Two unions leave AFL-CIO

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=e428dac35d9b606e

The Laborers' International Union and the International Union of Operating Engineers said Tuesday they were leaving the AFL-CIO.

The two unions, two of the largest in the United States and have 1.1 million members between them, will leave the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department to form a new organization.

Both unions will join several other construction trade unions in founding the National Construction Alliance, which will represent virtually all union basic trades workers in the United States.

The NCA will focus on helping lift working and living standards for the nation's approximately 8 million construction workers, increasing the union share of the construction market and helping union contractors compete in today's construction industry.
more...
The decline of the AFLCIO and the birth of a new Union...

[Selteri]

1. Hopefully this will be good news for another generation or two...

If this union is as good as it can be for 50 years it could radically improve the landscape of the economy for all involved.

*On Edit*

For further explanation - The industry they represent is about to go a radical redevelopement and modernization unimagined 50 years ago, this new organization might me agile enough to handle this challenge better than the AFL-CIO ever could.

[MrPrax]

2. Two More Unions...??

Teamsters, SEIU quit AFL-CIO

Two major unions become first of disenchanted groups to abandon labor federation.
July 25, 2005

CHICAGO (CNN) - The Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union voted Monday to withdraw from the AFL-CIO.

The announcement came on the first day of the 50-year-old labor federation's annual meeting.

James Hoffa of the Teamsters and Andy Stern of SEIU told reporters they each notified AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on Monday morning in a letter after their executive boards unanimously agreed to disaffiliate.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/25/news/economy/boycott/?cnn=yes

Laboring to Stay Together
The odds on the AFL-CIO's dissolution

by Harold Meyerson

June 26, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC - At the topmost ranks of American labor, the great game of chicken proceeds apace. Dissident unions threaten the AFL-CIO with dissolution in the immediate aftermath of the Federation's late July convention. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney clearly commands the votes to win re-election, but in a Monday press conference here, took pains to assure his critics that he still wants to meet with them. He is also open to increasing the funding for organizing - one of the dissidents' chief demands.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8166

[Toots]

3. Fuck the Teamsters..any union that uses scabs to build their union hall

Ain't no real union. I would never support those bastards. Google Teamster hall in Houston TX. They actually hired scabs to build their Union Hall because Union workers cost them too much money....:crazy: What have the Unions done for America anyway? I'm speaking only about since Bush* took office. I know of their long and distinguished past but that is past. What are they doing now? They are losing people every day because they just don't stand up for America. They are allowing the Republican to infiltrate and walk all over them and it is causing the disintergration of the Unions. Hoffa is the main traitorous bastard but more are following in his footsteps. Unless the Unions stand by me, why should I stand by them?

[MrPrax]

4. I tend to agree...

to some extend.

It might actually be a good thing that the unions are leaving the AFL-CIA--it might make them a little more relevent and accountable to local members.

In other words, it might save the union movement, which history has unfortunately superceded.
But yeah--I know people see it as a strange union (pardon the pun) with SEIU and the Teamsters....they are like oil and water and the Teamsters do have way too much baggage to ever consider them as any serious champion of the workingman.

In most cases, the Teamster's legacy has been to shakedown and hurt working people.

[davsand]

5. UNITE also left AFL-CIO.

Needle workers and textile workers left AFL-CIO at the same time the others did.

My biggest fear is that without the solidarity of one major labor organization the voices of many will be lost in the shuffle. While I understand that some feel AFL-CIO is not the best, I see nothing on the horizon to replace it. In these times it would seem to me that even a flawed unity would be a strength.



Laura