For information on meetings, happenings, etc., of the Pensacola GMB of the I.W.W., please visit Open Books, located at 1040 N. Guillemard St. All Meetings are open to all workers who are able to join the I.W.W.
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The IWW is a union for all workers, a union dedicated to organizing on the job, in our industries and in our communities both to win better conditions today and to build a world without bosses, a world in which production and distribution are organized by workers ourselves to meet the needs of the entire population, not merely a handful of exploiters.
We are the Industrial Workers of the World because we organize industrially -- that is to say, we organize all workers on the job into one union, rather than dividing workers by trade, so that we can pool our strength to fight the bosses together.
Since the IWW was founded in 1905, we have recognized the need to build a truly international union movement in order to confront the global power of the bosses and in order to stand in solidarity with our fellow workers no matter what part of the globe they happen to live on.
We are a union open to all workers, whether or not the IWW happens to have representation rights in your workplace. We organize the worker, not the job, recognizing that unionism is not about government certification of employer recognition but about workers coming together to address our common concerns. Sometimes this means striking or signing a contract. Sometimes it means refusing to work with unsafe equipment or following the bosses' orders so literally that nothing gets done. Sometimes it means agitating around particular issues or grievances in a specific workplace, or across an industry.
Because the IWW is a democratic, member-run union, all policy decisions are made by referendum. The IWW has just one (modestly) paid officer, the General Secretary-Treasurer. The seven member General Executive Board is elected annually by the entire membership. All officers may be recalled by referendum. IWW workplaces and branches make their own decisions about bargaining and strategy.
All workers are encouraged to join the I.W.W., even if you're already in another union. The IWW is open to ALL WORKERS, but is not open to employers (described as those with the ability to hire or fire) or police officers (because of their historic role as enforcers of the bosses policies and state sponsored strikebreakers).
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Past Projects of the Pensacola GMB
Strike Support for the members of ATU 1395 in their 70+ day strike against Pensacola Bay Transportation. During the strike, the Pensacola I.W.W. was proud to stand beside the members of the ATU local 1395 for the duration and helping them raise $800 for their strike fund (For more information on this historic Pensacola strike and the I.W.W.'s support of it, see the link section below)
Mexico Solidarity Network-The Pensacola IWW co-sponsored a local stop for the MSN on their speaking tour to raise awareness for the Femicides occurring in Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico. Hundreds of women have been murdered in the past decade, many of them workers at American Maquiladoras (factories/sweatshops). The IWW worked with the Mexico Solidarity Network with it's letter writing campaign to Pres. Vicente Fox to urge the Mexican government to act to stop these murders, helping to send dozens of letters on behalf of the families of these women to the Mexican government. For more information, go to http://www.mexicosolidarity.org/Juarez%20and%20Chihuahua/
MAY DAY CELEBRATIONS See Link Below for Story in the Industrial Worker
ANTI-POLICE BRUTALITY MARCH
The IWW marched in the Anti-Police Brutality March on May 14th that was initiated by Movement for Change and the NAACP. One member from the Pensacola GMB spoke at the event on the struggle for immigrant workers and the organizing of the working class to fight oppression.
The Pensacola IWW recently hosted a very successful production of the Howard Zinn play "Marx in Soho." The play attracted over 150 people and was very well recieved. The IWW tabled at this event with great success as well. Thanks to the UWF Socratic Society, the Philosophy Department, Nick Power, Mark Cobb, and FW Johnny Ardis for making this possible.
As a participant in the International Day of Action against Caterpillar, the Pensacola IWW has sent the construction equiptement company Caterpillar a letter condemning their selling of military equiptment to the Israeli Defense Force. The Caterpillar equiptment has been documented by several human rights observers (many Israeli human rights groups, for instance) as being used almost solely for the demolition of Palestinian homes in violation of international law. Along with a letter condemning CAT for their participation in this practice, we sent a letter to the United Auto Workers (the union which represents CAT workers) asking them to explore ways which they can lend solidarity to their fellow workers overseas under the banner "An Injury to One is an Injury to All" and "Workers-Don't Kill Other Workers!" For more information, visit the links at the bottom of the page.
The Pensacola IWW also officially endorsed the Coalition of Immokolee Workers boycott against Taco Bell. We think we were the last organization to officially endorse the boycott before Taco Bell gave into the worker's demands. The boycott is now over. For more information, go to www.ciw-online.org
The Iraqi Labor Solidarity Fund-Currently, the Pensacola branch of the IWW is working to collect money to send to our fellow workers in Iraq who are being attacked on all sides for the right to organize. When the US overthrew Saddam's government, one of the few provisions they left of the old regime were its repressive labor laws. The Iraqi Labor Solidarity Fund helps the Iraqi people fight this by giving them the badly needed funds to organize in their workplaces.
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THE PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE I.W.W.
The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life.
Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth.
We find that the centering of the management of industries into fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with the ever growing power of the employing class. The trade unions foster a state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be pitted against another set of workers in the same industry, thereby helping defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unions aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that the working class have interests in common with their employers.
These conditions can be changed and the interest of the working class upheld only by an organization formed in such a way that all its members in any one industry, or in all industries if necessary, cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any department thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all.
Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."
It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.
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For more information, contact:
IWW Pensacola
1040 N. Guillemard St.
Pensacola, FL 32501
850-437-1323
Links
Industrial Workers of the World
Pensacola IWW Local By-Laws
Letter sent to Caterpillar CEO from Pensacola IWW
Letter sent to UAW from Pensacola IWW
IWW General Defense Committee (w/ links to Leonard Peltier & Mumia Abu-Jamal)
May Day in the Florida Pahandle (from the June 2005 Industrial Worker)
Rusty's Rules of Order (from the IWW Portland GMB site)
Your Rights in the Workplace
35 Things Your Employer CANNOT Do
Pensacola I.W.W. and the ATU 1395 Stike
I.W.W. -en espanol
