Not exactly a labor
of love
By Molly Ivins, from
the StarTelegram.com on the Web, August 8, 2005
AUSTIN -- Solidarity Forev--
ooops, make that Solidarity Later.
Organized labor is weak, but unorganized labor is a lot weaker. That's
what's splitting the AFL-CIO. You may think this is none of your beeswax,
but if you work in this country, you owe labor big-time. And I'm talking
to you, white-collar worker.
This is not about the old stuff -- 40-hour workweek, unemployment insurance,
health benefits, safety regs, etc. This is about right now, today.
The money that controls this administration is out to screw you -- it's your
pension on the line, your salary on the line and your job on the line. If
your company can replace you cheaper, you are gone, buddy. And this
administration is pushing jobs overseas just as quickly as it can.
The split is not a case of good guys vs. bad guys -- it's good guys vs. (we
hope) some better guys.
John Sweeney, current head of the AFL-CIO, is not only one of the world's nicest
people -- he's also pretty tough. Sweeney and his team have been fighting
like pit bulls, but the deck is increasingly stacked against them. (How's
that for mixing metaphors?)
Since the Republicans have taken over the executive branch, myriad executive
orders, administrative changes and the stacking of the National Labor Relations
Board have quietly been implemented. The result is that organized labor is
now hemorrhaging.
The larger result can be seen in the whole picture of stagnant wages, the frozen
minimum wage and corporate gains against labor on every front.
It won't stop. The Bush administration is in a war to the death against
labor. It even intervened to block a California law that says employers
cannot use taxpayer money to run anti-union campaigns in the workplace.
How do you like them apples, middle-class taxpayer?
Two things to remember when discussing union politics: You can't avoid
initials, and these are some tough SOBs.
To oversimplify, Sweeney pretty much bet his wad on the Democrats on the theory
that labor will never come back unless it gets a level playing field.
Setting aside the spinelessness and incompetence of the Democratic Party (I
think Democrats who voted for the bankruptcy bill alone should be run out of the
party), it sure looks like a losing strategy.
Labor skates (officials) with the Change to Win Coalition cite the old
definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a
different result. To oversimplify again, the CWC wants to move all the
artillery over to grassroots organizing.
It may take some arrogance to think that your union would do better outside the
AFL-CIO, but the CWC has some record on its side.
In this debate, you should know that the word arrogance is code for Andy Stern,
head of the Service Employees International Union, who is one impressive guy and
also has the nerve to think he knows how to organize better than the leadership
of the AFL-CIO. Stern is leading the walkout faction.
Stern's claim to fame is that SEIU has successfully organized the "unorganizable"
-- some of the poorest, most powerless people in our society, the people who
push mops, clean toilets and have never voted in their lives.
Credit is due to a superb new generation of organizers. (Obligatory
disclosure: A few years ago, I addressed an SEIU convention but had them
donate my fee to charity. My most vivid memory is how proud they are of
their children in military service.)
The CWC wants reorganization. Its members especially think the smaller
unions should be merged because each has its own administrative apparatus.
Their payrolls eat up dues that should be going to organizing, as do some
useless central labor councils. The CWC unions, freed from AFL dues, can
hire more organizers and make more progress.
On the other hand, the AFL has AFSCME (the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees, a fast-growing union) and the Communications Workers --
strong power bases.
The AFL claims that the CWC unions are committing the unthinkable sin of
poaching other unions' workers (very unbrotherly -- in fact, cheating), and it's
true. And they are threatening to keep doing it.
The AFL also points out that at least a few of the CWC unions are fairly mobbed
up, which has the disadvantage of being probably true, but unprovable.
Unions figured out a long time ago that Republicans are perfectly happy to let
the mob issue fester in order to discredit labor; their despicable efforts to
undermine reform in the Teamsters union will not be forgotten.
This is not so much a left-vs.-right fight as it's old strategy vs. new --
restructuring labor in ways that make more sense for a de-industrializing
economy. Pretty much everyone who supports labor has friends on both
sides. I support Stern and the CWC because the AFL is way too much about
protecting turf.
Molly Ivins writes for Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century
Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Posted July 28, 2005
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