The IWW held a talk at the Derry Radical Bookfair this year! It was great to meet and talk to many of you there, it’s always great to see that people are interested and eager to hear about what they can do to improve things at work, and take the class struggle on where most of the damage is being done.
The theme of our talk this year was “Every Worker Needs a Union”. Here follows a short summary of the theme of the talk!
Studies show that where workers are more unionised, there are tangible benefits to not just working conditions, but also take home salary - those outside of the trade union system are effectively leaving an up to 13% premium on the table, as well as the ability to stand up for their rights and to bullies, creeps and the usual unfair hierarchies there.
As Robert Tressel said many, many years ago, by forgoing so much of your rights as a worker and leaving the spoils to the bosses, you are engaging in an act of charity to a class that really doesn’t need it - the term he uses for this, which is also included in the title of his famous book, is “Ragged Trousered Philanthropist”. It’s intimidating and scary to go it alone in work - we all have ridiculous “performance contracts” designed to pit us against each other and manage us out when we become a bad deal, we just take and do whatever management says because “this is the way things are done”. Those of us with laudable ambitions to help the working class often take this to spheres where little can be done- such a politics, and neglect the greater injustices we are subject to in work.
Conventional trade unions often end up as little more than a second sign-off on horrendous things such as pay cuts, demotions, store closures and layoffs.
This is where the IWW is different. As a union of all workers, we organise without a hierarchical structure - we provide training to help you, and your friends or comrades, to organise the workplace yourself. The strategy and methods are ultimately up to you, and we can provide help and support through union representation. The method we teach and promote is “solidarity unionism”, aiming towards the goal of the syndicalist movement - worker control of capital which provides the foundation for a revolutionary society. What’s not to love about that?
To join TODAY see onebigunion.ie - if you’re sick and tired of doing charity work for someone who drives a Bentley!
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