Anne Feeney may have lost an election. I very seriously doubt that losing an election will end Anne's participation in the union movement. Only people who think they are the union movement, quit after losing an election. Anne is too committed and mature to be a quitter.
I wouldn't call Anne a radical. Because a lot of unionists, myself included translate the word radical as one who is a Republician. Anne is not a Republician. Nor is she some kind of a libertine, libertarian anarchist kook. Which in my dictionary is the second definition of radical.
Also I'm sure Anne will be key wether she's in or she's out.
If your talking to her, thank her again for coming up to Lorain and helping us out during the workers comp Issue #2 campaign.
Sincerely, Tom Lehman
Mike Yates wrote:
> Friends,
>
> The Pittsburgh local of the Musicians' Union just had an election for
> president. Ann Feeney, lawyer turned folk singer (and a person who has
> done yeoman work for the labor movement over the years) was the
> incumbent president. She is a radical and tried to expand the
> membership of the union by attracting rock and other nonclassical
> musicians to the union. She was soundly defeated in the election by a
> classical musician who made it clear that he would devote his energies
> to serving the existing membership and mainly the classical musicians in
> the Pittsburgh Symphony and various other classical orchestras. He said
> that serving the existing membership was the best way to attract new
> members.
>
> Here we have in microcosm the crisis of the U.S. labor movement. With
> the lowest union density in the advanced capitalist world and the
> politically weakest labor movement in that same world, U.S. unions must
> organize new members or face extinction. And to organize new members,
> you have to have an aggressive plan of action. Serving the existing
> members is, of course, necessary, but this will not ever be enough to
> build a labor movement. The trouble is that most unions feel exactly
> the same as the musicians. They do not see that in the long run
> organizing is key. Even the new leaders of the AFL-CIO don't seem to
> get it either, having recently fired Richard Bensinger, a person who
> does see what is needed and was trying, much to the consternation of the
> old guard, to get unions to organize.
>
> It is interesting, too, that Feeney is a radical with a vision of a
> labor movement greater than any particular union, a movement aimed at
> the liberation of workers and not just the servicing of a few. The new
> president does not appear to have any such vision.
>
> michael yates