NEW YORK CITY, Sept 10 — “The PSC is here to say, we support you all the way!” These words echoed across the eastern edge of Central Park when a group of professors from the professional Staff Congress (PSC), a union of CUNY professors and staff came to support them. They have an increasing history of supporting striking workers all over the region. They proclaimed their solidarity with the strikers of the Loeb Boathouse Restaurant. The workers walked off the job more than a month ago because managers were sexually harassing women workers, stealing their tips and, most recently, firing 30 workers as retribution for attempts at unionization.
The supporters were there to show that the divisions — by job title, by country of birth, by “race,” by gender, etc. — that capitalism imposes on us can be smashed. Tearing down these divisions is an essential prerequisite for the working class to take power from the bosses and so every opportunity to chip away at the barriers should be seized. We saw a small glimpse of the future, when workers will be united under communist leadership to destroy capitalism and its ideas.
Capitalism teaches us that mental and manual labor are different and that this division makes solidarity between workers impossible. This is capitalist nonsense and the presence of professors in support of waiters and dishwashers proves it! No matter the nature of the work, capitalism exploits it for profit.
Multi-racial unity was on display to oppose the division of “race” and racism that capitalism shoves down our throats. The striking workers are primarily immigrants from many countries, including Mexico, Ecuador and Albania. This racist capitalist system means that these workers are subjected to super-exploitation. They had wages and tips stolen, were subjected to harassment and sexual abuse and generally treated poorly by the boss.
But supporting them on the picket line were mainly white workers from the U.S. who saw that, as workers, their fight was the same, regardless of their “race” or where they were born. Once again, a communist future could be glimpsed, where borders are smashed and workers are united in creating and running a new society.
A picture of what a society not based on the super-exploitation of women might look like could also be seen. Women were there, shouting the loudest and giving leadership to the strike. Some of these women had been subject to sexual harassment by managers at the Boathouse and this issue was a major factor in the decision to strike for both the female and male workers.
While rank-and-file workers stood united and proud, NYC’s union hacks showed they dance only to the bosses’ tune. The sellout Central Labor Council (CLC) did nothing to mobilize the thousands of union workers who were marching in the New York Labor Day Parade (which ended less than half a mile from the restaurant) to go to the Boathouse to give their support. Nearly every union leader at the march followed the lead of the CLC and abandoned the workers.
Despite this sellout by labor hacks and the presence of scabs, the strikers made a non-stop cacophony with drums and shouting, enough so the restaurant did very little business during the strike. On September 21st the strikers won an important victory when the owner, Dean Poll, agreed to a union contract that restored the fired workers and promised sick days, vacation, and health care. In a time of relentless attacks against the working class, this is notable.
Let us not be fooled, however. Capitalists only give in to our demands when we force them and even then we get crumbs. Yes, the strike ended in victory, but Dean Poll continues to make profit from the labor of the restaurant workers! And Poll, like all bosses, will constantly look for ways to take back what we’ve won.
This is the best-case scenario for the working class under capitalism, but it’s not the best we can do! Our ultimate liberation from Dean Poll and the capitalist system he embodies requires that we overcome the false barriers of union hacks, job title, “race”, gender, and “nationality.” As we say, the workers united will never be defeated.