worth dangers To the Editor: Regarding fracking (an issue raised by a


letter in the November issue of The Communicator), the “Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy” booklet points out the reason


IDEAS FROM MEMBERS Fracking not


other states are making money is the “severance tax” rates in those states range from 7.5 percent to 9.5 percent, while New York has a zero severance rate. In addition, the gas industry is exempt


from the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Superfund Law, and its dangers far outweigh any benefits.


New York taxpayers should be pushing


for a state law to cover business disasters as a result of fracking.


S. JODY FOX Suffern


Emai l your ideas, comments to thecommunicator@pef .org


December marks the 68th anniversary of the Oakland General Strike


By DEBORAH A. MILES If you look back in history,


you can find hundreds of strikes that helped change the lives of workers. But few strikes can compare to the 1946 Oakland General Strike in California which started Monday, December 2. Two months after the end of


World War II, a four-day strike, also called the Oakland Work Holiday of 1946, took place. It began when more than 400 retail clerks, mostly women, from Kahn’s and Hastings department stores said they wanted a union contract and improved living wages. As the clerks picketed, people noticed the police herding a fleet


of scab trucks with goods to deliver to the two department stores. Witnesses, plus truck drivers, bus and streetcar operators and passengers joined the striking workers. Soon, the streets were jammed with more than 130,000 participants. That was the beginning of the general strike. Waves of strikes were occurring in other parts of the country


such as Rochester, NY and Pittsburgh, PA but the strikers in Oakland, CA demonstrated a remarkable force of community activism and solidarity. Throughout Oakland, neighbors and strangers refused to show


up for work. They marched, shared free food and danced in the streets. By dusk, the strikers had instructed all stores, except pharmacies and food markets to close. Bars stayed open, but they only were allowed to serve beer and were told to move their juke boxes to the sidewalk. The focal point was an area called Latham Square which still exists today. There, thousands of people protested for better working conditions while dancing to music from the blaring juke boxes, such as the number one hit at the time, “Pistol Packin’ Mama. Lay That Pistol Down.” A carnival spirit persisted as people knew they were making


history while having fun. At the end of the second day of the strike, the atmosphere


changed. A large group of war veterans marched to the anti-labor Oakland Tribune newspaper and then to City Hall where they demanded the resignation of the mayor and city council. Newspaper reports during the strike said there was little evidence of official union leadership in the streets. But International Teamsters President Dave Beck wired orders to break the strike because it was a revolutionary attempt to overthrow the government. He ordered all Teamsters who had left


Page 2—The Communicator December 2014 - January 2015


their jobs to return to work. Unfamiliar with organizing


themselves, the strikers sought a seasoned labor leader to step forward and help raise more awareness of their issues. International Longshore


and Warehouse Union (ILWU) President Harry Bridges, who was also the state Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) president, refused to become involved. But the Sailors’ Union of the


Pacific (SUP) Secretary- Treasurer Harry Lundeberg, showed up the second night of the strike and spoke to the masses in the overflowing


Oakland Auditorium. He had been informed of the strike by a former member who called him from a pay phone on an Oakland street. Lundeberg shared in the strikers’ outrage with the city council


and was quoted when he said, “These finky gazoonies who call themselves city fathers have been taking lessons from Hitler and Stalin. They don’t believe in the kind of unions that are free to strike.” Lundeberg arranged for “flying squads” who patrolled the


streets seeking strike-breaking activity. Members of the squads wore large, white buttons that said, “Brotherhood of the Sea.” They represented the first officially organized activity of the strike, and did not attempt to take it over. On December 5, a sound truck arranged by the American


Federation of Labor Central Labor Council announced the strike was to end. The council said the decision was made after the Oakland city manager promised the police would not be used to escort scabs. No concessions were gained for the women from Kahn’s and Hastings whose protest had triggered the general strike. A number of truckers and other workers continued to picket,


but most returned to work as they were no longer under any protection against disciplinary actions that might be brought against them for strike-caused absences. Following the strike, every incumbent official in Oakland Teamsters Local 70 was voted out of office. Later, the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act prevented labor unions from participating in general strikes. The Oakland General Strike was a statement from people who


celebrated the end of the war, but resented how government leaders promoted economic depression and tried to weaken the power of labor unions. It was the last general strike of its kind.


PEF Information Line: 1-800-553-2445


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