Proposed Constitutional Amendment on Building Power for Workers in Industries: Creating Industry Coordinating Committees

As corporate consolidation and globalization continue to expand, the labor movement must develop and implement new strategies to confront and respond to this growing corporate power. We need to bring together unions representing workers within the same industry, occupation, region, or employer in order to harness and apply their collective strength to the benefit of workers in the most coordinated, effective way possible.

Working together, unions representing the workers in an industry can identify and develop strategic growth opportunities and plans to build their unions, strengthen the labor movement and improve wages and working conditions for working people across the land. Together, they can resist the downward pressure on wages and benefits exerted by rampant corporate greed by developing new global bargaining strategies and by agreeing to respect strong contract standards.

The Federation should create Industry Coordinating Committees in industries or geographic, employer-based, occupational, or other appropriate subdivisions thereof that are strategically important to labor movement growth. The Executive Council should adopt principles, rules, and procedures governing the creation and operation of the committees, and should oversee their implementation. Committees should be responsible for developing a strategic growth plan for their designated industry (or subdivision), and for developing bargaining strategies and standards. The Executive Council should develop mechanisms for enforcing and protecting committees and their member unions against actions by other unions that interfere with or undermine the committees’ work. The Executive Council should periodically review the progress of committees and reform its policies, rules and procedures as appropriate.

Therefore, the Executive Council proposes the following amendment to Article X (Executive Council):

Amend Article X (Executive Council) by adding a new section 11 as follows, and renumbering existing sections accordingly:

Sec. 11. The Executive Council, at the request of and in consultation with affiliated unions, shall have the authority to establish Industry Coordinating Committees in industries (or geographic, employer-based, occupational, or other appropriate subdivisions thereof) strategically important to labor movement growth, for such term and in accordance with principles, rules, and procedures as established by the Executive Council.