January, 1999
Labor Party Press
Henry Nicholas:
'The Labor
Movement
Needs You'
Excerpts from a talk by
Henry Nicholas, President of 1199C/AFSCME
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Photo ©Michael Kaufman, Impact Visuals |
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It is an honor for me to come among those who consider themselves free
trade unionists thirsting for liberation. I think your time is now and all of us in the
labor movement need you and your presence.
We must go beyond our individual union concerns to rebuild and reenergize
the entire labor movement. And I make a profound distinction between organized labor and
the labor movement. We need you to put the movement into organized labor.
You meet here in Pittsburgh at a very opportune time. One of the most
important issues you must concern yourselves with is, How do we deal with all of the
"isms" that have always been with us? How do we build an all-inclusive movement
— a movement that includes the millions of workers who are unemployed and
underemployed? How do we insist that the people respond to the great threat imposed on us
in every state by militias? They’re not in the mountains to teach Sunday school. Why
hasn’t our government condemned them? Why haven’t churches condemned them? Why
hasn’t the labor movement condemned them?
In the next eight months millions of poor people will be thrust into the
street as a result of welfare repeal. Welfare repeal happened because "our guy"
signed it. We must do more than protest, we must make a commitment to understand that the
millions of people who will be dumped on the street are our friends, our neighbors, our
sisters, mothers and brothers. We can’t look to City Hall, the White House, Congress,
we must look to ourselves and organize, organize, organize.
We have been manipulated into a one-party system. There is no longer a
Republican Party and a Democratic Party – for the working people of this country,
they are one.
There will be times when you will be in disarray with your own leaders and
unions. You need to help us find our way to a new labor movement.
A song we must sing every day is "Which Side Are You On?" We
must say clearly what side we are on when it comes to the militias; when we are living in
a country that houses more prisoners than any other country in the industrialized world;
when you know and I know the largest budget is the prison budget. Which side are you on?
I’m honored to have been invited here this morning. There are
millions of workers who are looking for the relief that you can provide, they are just
afraid and need a little push. But if you show them the way, they will join you, because
you represent for them a profound alternative to how best to create an America that we
once sang about when we were in school – an America where everyone has an equal
chance to make their dreams come true.
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