“I have a dream.” The words reverberated through my head.

UAW president Sean Fain showing off his newly acquired backbone.

The date was February 1, 2025, and on that day, the union leadership, and Sean Fain, president of the United Auto Workers in particular, proved all of medical science wrong. Up until that time all of medical science had believed that it was impossible for a body to grow entirely new nerve and bone tissue. But on that famous day of February 1 Sean Fain and other union leaders did exactly that. They grew a backbone.

Up until that time they had been standing passively by hardly even whining. Liz Schuler, President of the AFL-CIO “warned” that the federation “stands proudly in solidarity” with immigrant workers, with “standing” rather than actually moving – doing anything – being the operative word. Fain, the Great Hope of the so-called lefts, had proclaimed his willingness to work with Trump. But somehow, as if by magic, they sprang into action. They went out and actually started organizing amongst immigrant workers in the fields, amongst poultry workers, and meat packing plants and vegetable processing plants. Under the banner of a drive to build a union they organized a one week general strike amongst all those workers in order to stop the mass deportations that Trump had set into place. Recognizing that it would be too dangerous for those workers to be picketing at their workplace, these union leaders with a new backbone organized amongst their own current membership to get their own current members to go out and stand the picket lines at those workplaces that are largely worked by immigrant workers, many of whom are undocumented. In addition to demanding an immediate end to the raids on undocumented workers, the strike demanded an immediate raise to $25 an hour, full healthcare and pension rights, and immediate full citizenship, rights.

The AFL-CIO held rallies in cities and towns, large and small throughout the country. Those rallies were raucous affairs. Some members shouted out “why didn’t you do anything up until now?” while others shouted out complaints about the leadership’s inaction on other job site issues. One such rally was attacked by the newly freed January 6 fascist rioters. Several rally goers, popular job stewards at a nearby union workplace, were severely injured. That caused the workers at that workplace to go on strike also and shut down that workplace. It spread from there to public transit, airlines, and even the East coast dock workers started to renew their strike.

The grocery stores within a week of the strikes of immigrant workers and others

Within two days, the grocery stores were largely empty of fresh fruit and vegetables, baked goods, meat, and dairy products. There was an immediate run on canned and frozen foods and within another day or two the grocery stores were also empty of those. Riots broke out in several major cities as tens of millions of people were unable to get food. Workers in Mexico and Canada, who were already angry at Trump because of his attacks on those two countries, made sure that the strikes were not busted by an increase in exports of food stuff from their countries into the United States. Greenland offered to immediately accept any state in the United States that wanted to secede from the United States to join Greenland under the protection of Denmark.

Within a week Trump reversed course on his mass, deportation effort, but it was too late. A movement was already underway to rebuild the labor movement in the United States into a real movement. That included not only a movement in the workplace, but workers councils throughout the country that started to discuss how to project the power of the working class into society as a whole.

“John, please stop your absolutely ridiculous dreams,” a friend of mine said.

“What? You think medical science is wrong that it is impossible for vertebrates to grow totally new bone and nerve tissue?” I asked.

“Oh no,“ my friend said. “Who knows? Maybe that even could happen someday. But the idea that these union leaders could actually grow a backbone… I mean, that idea is about as valid as the ideas of the flat earthers.”

I guess my friend has a point there. But who knows? Maybe somewhere such a movement will generate almost spontaneously from below and start to takeoff. 

Note: This fanciful article was inspired by this report of an ICE raid of a workplace in New Jersey. That raid shut the work place down, but that was only one small workplace. They have made sure to avoid the hear of the industries that depend 99% of immigrant labor.

the grocery stores within a week of the strikes of immigrant workers and others