Ben Speight rallies with members of Teamster Local 728 against the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Atlanta in October 2015. (Photo: Fred Nye)
It can be easy to despair, to feel like trends toward inequality are impossible to stop, to give in to fear over increased racist, sexist and xenophobic violence. But around the country, people are doing the hard work of fighting back and coming together to plan for what comes next. In this ongoing “Interviews for Resistance” series, we introduce you to some of them. Today’s interview is the ninth in the series. Click here for the most recent interview before this one.
As Republicans introduce legislation that would make labor law for the entire country like it is in the deep South, who better to talk about making unions relevant than an organizer with lots of experience organizing in a so-called “right-to-work” state? Contrary to popular belief, right-to-work laws don’t ban unions; they just allow workers to opt out of paying representation fees to the union while still requiring the union to represent all workers in a workplace. But it is possible to fight for workers under a right-to-work regime — as long as unions remember to fight. We asked Ben Speight, the Organizing Director of Teamsters Local 728 in Georgia, to share his insights on this struggle.
Sarah Jaffe: Last week we heard that different labor leaders met with now-President Trump. Would you talk about your reaction?
Ben Speight: Trump is the corporate bully-in-chief. For us, in labor, in looking at him as a boss, he’s one that has shown his inclination to align with some of the most reactionary forces in the 1 percent and folks that are rabidly anti-union.
His demagogic appeal to working people has been extremely successful. His form of economic nationalism has cut against our ability to build broad solidarity amongst white working people, Black working people, Brown working people, and to have a working-class perspective that is opposed to the right wing. His economic…