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Trouble in the rank and file?

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  • Trouble in the rank and file?

    The defection of 2 major labor unions from the AFL-CIO could present an interesting challenge for unionized, hourly workers in the immediate future.

    The Teamsters (truck drivers, longshoremen) and the Service Employees International Union (office workers and other service workers) who together have almost 5 million card carrying members, represents a little less than half of all members represented by the AFL-CIO. Two other unions, the Food Workers and a small union called UNITE HERE (hotel and textile workers) are thought to soon also be bolting from the federation.

    Why is this important? Primarily because the reasons for the defection mean that some unionized workers are willing to start a new federation to try to stop job losses and benefit cutbacks that have been eroding their paychecks in recent years. It's also important to Hawai'i because of Hawai'i's geographic isolation.

    Will this mean more labor strikes as contracts come up for renewal? That remains to be seen. But this is the first time since the 1930's that the labor unions are disagreeing with their leadership about direction and demands. What's ironic is that the head of the Teamsters, Jimmy Hoffa Jr. (the son of the man who is reputed to be wearing concrete shoes somewhere in the middle of the Great Lakes), will more than likely become the head of the new federation, which is being called the "Change to Win Coalition" (how much more "Democratic" can you get?)

    Miulang
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

  • #2
    Re: Trouble in the rank and file?

    It's also a profound disagreement over policy. Stern and the SEIU want to spend money organizing; Sweeney and the AFL-CIO want to continue spending money on politicians. (That's way too shallow an explanation, but it'll have to do for now.)

    I'm inclined to agree with Stern; in the current environment where the big industries are fading, focusing on retail workers and all the other service jobholders makes more sense to me than continuing to donate to politicians who currently aren't in power.
    http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

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    • #3
      Re: Trouble in the rank and file?

      My union friend forwarded this to me. Sounds like the union spin-doctors have been hard at work!

      TO: AFSCME MEMBERS
      FROM: GERALD W. McENTEE
      International President
      RE: AFL-CIO CONVENTION THIS WEEK IN CHICAGO
      DATE: JULY 26, 2005

      As you may have seen in recent news reports, the service employees (SEIU), the Teamsters, the textile and hotel workers (UNITE-HERE), and the food and commercial workers (UFCW) announced they are boycotting the AFL-CIO Convention. Their entire so-called "Change to Win Coalition" - which includes the Farm Workers and the Laborers - has also said they will resign their positions on the Federation's Executive Council. And, on Monday, both SEIU and the Teamsters announced they have disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO.

      What caused this?

      For the past year, there has been a spirited debate within the AFL-CIO over proposals to reinvigorate the labor movement. It was a necessary debate because working families and our movement are under unprecedented attack and we need to change.

      Both sides put forward different proposals. President Sweeney, working with all of the unions in the Federation, developed a comprehensive set of reforms that represent real change -- and reflect the best ideas of everyone who has participated in the debate about the future of the labor movement. Sweeney's plan will dramatically step up organizing, create strategic Industry Coordinating Committees to unite workers and their unions who do similar work in similar core industries, and create a year-round member education and mobilization program that won't just focus on national politicians, but on elections at every level, along with issue campaigns.

      While there were still some differences, they were few. In the end, the Change to Win effort was simply a transparent attempt at a power grab. They wanted to replace President Sweeney but they did not have the votes. So they left.

      Our reform agenda is based on four important principles: worker power; real unity; real change; and democratic decision-making.

      * Worker Power. We stand for helping workers build power to change their lives while Change to Win is only about power for themselves. It turns out they were more interested in taking over the AFL-CIO than reforming it.

      * Real Unity. We stand for unity and solidarity -- they're for division and "my way or the highway." We made genuine attempts to compromise -- they bargained in bad faith.

      * Real Change. We stand for changing workers' lives -- they're simply about changing the leadership of the AFL-CIO and getting back their dues. In fact, they are delinquent in paying their dues to the AFL-CIO, totaling $8.5 million. We stand for organizing workers -- they're for subsidizing large affiliates. We embraced real reforms but their bottom line was naming the officers.

      * Democratic Decision-Making. We stand for democracy and bottom-up organizing -- they want a small group of decision-makers and top-down control. They only want the biggest unions to make the big decisions - no matter who that excludes, including women and people of color.

      I'm sure many of you want to know where we go from here. First, we have to continue to make organizing and politics our top priorities. That's why AFSCME has always worked to elect pro-worker politicians and hold them accountable. And that's why AFSCME has organized more than 250,000 public and private sector workers in the last five years. We've doubled our spending on organizing, and we now have one of the most vigorous and focused organizing programs in the labor movement.

      Second, we have to do everything to involve our members and make our union as strong as it can be at every level. We should always do this. But now, we have to be prepared for raids of our members by Change to Win unions, as well as competition for prospective members during organizing campaigns.

      We all know what we have to do. We must grow our ranks and our political power. We will make greater progress growing the labor movement when we have more political power, and we'll have more pro-worker elected officials -- at every level of government -- when we've organized more workers into unions. Through organizing and through politics, we will make the labor movement stronger than it's ever been.

      We are sorry to see SEIU and the Teamsters leave. They're weaker without us; we're all stronger together. But make no mistake - we are going to strengthen AFSCME and the Federation, grow our membership, build worker power and win real victories for working families.

      Here is a background document to give you more information about the debate.

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      • #4
        Re: Trouble in the rank and file?

        I think it's going to get worse before it gets better for the unions. But I do take heart in the historical perspective: once many years ago, the AFL and the CIO were competing unions. Eventually they merged. Now a subset has split off due to ideological differences. Eventually they'll merge again because both sides will realize that they need each other in order to work for their membership. With union membership at a dismal 8% of all workers in this country right now, they have to be able to bring in more people. Their relevance has diminished as our economy has gone from a manufacturing to a service one. The SEIU knows about office workers and other service employees. They are also pretty militant when it comes to fighting to protect their members, which is why I predict that there will be more strikes at those companies who have employees represented by the SEIU.

        Miulang
        "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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        • #5
          Re: Trouble in the rank and file?

          An editorial in the Washington Post which dissects the split in the AFL-CIO. Pretty much thinking along the same lines that I was.

          Miulang
          "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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          • #6
            Re: Trouble in the rank and file?

            This rift between the AFL-CIO and some of its federation members is getting more interesting now. Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers (1.4 million card carrying members) announced they would also be leaving the ranks of the AFL-CIO. This union is the one that represents grocery clerks and some restaurant employees. When the next set of contracts for the grocery workers comes up for renewal, it's going to be interesting to see how militant the new labor coalition will be because SEIU is very aggressive in its demands for its members.

            Miulang
            "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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