Many, many words have been written about how Scott Walker's victory in the Wisconsin recall election shows that labor no longer wields electoral power. But while there's no question that unions don't have the strength in numbers they once did, Andrew Levison of The Democratic Strategist looks at how financially outmatched Democrats and progressives are and concludes that the key to success is building "powerful, long-term grass-roots organizations" along the lines of unions, organizations that have roots in communities and don't just show up for long enough to convince people to vote, then leave.
It was the neighborhood and shop-floor representation provided by local unions and precinct level democratic machines that provided a firm social and political base for the Democratic Party in the northern and mid-western industrial states in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. [...]
As a result, the most important political initiative in America this year will not be any quickly thrown-together GOTV effort or additional political canvassing funded by liberal donors; it will be the organizing campaign that most faithfully and successfully builds on the traditional, grass-roots trade union model.
If not unions, who will do that? Levison sees that model being carried out most faithfully by
Working America. Since Working America (where—disclosure—I once worked) is a project of traditional unions, it is in the position to learn from their strengths even as it tries something quite different, reaching out to people who aren't union members and talking to them about economic issues, asking them to join and take action. Levison stresses that what distinguishes Working America is this engagement not just with electoral politics but with communities, and in an ongoing way:
It does not view them simply as voters that the organization wants to turn out on Election Day, it views them as members who it wants to represent on a permanent and ongoing basis.
More than anything else it is this that distinguishes an authentic grass-roots organization and social movement from the outreach efforts of a political campaign. The role of an authentic grass-roots organization is not merely to collect signatures on a particular petition or to increase voter turnout. To succeed it must give its members the tools to actively represent themselves on an ongoing basis and to provide inspiration and a sense of hope and confidence in the members own power of collective action.
Working America has been working on this project since 2003, with significant success but mostly under the radar. It's possible that Levison's claim that it's "the most important political project in America" is hyperbole, but if so, it's nice to see some hyperbole boosting a labor project rather than tearing the movement down, for a change.
For lots more news about workers and their struggles, continue reading below the fold.
A note: Many of these items appeared at Daily Kos Labor during the week. If you missed them there, here they are. But any newer items appear at the top of the categories, if you didn't miss them previously.
A Fair Day's Wage
- Unsurprisingly, the anti-union FAA bill that congressional Democrats touted as a compromise has its first victim: a judge ruled against the Communications Workers of America's attempt to get a union representation held for 10,000 passenger service workers. CWA charges that:
American Airlines and the court continue to willfully misrepresent federal aviation law. In correspondence with American Airlines CEO Thomas Horton, Senators Reid, Rockefeller and Harkin made clear that retroactivity did not apply, and addressed this specific petition in their discussion on the Senate floor. Judge Means is ignoring these statements, but he cannot change the facts.
CWA will appeal.
- Still locked out after nearly a year, American Crystal Sugar workers are once again voting on a contract they've rejected twice. The company wants nothing less than to break the union, which its CEO has referred to as a "tumor."
- Caterpillar workers in Joliet, Illinois, are on strike after the company demanded the now-familiar line-up of concessions, including raised health care costs, moving from a pension to a 401(k), and wage freezes. This week, the mayor of Joliet joined them on the picket line.
- Apple is planning to raise pay for workers at its retail stores by up to 25 percent:
Employees said they were appreciative of the move, though they considered the raises had been a long time coming. The increased wages, one person said, more accurately reflected Apple's position as a high-end retailer.
- What does protected concerted activity look like? The National Labor Relations Board has a new site showing recent cases in which workers took action to try to improve their working conditions or pay, faced retaliation by their bosses, and had to go to the NLRB for protection.
- Despite an anti-union intimidation campaign, 1,200 poultry workers in Russellville, Alabama, voted overwhelmingly to join the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union. And no, Alabama is not exactly a bastion of unionism.
- In response to a lockout of 79 workers in Evansville, Indiana, Teamsters in five cities have waged rolling sympathy strikes against Republic Services/Allied Waste. They're prepared to keep going, but the lockout is temporarily lifted while contract negotiations continue. That's a good sign.
- Atlantic City's Tropicana Casino and Resort has indefinitely suspended 21 workers after they were arrested for civil disobedience protesting the casino's refusal to bargain in good faith for a new contract and termination of its pension plan.
- File this under "people you probably didn't expect to organize": music video dancers now have an industry-wide contract to protect them, through SAG-AFTRA and the Dancers' Alliance.
- The Archdiocese of St. Paul is stripping workers at its newspaper of union rights.
- Change.org has dropped two anti-union clients, Stand for Children and StudentsFirst, after drawing criticism for running a Stand for Children petition targeting Chicago teachers.
State and local legislation
- Republican Pennsylvania state Rep. Brad Roae is trying to use sick children to weaken prevailing wage laws. Under his proposed legislation, prevailing wage laws would be lifted on projects benefiting children who are sick, disabled, or who lost a military parent.
- According to the Michigan Court of Appeals, repeal of the state's Emergency Manager Law should be on November's ballot. Republicans are continuing to stall, and repeal backers have filed an emergency appeal to make sure Michigan voters have the chance to repeal the law.
Miscellany