What is a "union flying squad"?

[Bitter Ashes]

Maybe I'm not as smart as I sometimes think I am and I'm having difficulty understanding this concept. I only stumbled across it today by accident while I was on Wikipedia and despite me trying to find more information, I've been able to find very little that's particualy easy to understand.

So, what is a union flying squad? As far as I can tell, it's an organisation that is within a union that carries out unofficial actions to further the goals of the union, workers and workers movement. I got that much, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around whether there have been any such activity in say, the last 12 months.

The factory occupations in Visteon and Vestas for example. Were they flying squads? Or is it more like the FAI in the CNT? Or is it something completly different, or all of these things? I'm confused. :(

[ls]

It's not that hard to grasp really.

They are basically affinity groups- autonomous groups who work within movements on a non-hierarchical basis, contributing to the overall struggle via direct action of some sort (it isn't one set thing), a union flying squad is just the same really, but a union flying squad usually refers to people unhappy with the union bureaucracy and usually it's set within the context of people within one union, although not always (and it shouldn't be).

The 'union flying squads' at Visteon obviously didn't work as the union crushed workers' militancy so ya know.

Wikipedia provides a good example of them in Spain: http://www.rantcollective.net/article.php?id=33.

[Pierson's]

having just had a look at the wikipedia article, i don't think that the action has to be union activity, just worker activity. i always thought of it as something like a group of people who participated in strike action against the wishes of the union bureaucracy. perhaps goign from one work palce to another supporting strikers, or something similar.

thinking about it, there is a mobile 'flying squad' as part of teh london police, so i guess a workers flying squad is also mobile.

here are a couple of quotes:

Most of the union activists at this action were organized in flying squads. A flying squad is an association of union activists who confront our bosses and their lackeys by disrupting the normal operations of their organizations, much like during a strike. When workers go on strike we do not only withdraw our labour, but we also disrupt the functioning of our workplaces. Flying squads take this tactic beyond their own workplaces, challenging the effects of capitalism and the forms of oppression that capitalism mobilizes. Supporting striking workers, as well as unorganized, unemployed, and unpaid workers, stopping deportations, challenging abusive landlords, and mobilizing for mass protests against capitalist globalization are some of the activities that flying squads in Canada have engaged in.
my bold added that's from this article: www .newsocialist.org/magazine/40/article04.html

[The Ungovernable Farce]

We could really use some flying squads of posties to target the special casual mail centres that Royal Mail's setting up.

[Pogue]

Yeh essentially they are mobile affinity groups who do solidarity work often incorporating direct action. They're used in militant strikes as well as anti-fascist activity (well, same name, slightly different role but with the same emphasis).

[chegitz guevara]

A flying squad is a group of people who do what needs to be done. They are sent around to put out fires, shore up support, break scab knee caps, whatever.

[blake 3:17]

I've been involved in two, each in different unions. One was regional and based on the national union, the other was folks from one local. Basically it acts as network to get stuff done. They're relatively informal and entirely voluntary and helps to give a common activist focus for union members. Primary focusses were anti racist and anti poverty issues and strike solidarity for workers in any union.

They're quite effective for getting and keeping people active around various political issues especially when there's not a whole lot of union work to do (usually collective bargaining or the lead up to it).

Edited to add a side note: They are also less politically adventurous "flying squads" that have been set during recent public sector strikes in Ontario -- primarily providing picket line support. I worked on one where the main focus was making sure that pickets were functioning OK, that people weren't dehydrated or hungry, had the tools to do their picket duty and distribute newsletters. School board music teachers have had a couple where they went picket to picket playing music for their fellow strikers. Again not so political, but very welcome in keeping strikers morale up. These were approved by the official leadership but also created some opportunities for strikers to know what else was going on beyond their picket.