The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict and government repression. Today it is actively organizing and numbers about 2,000 members worldwide, of whom roughly half (approximately 900) are in good standing (that is, have paid their dues for the past two months). IWW membership does not require that one work in a represented workplace, nor does it exclude membership in another labor union.
The IWW contends that all workers should be united within a single union as a class and that the wage system should be abolished. They may be best known for the Wobbly Shop model of workplace democracy, in which workers elect recallable delegates, and other norms of grassroots democracy (self-management) are implemented.
The Wobblies differed from other union movements of the time by its promotion of industrial unionism, as opposed to the craft unionism of the American Federation of Labor. The IWW emphasized rank-and-file organization, as opposed to empowering leaders who would bargain with employers on behalf of workers. This manifested itself in the early IWW's consistent refusal to sign contracts, which they felt would restrict the only true power that workers possessed: the power to strike. Though never developed in any detail, Wobblies envisioned the general strike as the means by which the wage system would be overthrown and a new economic system ushered in, one which emphasized people over profit, cooperation over competition.
One of the IWW's most important contributions to the labor movement and broader push towards social justice was that, when founded, it was the only American union to welcome all workers including women, immigrants, and African Americans into the same organization. Indeed, many of its early members were immigrants, and some, like Carlo Tresca, Joe Hill and Mary Jones, rose to prominence in the leadership.
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Detailed history section on the IWW site
Because of their opposition to World War I, members of the Industrial Workers of the World were put on trial for violating the Espionage Act of 1917. The following are the remarks of one member to the court:
"You ask me why the I.W.W. is not patriotic to the United States. If you were a bum without a blanket; if you had left your wife and kids when you went west for a job, and had never located them since; if your job had never kept you long enough in a place to qualify you to vote; if you slept in a lousy, sour bunkhouse, and ate food just as rotten as they could give you and get by with it; if deputy sheriffs shot your cooking cans full of holes and spilled your grub on the ground; if your wages were lowered on you when the bosses thought they had you down; if there was one law for Ford, Suhr, and Mooney, and another for Harry Thaw; if every person who represented law and order and the nation beat you up, railroaded you to jail, and the good Christian people cheered and told them to go to it, how in hell do you expect a man to be patriotic?
"This war is a business man's war and we don't see why we should go out and get shot in order to save the lovely state of affairs that we now enjoy."
Seattle Wobblies play definitive roles in action related to economic globalization issues, picket line support, anti-war activism, and promoting solidarity by opposing xenophobic rallies.
Seattle IWW is also proud to represent the Madison Market Co-Op administrative and maintenance/custodial workers in IU#660. The following is a press release from October 2002:
Seattle IU 660 wins IWW contract
Cooperation between dual carders in UFCW and rank and file organizing at a grocery Co-op in Seattle over the 18 months has culminated in several victories for all of the workers in both the IWW and UFCW. At the time of this writing, the IWW and Madison Market have agreed to 99% of the terms of the contract, which includes substantial raises (4% and 5%), healthcare for kids and partners, a grievance procedure, and many job security provisions for the administrative workers. The rank and file organizing in the UFCW bargaining unit covering the clerks, grocery workers, and deli workers also won these demands, in addition to shift bidding based on seniority (unheard of in the industry), and two top managers have "left" because of the pressure from workers.
Madison Market has over 70 employees, and is a typical modern consumer owned Co-op that is overseen by an elected board of trustees, and uses a traditional hierarchal method of management for the workers; democracy for the consumers and not the workers. A culmination of mismanagement and discontent over the lack of respect is what fueled much of the organizing. The steward (and IWW member) published a shop floor newsletter on a regular basis, which discussed grievances, educated people on their rights and the role of the union, and the role of the steward. When the IWW asked for recognition months later (and got it-voluntarily after much pressure), the newsletter was a key tool to let all of the workers know about the campaign. Over a year of time the struggle escalated, and the workers ran candidates for the board of trustees, voted down a first contract 33 to 2, voted for strike authorization 39 to 4, and virtually defeated the campaign of Braun Consulting-a union buster hired be management-before it even started. The main obstacles to progress was the campaign by Braun and management to tire out the negotiating committees, and at times some of the officials at the local UFCW. (It is rumored that the manager will be taking a job at North Coast Co-op in Arcata, CA, who recently "laid off" 35 workers after they began to organize.)
The key elements of the campaign was rank and file organizing by the IWW in both bargaining units, in cooperation with members of the International Socialist Organization in the UFCW unit, and workers that were active in the campaign as unaffiliated shop floor activists. Education through the newsletter, and organizing to win grievances using direct action and the UFCW process, educating the board of trustees about working conditions, and building support with the Co-op membership are the things that sustained activity and brought new activists into the campaign, and the best tool we had was management's response to all of these activities. The Seattle Green Party voted to endorse the struggle, and the full strength of the loose coalition built, backed by an overwhelming support for a strike, provided the power needed for a victory. None of this would have been possible without the organizing by the IWW, and especially those in the new bargaining unit who took a lot of heat from the boss.
x337969, IU 660, Seattle