Here Are Your Ideas on New Ways to Organize
From jobless worker organizing to better and more communication and stronger union solidarity, you had a lot to say yesterday about new ways to organize to build a stronger movement for working people.
Harold Meyerson, editor-at-large of The American Prospect and op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, moderated the fourth in a series of online discussions to help us set a course for the future at the 2013 AFL-CIO Convention, which will focus on how the labor movement can meet the current and future needs of all working people.
Here are excerpts from the chat. Go to the discussion for the full conversation.
Reaching out to everyday working families with a pro-labor, economic justice message builds solidarity between workers while educating families. Creating a situation where working families have someone to hear their concerns while offering tangible ways to enter the discourse opens the gateway to discussions and action around workplace organizing.
The labor movement can grow by working more with unemployed persons, attempting to unionize them….Labor needs to expand from a focus on contract negotiations and grievances to becoming more of an economic justice movement. Labor should demand that all people have a way to support themselves.
Opening the rolls is fine, but we need to think about what actually builds power vis a vis employers. Getting random folks to join is fine if the goal is getting them to vote. People need to be organized on a workplace basis if they are to confront their own employers.
I think that the focus has to shift to a certain extent, yes, to incorporate all of the working class and its allies. But this brings up an interesting point—is it simply because union membership is down that the power of organized labor is down? I don't think so, and here's why. Much of the power of organized labor has always stemmed from its ability to strike, that is, to directly withhold the necessary precursor of profit in the manufacturing process (labor). That is part of the reason organized labor was so powerful AT THE TIME IN THE NATION'S HISTORY WHEN MANUFACTURING CAPITAL WAS THE DOMINANT SECTOR OF CAPITAL. But today, FINANCE CAPITAL, not manufacturing capital, is dominant. An important question we desperately need an answer to is, "How can we attack the precursors of finance capital's profit generation to develop a new weapon, analogous to a strike, the people can use to fight for justice?"
Maybe we can start by reminding workers that their employers are already organized against them; organized into corporations and conglomerates, into human resources departments and labor consulting firms. That is one argument to counter the childish libertarian/Ayn Rand's false vision of a society of individuals standing on their own.
It is time we undo the campaign of misinformation and outright lies that are and have been spread about unions and union members for some 20 years now. We have allowed certain elements in this country to blame unions for bringing down companies, have let them fraudulently put the blame on workers’ salaries and have permitted them to make "liberal" a dirty word with little response or retaliation.
The biggest obstacle in the way of union growth is the misconception the majority of the public has about what a union is and what a union does; most folks I speak with think unions are comprised of thugs and mafia members, sad. The AFL-CIO needs to launch a massive national ad campaign to reset this thinking. Make it personal, and tell people what the union will do for them...spell it out. I am the wife, daughter, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law of union members; I know, and have lived, the benefits of being a union member. I take every opportunity to spread the word about the benefits of being a union member.
We know there is strength in numbers: It's time for the individual labor unions to unite their power, for the purpose of reenergizing our communities and uplifting the people! Wouldn't it be awesome to see the "Fight for 15" strikers (SEIU) join with Working America members (AFL-CIO) and Change at Walmart (UFCW) supporters in solidarity? That would really show the power of unions.
Strike at the root, not the branches. Eliminating money from politics is an absolute requirement before any changes can be made to stick. Without eliminating money from politics, any changes accomplished will ultimately be reversed by the money.
Be sure to join us June 4 from 3–4 p.m. EDT when longtime labor journalist and In These Times editor David Moberg asks:
Would unions need to change their organizational structure or methods in order to mobilize workers for large-scale initiatives that could strengthen the labor movement?
