> One of the points of doing campaigns like one for single-
> payer health care is to mobilize many of the rank and file,
> rather than the wonky few.
That's great, Yoshie. So who's doing it? For real, I mean.
> If organized labor were smart, it would pour resources
> into battleground states like Ohio -- not just in election
> years, but every year
Um, OK, and I would definitely add Pennsylvania (a similar state) to that list.
> beefing up campaigns like SPAN Ohio and and educating and
> employing rank-and-file unionists as volunteer organizers.
I don't know much about SPAN, but I do know of unions in Ohio who "employ rank-and-file unionists as volunteer organizers." Tell me about SPAN, though. What's the plan? What does their proposal look like? Who are the legislators they need to move -- or better yet, oust in this election year when Taft is the most unpopular governor in the country? Of the unions that have signed on to SPAN, how many of them are involving their rank-and-file in meaningful activities related to its mission? Where are the possibilities for intermediate victories? Of the unaffiliated lefties involved, which ones are actually organizing more ordinary, "rank-and-file" people and which ones are just sitting around blaming someone else for not doing it?
> Spend money and manpower especially in neglected working-
> class suburbs where folks normally turn to churches rather
> than unions when they confront problems:
> http://www.monthlyreview.org/0106straub.htm
I seem to recall that Jim Straub had some friendly things to say about 1199 WV/KY/OH, which is unsurprising since he got to see how they do things up close when he worked for them (I have worked with them as well, and they are impressive). They have worker, community, and patient organizers in towns like Lorain, Toledo and Springfield as well as in Cincinatti, doing plenty of work around health care issues, mostly bringing pressure on the provider side for reasons you can probably guess. But their work is funded in large measure by SEIU's International, and I mean to the tune of seven figures. What's the contradiction between doing that -- with a view to organizing thousands of more workers -- and building the long-term infrastructure necessary to win real change in health care in this country? I am starting to wonder what this argument is about.
- - - - - - - - - - John Lacny http://www.johnlacny.com
Tell no lies, claim no easy victories