. I
want to be a catalyst and motivator for the IWW organizing in Taiwan but Catta and
Yihan are the main ingredients; without their dedication we’re losing a beat.
They should be getting Cooloud and Youth Labor to sign up and help organize the
union here but they, admittedly so, don’t know much about the IWW themselves.
Only Henry’s translation I gave them has guided them. I openly suggested
someone translate the Agenda into Mandarin but they didn’t take the request.
Maybe Lennon, if he joins, is more mature at 32 years old to take some more
responsibility than the 22 year olds. Martin Gross was great, well-committed
and responsible, a half hour early. Catta and Yihan were fifteen minutes late and
Lennon didn’t show up until an hour later, after Catta text-messaged him.
At the meeting Yihan agonized over how the
IWW could become relevant to workers in Taiwan. He kept talking about the
Taiwanese character of conciliation with their employers and acceptance of
top-down management. This is not only a Taiwanese impediment to unionizing
workplaces. I suggested we take Elizabeth Gurley Flynn’s tact of agitating
workers who have been displaced by mismanagement. For example, workers
from the Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co who made substandard food products will
be on furlough and possibly lose their jobs. The IWW could suggest to them that
they take over the factory after the owner files for bankruptcy, as he probably
will. The same is true of the workers from Chyuan Shun Food Enterprise Co that
was found mixing cheaper Vietnamese rice with Taiwanese rice and selling the
mixture as domestic rice in August 2013 or Top Pot Bakery’s lies about not
using artificial flavorings which will affect workers who could lose their
jobs. These workers need agitators and organizers and may be prone to listen to
IWW ideas of self-management and organizing. Martin seemed to understand what I
was talking about. I also mentioned how Sun Yat-Sen socialist, perhaps
anarchist, leanings could be a thread with which to agitate Taiwanese workers
and move them from acquiescing to employers sways. At any rate, the IWW has to
become known in Taiwan to labor groups and organizations and fellow workers.
Martin’s idea of a business card is a good idea. I explained how adding
articles and endorsing workers organizations to our blog
(www.taIWWan.blogspot.com) and Facebook page (taIWWan ROC) and the main IWW
website could be used to put us on the page in the Taiwan labor movement.
10-29-13 8:58am Tues. (1)
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