Union Summer: New Words to an Old Song
An AFSCME daughter is one of hundreds of energetic volunteers in the AFL-CIO's Union Summer program.
Chicago
Antoinette Thompson was singing. Holding a sign, pacing the grass beside the entrance to an exclusive Chicago area country club, she belted out the words to a new version of "Solidarity Forever."
"Ain't no change/without makin' it/ain't no power without takin' it/got to know/it might be hard/got to sign that little union card."
Decked out in matching purple T-shirts, with almost three weeks of intensive campaigning behind them, these Union Summer participants were nothing if not enthusiastic. Volunteer Josh Kamensky had written this version of the song and already almost all of them knew it by heart.
For the next few hours, these 31 young men and women--most of them under 25 years old--held signs and passed out fliers. They chanted and marched--and even turned cartwheels--in support of the Teamsters at Overnite Shipping, who had won the right to bargain, but hadn't yet gotten a contract.
This summer, over 1,000 volunteers like them took to the streets and neighborhoods of 22 cities in 15 states and in Puerto Rico. Under the auspices of this AFL-CIO campaign to bring young people and workers together to fight for workers' rights--yet another initiative by the AFSCME-backed New Voice leadership- volunteers did everything from picketing to home visits to street theater. They came from different backgrounds and for different reasons-but ended up working for a common cause.
Thompson's group was no exception.
Diversity. "Everyone here comes from somewhere different," said Thompson, a Chicago native. And it's hard to disagree.
People driving by the country club protest saw brown skin and white skin, blond hair and head wraps. But the differences went more than skin deep.
This group was from California and Chicago, from Boston and Iowa. Its members were graduate students and high school drop-outs. They had grown up in the suburbs and in the inner cities-the children of health care workers, of factory workers, of labor organizers.
It was some combination of these and other factors that brought them to Chicago. And for some of them, these three weeks changed the course of their lives--persuading them to make a career of fighting for workers' rights.
One woman's story. Thompson signed up for Union Summer at the urging of her mother, Adrienne.
Mrs. Thompson, a self-described "loud-mouth radical," is an active and involved member of AFSCME Local 1591 (Council 31). And her activism has always included her husband, Michael, a member of International Longshoreman's Association Local 19, and her daughter Antoinette.
"I've been doing union stuff with my mom as long as I can remember," said 19-year-old Thompson.
With nursing school coming up in the fall, Thompson left her job at a fast-food restaurant and spent most of August living in a youth hostel and volunteering for the labor movement. Union Summer provided the room and a small stipend.
After a three-day orientation, Thompson joined the Chicago Jobs and Living Wage Campaign, lobbying Mayor Richard Daley and other public officials to require employers receiving money from the city to pay their workers enough per hour to support a family of four above the poverty line. The campaign is a coalition of labor, religious and community organization (see High-Rise Wages) Volunteers worked on various campaigns--including gathering community support for AFSCME mental health workers in Kankakee, Ill.-but Thompson liked the work she was doing. "I'm into living wage because I've made the minimum wage. People have to pay rent and utilities. Minimum wage just isn't enough," she said.
Thompson's day also included training sessions, discussions with fellow volunteers, demonstrations around town--like the one they participated in for the Teamsters--and even some fun after hours.
When Thompson left for Minneapolis and nursing school in September, she felt good about the work she'd done. "We put our foot down," she said. "We made people think again."
And her support for unions-already strong from seeing their positive impact on her parents' lives--was solidified. "Every job should have a union," said Thompson. And if workers don't have a union at her job? She said she might just have to start one herself.
Welcome anytime. Volunteers spoke of how the program had given them a clearer understanding of the labor movement and its ability to help a broad spectrum of people. "Every-body works," said volunteer Amanda Ream, "regardless of race, age, gender."
Minnie Springer, a Kankakee AFSCME member who worked with the Union Summer volunteers, felt the young men and women had made a real difference there. She said, "They worked hard, gathered a lot of signatures [calling for a community hearing on the local group home company and its poor labor relations]. They're welcome here anytime." Indeed, since volunteers gathered over 1,000 signatures, the owner of the institution has come to the table and showed a willingness to bargain in good faith.
Many of the volunteers left with plans to attend the AFL-CIO's Organizing Institute; others were considering shifting their area of study to become labor lawyers and labor historians. Most said--like Thompson--that they were more likely to join or organize a union where they work.
And when they do, their songs may have traditional titles and refrains, but make no mistake--they'll be writing the words themselves.
By Alison S. Lebwohl
