As usual at any Labor Notes school or conference, the main complaint about the December 3 Detroit Troublemakers School was, “I wanted to go to all the workshops.” Forced to bite the bullet and choose among “Direct Action,” “Social Movement Unionism,” “Beating Apathy,” “What We Learned from Wisconsin,” and four other topics, the 120 attendees packed themselves into UAW Local 22 on Michigan Avenue.
One participant gave “Direct Action” a “6” on a scale of 1 to 5. Letter Carriers from two locals liked labor educator Steve Babson’s presentation on the history of labor and community interaction so much that they invited him to teach a joint session for their members. Teachers union member Elizabeth Palmer wrote, “The older folks are energizing the young folks as much as the other way around.”
In the opening session, participants heard from Madison building trades leader Eric Cobb about the lessons of the Wisconsin uprising; he’s now running to head the central labor council in the state capital.
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Wayne State University student Marie Buck, an Occupy Detroit participant, laid out the reasons for movement’s success—its target of Wall Street for one, rather than Washington—and let the unionists in the room know how they could get involved.
The day ended with Pastor David Bullock of Greater St. Matthew’s Baptist Church reminding the crowd that yes, we want to be troublemakers—but troublemakers who make a profound difference, who change the world. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were troublemakers; they refused to worship the Babylonians’ false god. God saved them from the fiery furnace—but then what? The King of Babylon was still in charge.
The Detroit troublemakers—auto workers, bus drivers, state employees, postal workers, university workers, teachers, Teamsters, nurses, and occupiers—left with the injunction to make their troublemaking matter, and armed with some new skills and insights to help make that happen.
They stocked up on shirts and how-to books at the Troublemakers store (it is the holiday season), and vowed to be back for more at the national Labor Notes Conference in Chicago next May.
At the national conference, they’ll have to make some hard choices: A hundred workshops to pick from, oh my!
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