Can Labor Win in South Carolina?

On February 15, employees at the Boeing plant in Charleston, South Carolina will vote on whether to join the Machinists Union(IAM).  If the union is successful, it would be a huge victory in the least unionized state in the country.  South Carolina is dead last by a margin that isn't even close.  The 49th state, neighboring North Carolina, has more than twice the number of unionized employees.

Winning a large scale organizing campaign in a state that Donald Trump carried by 14 points would arguably be the biggest union win in recent memory.  Unions would desperately like to win this battle, especially after the bitter UAW defeat in Chattanooga, which saw the governor insert himself to influence the vote.

If the workers at Boeing stick together in spite of an onslaught of negative, and outright intimidation by management, not only will they improve their own situation, they will provide much needed inspiration for other southern workers who seek to improve their working conditions.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

NUHW-CNA: A Real Match Made In Heaven

Some time ago, I wrote about the proposed affiliation between the International Association of Machinists(IAM) and the National Union of HealthCare Workers(NUHW).  While that proposed partnership never came to fruition, NUHW and the California Nurses Association(CNA) recently made their affiliation public.

I always held the opinion that CNA was a much better fit for an affiliation with NUHW than the Machinists, for various reasons.  The most obvious is that CNA is a healthcare union that would help bridge the gap between organizing professional and non-professional employees.  The partnership with NUHW sort of fills the doughnut hole, if you will. Secondly, as much as IAM would have liked to assist NUHW in the upcoming Kaiser election re-runs, I don't believe they would have brought as much to the table as CNA does.

For NUHW, this partnership brings two very big benefits:

1. By affiliating with an AFL-CIO member union, NUHW is protected by Article 20 of the AFL-CIO constitution.  Article 20 protects member organizations from being raided by other AFL-CIO affiliated unions.  While this won't help to keep SEIU from trying to raid their chapters, it is one less thing to worry about.  On a side note, I believe this clause makes the split between SEIU and the AFL-CIO almost permanent.

2. This partnership will bring much needed resources to NUHW in their ongoing struggle against SEIU.  They will certainly need CNA's organizing and financial assistance if they hope to have a chance to be victorious in the Kaiser fight.

I believe that this is a pivotal moment in the history of the American labor movement.  The Kaiser election will help to shape the direction of the labor movement for years to come.  Only time will tell which way it will go.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

National Mediation Board Changes National Railway Act Election Rules

This is a few weeks old, but I feel that this is still important enough to post. When I was in NYC attending the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute, we did an event with an IAM Lodge that is currently organizing Delta employees, and I was struck by their commitment to the rights of their members. The National Mediation Board(NMB) has ruled to change the archaic election laws in the National Railway Act.

After the Delta/Northwest merger, Delta began a fierce union-busting campaign against the IAM. Delta has been anti-union for years, and was trying not only to keep its employees from having union representation, but also trying to strip unionized Northwest employees of their rights as well. Thanks to this ruling, the union must get 50+1% of casted votes to win the election, as opposed to the previous standard, which forced the union to get 50+1% of all votes, whether the vote was casted or not. This meant that if you were sick and could not make it to vote, your vote was a no vote, even if you had intended to vote yes. This is a HUGE decision for the Machinists Union(IAM).

You can read the press release here:

http://www.goiam.org/index.php/news/press-releases/7271-machinists-respond-to-nmb-rule-change