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LP's New Crew of Trainers
All Photos on this page by ©Bob Kasen, Labor Party Press
The Labor Party
now has 30 new trainers, graduates of a 3-day "train the trainer" session that
took place in San Francisco January 17-19. The training, the Labor Party's first, prepared
participants to conduct our "Corporate Power and the American Dream" workshop in
unions, LP chapters, and community organizations as a way to build understanding and
support for the Labor Party's program. Among our new trainers: a welfare rights activist
from California's Central Valley, a Carpenters Union trainer, a Seattle bus driver, Bay
Area nurses, and an oil worker from L.A.
The workshop's
small group activity method, explains participant Debbie Bayer of the California Nurses
Association, "empowers people to come up with their own ideas, not just passively
receive information." The participants first got a set of factsheets and questions
about issues like skyrocketing corporate profits, corporate welfare, the drop in workers'
wages, and workfare. Then in small groups, they read over the facts, talked about them,
and reported their thoughts and reactions back to the whole group. In this way, they
analyzed and digested a bookful of information and ideas, and contributed their own
knowledge and ideas to the discussion.
"We actually got a chance to learn from each other," reports Carlos Mora, a
UCLA graduate student from the Labor Party's L.A. Chapter. "We came up with our own
facts and ideas based on our own experiences. And at the same time, it left open the
possibility for people with different views to express themselves. And there were a lot of
differences." Coming from academia, Mora says he especially enjoyed hanging around
with "people who are grounded in the real world."
For Gloria Sandoval of the Women's Economic Agenda Project, one of the best discussions
over the three days was about wages and income. "Some people have a tendency to value
only paid employment, not all work," she says. "And that excludes the work of
people who care for children, the elderly, the disabled. And so we had a really good
discussion about the need to redefine what we mean by 'work.'" It was last year's
passage of the welfare "reform" bill that sent Sandoval and her husband running
from the Democratic Party. "I got tired of being negative about politics," she
says. "Now my husband and I are real excited about having an alternative."
Ali Hebshi, an organizer for Service Employees International Union Local 2028 and a
member of the San Diego Chapter, says he appreciated the involving methodology of the
training, but it was the political content that really made him happy. "You know, I
wake up every morning breathing contempt for the corporations," he says. "So I
kind of surprised myself by being shocked at some of the information we learned in this
session. It really made me feel even more how obscene corporate power is."
At the end of the training, participants talked over new workshop materials for the
Labor Party's 28th Amendment Campaign. Says Hebshi: "That was probably the most
exciting part of the training, because it came at a point when people were beginning to
itch for action -- and here it is! I felt like we were devouring it!"
Now the 30 graduates are set to conduct the one-day Corporate Power and the American
Dream workshop themselves. "I came out of there with a sense of urgency to begin to
implement this," says Hebshi. He plans to conduct the workshop in his chapter. Then,
he says, the chapter hopes to take it to the San Diego Central Labor Council.
The second Train the Trainers session will be held May 16-17-18, 1997 at Rutgers
University in New Jersey. And, of course, Labor Party trainers are now available to bring
the one-day workshop "Corporate Power and the American Dream" to your union or
chapter. Call the LP office in Washington for details on the training and/or workshop.
REPORT FROM INTERIM NATIONAL
ORGANIZER
Together, we made history in 1996 -- we founded a Labor Party that speaks for the
working people of this country. Delegates to the Founding Convention produced a mandate to
establish a Labor Party structure, to build the party through organizing and recruitment
and to begin to implement our bold vision for the future.
SINCE JUNE...
In accord with the Labor Party Constitution and implementation agreement, an Interim
National Council was established as the governing body of the party. State party
organizing committees have been established in six New England states, due in large part
to having a full-time organizer in that region.
To carry out the task of building the party, we opened a New England office in Boston,
Massachusetts with full-time organizer Ed Bruno (thanks to the generosity of the United
Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America). After grappling with a state-wide
structure and a recruitment plan for each state entity, Massachusetts nearly doubled LP
membership by the end of the year!
In Washington, organizer Bob Kasen and I have worked to open doors to new unions around
the country and to encourage endorsing unions to affiliate with the Labor Party. Bob is
working closely with Teamsters Local 707 in Chicago to establish a model internal union
organizing committee.
Committees established by the Interim National Council have met to develop strategy and
materials for the 28th Amendment Campaign to be launched this March; and for free
education, welfare "reform," and health care; another committee will soon meet
on social security.
We began publication of our bi-monthly newspaper, the Labor Party Press. And in
January we trained 30 worker trainers to lead our Corporate Power and the American Dream
workshop, which now incorporates the issues of workfare and a constitutional right to a
job. And all around the country, local LP activists have worked to increase the visibility
of the Labor Party and to recruit new members and unions.
WHAT DOES 1997 HOLD IN STORE?
In implementing our ambitious program this year, we must continue to build the Party
and to increase our visibility. Establishing state structures and recruitment plans at the
local, state, and chapter level will be critical to building the party. Most importantly,
our ability to sustain ourselves depends upon the affiliation of labor unions --
Internationals, Central Labor bodies, Districts and Locals. Union members are encouraged
to raise the question of affiliation in appropriate union bodies. And of course, we must
continually reach new unions and other constituencies.
Our 28th Amendment Campaign to secure the right to a job and a living wage (see related
stories starting on page one) will convey our solution to the lack of good-paying jobs,
layoffs, downsizing and unemployment. We'll release a statement soon on the attempt by
greedy stockbrokers and banks to steal our Social Security benefits.
We have made an exciting beginning and 1997 is an opportunity to bring our message of
equality, opportunity, and fairness to all our brothers and sisters across this country.
- Tony Mazzocchi
LP's Interim
National Council holds its second meeting
The second meeting of the Labor Party's Interim National Council was held in San
Francisco on January 17. Top items on the agenda included discussion of strategy for the
28th Amendment Campaign, plans for a campaign on health care and a statement on Social
Security, and reports on organizing and recruitment.
Principal union representatives attending were: David Schlein, AFGE; Kit Costello and 
Rose Ann DeMoro, California
Nurses Association; Jed Dodd and Joel Myron, BMWE; Tony Mazzocchi, OCAW; Robert Clark and
Chris Townsend, UE; Mike Munoz, California State Council of Carpenters; and Dave Campbell,
OCAW Local 1-675. Others invited to broaden representation were Ed Grystar, Western
Pennsylvania chapter; Kathy King, New Jersey chapter; Adolph Reed, Jr., Chicago chapter;
and Barbara Walden, Bakers Local 19.
[Photo of Barbara Walden, Pres. of BCNT Local 19, and Bob Clark,
Gen. Sec. of the UE.]
The INC approved a strategic plan for the 28th Amendment Campaign including setting
thresholds for petition signatures and goals for resolutions and recruitment. A health
care committee was established to develop further the Party's position -- the committee
met later that weekend. The INC approved developing a position on Social Security reform.
A committee was appointed to fulfill the Founding Convention mandate of developing our
future electoral strategy.
Organizers Tony Mazzocchi, Bob Kasen, and Ed Bruno reported on organizing and
recruitment activities around the country. [See report from Interim National Organizer on this
page]. The Council approved plans for an Organizing Week to commemorate the anniversary of
the Labor Party Founding Convention. After reviewing proposed state party bylaws from
three states -- Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Wisconsin -- the INC approved a motion to
appoint a standing subcommittee to establish criteria for applying for a state charter and
model bylaws, to review proposed bylaws and to report recommendations to the INC.
Other agenda items included: a report from trustee Chris Townsend that he and trustee
Joanne Bell examined the Labor Party books on December 13 and found them to be in order;
reaffirmation that Labor Party entities must use a union print shop for printed materials
distributed externally including newsletters, leaflets, and sign-up forms; establishment
of a due process procedure committee, and discussion of a number of chapter-related
appeals. The Council heard a presentation from Jonathan King, professor at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and a founder of the Committee for Genetic Responsibility on the
desirability of a science/labor collaboration.
The Council resolved to encourage all Labor Party members to solicit support from their
organizations for the Detroit AFL-CIO's motion to the AFL-CIO Executive Council calling
for mobilization around the newspaper strike in Detroit.
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