> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
Consolidating them sounds like a good idea to me; if
> Tom Lehman thinks otherwise, I'd be curious why..
I think this goes to the basic centralization-decentralization debate we had. Where Central Labor Councils are doing bangup innovative work, this restructuring could interfere with local initiatives and freedom. It also has some danger of inhibiting local union democracy if the AFL-CIO plays games in not having CLC's give full support to dissident locals of national unions.
On the other hand, as indicated, most CLCs are pretty lame and do little organizing support. One of the reasons Jobs with Justice was organized nationwide was to do the local interunion labor support that the CLCs were not doing. In the best light, this restructuring plan will essentially turn all CLCs into local branches of what many wanted Jobs with Justice to be (and notably the local CLCs were often the worst opponents of Jobs with Justice for pure turf reasons.)
The devil is in the details but any major shaking up of the CLCs should be good for organizing, if only to force them to do the interunion organizing support many have resisted for years.
--Nathan Newman