members debated for quite a while. We ultimately decided to organize with the North Carolina Public Workers Service Union — United Electrical Workers (UE) Local 150. UE 150 is really the only union in the state that has experience organizing public sector workers. Some city workers in our area are also organized with the local, so we thought that might be a good avenue to connect across sectors with our organizing work. UE 150 has mostly focused on organizing state and city workers in the past, so we as county workers have been a new challenge to strategize around.
BRRN: How do you see your anarchist politics as relating to organizing for power with coworkers?
Alex: Class struggle and labor politics are important questions in any revolutionary struggle. Work is often where people are taught to feel disenfranchised, but also where many of us have the greatest potential to exert our influence over local systems of power.
For myself, labor organizing has reinforced three particular and important lessons: 1) we as individuals have the agency to act in ways that empower ourselves and those around us, 2) only as collective groups can individuals have to capacity to combat and change larger systems of power, and 3) acting as educated and empowered individuals in collective struggles with others is the greatest balm against isolation and alienation in our society.
As an anarchist, I believe any collective struggle should be organized horizontally, so I make a conscious effort to avoid any kind of “my way or the highway” attitude with my union comrades. I will argue my own stance from my political perspective, but if the larger group democratically decides on a different course of action, I will be there to support whatever we decide together. I will always urge a more militant, direct action orientation towards our labor organizing, but I will not act as vanguard or dictator in our struggle. Over time I hope to educate, argue, and by trial and error convince my coworkers that we have more direct power over our workplace than we realize, and that we should wield it together!
BRRN: Do you ever talk about your anarchist or anti-authoritarian politics with coworkers? Do you talk ‘politics’ (world events, local power structures) with your coworkers at all?
Alex: I do generally avoid any explicit talk of “anarchism” with most of my coworkers, in favor of more general “anti-capitalist” or “leftist” talking points. Because we are classified as local government employees, and our pay and staff are subject to the whims of the county commissioners, local politics is a common discussion among staff members. Since we cannot collectively bargain, one of our strategies is exerting pressure on local politicians who our bosses and administrators report to. Union members in particular are now much more tuned into which sectors of local power may be sympathetic to our cause or who may be swayed with aggressive PR tactics. International political affairs is a trickier subject where I do sometimes have to push back against the more “progressive NPR” talking points of some of my coworkers.
BRRN: Does your campaign include others who see themselves as ‘political’, but are part of a different political tradition or political organization?
Alex: I think many of our union members consider themselves “political” people, but not necessarily disciplined adherents to a specific political tradition. I believe the majority of our union members fall in the camps of “progressive liberals” or “DSA-style reform socialists.” Of this latter group I know a few members have worked with other labor or tenant organizing campaigns, but I don’t think they are part of any kind of leftist political party. However, the ones who have done previous organizing work have been helpful in using their local contacts to set up organizing training sessions and provide advice to our members. We do have a few older coworkers who are more old-school 20th century Marxist types and, ironically, they have been some of the harder people to convince to join the union campaign.
BRRN: Does organizing in unions fit into your vision for transforming society or for revolution?
Alex: While labor is not the only sector necessary to create revolution, I believe labor organizing is an especially potent tool for empowering individuals and demonstrating the power of collective organizing. Step 1: organize a union. Step 2: educate rank and file union members to be politically active agents and learn to collectively run our workplaces. Step 3: expand this active, collective lesson to a wider, societal scale. Demonstrate that direct democracy and direct action can dismantle and reshape our systems of power across the board. Social revolution. Step 4: social revolution leads to political and economic revolutions, ultimately creating an anarchist, socialist society.
BRRN: What resources have helped you most as you’ve organized?
Alex: As stated above, because we do not have the ability to collectively bargain, many of the traditional resources for labor organizing don’t directly apply to our workplace situation. Our fellow UE 150 members in the wider local have provided a wealth of information about successes and failures they have experienced organizing public workers in NC over the past few decades. Speaking to other labor organizers outside of UE has also been helpful to better understand some of UE’s own blindspots and shortcomings with their particular style of organizing. Early on in the campaign, we had someone from the nearby tenants union come and give us some “Organizing Tips 101” crash courses that were particularly helpful for starting conversations with our coworkers and dispelling some of the myths about “unions being illegal” in our state.
BRRN: What advice can you share with anarchists looking to organize a union? What do you wish you had known when you started?
Alex: Be patient and pace yourself. Union organizing is not sexy work. It’s going to take a lot of long meetings, note taking, spreadsheet creation, and uncomfortable conversations before the ball starts rolling. Beware of burnout! So many of our most dedicated members in the beginning dropped out because they felt they were taking on too much of the work. And before people get trained and educated there absolutely will be an imbalance of workloads among members. If you are dedicated to committing time for meetings and extra work every week, that’s great, but I promise you that most of your coworkers will not be at first.
Something we are still trying to learn how to do is energizing people to continue participating when there isn’t a burning issue pissing them off. After you win a demand, how do you keep momentum going? We’re trying to balance intense periods of working groups with more fun, social, community building activities that will make people still want to show up even when the shop isn’t hot. Think potlucks, movie nights, and group outings together to build a sense of solidarity that goes beyond just workplace issues.
If you are an anarchist organizing in the labor sector, reach out to Black Rose/Rosa Negra.