A Pair Of Good Labor Books

Hello Everyone,

I apologize for the lack of posts, I've been hunkered down this past week on a deadline for an article. I should return to normal on Monday with some book reviews and a lot of new topics to discuss, including Organizing Office Staff, the October 2 Labor March in Washington, DC, Organizing the American Red Cross, a series on reform groups in various labor unions, and a series on independent unions.

In the meantime, I'd like to plug a couple of excellent new labor books I've been reading over the last few weeks(check back for some reviews):

Embedded With Organized Labor by Steve Early

In and Out of the Working Class by Michael Yates

I have already read through a good portion of each of these books, and love them both.

Early's book is chock full of reviews of past labor works, as well as the kind of insight you could only acquire with multiple decades inside the labor movement.

I have found Yates' work to be captivating, as he weaves back and forth from non-fiction to the occasional fiction story. Want to know what Lenin and a Catholic priest have in common? Read Yates' book and you'll find out.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

Social Network for Labor Activists

Hello Everyone,

I just thought I'd give UnionBook a little shout out here. Eric Lee, of LabourStart fame, has created this awesome social networking site for labor activists to cennect. If you haven't checked it out yet, I recommend it!

Click on the image below:

Is It Time For a New Labor Party?

Is it time for a new labor party?

Some time ago, I began to ponder this question. I can't remember exactly when. Perhaps it was when Congress passed a healthcare bill that did not include single-payer or a public option. Maybe it was after I campaigned in over a dozen states for a progressive candidate who, once in office, appointed robber barons to fix the economic crisis. It might have had something to do with the Employee Free Choice Act being on life support, with a less than stellar prognosis.

Come to think of it, it was probably a little bit of everything. The question remains: Is it time for a new labor party? I am beginning to think so. Even with the system so heavily tilted in favor of having two parties(Thank you Martin Van Buren), I could see it happening, and here is a brief explanation how I think it could be accomplished. Given the fact that the South Carolina Labor Party never got past the fish or cut bait moment, the field seems to be open for a new entity.

I believe that a growing amount of Americans do not identify with either major party. This is not news, but important nonetheless. I believe that any successful attempt to organize a new political party based around economic issues would do well to incorporate the following ideas:

1. Avoid making party-wide stances on volatile wedge issues that individual candidates can handle.

For example, despite the fact that many Democrats happen to be pro-life, they have allowed themselves as a party to be boxed inby the GOP on this issue. This also goes for gun rights, etc. Let the individual candidates make that call, and let the party focus on galvanizing the working class.

2. Appeal to the economic anger of the tea party crowd.

I know it may be hard for some of my inside the beltway friends to believe, but there are a fair amount of rank-and-file union members in the Tea Party Movement(for those of you who missed my post devoted to this subject, you can read it here). As I stated in the aforementioned entry, I believe the reason for this is that the Labor Movement missed a major opportunity to unite working-class Americans against the capitalist system that got us into this financial mess. Instead, the Tea Party Movement has hijacked the message to push their fringe, right-wing agenda. We have to get to work on fighting this nonsense. If we can do this effectively, we could build a movement built on the economic interests of the working-class.

3. Solicit support from existing Socialist groups.

I know Socialist is a bad word to many people, but that's because they don't know what the hell a socialist is. Any attempt to organize a legitimate labor party is going to need the help of groups like the Democratic Socialists of America, Socialist Party USA, The International Socialist Organization, and other groups like this who are dedicated to the cause of labor.

Will this ever happen? I don't know, but what I do know is that we'll be hard-pressed to find another economic situation like this in the near future where a large portion of the population is tired of the two-party nonsense and is listening if someone else offers a better solution.

Let's offer it to them.

The Return of LIUNA: What This Really Means for the Building Trade Unions of the AFL-CIO

Solidarity. That was the message AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka sent in a statement welcoming the Laborers’ international Union of North America (LIUNA) back into the fold, after the organization announced on August 13, 2010, that it will rejoin the AFL-CIO, effective October 1, 2010. In his statement, Trumka said,

“We are very happy that LIUNA is rejoining the AFL-CIO at a critical moment for working people…LIUNA brings a proud history and dedication to the union movement and we are delighted to welcome them back to the AFL-CIO.”

Aside from the expected kumbaya moment where labor leaders flaunt terms like Solidarity and Coalition Building, what does LIUNA’s return to the AFL-CIO mean in practice for the Labor Movement, the AFL-CIO, and more specifically, the other members of the AFL-CIO Building Trades Coalition Department? Will this move galvanize the building trades, or will it cause former tensions to resurface? Once the ink is dry on the press statements and the photo ops have ended, there will be some serious issues to be hammered out between LIUNA and the AFL-CIO.

First, there is the question of whether the AFL-CIO should levy any penalty or back per capita dues accrued during LIUNA’s time away from the Federation. James Williams, General President of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) said in an interview on August 27, 2010, that he couldn’t comment as to whether the AFL-CIO would assess any back per capita, as it would come up in the executive meetings in the near future. When asked his personal feeling on whether the back per capita should be an option, Williams stated, “In a perfect world I would say they should pay some back per capita, but realistically, it’s not likely to happen.” Williams later said that he didn’t feel that it was necessary to impose a per capita penalty on LIUNA at this time. Given the fact that the AFL-CIO did not levy a penalty against Unite Here! when they returned in 2009, it appears extremely unlikely that LIUNA will face any financial penalty for its split from the AFL-CIO in 2005.

This poses a very serious issue for the AFL-CIO: If in practice, there is no penalty for leaving the AFL-CIO, in part to escape paying per capita taxes, which was very much part of the decision back in 2005, what is to stop any affiliate union from bailing from the AFL-CIO for a few years if they get into financial problems? With the ticking time bomb many unions have with their pension programs, this precedent could turn out to be disastrous for the AFL-CIO in the coming years.

Second, there is the lingering issue of whether the AFL-CIO should require some form of a public mea culpa from LIUNA regarding the situation with the unaffiliated United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC). A long-time, high-ranking union official, who did not wish to be identified due to the subject matter, noted that this should make some of the other members of the AFL-CIO Building Trades Coalition a bit uneasy due to LIUNA’s past behavior. Several years ago, LIUNA conspired with the Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC) to set up a tier system in which the UBC would organize the skilled laborers, and LIUNA would organize the unskilled laborers, therefore squeezing out the other building trade unions. This scheme fell apart, mainly because the employers weren’t cooperative enough. However, if the employers would have gone along with this plan, several of the AFL-CIO building trade unions may have ceased to exist. Given this past activity, it should worry some of the building trade unions that not only is the AFL-CIO accepting LIUNA back with open arms, but also without any type of apology or public denouncement regarding the aforementioned situation with the Carpenters. At the very least, the AFL-CIO should require a public statement from LIUNA affirming their dedication to Article 20 of the AFL-CIO Constitution, which prohibits this type of activity by its affiliate unions.

For their part, the member unions of the AFL-CIO Building Trades Coalition Department are publicly supportive of LIUNA’s return. IUPAT General President James Williams said he is “Glad to have Terry [O’Sullivan] back,” and hailed him as a “Strong, progressive leader.” One has to wonder, however, how this will play out behind closed doors at the upcoming AFL-CIO executive meetings, and whether this will turn out to be a major victory for President Trumka, or another division in the house of labor.

A Union Baby is Born!

Hello Everyone,

I apologize for the lack of updates. My wife and I welcomed our first child, Aodhan Jasper Riedel into the world on August 19th. I promise I will return shortly with a look into the history between LIUNA and the Carpenter's Union, and what LIUNA's return to the AFL-CIO may mean for trade union affilliates.

In Solidarity,

Joseph Riedel

A Tale of Two Futures

Where are we going?

As I sit in this hospital room where my wife will give birth to our first child in the morning, I have started to wonder where the labor movement will be in a couple decades when he enters the workforce. I'll be putting together a longer piece in the next few days, but I encourage everyone to take a realistic look at where they think the labor movement will be in twenty years based on where we are today, and if they are satisfied with that.

More to come.

Bringing Organizing Into the 21st Century

I spoke to a friend of mine who works on the social media side of things last night, and we mulled over some ideas to update the traditional methods of organizing, be it labor organizing, community, or otherwise. While I am somewhat traditional on organizing, there were a few things that his line of work has to offer that I believe could seriously improve our efficiency and success rate.

1. Tie in the use of systems like Salsa to Blackberry and iPhone apps. Think about how much easier it would make it for the average organizer if they could eliminate the time and effort of filling out a paper form for every house visit. Instead, they could utilize software from Salsa to punch in the data on their Blackberry. This would also allow for real time data accessibility during a large scale organizing blitz. This would be as big as the introduction of electronic voting machines vs. the paper ballot system.

2. Use Salsa as a sort of one-stop shop for Locals to consolidate all of the tedious bookkeeping and management functions in one place. I know from my experience using Salsa with a Young Democrats Chapter that it made life much easier when you could log in one place and check on everything. It saved a lot of time and headaches.

3. Use the technology to help with member run organizing campaigns. In many cases, labor organizations hesitate to invest resources on organizing campaigns until the members themselves have done a lot of the footwork themselves. Salsa could be utilized to set up an area for the employees to keep the union abreast of the progress without the union having to invest time and money in the very early stages.

While I have just spent a fair amount of space extolling the virtues of Salsa, I stand firmly by the conviction that technology alone cannot save the labor movement. House visits, along with other face to face communications are still our most effective outlet. However, technology can definitely be used to eliminate the clutter between those moments.

Check out Salsa here:

http://salsalabs.com/o/8001/p/salsa/website/public2/?reference=Salsa%20Overview

The Employee Free Choice Act: An Obituary

Although I'm sure someone else has probably said it already, let me make this important declaration:

The Employee Free Choice Act is dead.

Deceased.

Kicked the Bucket.

Bought the Farm.

And with it, the hope for reviving the mainstream labor movement.

And who do we have to blame for the death of the most treasured piece of pro-labor legislation in the last sixty years? The pro-corporation, anti-worker fat cats? The Republicans?

Nope.

We have ourselves to blame. Allow me to explain:

For decades, the labor movement has continued to suck at the tit of a Democratic Party that has had a bosom full of poison since the party bosses managed to exchange Harry "the puppet" Truman for Henry "the real deal" Wallace in 1944.

For many years, we were able to survive by inoculating ourselves by investing dues money from the expanding membership. But with the declining membership and burdensome pensions that most unions have no real plan to pay for, the poison will finally begin to kill us, unless we begin to ween ourselves off of it immediately.

When we keep returning to the Democratic Party every election cycle like a prostitute to an abusive pimp(I apologize for the imagery, but it is a good description of the relationship between labor and the Democratic Party), we are extending the cycle that has brought us nothing in the manner of actual progress for the American working class. Every other November, the party puts(pimps) us out on the corner to attract voters(johns), and despite all our whining and complaining, what do we do? We put on our stilettos and fake mink coat and take to the streets.

The only way the labor movement will ever make a comeback in the hearts and minds of the workers is if we publicly cut the cord with the Democratic Party and begin to use our numbers to affect individual races that benefit us. No more dumping millions of dollars into the DNC, just so they can use it to promote the likes of Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson.

Let's go find us a few more candidates like Bernie Sanders, and let these anti-worker Democrats fend for themselves. After all that's exactly what they've done for us, isn't it?

Organizing In The Retail Sector: Starbucks

I live in Washington, DC. There is a spot in Dupont Circle where you can actually see three Starbucks simultaneously. There are approximately 11,000 Starbucks locations in the United States, which with an average of 7 employees in each store, would equal about 75,000 employees in the US, out of the 142,000 total employees worldwide.

While there is an existing upstart Starbucks Workers Union, it has not attracted much of a following outside of New York and Chicago. The main reason for this is that they are affiliated with the IWW(Industrial Workers of the World) which according to its own estimates, currently has around 900 members in good standing. While I support rank-and-file unions in general, and I support what the IWW does most of the time, I believe that it will take significant resources in order to organize Starbucks employees in the Unites States. Here is why:

1. Starbucks does not franchise.

Because of this, there will pretty much need to be an all out blitz across the nation. This would take an army of organizers and volunteers. The IWW simply does not have the resources to accomplish a campaign of this magnitude, and unfortunately, many Starbucks employees would balk at the dues rates of the UFCW, who is big enough to do it.

2. Starbucks has the money to launch a serious union-busting campaign.

Given the fact that organizing Starbucks would likely have to be a national campaign, it would give the corporation the time to coordinate a massive union-busting effort. A lot of employees would probably get fired in the process, and high turnover rates would make the job even more difficult.

I think that Starbucks can be organized, but it will take an effort that will require significant cooperation from various labor organizations that frankly, do not have a good history of working together.

In the meantime, why not donate to the SWU(Starbucks Workers Union) ? They have been fighting this battle for six years, and could use all the help they can get.

Organizing In The Retail Sector: Pizza Delivery

When you look at union membership in the retail sector(or the lack thereof), it's striking how many retail and food industries are completely unorganized across the board.

Most labor unions are unwilling to devote the time and resources needed to organize workers in low paying jobs in the retail and food service industries. Their reasons vary from the high turnover rate, to the small bargaining unit in some fast food stores, to the fact that low income workers will have lower dues. While some of this reasoning makes sense, especially with the turnover rate with younger workers, ignoring entire industries is a failed strategy in my opinion.

In the next few entries, I will explore some of these industries, and whether union organization is feasible. The first industry I will look at is Pizza Delivery.

There have been two major efforts to organize this industry in the past. The first was an organization I was involved with, the Association of Pizza Delivery Drivers(APDD), lost an organizing campaign by one vote in Nebraska. The APDD subsequently ran out of money, and is now a distant memory.

The 2nd was run by a Domino's driver named Jim Pohle, who founded the American Union of Pizza Delivery Drivers(AUPDD). He successfully ran an organizing campaign and won a NLRB vote in Florida. Unfortunately, like 2/3 of workers who vote in favor of union representation, they never could get the owner of the Domino's franchise to negotiate a contract. Jim eventually ran out of money and merged his upstart union with the Amalgamated Transit Union(ATU) who promptly forgot about him. As a result, the AUPDD is now defunct.

I still think that the pizza delivery industry is ripe for union organization. There are an estimated 10k big 3(Domino's Papa John's, Pizza Hut)stores in the United States. Pizza drivers are already inoculated against management, as they have been getting screwed by them for years. With tip credit laws that are lowering hourly wages to sub-minimum wage, and lackluster mileage compensation, the vast majority of drivers are supportive of the idea of unionization.

Unfortunately, most labor organizations that have been contacted by pizza delivery drivers have been dismissive or completely unresponsive. One driver I know already have several signed cards in hand, and was flatly turned down by an organizer for the UFCW. This kind of attitude must be changed if the labor movement wants to start winning over the unorganized.

This industry could be organized if a dedicated(Unite Here! anyone?) union takes the strategy of organizing the biggest franchises first. There are franchises in each of the Big 3 that have over 100 stores. There is also a dedicated base of career drivers that are willing to jump in on the front lines if there is an effort with some legitimacy.

That is the key. Legitimacy.