Talking with My Fellow Workers and Union Members
I’m on a political action committee at my local union, and I sometimes get the chance to talk about political issues with my fellow workers and union members.
I work in a large city in the northeast of the United States, with mostly working-class men of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds. White ethnic men (Italian American, Irish American) tend to dominate when they’re present in significant numbers. I am a white woman of mostly Irish-Catholic heritage.
Our union members have a wide range of views. They include Trump voters and people who are very progressive.
I’ve learned that the following are important:
- Really, really liking and respecting people and working on anything that gets in the way of that
- Working on humiliation. There is a lot of humor in the workplace—a lot of fun and affectionate ribbing (joking that may be derogatory but that is also a way to be close when direct expressions of affection and liking are not acceptable). A lot of internalized oppression and harshness can come with the joking. You need to show caring to be successful, but you will be made fun of [teased]. So it is helpful to work on what gets in the way of not looking like you need a session on that while you are reaching out to people.
- Cracking (making) jokes and interrupting the internalized oppression with affection and humor
- Relationships, relationships, relationships—doing things with people and showing by your actions that they can count on [rely on] you
We have an incredible shop steward at our workplace. He has successfully backed [supported] fellow workers, taken stands with management, and put himself on the line [exposed himself to personal risk]. He has my deepest respect, and he knows that. He and I also have very different political perspectives, and he knows that too, but we like each other enormously. This helps me put out my perspectives at the meetings that he leads.
As a woman in a male-dominated workplace, I reach out to individual men and ask them for visible support, including to interrupt sexism (although I don’t usually call it that) when I speak. I may not get support from a coworker at the time, but he often backs me later.
I have been trying to do these things for years, so now I am sometimes successful. I think trying, even though you aren’t ready yet, is important. I’ve felt completely humiliated many times (and also probably looked completely humiliated). I’ve had to have heavy Co-Counseling sessions about it, and now I don’t feel humiliated nearly as much.
Prior to the pandemic, our political action committee went to workplaces together. We took lots of time to practice beforehand and later talked about how it had gone, which was great. Our committee is mostly raised-working-class people, so we have often been criticized in learning environments. We modelled appreciating each other when we talked in the meetings so the internalized oppression wouldn’t take over [dominate our functioning].
USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of working-class people
(Present Time 207, April 2022)