Labor Wrestles With Its Future

By Harold Myerson

Celebrate Labor Day. 

Since the emergence of capitalism, workers seeking higher pay and safer workplaces have banded together in guilds and unions to pressure their employers for a better deal. That has been the approach of the American labor movement for the past 200 years.

That approach, however, has begun to change. It’s not because unions think collective bargaining is a bad idea but because workers can’t form unions any more — not in the private sector, not at this time. There are some exceptions: Organizing continues at airlines, for instance, which are governed by different organizing rules than most industries. But employer opposition to organizing has become pervasive in the larger economy, and the penalties for employers who violate workers’ rights as they attempt to unionize are so meager that such violations have become routine. For this and a multitude of other reasons, the share of unionized workers in the private sector dropped from roughly one-third in the mid-20th century to a scant 6.6 percent last year. In consequence, the share of the nation’s economy constituted by wages has sunk to its lowest level since World War II, and U.S. median household income continues to decline.

Unions face an existential problem: If they can’t represent more than a sliver of American workers on the job, what is their mission? Are there other ways they can advance workers’ interests even if those workers aren’t their members?

(Editors note; See also post on labor and the immigration struggles on www.antiracismdsa.blogspot.com)

Avoiding Their Fair Share of Taxes

Avoiding Their Fair Share of Taxes

Trampling out the Vintage ? a review of a book on Cesar Chavez

Trampling Out the Vintage ?

A  dissident’s view of the rise and the fall of the United Farm Workers union.

By Duane Campbell

Frank Bardacke’s Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers. (2011, Verso). is the view of a well- informed observer  who  worked in the lettuce fields near Salinas for six seasons,  then spent  another 25 years  teaching English to  farm workers  in the Watsonville, Cal.  area. His views on the growth and decline of the United Farm Workers union – some of which I do not share–  offer  important points of history and reflection  for unionists today, particularly those working with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Trampling Out the Vintage, provides several insights not previously developed in well informed books on the UFW  including  important  differences between grape workers and  workers in row crops such as lettuce; the length of time workers were in the UFW,  the more settled family nature of grape workers, the strength of each  type of ranch committees,  the leadership of ranch crews  ( and thus the potential differences in creating democratic accountability), and the differing histories of worker militancy in  different  crops.  The author correctly argues that each of these led to somewhat different organizing environment in building the  union. He also details problems of administrative mismanagement in the hiring halls in the grape areas and alleged  mismanagement of organizing within the union sponsored health care insurance and clinic systems .

Trumka, labor unions, support Wall Street protests

Declaring that “Wall Street’s out of control,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has embraced street protests such as the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations—and others like them that are planned for cities across the country. As reported by John Nichols in the Nation.
Asked about the ongoing mass protest in New York’s financial district, which has begun to gain support from major unions, Trumka said Friday morning: “I think it’s a tactic and a valid tactic to call attention to a problem. Wall Street is out of control. We have three imbalances in this country—the imbalance between imports and exports, the imbalance between employer power and working power, and the imbalance between the real economy and the financial economy. We need to bring back balance to the financial economy, and calling attention to it and peacefully protesting is a very legitimate way of doing it.”
Hailing the power of street protests to shift the dialogue, Trumka said, “I think being in the streets and calling attention to issues is sometimes the only recourse you have because, God only knows, you can go to the Hill, and you can talk to a lot of people and see nothing ever happen…”

Respond to the Gang of Six

Have you been watching the debate over whether we'll default on our national debt? Week after week, politicians from both parties have used it as an opportunity to tell us that deficit reduction requires "tough choices" and "shared sacrifice" and "taking on sacred cows." 

But as AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently said, "So far, the only sacred cows being gored by budget proposals coming out of Washington are working people, the middle class, seniors and the poor."

Tell your senators and the White House: No cuts to the social safety net. Focus on creating jobs, and make corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share: [ http://act.aflcio.org/c/18/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2565 ].

One recent bipartisan proposal in the Senate cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. It chokes job-creating public investments. It slashes education for disadvantaged students. It whacks workers with taxes on our heath care benefits and tax credits. And it kills American jobs--by switching to a "territorial taxation system" that gives corporations incentives to ship jobs overseas and shift profits to offshore tax havens. 

Working class anger

June 8, 2010

Working class anger centers on Wall Street greed, but the right wing is trying to channel that anger in dangerous directions, said panelists at the America's Future Now conference. But a focus on jobs and a working family economy can turn that anger into election wins this fall.

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Make Wall Street Pay

Richard Trumka: Make Wall Street Pay

So now we learn that as millions of America's families were losing their homes, Goldman Sachs cheeredbecause it stood to make huge money betting on a housing market gone bad. Is that Wall Street's vision of American values? It's not mine. And it's not the values of the thousands of working Americans who are marching on Wall Street today in person with me and online.

Our message is simple: Big Banks tanked our economy and took our money when they needed a bailout. Now they're thumbing their noses at our communities but making billions in profits. It's time they pay up.

Pay up by investing in communities to create jobs for the millions of unemployed workers -- like Terry in Florida, who was laid off a week before Christmas. Being forced to return his family's Christmas gifts to the store was just the beginning of his pain. While the corporation he worked for is turning a profit, he fears his family will be homeless by summer.

Meanwhile, in 2009, 25 hedge fund managers were paid the equivalent of the salaries of 680,000 school teachers. That's in 2009, when we taxpayers spent billions of dollars bailing out the financial sector. If Goldman Sachs is cheering at the collapse of the housing market, what's the rest of Wall Street saying? Thanks, suckers?

Those may be Wall Street's values. They're not America's.

Make Wall Street Pay

Jobs Now Rally

Over 400 workers, many of  them now unemployed,  marched  on the California State Capitol  for a a Jobs Now rally in Sacramento California.  The major chant was Jobs ! Jobs! Jobs!

Darrell Stienberg, Senate Pro temp California State Senate and numerous other speakers  called for the ending of the 2/3 vote rule in the California legislature as a means of building a progressive budget.

Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO was to have been there, but the snow storm in the east kept him from attending.  

Bill  Camp; Executive  Secretary of the Sacramento Central labor Council focused the issue,  “The Banks have received millions /billions in bailouts.  When  in the hell are they going to give a bailout to the working class?”

 U.S. Representative John Garamendi  said,  “Wall street took the entire economy into the tank. And, they got a bail out.  We want the money back. “

 Garamendi said that the House has passed a $120 Billion for Jobs for Main Street bill but it is being held in the U.S. Senate by the consistent use of the filibuster by the Republicans Senators with the support of 4-6 Democratic Senators.  Congressman Garamendi called for pressure on the Senate to pass the bill – with 51 votes. 

For more see the California Labor Federation.  Here; http://www.calaborfed.org/

Congressman Garamendi 

The Crisis of Jobs

Excellent, valuable video:

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/jobs/americaneedsjobsnow.cfm

President Obama at the AFL-CIO

AFL-CIO endorses Obama

Why the AFL-CIO Endorses Barack Obama

By John J. Sweeney

If ever working families needed change we can believe
in, it is now.
America's promise to working families has been broken
by the deliberate corporatization of our economy. The
basic needs and dreams of our families have been sold
to the highest corporate bidders—Big Oil, Big Pharma,
the insurance industry, the giant mortgage lenders and
the speculators.
With 80 percent of the public saying our country is
headed in the wrong direction, it's time to turn
around America.
This primary season, we were blessed with a committed
and talented group of working family champions running
for the presidency. Each would have brought special
strengths on our behalf to the White House. AFL-CIO
unions embraced and campaigned mightily on behalf of
former Sen. John Edwards and Sens. Chris Dodd, Hillary
Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
But now the AFL-CIO's autonomous unions, representing
10.5 million working men and women from every walk of
life, have come together to pledge our energy, our
hearts and our grassroots strength to electing Barack
Obama.
The reasons are many.
As the son of a single mother, as a Chicago community
organizer and Illinois state senator, Obama saw
firsthand and addressed the struggles of working
families. And in his years in the U.S. Senate, he has
earned a 98 percent record of voting on behalf of
working families.
On the greatest priorities of America's union movement
and the millions of working people we represent,
Obama's record and proposals ensure he is the right
choice.
Good Jobs and Wages: Obama proposes an "aggressive
strategy to create good, middle-class jobs," including
hundreds of thousands of jobs in the renewable energy
sector. He opposed the Bush administration's move to
take overtime pay rights from some 10 million workers.
He strongly supports Davis-Bacon wage protections and
project labor agreements and voted repeatedly to
increase the minimum wage.
Health Care: Obama's plan would provide health care
for all, lower costs, improve quality and ensure no
one could be denied care because of a pre-existing
condition or illness.
Employee Free Choice Act: Obama is committed to
ensuring that workers can choose to gain a union voice
on the job and bargain with their employers for better
wages, benefits and working conditions—without
employer harassment or intimidation. He co-sponsored
and voted for the Employee Free Choice Act and
promises to sign it into law as president.
Fair Trade: Obama wants to end tax breaks for
companies that ship jobs overseas and will oppose new
trade agreements unless more steps are taken to
protect American jobs and the environment.
Fair Taxes: Obama's tax proposal would give families
making between $37,595 and $66,354 a year an average
tax cut of $1,042, compared with the $319 proposed by
rival John McCain.
Retirement Security: Obama opposes privatizing Social
Security and has a solid record of supporting Social
Security and Medicare, as well as opposing cuts in
benefits. He also has fought to lower the cost of
prescription drugs for seniors.
An Economy That Works for All: Obama says working
families' current economic hardships were not
"inevitable." They resulted from irresponsible
economic policies by the Bush administration that gave
tax breaks to the rich while cutting working family
priorities. Obama consistently has fought tax cuts for
the wealthy and program cuts for working families.
As president, Barack Obama can lead the change working
families need.
Find out more about Barack Obama and his positions on
key working family priorities at www.MeetObama08.org.
Then help us spread the word.

Paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political
Education (COPE) Political Contributions Committee,
www.aflcio.org, and not authorized by any candidate or
candidate's committee.