Bryn, Utah

I just finished reading your book, Fighting Times. Damn, it was amazing! I'm a part-time UPS Teamsters in Salt Lake City, Utah, and I started at UPS after graduating from the University of Utah where I spent most of my time in SDS {Students for a Democratic Society]! So when I heard you on a podcast talking about your book (I can't even remember which podcast now). Anyway, a book about a former SDSer going into labor? I had to read it! It's what I'm doing!

All to say, thank you so much for writing this book, and of course, for actually DOING everything you wrote about. It's immensly inspiring. And, I have a better idea now of what I'm working towards. The steward situation where I work now is horrible. I don't even know what our steward ratio is or is mandated to be, but I do know that most of our stewards are not activists, and they see their job working well when they are buddies with management. That needs to change, and I'm going to try and change it. I also started a newsletter at my workplace, hopefully it be as widely read and trusted as the Fighting Times was. 

Again, thank you for your writing.

Nate

Hi there! I wanted to reach out to thank you for your decades of dedication and example as a union leader. I was introduced to you through your interview on Trueanon, which happened to be about a week after I had reached out to my local chapter of the UFCW. Reading your book has motivated me to continue organizing this campaign and has provided me with examples of what true leadership and camaraderie looks like. The company is dragging out our election as much as possible, so I’m not exactly sure of our election date quite yet, but I can say with confidence that we will have near unanimous support in the vote when election day does come. Coming together with my coworkers to fight for a better life has been one of the best feelings in the entire world. Thanks for fighting all these years and paving the way for us younger generations (:

Jake, Teamster Steward

Hey! I'm a teamster steward, I absolutely loved Fighting Times. Is there any plan to introduce an audiobook? It's a lot easier for me to recommend books to my fellow workers when they can listen in their trucks.

Thanks so much for the book, and your time.

Bradley, Philadelphia

I’m a member of the Philadelphia Young Communist League and the Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware CPUSA. I’m writing to you because we are establishing a “Little Red Library” which will serve as a free radical book library to the West Philadelphia community. Our goal is to provide a consistent stream of accessible socialist, feminist, abolitionist, LGBTQIA+, etc titles to our working class neighbors. We’re launching a social media campaign (IG: LittleRedLibraryPHL, Twitter: LRLPhilly) which will highlight one book per week that is available at the free library, as well as bringing attention to issues affecting the working class. We would like to ask if you would consider donating a couple books to our project. We’re working on a very limited budget, so we are reaching out to authors and publishers we’re fond of in hopes of also being able to use this as an opportunity to put a spotlight on some wonderful labor-centered educational resources.

Jeff Armstrong, Oakland

I actually finished Fighting Times last week and I can say that I very much enjoyed it. I spent most of my 20's working in factories in South Texas doing machining and fabrication work.

A lot of the stories you had in your time working in factories outside of the auto plants were very familiar to me. It was interesting to finally read the experience of someone from your generation that were the radicals who went to university and then entered the workplace to organize. I was aware of the many thousands of you all who had done this, but hadn't ever read a firsthand account until now.

Very interesting to read that perspective as my experience has been a sort of flipside to yours.

I went to night school and then university while working in factories, doing temp work, and then working in a nursing home. After graduating, I moved out to the Bay Area at the age of 30.

I've been working as a union organizer with nursing home workers for the past seven years now. Three years ago, I was elected to be our staff union's president and we have just come out of a two week strike against our employer SEIU Local 2015. (I was reading your book while building up to our strike and while out on the line.) Many of the struggles you all had with both management and the UAW leadership are still all too present and I took a lot of encouragement from reading about the fights you all had. Took some tactical advice from your book as well!

Cheers on a great book! Happy to hear your struggle against cancer was won as well!

Jason Moritz

An excellent first-hand account of civil rights and labor activism in 1960's Madison and 1970's-80's southeastern Wisconsin. Remember Tom Joad's "I'll Be There" speech from John Steinbeck's GRAPES OF WRATH? Jon Melrod uses bullhorns, newsletters, stickers, buttons and a whole lot of Ukrainian chutzpah to battle for much more in his FIGHTING TIMES! Very inspirational and highly recommended.

Andrew Chebuhar,
AFSCME Local 215, Chicago:

I mean wow...I could just sense the fear involved in the struggles of your workers...It's colorful and controversial in a way that non political people would find interesting…

Louis Postel,
Award-Winning Publisher, Design Times, San Francisco, CA:

A suspenseful, dramatic, inspiring read from cover to cover.

Rosette, Antioch, CA:

Very good book. I didn’t realize how bad working conditions were in factories in the 1970’s No mask, protective clothing, flimsy gloves and no regard for the health of the worker. Jon Melrod, sought to form Unions wherever he work to keep management from taking advantage of workers and to ensure they got good pay, benefits, and the right to strike if their grievances were not met. Im so glad you explained how the union worked and the many people involved.Jon was called a trouble maker by the authorities in the 1970’s because that was the sentiment of the country at that time.

Clare Shimabukuro:

I bought two copies of your book1 month ago and sent one to Ray. I also sent Danielle the link. Have done one cursory read and re-reading specific parts again. I’m going to give copies to all of the young activists I’ve been mentoring.

Thank you for writing this. You’ve institutionalized what it takes to make change: serious organizing, courage, thinking on one’s feet, finding ways to link the bigger pic to the shop floor and more - well done, Jon. Also, the actions (Philly, Tupelo, etc) bring me back to the days spent in Chicago. Mahalo Nui Loa and solidarity.

Anthony Timmons, London:

An exciting on the ground, real world account of radical organizing back during the mid-west’s heavy industry days in the late sixties to mid 80's. Many lessons which might otherwise be lost to history for modern day organizers to glean.

I think your book is exciting, nail-biting stuff! Loved it! Also, exciting and fun! A must read.

Greg Blevins, Charleston SC:

An excellent book! Brother Melrod has done an outstanding job in writing this!

With the successes and failures this book spells out, it is a must-read for today’s rising generation of activists, whether they are organizing and fighting for class, racial, gender, and environmental justice at Amazon, Starbucks, other workplaces, or elsewhere.

Claudia, Syracuse, NY:

You stayed true to your convictions, Bravo and now are recognized.

Maria Diakos

I hope you are doing well, I'm a 20 year old college student who's trying to break into student organizing. I have a lot of friends working at places like UPS as well as other factory jobs, and I've previously done a lot of solidarity work with Teamsters, as well as anti imperialist work with Filipino and Palestinian groups. I'm less sort of informed about student organizing. I read your book, as well as listened to the episode of TrueAnon you were on. The part about how you began combatting ROTC at your university is inspiring. There are a lot of Military Recruiters on my college campus. A national guard recruitment center is quite literally next to the dorm I stay at. I'm trying with my local organization to try give as much grief as I possibly can to these guys. You were doing a lot of work at a time when there was a draft, and a widely unpopular war going on. I was wondering if you could give me some advice on this endeavor. Love your writings, hope you will get back to me.

John C.

I first heard you on the TrueAnon podcast. I enjoyed your interview alot! So much so that I bought your book. I've read about 100 pages of it so far and I feel a connection to your story. I too, was recently let go from my job for complicated circumstances, but primarily I suspect they are letting me go because I won a grievance and I've become an active member of my union. We have arbitration coming up in a few months but for now, I'm almost fully unemployed and depressed about how it all went down. I'm looking for other work but the market isn't great in my field right now.

Things are so bad at my former workplace, some of us have even started talking about striking. Our CBA expired a few days ago. We are nowhere close to a successor agreement. Yet a significant portion of the membership seems okay continuing without a contract. They're scared. Some of them just can't afford to risk losing pay. I can understand, but I worry if we let admin walk over us we risk losing the union entirely.

I guess my question to you is, how do you get your membership active and caring about contracts? And when you were waiting for your NLRB complaint to work itself out how did you keep your spirits up?

Noah, Brooklyn

My name is Noah. I’m 23 and currently living in Brooklyn though I’m from Philadelphia. My senior year of college I was organizing with a group called K-SWOC for a wall to wall undergraduate students workers union and last summer I attended a Cornell program for corporate strategic research. I heard your episode or Trueanon and am reading fighting times. On the episode I remember you mentioning that you have suggestions for folks that might be interested in salting. Which is something Im definitely considering so I thought I’d reach out.

In Solidarity,

Damon Di Cicco,
Organizer and Council Rep, Oregon AFSCME, Portland

Fighting Times is full of inspiring stories for those of us out doing the work of organizing today. Melrod's journey shows what can be achieved when rank and file unionism manages to be both brave and pragmatic, and how the common interests of workers can transcend the conflicting politics of individuals. On top of that, it's just fun to read these stories of workers taking bully bosses down a peg!

Ralph Fortune

Jon, a group of us in Providence, RI are going to be reading, discussing, and learning from Fighting Times. It brought back forgotten memories for me.

Bon Smock

Some very useful details in this book on organizing in manufacturing. It’s also a well-written, all-around enjoyable read, to boot. I just finished reading it this weekend.

In the past month or so, I’ve gotten to know Jon a bit. We’ve talked on the phone twice about the situation in the UAW and Southern auto. Jon agrees strongly that there needs to be an emphasis in the contemporary socialist movement on the importance of organizing in strategic sectors of heavy industry, particularly auto, other vehicle production, and related sectors.

Sixties activist from Milwaukee:

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Jon Melrod's book "Fighting Times", partially of course to relive our "glory days" of activism in the 60's & 70's.  But more importantly, I think it contains many important lessons for today as well.  Young (and not-so-young) activists today can learn a lot to help in our current struggles for unionization in the service sector, to beat back the right-wing tide, and many other lessons relevant to today. I highly recommend it – great read!

Sam, Louisiana

First off, I want to say that i enjoyed your book immensely. I’ve been reading over the last few months after seeing Brace from TrueAnon link to its sale over the holidays, and it has really opened my eyes to what is possible with a cohort of people dedicated to militant, direct action to improve labor conditions in the U.S.

I am about to graduate college in Louisiana next month, having been pre-med and planning on attending medical school until last year. I’ve always excelled at school, yet I feel no drive or want to continue with my previous goals (which I had made as a young high-schooler with little idea of what I wanted to do with my life besides desiring a prestigious job with a high income, though my priorities have drastically changed since). I’ve currently been planning on pursuing biological research in Boston, where my older brother lives and who I will likely be moving in with later in the year. I made this choice simply because it’s a job I have some experience in that is also in the field of my major in Biology, yet I don’t feel particularly excited to pursue this career.

From reading the experiences from your book (and listening to you, Brace, and Liz on TrueAnon), for the first time in my life, I feel like I’ve found a path for my future that I actually want to do. I consider myself far left, but I haven’t read enough theory or writings to find what specific faction i fall into. I’m tired of only ever seeing constant arguing between leftists about the best ways to promote socialism, so I want to actually work towards making my beliefs a reality some day. Your book has greatly inspired me, yet I am unsure of how to start. I plan on moving to Boston this fall, and I wanted to reach out for some guidance or advice.

Thanks so much for sharing your story, and I hope you are doing well!

Dawson from Instagram:

Just ordered! So excited to get my hands and eyes on this!

David Feldman, Rank and file member of ATU Local 1005:

Simply put, Fighting Times is required reading for anyone wanting to understand class struggle and working class empowerment. When radical politics aren't left to rot in the dead end of academia, you end up with inspiring accounts like this one.

Lena, Sebastopol, CA:

A very timely and compelling read!

So relevant to today's reborn Union movement and the continuing fight for dignity! I am part of the ‘older generation’ and I feel Fighting Times is valuable for both today’s young people and those of us who’ve been around, but still feel the need for a change in the current social order.

George, Toledo, OH:

This is George from Jeep back in the late 70's and early 80's.  I think I wrote an article for the Fighting Times regarding Forced Overtime.

I loved your book and congratulate you on a life well lived.  I too started out as a campus radical at Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio. One of my buddies was wounded at Kent State on May 4th 1970. When I experienced a Wildcat Strike on the first day I went in to work at Jeep on Friday March 11, 1977 in Toledo, I knew this was the job for a campus radical like me.
 
I'm still trying to change the UAW after 45 years. I'm not on the assembly line anymore.  I'm in Skilled Trades but it's no picnic.  They are trying to eliminate us.  One of our Skilled Trades workers hung himself at Jeep last December because they won't recognize seniority anymore in the Skilled Trades.  I was elected committeeman for the Skilled trades in 2015 and presided over the nationwide defeat of the Chrysler contract back then.

Snaccron @ snaccrondsa:

Comrades I've been fortunate enough to get a copy of this book and I can tell you it's extremely helpful for those of us committed to the long, slow, and often brutal task of dedicating your whole being to win power for the working class.