[lbo-talk] new union organizing (was Re: Unity with Dems)

Brian O. Sheppard bsheppard at bari.iww.org
Thu Apr 10 09:23:12 PDT 2003


On Wed, 9 Apr 2003, Nathan Newman wrote:


> Absolutely-- that's call new union organizing and a range of community-based
> workplace organizing where unionization will be hard to reach for a number
> of years. But over 50% of workers want a union so uniting with that desire
> is absolutely a left goal.

This is one of the most frustrating things happening aside from the war, in my opinion -- the signalled willingness of historic numbers of workers to join unions coupled with the inability of established unions to connect with these people and organize them. It's simply atrocious.

I wrote a letter about this that, I believe, will be (has been?) published in Labor Notes. No one in the AFL-CIO can tell me that since the anti-globalization movement there aren't scores of younger people that would love to get involved with the labor movement as volunteers and unpaid organizers. The problem, in part, is a stubborn social conservatism, and, where I live at least, something along the lines of a good ol' boys network of labor higher-ups, where the energy and vitality of younger, enthused people simply isn't wanted. This seems to be the case elsewhere, as socially conservative but fiscally liberal/moderate bureaucrats prove to be highly resistant to and suspicious of a new generation of organizers.

The AFL-CIO leadership is killing the labor movement.

Brian



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