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July 25, 2005
Monday--First Thoughts
Rising here early to jump on Democracy Now! radio program. They wanted a brief soundbite for a lead-in to the program which got me thinking...what is the message this morning?
Obviously, the first thing to anticipate is the press conference at 1 p.m. where SEIU will announce it is leaving the Federation. Jim Hoffa, prez of the Teamsters, is holding a conference call with his board to make a decision on the union's future in the AFL-CIO. There is no question that there is a strong sentiment within the Teamsters to pull out of the Federation, which probably is a mix of Hoffa's dislike of Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka (you know, some of this personal shit matters) and the on-going issues the Teamsters have over jurisdiction fights. Whether the trigger gets pulled this afternoon...well, tune in later...
I think people have a slight hangover after the day's events. Last night, I walked through the bar of the Sheraton (I was way too tired to actually drink myself) and chatted with a few people. I think there is a feeling that, well, at least, the anticipation is over--people know that the threats by the Coalition To Win were real.
We know the negotiations to make a deal failed. In talking yesterday, right after the Sweeney election rally, to Gerry McEntee, president of AFSCME, he indicated that the negotiations failed because of the issue of a successor to Sweeney, both over the proposed process and the names being floated (Laborers President Terry O'Sullivan or UNITE HERE's John Wilhelm). There was a fair amount of grumbling from the pro-Sweeney folks that the Coalition was not negotiating in good faith and that this whole affair was, in Steelworkers president Leo Gerard's words, just a naked power grab.
From the coalition's standpoint, they see it as a matter of a gap of principles and programs for the future. It wasn't just the difference in dollars between what should be invested in organizing versus politics--which, at the AFL-CIO level, wasn't a huge difference. It was, as they see it, a difference in how to redefine the purpose and power of the AFL-CIO, both by streamlining what it did and also giving it more authority to hold member unions accountable, particularly for organizing strategies.
Is there a labor book to be written, "You Just Don't Understand!!!"
July 25, 2005 in Labor | Permalink
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Check out these two quotes, pulled from the NYT article today, i've gathered two conclusions from them, 1. solidarity is good, 2. solidarity is good, however the Change to Win Unions are on par with Walmart and the Bush administration in fucking workers.
Ridiculous.
"Not to attend the convention, especially when the differences that remain between our proposals are so narrow, is an insult to their union brothers and sisters, and to all working people," he said. "It's far easier to tear down a union movement than to build one. America's working people cannot afford for unions to declare 'it's my way or the highway' when workers are under the biggest assault in 80 years."
"Before 2,000 Sweeney supporters, Linda Chavez-Thompson, Mr. Sweeney's running mate for executive vice president, laid into several entities that she said had sought to weaken labor - the Bush administration, the United States Chamber of Commerce, Wal-Mart - and then she surprised her audience by adding, "the Change to Win Coalition.""
Posted by: LaborDude | Jul 25, 2005 10:31:14 AM
SEIU Disaffiliates From National AFL-CIO to Concentrate on Strategies to Unite Millions More Working People
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which with 1.8 million members was the largest and fastest growing union in the AFL-CIO, has officially disaffiliated from the national federation, effective today.
The disaffiliation letter from SEIU President Andrew L. Stern noted that SEIU has in the past nine years “developed new strategies and new priorities to ensure that workers in our sectors of the economy have their hard work valued and rewarded.”
As a result, SEIU has helped more than 900,000 workers – most of them low-wage people of color, immigrants, and working women – to join the union movement and in so doing to gain health coverage for their families, retirement benefits, and the training, staff, and tools to provide quality service.
“We know that all the leaders of the AFL-CIO would like to see a world where workers’ efforts are valued and rewarded,” Stern said in the letter to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “But for many years, and particularly in the past nine months, our members and leaders have concluded that there are sincere, fundamental, and irreconcilable disagreements about how to accomplish that goal.
“We respect every one of those who have heartfelt ideas that differ from ours, and recognize and appreciate that they too have devoted their lives to the union movement. But there comes a time where if we can’t reach agreement on basic principles, we should each devote our efforts and resources to pursuing strategies we believe will help working people navigate the rough waters of the global economy, while supporting each other’s efforts wherever we can.”
Stern said SEIU intends to coordinate with the AFL-CIO and its individual unions and focus efforts on the nearly 90 percent of U.S. workers who have no union, not the few who are already organized. SEIU will seek no-raid agreements with other unions and will cooperate on strategies to help workers unite their strength in their core industries or occupations – regardless of whether the cooperating unions are in or out of the AFL-CIO.
It also will partner with the AFL-CIO to achieve common goals on issues important to working families and will contribute financially to those efforts.
SEIU has asked its local unions to continue to participate in and make payments to central labor councils and state labor federations as in the past.
SEIU is one of the 7 unions, representing nearly 6 million workers, that have come together to form the Change To Win Coalition in order to coordinate strategies to help millions more workers form unions in their industries.
“We believe that the next decade can be a time of innovation, new strategies, new energy, new growth, and new ideas that will bring to life a new, 21st century American Dream,” Stern said.
# # #
Posted by: anon | Jul 25, 2005 2:04:26 PM
I have been a union member my whole working life. As a member of the IBB, I have seen things decline tremendously. The leadership of the unions I am familiar with are selling us all out. Corprate America along with politicians and lobbyist have teamed up to crush unions leaving member totally helpless,telling members if you don't like whats going on just leave the membership. Thanks for nothing. My whole life revolves around union jobs, wages, insurance, and pensions and they want us to throw it all away if we disagree with their veiws. No one reports on the point of veiw of members,we're loosing our rights daily. My union does not allow votes on contracts and our leaders are now appointed by the Inernationl President. If thats not enough another recent slap in the face was when Louisiana's Democratic Governer Blanco saw to it that her personal freind and union buster,corporate executive Jim Bernhard, would lead the Democratic party in Louisiana. What an iorny, Blanco uses union campaign contributions to win her bid for the Louisiana Govorner's seat and then puts the CEO of Louisiana's biggest nonunion company in charge of leading Democrates and soliciting campaign funds from union members.Where is the outrage, who is speaking up for the working man. The reason union membership is declining is nonunion companies have control of local, state and federal politicians which allows an enviorment for these scabs to monopolize these industries, therfore members leave simply because there are no other job options. Union workers are highly skilled and deeply rooted and if they can not get a union job then what is it they should do. I guess they could be like me.......... I made 19,000 dollars last year and I will be union untill I die, but how many people are going to sacrafice wages for principle, not many, so as long as rats control the workplace union members will suffer. I would like to see one news report on the true life of a union tradesman in the southern United States. GOOD LUCK
Posted by: Thomas Neumann | Jul 25, 2005 3:57:16 PM
