'I'm just trying to do whatever I can to wake them up.'
Interview with Grady Fitzgerald, Mailhandlers Local 300
Labor Party activists around the country continue to do the central work of the party right now: Organize new members and push the 28th Amendment Campaign. This issue, we interviewed Grady Fitzgerald, a chief steward in Mailhandlers Local 300 at the New Jersey Bulk Mail Center, about his organizing work. (Local 300 is an LP-affiliated union.) If everyone organized at this pace, the Labor Party would be 28 times bigger by this time next year.
I have a lot of problems to deal with as chief steward here. There are about 3000 people in the bulk mail center, and 300 people in my tour. I mean, you gotta be a lawyer, a psychologist, a social worker.... It's like an around-the-clock job. What I wouldn't give to just wipe my mind clear of just everything. But those days are gone. Kids, mortgage, all kinds of worries. I've burnt out a number of times over the past 14 years, but I keep coming back to the union. It's like the mob, you can never leave!
I've been doing as much Labor Party organizing as I can, but it's tough. What happens is, you get distracted. You get all pumped up to do the Labor Party stuff, and then bing! something else happens, like we had a whole issue with asbestos last week. And by the time you get back on focus, then something else happens! I just do what I can when I can.
But I've been trying to get around to everybody about the Labor Party.
What I did is, I knew that it's easier to get the money from people on pay day. So I try to focus my main effort around pay day. Like last month I got to spend about six hours on the floor. I do it as I'm walking around, I always do it one-on-one. And then I put out different flyers. Like, we've had a big issue here with privatization, so I did a leaflet about how the Democratic and Republican parties are both supporting privatization, and the Labor Party is in opposition to it. So I just try to get that stuff into their hands.
What I originally did, I drew up a list of people to target, people I'd known, people I figured would be more interested in joining. But then I went out on the floor and I was walking around, and as I encountered people, I just started asking them. And a few of them said, "Okay, I'll join" right away. Others I spent like a half hour with them. So then I see that, Hey, I hadn't even gotten to my targeted list yet! So then I abandoned that idea, and I said, Well, I'll just start up one side of the floor and work my way back the other side. Some people say they don't have the money that day, so I have them fill out a card and say, I'll write you down for next payday. I've gotten money from 28 people, and about 40 cards filled out.
Prior to this, the 28th Amendment petition went around - I gave that to all the stewards to pass around. I said, "Do the people you know first, we'll check them off, and then on the second round we can get some of the other people." I've been trying to keep a journal about what we've been doing. It's like a log of what's been happening.
I've been a shop steward for a long time. I've always been honest, I've always tried to do the best I can for them, and I think I have a pretty good reputation. You get a kind of credibility, and if you have that, you're going to be successful with trying to get people to join the Labor Party.
A lot of people, when you tell them about the Labor Party, the first thing they'll say is, Well, who's running it? Who's involved with it? I gotta say, one of the first things they ask is, Is it a communist thing? Is it a socialist thing? So I tell them, It's a labor dominated organization. I tell them that our union was affiliated right from the beginning - and that in fact we sent 20 people to the convention. And I tell people, I was there, I saw it.
I say, They don't run political candidates, they're basically out there fighting for working-class people, pushing issues that are important to us. For instance, the 28th Amendment petition campaign. And then I explain that. And I talk about NAFTA and how it was passed by a Democratic president, and the Labor Party is on the other side. And then I say, "Look, this is their program, this is their platform. You may not agree with 100 percent of it, but you know, you don't agree 100 percent with anybody - I don't, you don't. But if you look at it, I think you'll agree with probably 75 or 80 percent of it."
And then I say, "We've always been there for you, we've been there whenever you call. Now we're asking you to do this thing. It's only twenty bucks. We finally get somebody who fights for us, they don't get any money from the corporations, like the Republicans and the Democrats, and I feel we have a moral obligation to support them!" This is what I tell them. I try to tell them as clearly as I can.
What's happening with our people is, we've been working 60 hours a week overtime, and everybody's so tired they just bury their head in the sports page. And then in the cafeteria all they're talking about is sports and this and that. So what I do is, I try to copy some fact sheets from the Labor Party about different stuff and then I'll just go and put that out in the cafeteria, get some conversation going on the topic, try to get people away from the sports page. Right now, people are pretty much brainwashed. They're reading, but what they're reading is a lot of propaganda. The more information we can give them from another perspective, the easier it's going to get.
I use a lot of sarcasm in these flyers. Like I said, "While we're working 60 or 70 hours a week and reading the sports page, the people that we elected are now embracing privatization. And if we lose this job, we may have to pick up a few part-time jobs, our spouses may have to pick up a few part-time jobs, and whoops! almost forgot the paper route! But those jobs are already sewed up by adults trying to make ends meet. Well, I guess there'll always be welfare. Whoops! We voted for politicians that want to put those people to work for subminimum wages."
I'm just trying to do whatever I can to wake them up. See, now I have their attention. Now they're looking to grab up everything we put out. It's not like they run when they see me coming - well, only on payday when I'm coming for the money.
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