The Great Disappearing Act

No, I'm not referring to Candidate Obama, or Medicare under Paul Ryan's budget.

I'm referring to the phenomenon that occurs with the staff of labor organizations every time there is an election.  If you are a union member, have you ever noticed that your union representation becomes as hard to find as a unicorn during election season?  The local office is as empty as a church on Sunday morning - unless it is being used as a campaign office.

 

The reason for this is one of the worst kept secrets in the world of organized labor.  Every election cycle, in direct conflict with FEC law, union staff are forced to "volunteer" for whoever the Democratic candidate happens to be.  In presidential election cycles, this can start as early as September, and in mid-term or special elections, it can start in October.

I experienced this firsthand during my time with a certain purple entity during the Senate Bill 5/Issue 2 election.  Instead of representing our members as we should have, we were required to work exclusively out of a campaign office.  Everything else became secondary, unless you had an actual arbitration hearing.  In full disclosure, the S.B. 5 recall was somewhat justified, as it directly affected almost a third of the members of our local who were state employees.  However this is commonplace in presidential and statewide races where this is not the case. So, if you happen to have a contract that might be coming up for negotiation, it might be a little concerning if all of the sudden, everyone is off doing political work instead of representing members. 

This is not limited to SEIU.  This is standard procedure with virtually every major labor union, with the exception of the United Electrical Workers(UE) and the National Union of HealthCare Workers(NUHW),  who prefer direct action to wasting its time with PACs.

I'm not saying the unions should not be involved in the political realm.  It is necessary and important, as elected officials have direct influence on the livelihood of union members.  What I am saying is that a union's involvement in politics should not come at the expense of member representation, which is almost always the case.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

Anti-Worker Sentiment At The RNC

Last night's speeches by Nikki Haley and Chris Christie should have been enough to turn any voter who favors collective bargaining rights for workers away from the Republican Party.  In their respective speeches, they both attacked organized labor directly. 

Haley attacked the Obama Administration for its stance on the Boeing situation, in which Boeing decided to punish union workers in Washington state by moving the operation to South Carolina, which is regarded as the most anti-union state in the nation.

Christie went after his favorite target - teachers.  Christie's point is dripping with irony, as it is easy to attack public education when your own children go to expensive private schools.

I haven't decided if I will vote for Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee, or stick with my earlier endorsement of Stewart Alexander on the Socialist Party USA ticket.  Either is far more labor friendly than either of the nominees from the two major parties.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

Mid-Summer Labor Musings

As I sit here at the computer logging this entry, I am three months into a job that I enjoy, although my position is not in the bargaining unit(give me some time).  Some of the employees are union, although if/when I decide to travel that route, I will likely choose a different form of representation.

I've been mildly working on my first book, which covers my experience working for the purple giant in Appalachia.  I'm working on an article about the faux crisis created by the GOP to kill the United States Postal Service.  Why would they want to do that?  Simple - the USPS is one of the most unionized workforces in the United States.  More to come on that one.

I'm also putting together a sort of then and now article on the labor movement.  If you've been around the movement twenty or more years, post a comment or shoot an email about how the labor movement is different from when you first became involved.

Hope everyone is having a great summer.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

What Closed Door Bargaining Actually Looks Like

The National Union of HealthCare Workers released a copy of the tentative agreements(TA's) reached by Kaiser Permanente and the Coalition of KP Unions - an organization almost completely controlled by SEIU.

This document shows exactly what happens when your union turns away from militant action and operates on a business model: They essentially become part of the company itself.

I recommend checking this out:

http://www.nuhw.org/storage/doc/documents/Annotated_TAs.pdf

In Solidarity,

Joseph

Deja Vu In Wisconsin

I feel like I've already written this entry before...

My autopsy of the failed attempt to recall Scott Walker in Wisconsin is very similar to my autopsy of the legislative recalls in Wisconsin last year. 

1.  As was the case last year, Big Labor allowed the Democratic Party to run the show.  This is somewhat understandable because unlike Senate Bill 5 in Ohio, this was an election with candidates, not an issue election.  But with so much at stake for labor in Wisconsin - AFSCME has just lost the right to represent workers in the state in which it was founded - one would think that labor would have taken the reins from the DNC.

2.  Labor and the Democrats relied on the same outdated ground game that fell short last year.  I wrote about this at length in the entry linked above. 

3.  President Obama's lack of involvement will undoubtedly be scrutinized, and for good reason.  Labor is still waiting for Candidate Obama who promised to walk the picket line with us to make good on his promise.  This is one of the main reasons The Virtual Picket Line has endorsed Stewart Alexander for President in 2012.

While Big Labor will attempt to deflect criticisms such as the ones I mentioned earlier by pointing the finger to the Citizens United decision rendered by the Supreme Court, I reject this argument as a cheap cop-out.  While Citizens United makes a mockery of our democracy, it is hardly the reason Labor and the Democrats fell short yesterday. 

Yes, Barrett was outspent by a 7-to-1 margin by Walker.  In any other case, I would probably agree that the disparate spending levels heavily influenced the outcome.  I don't believe that to be the case in this election.  When I was on the ground in Wisconsin for last year's round of recalls, it became very clear to me that the the level of undecided voters was virtually zero.  People had not only made up their minds about the candidates up for recall at the time, but on Scott Walker as well. 

Now if Scott Walker had been up for recall last summer, he likely would have lost by a wide margin.  But as we know in politics, timing is everything.  Huffington Post had a very good post explaining that exit polls showed that the Walker campaign simply did a better job turning out its vote than Labor and the Democrats did.  This goes back to explanation of the outdated ground game of Labor and the Democrats on Number 2.

If Labor does not learn from this lesson, things could start to get really rough in other states, especially states that are not as moderate as Wisconsin.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

Need Reform?

I have added a new page for anyone who needs help reforming their union.  Please take a look at the various topics and issues, and if you fall in to one of the categories, contact us for assistance.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

SEIU 25th International Convention

This coming week in Denver, SEIU will hold its 25th convention.  This will be the first convention since the largest hostile takeover in labor history, the illegal, and ill-planned trusteeship of United HealthCare West, which sparked the National Union of Healthcare workers.

For anyone who remembers the 2009 convention(for the record, I was not there, as I was not yet on staff at SEIU), the tension and infighting was palpable, as the leaders of UHW and their allies fought in vain to place checks and balances against these trusteeships based on personal vendettas. 

I implore any member who is a delegate to fight for internal democracy reforms, especially with respect to internal elections and trusteeships.   Most locals have stacked their delegate rosters with paid staff members and appointed members who will automatically vote whichever way the local president tells them.  

For example, of UHW's approximately 105 delegates, 43 were either members appointed as delegates without receiving any votes, or are officers who are delegates by virtue.  
Those who do not vote how they are told are not invited back to subsequent conventions, and run the risk of having internal elections rigged against them - but I digress...

If you are a member who is attending the upcoming convention, I am covering the events on The Virtual Picket Line.  I am looking for someone to send me a copy of the proposed SEIU constitutional amendments and resolutions.  If you might be able to send me this information, please send me an email at unionanswers@gmail.com

At least this convention, delegates won't have to be bussed in because the international raided the largest public sector union in Puerto Rico like 2009.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

Leftist Victories In Europe

It seems that the pendulum has begun its return back to the left side of the political spectrum in Europe.  This was evidenced via the upset victory in France by Socialist Party Candidate, Francois Hollande.  Hollande has been a staple of the Fench Socialist Party for the last fifteen years who was able to capitalize(pun intended) on anti-Sarkozy and anti-austerity sentiment throughout the country.

In Greece, while the faux-leftist PASOK's suffered heavy losses in parliamentary elections, the coalition of actual leftist groups, Syriza, placed second, winning an unprecedented 51 seats in parliament. 

Hopefully, this signals the beginning of a new leftist movement in the Eurozone. 

In SOlidarity,

Joseph

The Dirty Truth Behind Closed Contract Negotiations

If you ask your average rank-and-file UFCW or Teamsters member when they last attended a contract bargaining session, they'll likely tell you that they've never been to one.  What's the reason for this?  One of the unfortunate truths of the labor movement is that many unions do not permit their own members to attend the negotiation sessions of their own contract.

I asked several Kroger members for an update during their contract campaign last year.  The answer was identical from everyone I talked to.   They could attend a regional meeting to receive an update, but they were never informed of negotiating session locations, or invited to attend.  When I asked several Teamsters from the facility in which I work, they responded that only the Shop Steward was permitted to attend negotiations.

So why is this a big deal?

For starters, and probably most importantly, it's your contract.  I don't know about you, but there is no way in hell that I'm going to let someone negotiate the terms of my employment without me being present so I can witness and approve of what they agree to.  I have always believed that someone who has the opportunity to attend negotiations, and refuses to do so has no right to complain about the shortcomings of their collective bargaining agreement.

If your union doesn't encourage you to attend negotiations, or tries to discourage you from attending, this should be a major red flag.  Ask yourself this question - Why don't they want me to attend?

So why don't unions want their members at negotiations? 

There are two very big secrets that many unions do not want their members to know that contribute to this strategy:

1. Having open negotiations has the potential to show the weakness of the bargaining unit if nobody shows up.  Of course, if a union is doing its job, then it will have the bargaining unit mobilized for negotiations.  Most unions do not spend enough time or resources on this sort of action.  Therefore, it is in their interest to have closed negotiations to keep the employer in the dark.

2. Having closed negotiations allows the union to make whatever deals it wants to make without the members knowledge.  I call this the SEIU strategy.  SEIU has become famous for its backroom deals with employers.  While I mentioned earlier that my local had open negotiations, I was trained to figure out what the members would swallow without going on strike, then to make a deal with management without the members knowing to settle the contract.  Sadly, many unions follow this playbook and negotiate weak contracts instead of organizing their bargaining units into a militant force that can fight concessions.

The bottom line is: It's your contract, your job - Fight for it!

In Solidarity,

Joseph

Is It Time For a Working Class Continental Congress?

In 1905, Big Bill Haywood opened the first convention of the Industrial Workers of the World(IWW) by saying, "This is the Continental Congress of the working class."  Nearly one-hundred and seven years later, is it time for the working class to come together again for a 2nd Continental Congress?  After all, in spite of what anti-labor propagandists would have us believe, many of the issues faced by the IWW in 1905 still exist.

I asked several members of the labor community if they thought that such an endeavor could be successful in galvanizing the working class beyond big labor.  Bill Fletcher, author of Solidarity Divided said, "I think that regional gatherings that built towards something national would be interesting particularly if broad."  Countering that point of view was Chris Townsend, National Political Director for the United Electrical Workers of America(UE), who stated when I posed the question of whether this could be an effective approach, "Yes, but not yet. The level of union activity at the rank and file level may be an an all-time low point. The "left" plays little role in addressing this, choosing instead to rally whatever contacts they have for issues and struggles other than basic union organization and struggle. We have a labor leadership which has relegated organizing the unorganized to marginal status at best, with many having given up on it altogether."

As for myself, I believe that the time has come for the working class - both organized and unorganized - to begin meeting in a sort of workers' councils at the local level.  Once these have been established, then the planning of a 2nd Continental Congress of the Working Class could commence.  What must be guarded against is the tendency that big labor has had in the past to usurp control over any movement of this type.  Bill Preston, President of AFGE Local 17 in Washington, DC, also mentioned that big labor might try to take over control of  the movement, " I am for experimenting with any tactical form that advances the cause of expropriating the capitalists and making the working class the ruling class...I think the labor fakers will try to hog the limelight as you say, once they see their unions' members active."

As we have witnessed over the last 18 months or so with the Tea Party and Occupy Movements, sometimes it is better to not have one organization or individual driving a movement.  If the workers in the United States have had enough, now just might be the right time for action.

In Solidarity,

Joseph