BLACK CONSTRUCTION WORKERS TAKE ON THE NLRB IN PITTSBURGH
Reprinted from the Midwest Worker No. 22 -- September 1999
PITTSBURGH, Aug. 1 (NPNS) -- The National Labor Relations Board has opened an attack on a fledgling labor organization built to benefit Black workers.
On July 23, the NLRB filed suit against the African American Workers Union (AAWU), a recently chartered labor organization that has been fighting for adequate funding for job training.
The NLRB is suing the AAWU because of its picketing of a local construction project to protest how federal and state funds are disbursed for job apprenticeship and training programs in the construction trade.
"This is a secondary boycott and is illegal under the National Labor Relations Board," said Gerald Kobell, regional director for Region 6 of the NLRB.
The suit said the AAWU staged a mass demonstration on July 13 that blocked the entrances to the worksite.
Nine members of the union were arrested that day for stopping trucks.
The NLRB is using the notorious Taft-Hartley Act against this young union.
That Kobell would openly declare the AAWU's protests as a "secondary boycott" shows that the bosses are out to smash this independent movement of African-American workers.
The AAWU, in a lawsuit filed earlier in the year, contends that the city, state and federal government have blocked funding to the training programs of the union.
The AAWU also contends that they have discouraged local construction companies from accepting the union's apprenticeship referrals.
The development of the African American Workers Union is one of the most important developments among Black workers in decades.
Like the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in the 1970s, the AAWU correctly recognizes that the fight for a better livelihood is linked to the struggle against racism on the job.
As they say in their Mission Statement, "We believe that civil rights without economic rights in this society is tantamount to a tree with no roots and symbolism with little substance."
Unfortunately, this union has also chosen a path of taking the unions into court along with the bosses.
We believe that no worker can ever get justice from the courts.
This action by the AAWU will only allow the bosses to further divide Black and white workers.
Any victory in the courts for the AAWU would be short-lived, and serve as a prelude to a wider attack on all workers in the construction trades in the Pittsburgh area.
email Gangbox at gangbox@excite.com