<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1170" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #008000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=nathanne@nathannewman.org href="mailto:nathanne@nathannewman.org">Nathan Newman</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=lbo-talk@lbo-talk.org href="mailto:lbo-talk@lbo-talk.org">lbo-talk@lbo-talk.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, May 28, 2003 3:11 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [lbo-talk] decentralization, Whole Foods style</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>----- Original Message -----<BR>From: "Doug Henwood" <<A href="mailto:dhenwood@panix.com">dhenwood@panix.com</A>><BR><BR><BR>Nathan Newman wrote:<BR>>Folks bash the union leadership on this list a lot, but then they often<BR>>don't even engage in the basic solidarity of supporting organizing<BR>>campaigns. General boycotts may not be particularly useful, but avoiding<BR>>companies actively being organized and engaging in union-busting tactics<BR>>seems the most minimal solidarity called for by leftists.<BR><BR>-Nathan, no one "bashes" the union leadership here. It's criticism,<BR>-which is not personal nor is it unwarranted...  And<BR>-it's only Woj who was willing to overlook WF's antiunion behavior<BR>-because they're the retailing equivalent of NPR. I suspect if you put<BR>-it to a vote, you'd get over 90% support for the organizing campaign.<BR><BR>Hey, I went through this in Berkeley when all these supposed greenie<BR>liberals </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2>"supposed", nathan?   a truely democratic choice of words.  </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2></FONT><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>crossed the UFCW picketline around Whole Foods, telling me their<BR>organic tofu was more important than workers rights.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2>sound like compassionate conservatives to me.   </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2>how many did you talk to?</FONT><BR><BR>My point is that for all the criticism of union leaders by a lot of<BR>progressives, those same progressives </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2>isn't "progressive" the latest catch phrase for liberal?   as in progressive democrat.   if not, what's a progressive?</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>often do little to advance union<BR>strength in their personal support for campaigns.  Whole Foods is in many<BR>ways the litmus test case, since its clientele is targetted at a whole wing<BR>of progressives, who just ignore the whole issue of unionization.  The issue<BR>is not voting, but practicing real solidarity.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2>real solidarity as opposed to fake solidarity?</FONT><BR><BR>-- Nathan Newman</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2>whole foods is important, but not the only union issue or the most significant one.   where do gray davis, diane feinstein and barbara boxer stand on unionization of whole foods?   how about the thoughtful, principled and effective joe LIEberman?   supposedly, diane has no trouble advocating for the spotted owl.  maybe she could work people into her agenda.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2>can you trot out a few show democrats in office that support unionization of whole foods?  i'll bet just like jimmy carter practiced adultery in his mind, the progressive, elected, show democrats experience crossing picket lines in their minds.  </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2>the Democratic Leadership Counsel must be falling all over itself to express it's support of unions, particularly at whole foods.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2>now if only the democrats could muster as much support for unions as they do for war ....</FONT></DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #008000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2>which democratic party do you belong to, nathan, the DLC's or someone elses?   </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#008000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>R</FONT> <DIV><BR><BR>___________________________________<BR><A href="http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk">http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</A><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>