From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
> > > I think it's
> > > really hard to look at what's actually happening with organized
labor
> > > and find much that is inspiring.
> >
> >You need to look harder.
>
> Uh, could you expand on this? I'm groping for reasons to be
> optimistic, and any assistance would be welcome.
There are plenty of examples from the ranks of organized labor in which one can find inspiration. In addition to what Nathan's written, I'll provide one I'm pretty familiar with. In the past five years, managed care has gone on a vicious campaign of cost-cutting and speedup. This has resulted in shorter stays and sicker patients in hospitals, coupled with less staff on the floors to deal with the increased acuity levels. The consequences are predictable -- people end up needlessly suffering and dying. Recently a nurse told me that she was in a short staffing situation and one of her patients went bad and demanded her full-time attention. When she finally managed to get time to check on the rest of her assignment, a 35 yr old male who was sick enough to be on a cardiac monitor but who was expected to make a full recovery was stone cold by the time she got to him. Incidents like this abound.
While nurses might not be the "most exploited" in the country, when they organize they are able to make a sizable impact in the way health care is delivered. In October, California enacted the first law which would set fixed nurse to patient staffing ratios in hospitals throughout the state. The California Nurses Association and SEIU sponsored this legislation, which reproduces writ large language unionized health care workers have developed in their contracts to combat speedup and short staffing.
Presently, I am working on a campaign to organize 1500 RNs in Pittsburgh which goes to election at the end of this week. 1199P/SEIU would like Pennsylvania to be the second state to introduce and pass such legislation, and a victory in Pittsburgh would go a long way in ensuring quality care in Pennsylvania. But without the inspiring examples of what health care workers across the country have achieved when they've organized, we'd all be sunk.
Katha also wrote: Internally, of course, unions are extremely undemocratic, and far from building solidarity and workers' power, they weaken both by agreeing to contracts that ban sympathy and wildcat strikes, provide for two-tier wage structures etc.
Are you seriously implying that workers would be stronger without unions? I agree that many unions have certainly not been adept in mobilizing the rank and file. But they have had plenty of help from the state in keeping the working class quiescent. For instance, the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act outlawed secondary strikes, no? And I forget the name of the judicial ruling which states that there is an implicit "no strike clause" in every union contract, whether management and labor have agreed to one or not. Plus one can't overlook the whole practice of collective bargaining, which tends to make workers spectators in their own drama.
mark
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