Constructive Anarchy by Shantz Jeff

Author:Shantz, Jeff.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Published: 2010-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Rank-and-File Committees

Another area of organizing work undertaken by anarchists has been within solidarity unionism and support for rank-and-file committees. Anarchist unionists have been actively involved in building and/or supporting alternative rank-and-file networks within and between unions and workplaces. In some cases this has meant supporting rank-and-file union members whose unions have refused to fight effectively for members’ needs and concerns. One such case involves the Metropolitan Hotel Workers Committee in Toronto.

The hotel industry is Canada’s largest employer of immigrants, women of color and single parents. It is generally acknowledged that hotel workers, across the industry, face horrible working conditions. Long hours of work are matched with low pay and unsafe working conditions. Too often these conditions are also matched with an inactive and compliant union leadership that views these problems as “part of the business.” This has been the case for workers at Toronto’s Metropolitan Hotel, where conditions are so miserable that workers accurately refer to it as a “five star sweatshop.” Unfortunately, as is all too common, when the Met workers turned to their union, Hotel Employees/Restaurant Employees (HERE, now UNITE-HERE), for support their concerns were ignored, minimized or dismissed.

Faced with an ongoing situation of brutally racist management, which prohibited workers from communicating with each other in languages other than English and treated workers differently depending on ethnicity or religion, awful working conditions and a union that can only be described as passive, rank-and-file workers at the Metropolitan decided to get organized to take care of things themselves. To begin several workers came together to form the Metropolitan Hotel Workers Committee, a committee made up strictly of rank-and-file members, to share information and strategize effective actions and campaigns to improve working conditions and put an end to harsh management practices. Within months, more than one-quarter of the Metropolitan’s workers had joined the committee. This became a crucial struggle for rank-and-file workers, most of whom are immigrant women. Of the approximately 200 workers at the Met, more than two-thirds are women, most of Filipino, Chinese, South East and South Asian and West Indian backgrounds.

Anarchists, including some within the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and CUPE Local 3903 played active parts in assisting the MHWC in its development. They helped organize and mobilize people for rallies, took part in skill-sharing to address issues within the workplace, and challenged the union leadership to support the committee. The quick growth of the Committee spoke both to the seriousness of the problems facing Met workers and the longstanding need for effective action to deal with the issues given the union’s unresponsiveness.

Faced with inaction, obstruction and outright hostility, from their local’s leadership, the Met Workers finally decided to take things into their own hands. A true rank-and-file movement soon emerged together to take on the employer in a manner that is direct and effective, while also challenging the union representatives over their lack of support. Despite the hostility of local leadership the Committee quickly made some important gains. Grievances, that had been stalled, were satisfactorily resolved

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