Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 14:46:20 -0800 (PST) From: Mike Kramer <mkramer666 at yahoo.com> Subject: Labor and the Left/At War With Calendula
Work Place Organizing: Labor and the Left
This issue of the /Agitator Index /is focused workplace organizing.
Many of the articles are centered on the restructuring proposals and strategic discussions taking place within the AFL-CIO that have been triggered by SEIU and the (now defunct) New Unity Partnership. The debates have seen the reemergence of the craft vs. industrial unionism and could very well lead to split within the AFL-CIO reminiscent of 1935 when United Mine Workerís President, John L. Lewis, left the AFL along with several of the largest unions, to form the CIO.
Much of the left has long been divorced from workplace struggles and organized labor and, as this issueís article At War With Calendula shows, are sometimes openly hostile to worker struggles. We hope this issue of the Agitator Index sparks debate on the current discussion within the labor movement and relationship of left organizations to the labor movements and worker place struggles.
Articles This Issue:
At War With Calendula
By Peter Little
The Decline of Labor Unions and the Current Debate within Organized Labor: What does this mean for Radical Politics? By Mathias
Black Unionist Warn: Donít Restructure Us Out
>From the Black Commentator
Jim Forman and the Liberal-Labor Syndrome By David Swanson
Twelve Women in the Twelfth Year: The Moment of War By /Subcomandante Marcos///
[...]