workers' strikes are an important part of today's movement

WORKERS' STRIKES ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF TODAY'S MOVEMENT By David Bacon Stansbury Forum, 6/29/20 https://stansburyforum.com/author/davidbacon https://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2020/06/workers-strikes-are-important-part-of.html Jessica Etheridge, a cocktail waitress and member of Unitehere Local 2, on May Day at the Amazon warehouse in Richmond. This presentation was made to a webinar organized by the Economics Faculty of the National Autonomous University of Mexico on June 24 There have been over 800 strikes since the COVID-19 crisis began, according to Payday Report, with many especially since the murder of George Floyd.  Regardless of the exact number, it is clear that something new is developing among workers. There's a lot of variation in these actions.  Some have been protests, like those at Amazon, over the death of workers and lack of PPE.  Some, like the strikes in the apple sheds in Washington, have been demands for safe work and compensation.  Some have been protests over racism and in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. These strikes don't compare in size or number with the outpouring of rage over the murders by police, which have been enormous and ongoing.  But they are very significant for a number of reasons. They are class-based protests by workers, over the underlying conditions that have brought people into the streets in general.  Overwhelmingly they have been organized by workers themselves, indicating both a deep level of anger over the conditions, and an understanding that striking is an effective form of protest and a means to change them. In most cases unions have been slow to respond and overly cautious about action at the workplace.  There are important exceptions to this, however.  Familias Unidas por la Justicia, the new farmworkers' union in Washington, immediately sent organizers to support apple shed workers who struck against the virus.  The achievements of those strikes was the result, not just of spontaneous action, but of FUJ's ability to organize support for them. The longshore union organized a one-day strike and mass demonstration on Juneteenth, using the day celebrating the official end of slavery to mobilize support for dismantling police departments.  Other unions locally and elsewhere have organized labor marches supporting Black Lives Matter as well.  Bus drivers in Minneapolis refused to drive busses to transport police to demonstrations, or people arrested in the protests. These strikes and actions show an intersection between the impact of the coronavirus and the protests over the murder of George Floyd.  The actions against the virus and its impact, and against police murders, are clearly responses to a deeper social and economic crisis. All these protests focus on a growing race-based economic inequality, especially impacting Black people.  In the first twelve weeks of the coronavirus crisis, the combined wealth of all U.S. billionaires increased by more than $637 billion.  The top 12 U.S. billionaires have a combined wealth of $921 billion.  The entire value off all the homes owned by Black families, over 17 million households, is less than that. This inequality isn't a result of bad policies.  It is historically and structrually part of American capitalism itself.  The system has been built on the exploitation of all workers, but the superexploitation of Black workers produced extra surplus value.  Slavery and the exploitation that followed produced U.S. capitalism's extraordinary growth. That extra exploitation imposed permanent conditions of inequality on Black people - in jobs and wages, services, social benefits, and education.  Today it is the basis for the racist impact of the coronavirus.  The inequality imposed during slavery became the model for social inequality imposed on other racially and nationally oppressed people. Race more than anything else determines who will live in crowded, segregated neighborhoods, who will be exposed to lead-poisoned water and toxic waste,  and who will live with polluted air and suffer illness from asthma to heart disease.  It is no surprise that when a new disease arrives, COVID-19, these same factors determine who will be the most affected in large numbers. For every 100,000 African Americans, 62 die of the virus, 36 of every 100,000 native people, 28 of every 100,000 Latinos, and 26 of every 100,000 Asian Americans and every 100,000 white people.   While 70% of the people who die from COVID-19 in Louisiana are Black, Black people are only 33 percent of the population. In Alabama, 44 percent of the COVID-19 deaths are of Black people, who are 26 percent of the population. The coronavirus has created a crisis of unemployment for all workers in the U.S., but especially for Black workers, and workers of color generally.  As of late May, 38 million people had lost their jobs during the pandemic, and the overall unemployment rate was 13.3%.  A year earlier it was 3.6%.  But Black unemployment was 16.8% (a year earlier 6.2%) and Latino unemployment was 17.6% (a year earlier 4.2%).  Over 44 percent of Black households have suffered a job or wage loss due to the pandemic, and 61 percent of Latino households. The government's response to economic crisis has been to create the catagory of essential  industry, and therefore, of the essential workers who labor in it.  It is true that some kinds of production and economic activity are essential for survival.  But the real-life result of calling people essential is that they are forced to work at a time when they are risking their lives.   Farmworkers are just one example.  Their work is socially necessary.  but calling them essential means that employers can fire them if they don't come to work.  It does not require employers to pay them extra, provide health benefits, or pay them if they get sick and can't work.

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Free City Radio (Canada) interview: journalist David Bacon on solidarity with Iraqi unions and labour's role in activism

https://soundcloud.com/freecityradio/journalist-david-bacon
 

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LABOR MARCH PROTESTS THE POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD
BERKELEY, CA - 13JUNE20 - Hundreds of union members and outraged people march through the streets of Berkeley to protest the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and other African American and people of color killed by police.  The march was organized by the labor councils of Alameda, San Francisco, Contra Costa and San Mateo Counties, and Service Employees International Union Local 1021.

To see a full set of photos, click here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/albums/72157714734338062

STUDENTS MARCH TO PROTEST THE POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD
BERKELEY, CA - 09JUNE20 - Hundreds of students, teachers and outraged people march through the streets of Berkeley to protest the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and other African Americian and other people of color killed by police. 

To see a full set of photos, click here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/albums/72157714656895057

HUGE CAR CARAVAN PROTESTS THE POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD
OAKLAND, CA - 31MAY20 - Thousands of people participate in a caravan of over 2000 cars from the Port of Oakland, to protest the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and African American and people of color killed by police.

To see a full set of photos, click here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/albums/72157714533842187
 

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IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH
Online Exhibit, May 29 to August 2, 2020
Los Altos History Museum

https://www.losaltoshistory.org/exhibits/in-the-fields-of-the-north/


 

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TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE EXHIBITION - IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH
at the History Museum of Tijuana

HAGA UN RECORRIDO VIRTUAL DE LA EXPOSICIÓN - EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE
en el Museo de Historia de Tijuana



https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=659536991515786
 

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TARTINE HARDSHIP FUND
Newly organized Tartine Bakery workers in the Bay Area need your help and assistance!  This fund, supported by the International Longhsore and Warehouse Union, will help hose workers unable to collect unemployment insurance.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/tartine-union-hardship-fund?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet

 

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The exhibitions in the following list were scheduled before the current COVID-19 crisis.  Public gatherings are not now taking place and these exhibitions have now been postponed or rescheduled.

Stay healthy!

IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH / EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE

Online exhibition until August 2
Los Altos History Museum, Los Altos

March 21, 2021 - May 23, 2021
Carnegie Arts Center, Turlock

MORE THAN A WALL - THE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS OF THE BORDER

August 29,, 2020 - November 29,, 2020
San Francisco Public Library

DEPORTATIONS

Rescheduled for December
Uri-Eichen Gallery, Chicago

 

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In the Fields of the North / En los Campos del Norte
Photographs and text by David Bacon
University of California Press / Colegio de la Frontera Norte
302 photographs, 450pp, 9”x9”
paperback, $34.95 (in the U.S.)

order the book on the UC Press website:
ucpress.edu/9780520296077
use source code  16M4197  at checkout, receive a 30% discount

En Mexico se puede pedir el libro en el sitio de COLEF:
https://www.colef.mx

Los Angeles Times reviews In the Fields of the North / En los Campos del Norte - click here
 

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 "The Criminalization of Migration: A Socialist Perspective" with David Bacon and Rafael Pizarro.
http://ouleft.org/wp-content/uploads/David-Bacon-The-Criminalization-of-migration.mp4 

A video about the Social Justice Photography of David Bacon:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14TvAj5nS08ENzWhw3Oxra4LMNKJCLF4z/view
 

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En los campos del Norte documenta la vida de trabajadores agrícolas en Estados Unidos -
Entrevista con el Instituto Nacional de la Antropologia y Historia
http://www.inah.gob.mx/es/boletines/6863-en-los-campos-del-norte-documenta-la-vida-de-trabajadores-agricolas-en-estados-unidos

Entrevista en la television de UNAM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdSaBKZ_k0o

David Bacon comparte su mirada del trabajo agrícola de migrantes mexicanos en el Museo Archivo de la Fotografia
http://www.cultura.cdmx.gob.mx/comunicacion/nota/0038-18

Trabajo agrícola, migración y resistencia cultural: el mosaico de los “Campos del Norte”
Entrevista de David Bacon por Iván Gutiérrez / A los 4 Vientos
http://www.4vientos.net/2017/10/04/trabajo-agricola-migracion-y-resistencia-cultural-el-mosaico-de-los-campos-del-norte/

"Los fotógrafos tomamos partido"
Entrevista por Melina Balcázar Moreno - Milenio.com Laberinto
http://www.milenio.com/cultura/laberinto/david_baconm-fotografia-melina_balcazar-laberinto-milenio_0_959904035.html

Die Apfel-Pflücker aus dem Yakima-Tal
http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=23990

EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE:  Farm worker photographs on the U.S./Mexico border wall
http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=fc67a76dbb9c31aaee896aff7&id=0644c65ae5&e=dde0321ee7
Entrevista sobre la exhibicion con Alfonso Caraveo (Español)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJeE1NO4c_M&feature=youtu.be
 

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THE REALITY CHECK - David Bacon blog
http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com

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Books by David Bacon

The Right to Stay Home:  How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration  (Beacon Press, 2013)
http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2328

Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants  (Beacon Press, 2008)
Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008
http://www.beacon.org/Illegal-People-P780.aspx

Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006)
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100558350

The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004)
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520244726

En Español:  

EL DERECHO A QUEDARSE EN CASA  (Critica - Planeta de Libros)
http://www.planetadelibros.com.mx/el-derecho-a-quedarse-en-casa-libro-205607.html

HIJOS DE LIBRE COMERCIA (El Viejo Topo)
http://www.tienda.elviejotopo.com/prestashop/capitalismo/1080-hijos-del-libre-comercio-deslocalizaciones-y-precariedad-9788496356368.html?search_query=david+bacon&results=1

For more articles and images, see  http://dbacon.igc.org and http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com
and https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/albums