To bridge the divide or burn our bridges?

I’ve been involved in a number of workplace disputes over the past couple of years. Despite those disputes happening at different workplaces – some union and some not - and even on different continents, they all had one thing in common. In each instance the workforce broke down into two camps: those who supported the dispute and those who supported management. That’s the thing about workplace disputes: they force people to take a side. Old, underlying tensions between co-workers are brought to the surface. Friends encounter each other in staff meetings where one is defending management and the other is maintaining a stony oppositional silence. Sometimes they even meet on opposite sides of a picket line. I’ve come to the conclusion that this divide is probably an inevitable part of workplace organising. As such, it is something we should be taking seriously when stirring up trouble at work. I’m not totally unsympathetic to those who take management’s side. Everywhere I’ve worked, there has generally been a pretty young workforce with little experience of open, organised conflict at work. In situations of tension, it’s often easier to side with existing structures of power and authority – especially when doing otherwise brings you into conflict with the people who sign your paychecks. In my experience, it’s generally the conscious organisers who seek to avoid alienating these co-workers. We hope that if they witness a victory now, it will bring them on board in the future. Despite this, I’ve often had advice from pissed-off workers to write off certain individuals as untrustworthy snitches and sycophants. And they’ve been right. I don’t know which is the correct position to take. I’d like to think that people change through struggle. Even if they’re on the wrong side of a dispute, simply seeing others stick together and fight back can change perspectives. That said, I have, at times, shared information with some of these less trustworthy folks that has come back to bite me. Another point worth reiterating is that it’s often a mistake to assume politicos are somehow inherently trustworthy or supportive of struggle. I had one workmate who liked Chomsky and Zizek and who often spoke about the economic and social perils of inequality. However, when this individual had the opportunity to directly challenge that imbalance, they were one of management’s strongest supporters. Others, who were far less overtly political, came down on the side of us workers. I’m not sure there can be any hard and fast advice here. I do think it’s worth remembering that good organising is a long, slow process of preparing our co-workers to take action. Prepping our co-workers for what to expect is arguably the most important step in that process. Perhaps just as important, however, is building up social connections with our co-workers. In all the years I’ve been attempting to organise at work, it’s been in those workplaces where I talked the least about workplace organising where I’ve had the most success. What makes a good organiser is not talking about organising, but being the person your co-workers know as both knowledgeable and trustworthy. All that said, sometimes the fight comes to us. In those instances, the pro- and anti- dispute divide will probably be the strongest. It will involve making judgement calls and preparing workmates for how both management and co-workers might respond to a campaign or public action. Having a solid plan about what level of information will be shared with certain individuals is a good place to start. Getting advice from trusted, longer-serving workmates about who’s trustworthy and who’s not is a good idea, too. If we choose to believe that people change through struggle, it’s worth remembering that we never want this action to be our final action. Start small, start trusted. After all, chances are that even as a small group of organised workers, we have more power than we think if we’re smart and strategic in using it. As for that divide, it will be easier to bridge if we’ve already demonstrated the protection we have when we stick together.