>If protecting union jobs is the only point, anti-immigrant &
>pro-protectionist nativism is patently pointless. New immigrant workers
>are more pro-union than native-born workers -- hence the AFL-CIO's new
>stance. To survive, organized labor has to sign up as many as it can,
>native or immigrant, legal or illegal. Many foreign nations have higher
>rates of unionization than the USA also. Since most trade & investment
>flow within the circle of rich nations, one might say that it is the USA
>that is bringing down labor standards of Japan & Western Europe by its
>cheap un-organized labor.
>
>The best way to protect union jobs is to sign up & make all union members.
Yoshie is thinking long-term, while it seems that Max is thinking
short-term: one reason why the US labor movement is in such poor shape is
that the AFL-CIO didn't try very hard at organizing the US South (at the
same time that the leadership allied with the government against more
militant unionists, who often turned out to be Communist Party members or
other kinds of leftists).
One reason why the late César Chavez should be admired is that he made the
effort to organize the undocumented.
It seems to me, finally, that even in the heat of a strike, unions must
reach out to find as many allies as possible. Teachers must reach out to
parents, etc.
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
