We in the union movement often say state and local labor federations are our front lines. Their responses to the hurricane disasters that devastated the Gulf Coast proved it true.
The winds had barely stopped ripping through their states when the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas state federations got to work rebuilding the lives of tens of thousands of union members and other working families in the region. We had competent leadership on the ground—leaders who knew how to bring together and deploy the people and resources they needed, whether it was work boots or bleach, ice or diapers.
Gulf Coast state federations and their partners, the local labor councils, spread out to identify union members and connect them with their unions’ relief efforts. They scoured shelters, looking for union members and ways to help union and nonunion working families. They opened and are operating seven Worker Centers and three projects to meet immediate as well as longer term needs. They are helping stricken families find jobs and shelter. And they are leading efforts to demand fair wages be restored for the workers who will rebuild the Gulf Coast, displaced families get first call on jobs and investments going into the region and companies receiving federal rebuilding contracts be held to the highest standards.
Our state federations were able to respond quickly because they had in place networks of local labor councils and unions equally committed to the well-being of working families. They had solidarity when it really counted.
One of the harshest results of the disaffiliation of several national unions from the AFL-CIO has been the sudden drain of revenue from our state and local federations and the potential to cut deeply into our local solidarity. In some areas, where the disaffiliated unions represent many union members, state and local councils have lost 30 percent to 50 percent of the funds that in many cases barely paid the bills. In the Gulf states, the losses have been even greater as membership disappeared overnight.
America’s union movement cannot allow our front lines to collapse because of the disaffiliations. It doesn’t take a disaster to show their importance. Day in and day out, state and local labor councils are the heart and soul behind all our grassroots action, from bringing the support of entire communities to the side of workers struggling to form unions to our massive issues education and political action to advance the interests of working families.
The AFL-CIO Convention in July increased the per capita tax paid by unions to the AFL-CIO by 4 cents to create a Solidarity Fund, in part to address the hardship disaffiliation is creating for state and local councils. In addition, the AFL-CIO Executive Council has adopted a plan, which the council’s Committee on State and Local Strategies will oversee, to increase unions’ participation in and affiliation with state and local central bodies.
The blow from disaffiliation is very serious. State and local labor councils everywhere are re-evaluating their priorities, determining what programs can be put on hold and considering per capita tax increases. We are encouraging Solidarity Charters to enable locals of the disaffiliated national unions to join or rejoin the state and local federations. Solidarity Charters have been issued for local unions in Arkansas, Kansas, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota and Washington State. We are working as hard as we can to reach an agreement with the disaffiliated unions on Solidarity Charters that will bring as many local unions as possible into unified, vibrant state and local union movements.
Together, as a country, we have to rebuild the Gulf Coast. And together, as a union movement, we must do what it takes to ensure strong and vibrant front lines in our state and local labor councils.
