Everyone was so excited that we had just over 60 and were sure they could sign up at least another 20 to blow through our goal of 70%, or 84 workers.
They also discussed their options: They could collect cards, file them at the Labor Board and wait months for a union election. Or, if they were strong enough, pull a recognition strike, stop the cleaning process of linen from all across Detroit, and force voluntary recognition by the employer. They voted to do a recognition action at the company on Monday morning as workers came into the laundry and demanded that the Toccos recognize our union. If they said no, but our turnout and card strength showed we were strong enough, we would escalate to a recognition strike and refuse to go back into the building until the Toccos agreed to recognize our union. The vote was unanimous to move ahead.
Problems at The Debrief
But there were some troubling questions that came up at the meeting and the organizer debrief afterwards. The drivers, who would be key to shutting down the company, were all white men. They used to have a union but decertified the Teamsters several years back and now they were paid all in cash under the table –– $500 per week. $500 per week in 1980 would be worth just under $2000 per week in 2024 or over $100,000 per year, tax free. How and why could the company afford to pay the white drivers that much but pay all the production workers only minimum wage? Besides the blatant racism of having very well-paid all-white drivers in a supermajority Black city with a supermajority Black labor force, why had they gotten rid of the Teamsters and why were they paid in cash?
Then there were the mob rumors. Some of the younger workers said that they’d heard that the Toccos were big time mobsters. But the older workers said no, that the boss himself, Tony Tocco, had told them that his father or grandfather had some relationship to the mob but that he and his brother Jack, the real big boss, were actually legitimate business people and had degrees in business from some college and were operating legitimate businesses like Melrose.