Big Labor Breakup

[Tweed]

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/business/labor_and_workplace

'LOS ANGELES - Frustrated with the AFL-CIO's direction, the presidents of five major national unions representing about a third of U.S. union members on Wednesday formed a coalition aimed at restoring power to the waning labor movement through a series of aggressive, coordinated organizing campaigns. The move was widely viewed as the first step toward a split in the 50-year-old AFL-CIO, a federation of 57 national unions that has been losing membership and power for decades. Four of the five union leaders have openly discussed leaving the larger body, complaining that its leadership is stodgy and defeatist.'

[Warpy]

1. Gee whiz, sounds like a certain political party I know about

"Four of the five union leaders have openly discussed leaving the larger body, complaining that its leadership is stodgy and defeatist. "

[Sandpiper]

2. Labor needs some sort of shake up

The AFL-CIO has become a decaying corpse. Something needs to be done to revitalize the labor movement.

[meganmonkey]

3. Especially given what they have to fight against now

with outsourcing, pension losses, etc...

[newswolf56]

4. This may be the best thing that's happened...

...to organized labor in a long while. Apart from the obvious -- outsourcing, downsizing, inadequate pay, diminishing medical insurance -- the expressions of exploitation have become a lot more subtle than they were during the last great heyday of organizing drives (before, throughout and immediately after the Depression), and many workers feel unionization is not an adequate defense. My fervent hope is that this new alliance will redefine and refocus accordingly. The very best that could happen is for the Democratic Party itself to again become actively pro-union (even more than it was during the FDR years) -- for a nationwide organization drive to be part of every Democratic political campaign, local state or national.

Of course what we really need is a true LABOR Party (and I know for a fact many union activists -- fed up with Democratic betrayals like Clinton's support of NAFTA -- are thinking in that direction).

[denverbill]

5. NAFTA is killing unions, imo.

I think it's about time labor started demanding labor friendly candidates from the Democratic Party. If I were them, I would challenge the NAFTA friendly Democrats to commit to ending NAFTA in writing or have labor run their own Labor Party candidate against him.

Democrats have become the party of nothing. They pretend to be pro-labor, then vote for NAFTA. The pretend to be for the little guy, but vote for restrictive bankruptcy laws.

We need a party that truly is of and for labor. If not the Democrats, then somebody else.

[DemBones DemBones]

10. Dennis Kucinich is one Democrat who opposes NAFTA

and promised to dismantle it when he became president.

But, no, we had to go with someone more electable. . . :eyes:

[Shakespeare]

6. Agree. SEIU has been pushing for this for a few years now.

SEIU is big, loud and VERY active. We need ALL of the unions to be as involved as they are.

[gizmo1979]

7. This will be a good thing.

Sweeny lost sight of what he was fighting for and who.Big labor needs a wakeup call and this is a good way to start.

[Blue_Tires]

8. i think so

let's hope this lights a fire under them

[AirAmFan]

9. Good riddance! The craft unions ALWAYS have held back mass

organizing, because their interests often are the OPPOSITE of less skilled workers'. Their fundamental strategy is RESTRICTING entry into and even knowledge about their licensed skilled professions, to drive their salaries WAY up, while less skilled workers' strategy must be to grab a little power over their working environments by reaching out to unorganized millions.

The recent disbanding of the "New Unity Partnership" is a case in point. The Bush-supporting Carpenters Union was a very bad fit with SEIU. "Purple Ocean" is a much better strategy than continuing to let skilled craft unions kill labor as a mass movement.

From American Prospect, at http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=9054 :

"Time's Up for the NUP: As unions buzz with talk of reform, a union-reform alliance folds its tent.

By Harold Meyerson 01.18.05

It was one of those classic strange-bedfellow alliances. When the New Unity Partnership (NUP), a consortium of five international unions, formed in summer 2003 ..., it brought together three of labor�s most progressive unions -- the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), UNITE (the clothing and textile workers union), and HERE (the hotel employees union) -- with two unions from the more conservative side of labor�s spectrum: the Laborers and the Carpenters. Indeed, the Carpenters, having hosted several Labor Day events with President George W. Bush, was the only significant American union that boasted of its ties to Bush's decidedly anti-union administration....

The Prospect has learned, however, that on January 4 ... the presidents of the NUP unions ... met in Washington and decided to disband the alliance....

The debate in labor was kicked into high gear just after the November election, with the SEIU's release of a position paper..."