Teamsters, workers break from AFL-CIO

[davhill]

<http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&e=1&u=/nm/20050725/bs_nm/economy_labor_dc>

The defection by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union was a huge blow to the 13 million-member AFL-CIO, which stands to lose more than one-third of its membership and may see an erosion in its influence over Democratic Party politics.

---snip---

"We have been disappointed over the last 10 years with the decline in membership. The AFL-CIO idea is to keep throwing money at politicians. We say no," Teamsters president James Hoffa said. "We are going to do something new."




Democrats better start reinventing themselves.

[HereSince1628]

1. Why pay dues to feed K street lobbyists at fancy restaurants when

they don't deliver?

Of course, this has a lot to do with the unfortunate DLC influence on the party over the last decade, but then the AFL-CIO lobbyists were workers defense against that influence.

If you find your dog won't hunt, its time to start feeding a new dog.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. It is illegal to use union dues money

to pay lobbyists.

[HereSince1628]

8. I don't think that is quite right

I appreciate that there have been rulings that individuals couldn't be compelled to pay dues for political lobbying.

And I appreciate that campaign finance reform put limits on union contributions to candidates.

If you have a citation that states that unions can't lobby local, state, and federal government I be interested in your sharing that with me.

[Chicago Democrat]

2. SAMUEL GOMPERS spinning in his grave!

FOOLS! maybe it will help... I hope.... but think not

[Ysolde]

3. The reality that caused this schism is tragic

The American worker has totally forgotten how they got the wages and benefits that they currently enjoy. Because of that, they don't "need" to be unionized, so here we are with the major unions fighting among themselves. I agree that the AFL-CIO leadership had not done the things that needed to be done (private jets, anyone?), but this is all just a symptom of the larger structural problems we have in this economy. I just hope that this really does help membership because right now we don't have much more than those few unions standing between us and wages equivalent to India.

[Toots]

4. Fuck the Teamsters

They used scab labor to build their new Teamster Union Hall in Houston Tx in late ninties. The teamsters are the Zell Millers of the Unions.

[kodi]

9. yeap, the AFof L - CIO never trusted the Teamsters

most folk have no memory of the teamsters and how they operated. in walter reuthers days, he threatened to pull the UAW out of the AF of L-CIO if the teamsters were allowed in the group because of the blatant corruption in the teamsters.

hell, there were times when the heads of local teamaters unions made more than the president of the UAW. unlike the UAW, for generations the teamsters held closed books about their membership funds. no simple union member could look and see where the money went. in the UAW, all you had to do was present your union card at the local and you had access to where the money was going.

maybe its because i grew up in a family with UAW and Steelworkers union membership, but we always considered the teamsters one step up from gangsters.

[Lisaben2619]

6. I bleed union blood but

I can only hope this will help us. I supported third party candidates in some elections in 04 and very few of them even got an interview from labor groups, much less an endorsement (even when they were the canidates with the best labor stances).
As a PACE member, I watched as our union organizers got the necessary votes to bring the union in to a shop just to have to fold when they reached impasse with the Company because we didn't have the funds to support more negotiating. But, there was plenty of money for Kerry. I'd prefer to spend money on organizing rather than on free-traders who call themselves Democrats.

[Writer]

7. "Democrats better start reinventing themselves."

No, damn it! I want to go BACK to the days of Hoffa, McGovern and Mondale!

:sarcasm:

[brentspeak]

10. The Democratic Party could instantly reverse this fractioning

by simply doing what they should have done for the past 25 years: getting everybody on board to promise to fight off-shoring, CAFTA, etc.

Only the top 15% Republican rich have anything to gain from off-shoring and CAFTA. Why not appeal to the rest of the nation (ie. the majority of voters) and take up arms against the fleecing of the American worker?

[billyoc]

11. They never should have let the teamsters back *INTO*

the AFL-CIO in the first place, I'll be glad to see the back of them. As for the SEIU, they have these massive 10k worker organizing drives, then the workers never see their union reps after that. You can't just organize workers, you have to represent them as well.

[Judi Lynn]

12. From the Houston Chronicle:Labor split hits close to home for Democrats

July 26, 2005, 4:01AM

Labor split hits close to home for Democrats
Some in the party worry about the future of union support
By RON FOURNIER
Associated Press

CHICAGO - The AFL-CIO splintered on Monday in a dispute over the future of the fading labor movement, and the exodus could have enormous political implications for pro-labor Democrats.

Democratic politicians catch most of the AFL-CIO donations, one reason why party leaders worry about a weakened federation. The AFL-CIO also spends millions on programs that help get Democratic voters to turn out on Election Day.

Some Democrats said Monday they hoped the warring factions would come back together. Others suggested the competition would jolt organized labor out of its decades-old slumber.

"We're in uncharted waters," said Democratic consultant David Axelrod of Chicago. "Obviously, you have to believe a unified and coordinated effort is better than a disparate one and, obviously, the labor movement is a vital part of the Democratic coalition."
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/3281874
(Free registration required)

[icymist]

13. (WA) State's unions confront the need for change (Related story)

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

State's unions confront the need for change

By PAUL NYHAN AND BRAD WONG
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS

Yesterday's split in the U.S. labor movement is over workers such as Patricia Scarberry.

Scarberry earns $10.70 an hour teaching kids at Tiny Tots Development Center in Rainier Beach, and she struggles. She may be a far cry from the traditional union worker, but she is the movement's future. Child care is one of the fields expected to grow in the coming years, and two of the AFL-CIO's biggest unions left the "union of unions" yesterday, in part, over how to reach people such as Scarberry.

The Service Employees International Union and Teamsters formally broke ranks over disagreements on recruiting and what some said is the organization's resistance to change.

<snip>

One reason: The fight that prompted the split is occurring more at a national level.

"We don't expect to have adversarial relationships with the Teamsters or the SEIU," said David Groves, a Washington State Labor Council spokesman.

"Part of the frustration is (that) the unions who have left, they haven't had any grievances with us at the state level," he added. "In that respect, we're like children who are victims of a divorce."

(More)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/234011_localreax26.html

[Lisaben2619]

14. Fission and Fizzle in Chicago

"The American flag was raised, anthems sung and a prayer said over the delegates by Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki urging them to defend workers, poor people and "unborn babies". Maybe he was making the point that the unborn at least have some fiery organizations strenuously defending their interests."

http://www.counterpunch.org/jw07262005.html