The rank and file workers that came before us said a union was not the union hall nor the labor temple, nor was it the elected union officials that come and go. The union was its people—the honest, hardworking membership.

Comrades of sweat and toil pushed and prodded too far for the sake of an industrial tyrant’s profits. Workers who reached a point and said, “enough is enough,” who joined together, demanded change, and organized.

And in the current moment of economic turmoil and political upheaval, workers are experiencing quaint evocations of moments gone by—as if looking through an open window and scanning through the decades of militant union history, scouring the past to understand and confront today’s clear and present danger.

But if power lies in the hands of the workers, recorded history has forgotten, in some places, the thousands of unknown rank and file members who ensured victory for the leaders we now hold in high regard.

Of course, there is a sense of simplicity when it comes to writing about those exciting flash pan moments. On the other hand, the day to day struggles of working people shouldn’t be seen as dull, drab, and boring—as is often the case.

While some may say the daily routine lives of ordinary working people lack the glamor or heroism found on a picket line, in reality, their lives can’t be contained to their actions at a particular demonstration or strike, or solely through the lens of union membership.

For fast-food workers active in the Fight for $15 and a Union, it isn’t only a movement or a non-traditional union, and Black Lives Matter isn’t only a chant—it is their life in entirety.

And this is the life of Bettie Douglas, 63....

READ MORE »