Module 1: Economic Power

Module Overview

The strongest weapon any organized group of workers brings to the table is the strike.

We’ll watch a short film on SEIU Local 1021’s Port of Oakland Strike in 2012 and discuss expressions of economic power.

Objective: To foster a discussion about workers expressing their economic power through successful strike campaigns.

Port of Oakland(2012)

Key points

• SEIU 1021 represents only a few hundred workers at the Port, but the lines were honored by sister unions and supported by the community.

• Millions of dollars of goods are shipped through the Port of Oakland every day.

• The Port boss is the port commission but the Mayor of Oakland weighed in to bring the boss back to the table.

• Withdrawal of one’s labor is the basic right on which the freedom from slavery is based, but the public seems to have forgotten that. People might remember more readily if they exercised their right to strike more often. The right to strike is the worker’s primary power in bargaining with her employer.

Suggested Discussion Starters:

• What indication is there in the film that the strikers have economic power?

• What does it mean, economically, to shut down the port?

• The mayor isn’t in charge of the port, why was she involved?

• Public support helped make the Port Strike successful. What can we do to strengthen community support?

• How do you think that strike helped build the union?

• Does the strike have to stop millions of dollars of goods from moving to be successful? What about cities, counties, schools, courts, non-profits and other employers?

• How could our chapter utilize the strike weapon to advance social and economic justice?

DISCUSSION SESSION

ADJOURN