> <http://slate.msn.com/id/2123481/>
>
> A More Perfect Union?
> Why Andy Stern isn't helping the American labor movement.
> By Robert Fitch
> That's the figure his press people give out. But government
> figures - based on numbers supplied by SEIU - show that the actual
> number was 1.1 million. So, he has added only 700,000 members.
Which government figures are these? Citations, please.
> Despite the impression left by Bread and
> Roses - the 2000 film starring Adrien Brody as the SEIU organizer who
> gets the beautiful Latina janitress -
(Groan). Pilar Padilla, who is Mexican, is the star. And it's the other way around, she was the one who went after him. A highly symptomatic misreading, which sort of fits the rest of the article.
> SEIU's organizing performance
> in its core private sector field has been less than spectacular. The
> union claims it has more janitors than ever. But according to the
> Department of Labor there are 4.4 million building service workers in
> the United States. Only 225,000 belong to SEIU.
The SEIU's Justice for Janitors campaign has done a wonderful job of organizing. The healthcare workers campaign has also made huge strides. Those are real achievements.
> After a
> decade's worth of organizing politicians in Sacramento - ex-Gov. Gray
> Davis got $625,000 from SEIU - and also the Los Angeles County Board
> of Supervisors, Stern persuaded them to create an agency that would
> serve as the employer for home-care workers.
Stern didn't persuade anyone to do anything. The homecare workers organized themselves and fought a long, arduous campaign for recognition.
> Meanwhile, the election produced for SEIU
> what is now very likely the largest local in America, with 115,000
> members and nearly $30 million in yearly cash flow. Stern's Los
> Angeles Local 434B is now bigger than the entire United Mine Workers
> - once America's largest union. The problem is they have very little
> to show for their dues.
But they have a contract, so the next task is to improve that contract.
SEIU, like any big organization, has its share of problems and foibles. But they are out there organizing and winning battles. They're also one of the more diverse unions, both in terms of membership and leadership. That's something to build on.
-- DRR