Seventeenth Annual Southwest Labor Studies Conference: Labor in the Era of World War II

Abstract

monolithic, central command for all the unions. The reality is quite different, with independent, autonomous international unions and a relatively weak national center. And within and among American unions, a wide range of political and economic views exist. Also, old leaders, their vision shaped by World War II, the Cold War, and the economic good times of the 1950s and 1960s, are being replaced by newer leaders, shaped by the civil rights and anti-war movements, Watergate, and the Reagan era. This surprised CGT leaders. Members of the American group also met with French workers employed in similar sectors. For example, American and French health-care workers met. I met with CGT members at the Case-Poclain plant, a firm that manufactures excavating equipment and is owned by the Tenneco Corporation. They have been hurt by the recession: 241 of the eight hundred workers had recently been laid off. It was unclear whether anyone would be called back to work. We discussed seniority clauses and how hard it was for laid-off workers to find well-paid jobs. The discussions were warm and comradely. Following the meeting, the CGT union at Case-Poclain issued a statement of solidarity with American workers, calling on workers to unite across to defend themselves against multinationals. A meeting with CGT Secretary-General Henri Krasucki focused on ways to develop lines of communication between French and American workers. One suggestion was to develop union-to-union contacts. Another was for labor-studies programs to promote communication with the CGT within the context of soli darity across borders and the global economy. A related approach might be to identify American and French firms owned by the same multinational corporations and to foster communication between both unions to promote a united front against global whip-sawing. Finally, it was suggested that the CGT communicate with the newly appointed AFL-CIO representative to Europe. The Cold War is ending and the global economy growing. There is a pressing need for unions to build new lines of communication across borders. The meeting with the CGT was a small, first step in that direction.