> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Thu, 15 Jun 1995 08:51:20 -0500 > From: Paul Johnston <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: AFL-CIO Upheaval Heralds Renewal > > long, I confess, but suitable, I hope, for circulation. Please feel free > to use/cannibalize/circulate/and-of-course-criticize: > ________________________________________________________________________ > Paul Johnston Hard times make good unions. > Department of Sociology & Institute for Social and Policy Studies > Yale University, on his way to CA > (203)432-3255 fax (203)432-3296 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > New Beginnings at the AFL-CIO? > > by Paul Johnston > > Is the current contest for leadership in the AFL-CIO merely a squabble > over the bones of a dead labor movement? Or might the forced resignation > of long-time AFL-CIO boss Lane Kirkland and the challenge to his chosen > successor, Tom Donahue, open the door for a resurgence of unionism in the > U.S? > > Labor's decades of decline started way back in the 1950s, as the carrot of > postwar prosperity and the stick of McCarthy-era repression together > transformed unions from social movement organizations into bargaining > bureaucracies. The upshot was business unionism: less a social movement > than a service provided by professional staff, emphasizing individual > wages & benefits over the social wage, and relying on the economic strike > for bargaining power in less-than-competitive labor and product markets. > Decline sank into crisis, as this model of the union proved unable to cope > with deindustrialization and--with important exceptions--unable to > organize a changing workforce. > > Yet those decades of decline and crisis may have produced the conditions > for labor movement renewal. No new circle of leaders can single-handedly > reverse four decades of failure. But if new more viable models of the > union have already surfaced, and if they are kindled, fanned and harnessed > by the challenging bloc, then this rupture may be a turning point. > > Several different models of unionism are indeed percolating in various > segments of the American workforce. First of these is labor's great > success in the midst of failure: public service unionism. Both in their > own interest and as a reflection of their members' commitment to public > service, public-sector organizations have emerged as the prime defenders > of local government, public education and other public services against > the current Republican assault. If they can avoid the pitfalls that > haunt their history--embracing & defending bureaucracy rather than > leading efforts for anti-bureaucratic reform, and narrowly emphasizing > self-interest rather than identifying their interests with a broader > policy coalition--they are a potent new political force. > > Major public sector unions--including the American Federation of State, > County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Service Employees > International Union (SEIU)--are in the challenging camp, with SEIU > President John Sweeney bidding to become the new AFL-CIO president. Among > the possibilities implicit in their present coalition: a merger of AFSCME > and SEIU's public sector jurisdictions into one state and local government > union, which could unleash extraordinary political resources just at the > moment that Republican cuts descend upon those levels of government. > > Second is a new surge of organizing among low-wage service-sector workers, > like the "Justice for Janitors" campaigns conducted by SEIU under Sweeney. > These campaigns generate social movements among low-wage and predominately > non-white workers, rely heavily on local labor-community coalitions, and > maneuver skillfully within networks of contracting and subcontracting > firms. In city after city across the U.S., they have since the late 1980s > accomplished the astonishing feat of rebuilding unions which had collapsed > since the mid-1970s. Similar campaigns have surfaced among comparably > low-wage, disproportionately immigrant workers in the hotel and restaurant > and garment industries. > > Third is the response of manufacturing sector unions to the continuing > agony of downsizing and plant closures. As employers continue to roll > over them, manufacturing sector unions grope for ways to buttress or > replace their bargaining position with political resources. The strategy > championed for a decade by Kirkland and Donahue (labor-management > cooperation to improve productivity) has proven insufficient to stem > disinvestment. Here, matters are unlikely to change unless labor develops > the political resources to restore the balance of labor-management power, > and to strengthen capital's accountability to the community which creates > it. The current challenge to Kirkland and Donahue is driven, in part, by > a growing appreciation of the need for more effective political > strategies. Increasingly, moreover, workforces and communities devastated > together by disinvestment are forming unprecedented labor-community > coalitions to promote public planning for local employment. > > To their credit, the Kirkland/Donahue leadership have recently tapped into > a new generation of young labor activists with the establishment of the > Organizing Institute. Organizing Institute recruiters now range the > country, scouting college-based student movements as well as labor and > community organizations for young organizers and emphasizing the > recruitment of women and minorities. Though they operate on a relatively > conventional model of professional staff organizers and NLRB-style > certification campaigns, institute-trained organizers have injected new > energy into both service-sector and manufacturing organizing efforts. > > Also underway is a long-term rapprochement between the labor movement and > several of the "new social movements" which seemed to have supplanted the > labor movement on the left in recent decades. For example, though white > men still rule the roost at the centers of power, especially in the older > craft and industrial unions, "unionism" has increasingly merged with > women's movements and racial justice movements in the public sector, the > private service sector, and industries like building maintenance, food > processing and garment making. Comparable worth movements, grassroots > feminist leadership in public and health sector unions, racial justice > themes in Justice for Janitors campaigns and among transit workers, > cannery workers, farmworkers and others suggest that now more than ever > race, class, and gender-based movements can reinforce one another. > > At the same time, a recent surge of "environmental justice movements" > largely led by women in poor neighborhoods surfaced in the 1980s as well, > frequently in alliance with female and/or minority workforces threatened > by the same environmental toxins. (Yet another cleavage between > progressives and the AFL-CIO may close with the passing of Kirkland and > Donahue, whose energetic support for anti-communist governments pitted the > AFL-CIO against U.S. movements for peace and non-intervention in Vietnam > and Latin America.) > > Other developments now hatching behind the scenes may launch the new > AFL-CIO leadership with a dramatic break from the past, sharply > accelerating these trends. A new wave of unrest among nurses and other > health service workers stirred up by hospital restructuring and > politicized by Clinton's abortive health care reform efforts promises to > make health care into a new front line for labor organizing. For example, > a recent revolt by "working nurses" in the giant California Nurses > Association (CNA) has produced a decidedly union-minded organization. The > CNA and similarly union-minded nurses' unions might soon coalesce with the > currently fragmented Local 1199 and with SEIU's giant West Coast hospital > worker unions, to launch a new international union of health care workers. > > Meanwhile, off-again/on-again merger talks with the massive, 2.2 million > member National Education Association (NEA) may soon be consummated. The > CNA and the NEA are among the leading advocates for universal health > care coverage and for public education, respectively. Their entry to the > AFL-CIO would sharply strengthen that organization's position as > pre-eminent defender of the "social wage" against the current Republican > onslaught, while bringing two impressive cohorts of female union leaders > into the AFL-CIO. > > What do all these departures from "unionism as we know it" have in common? > Each seeks to bridge, in different ways, the great divide between > community and the workplace in American life. Though unions were often > rooted in ethnic neighborhoods in their vital early days, those roots > shriveled as their vitality drained away in the age of business unionism. > The result has been a relatively apolitical labor movement, on the one > hand, and relatively classless public politics, on the other. It is > significant, then, that a great variety of community-based unionisms have > surfaced in the new hard times of recent years. > > Other varieties of community-based unionism may be on the horizon too, if > labor responds to other changing features of the American workplace. With > the growth of temporary and part-time employment, for example, unions face > the challenge of replacing the lost infrastructure of the workplace with > their own local networks among contingent workers, through community > organizations based in regional labor markets. Also, as welfare becomes > workfare, the new "workfare workforce" is likely to spawn what might be > well-named a "fairwork" movement, demanding decent treatment, fair pay > and benefits, education & training, and work that is of use to poor > communities. > > One wild card in all this is the informational revolution: so far a > nightmare for many workers as it accelerates automation and global > competition. As it reaches into our homes and daily lives, however, the > new informational infrastructure may provide new resources for labor and > community organizers. It would be no substitute for face-to-face > organizing, but a gossamer strand across which more substantial > organizations may grow: a connecting link, a coordinating mechanism, a > virtual memory, and a shared public space. > > It should not be hard to understand why labor's decades of decline might > produce the seeds of its rebirth. Labor unions are built in hard times, > not good times, because they are built by people banding together against > adversity. Perversely, they are likely to degenerate into bureaucracy > when blessed by success, as the social movements which build them > inevitably decline. And innovation in response to crisis is likely to > emerge--as it has emerged--first on the margins and at the grassroots, not > among those aging denizens of the hidebound center at the old AFL-CIO. > > ________________________________________ > > Paul Johnston is a former organizer for the Service Employees > International Union, author of the book *Success While Others Fail: Social > Movement Unionism and the Public Workplace*, and currently on leave from > his position as an associate professor of sociology at Yale University. > > > >
