Some Afscme Local 444 Memories: The 1985 Strike

Below is an early memo from our bosses after we struck. When we walked off the job our strike was an illegal one. Just as it was illegal for the old timers to have walked off the job when the union was formed. I was on the negotiation team and recall us sneaking away every time we saw process servers approaching. I think the Ca Supreme Court legalised the strike during the period we were out. 

Barring the lab at SDI and perhaps other individuals, our sister union Afscme 2019 did not honor the picket lines. While as individuals we have responsibility to make decisions that are not easy, I blame the leadership of 2019 and in particular, the leadership and reps  from our District Council.  I remember asking a couple of the women from 2019 who we're still working and both of them told me that the advice from the DC 57 rep when they asked her what they should do, twas that they follow their conscience.

Now that's a slick one. If it were simply a matter of one's individual conscience, why would we need a union and make decisions collectively. And we certainly wouldn't need a full time rep from a higher body to which we paid a significant amount of money. to tell us that. It's an absence of leadership. I remember one of the first big fears for the membership was a letter from the employer telling us that medical benefits would end at the end of the month, certainly implying that. This is a serious issue here in the US where we have no national health care system to speak of and especially when you have children or babies. It's a form of economic terrorism and shows how important a state retirement system is and a national health care system with care at the point of demand.

So many US workers fall for this argument that smaller government is better, that comes out of the mouths of the enemies of the working class; the bosses' their political representatives, and right wing influencers and their individualism and "I made it on my own" garbage etc. When politicians are talking about smaller government, they are not referring to defence spending, defence contracts and other hand outs that people like Musk and the corporations get. They are talking about public health care, transportation, education and so on.

  Richard

PDF of this memo here