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History and Activities of The Solidarity Committee of the
Capital District, Guest article by Larry Wittner
By mickielynn on 2010-07-29 07:15:51
The Solidarity Committee of the Capital District is an all-volunteer organization committed to building a just, peaceful,
and cooperative society. Composed of activists from local labor unions and the community, it has struggled for more than
two decades to defend workers' rights, promote social and economic equality, foster peace, and protect the environment.
The Solidarity Committee began in November 1983, when, in the midst of a bitter strike by members of the Amalgamated
Transit Union against the Greyhound corporation, union members in the capital district organized a Strikers Support
Committee. Led by John Funiciello, the committee staged large, pro-labor demonstrations at the Greyhound bus terminal in
Albany and helped turn the tide in labor's favor. After the settlement of the strike, Albany union activists, determined to
continue this kind of successful mobilizing effort, renamed the strike support committee the Solidarity Committee of the
Capital District. In the years since then, the Solidarity Committee has held monthly meetings open to all, reported
regularly on workers' struggles to the Albany County Central Federation of Labor, and published a monthly newsletter
(Solidarity Notes, mailed free of charge to a thousand activists). It has participated in nearly every union organizing drive,
strike, or contract struggle in the capital district--leafleting, swelling picket lines and leading chants, raising support funds,
and sometimes working with the union leadership to plan strike strategy. In addition, it has held public forums on the
harmful effects of NAFTA, worked with unions and environmental groups to defeat the devastating James Bay hydroelectric
project, exposed corporate exploitation and criminality, co-sponsored annual May Day celebrations of workers’ rights,
helped build opposition to the Bush administration's reckless foreign policy, and opposed agribusiness by opposing
dangerous pesticides and rallying support for family farms. The Solidarity Committee initiated the annual Martin Luther
King, Jr. and the Labor Movement celebrations in Albany, and has continued to co-sponsor them along with an ever-
widening group of racial justice and labor organizations. It has also sponsored film series, in which movies focusing on
social justice are shown free of charge in the local community. In addition, the Solidarity Committee sponsors an annual
Labor Day picnic, featuring speeches by union and political leaders, awards to local activists, and labor songs. At these and
other events, the Solidarity Committee has sold or distributed thousands of activist buttons and stickers, among them a
bumper sticker of its own design, "Tax the Rich." The Solidarity Committee also makes financial contributions to (and is
sometimes a member of) other organizations, including the Capital District Worker Center, the Citizens Environmental
Coalition, the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, the Labor-Religion Coalition, the National Labor Committee, and
the Rural Coalition. Funding for most of the Solidarity Committee's activities comes from annual, voluntary dues
payments made by several dozen unions and labor councils and from many local union and community activists. To help
cover the costs of particularly expensive events, such as the Labor Day picnic, funds for them are sometimes solicited
separately. The executive committee of the Solidarity Committee is composed of John Funiciello (Newspaper Guild,
chair), Doug Bullock (Public Employees Federation), Susan DuBois (Public Employees Federation), Jeff Levitt (American
Postal Workers Union, secretary), and Larry Wittner (United University Professions, treasurer). The Solidarity Committee
maintains an office and holds its monthly business meetings at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave, Albany, New York.
--Larry Wittner, founding member
