huge news in organized labor
| By aschill - Jul 25th, 2005 at 10:22 am EDT |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
So as many of you may have hears, the SEIU and other major unions are boycotting the AFL-CIO's constitutional convention in Chicago this week as a signal of their intent to leave the confederacy of the unions (heh) entirely.
I am far from the most informed person on this topic, but from what I gather, the break in ranks stems from SEIU's leadership wanting to consolidate unions by industry to get greater bargaining rather than AFL-CIO's structure, which is individual unions all belonging to one umbrella federation regardless of industry.
My dilemma in how to react to this development is based on my concern that if these enormous unions, all major contributors to political campaigns and enormously important grassroots teams (yes, still), split, a lot of that money that could be used primarily on Democratic campaigns and causes will now go to self-preservation.
On the other hand, I am not in favor in enforcing solidarity within groups for the sake of political expediency- that's not a progressive m.o., and it happens to young voters a lot. We probably saw the effects of that in the pres election, where we consolidated on electoral muscle above content.
So...I'm hoping people who actually follow union politics regurlarly will chime in and give some guidance.
I am far from the most informed person on this topic, but from what I gather, the break in ranks stems from SEIU's leadership wanting to consolidate unions by industry to get greater bargaining rather than AFL-CIO's structure, which is individual unions all belonging to one umbrella federation regardless of industry.
My dilemma in how to react to this development is based on my concern that if these enormous unions, all major contributors to political campaigns and enormously important grassroots teams (yes, still), split, a lot of that money that could be used primarily on Democratic campaigns and causes will now go to self-preservation.
On the other hand, I am not in favor in enforcing solidarity within groups for the sake of political expediency- that's not a progressive m.o., and it happens to young voters a lot. We probably saw the effects of that in the pres election, where we consolidated on electoral muscle above content.
So...I'm hoping people who actually follow union politics regurlarly will chime in and give some guidance.
!
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development, as well as clearly articulating the
Democratic dilemma in responding to the split. I
would not consider myself an expert on labor
politics, but a co-worker of mine is a former
union organizer, so he has kept me more than
informed on this recent issue.
There is no doubt that the labor movement has
declined in recent years, losing much of it's
political clout and power not only in Washington,
but especially across middle America. The
frustration over that decline is what has brought
the current divide to a boiling point. While I did
not expect the boycott entirely, and am worried
about the potential problems that may arise, I do
have a hope.
The president of the SEIU, Andy Stern, is a
brilliant and impassioned leader, and is (from
what I gather) largely responsible for the split.
He is unhappy with the AFL-CIO's lack of emphasis
on organizing from the ground up, instead choosing
to spend millions on national political
campaigns.
As long as Stern is in charge, I think there is
great hope for a positive transformation of the
labor movement into a much more organized,
dynamic, and powerful political force. As he put
it this weekend, "We're not trying to divide the
labor movement - we're trying to rebuild it. We
have to do everything in our power to help
workers. But when you're going down a road and
it's headed in the wrong direction, and you know
where the road ends, you got to get off the road
and walk in a new direction where there is
hope."
That's my immediate take on the situation, thanks
again for the post.
The unions in the Change to Win coalition are
mostly the unions which are growing. Union
membership is in decline, but the SEIU (for
instance) has been aggressive in organizing new
shops. They want more money from the AFL-CIO to
support those activities.
I blogged this a while back:
http://jgrr.blogspot.com/2005/06/unions.html
did neglect to mention the Change to Win coalition
and recognize their demands of the AFL-CIO.
The Chair of Change to Win is Anna Burger, Vice President of SEIU. She also spoke at the CampusProgress panel on economics. She spoke briefly about this issue, if you want to check the video.
My own experience with SEIU has been great. Burger may be the only person at the conference who asked every attendee viewing the panel to give her a resume since the unions are constantly looking for talented young organizers.
If people have questions, I may be able to answer them. Otherwise, for more background, check out House of Labor at TPMCafe: http://houseoflabor.tpmcafe.com/
Especially associations like the Teachers' Unions, where Republican teachers find themselves uncomfortably shoehorned into what is definitely a left-wing organization.
I think for their own sakes, unions should seek political influence with both sides of the aisle, not operate as partisan Democratic outfits.
Of course, that's separate from the drastic, drastic structural reforms which are necessary within the unions to themselves to adapt to the global economy.