Now my life experiences and studies have taught me that the US labor movement, with some wonderful exceptions, leaves an awful lot to be desired. Lots of corruption, in bed with imperialism, not much democracy, not much in the way of the radical principles upon which labor movements are always founded, unwilling to organize, unwilling to educate the members, etc., etc.
And not much to give us hope of much change any time soon.
Unions do sit on a lot of money. They have choices to make as to how to spend it. They could beef up worker education (The UAW has a lot of education money. In its PEL program--paid education leave--, it hired a lot of business professors, played cozy with GM, bashed the Japanese. A GM worker once told me I was opening a lot of eyes in one of the 8-hour sessions I regularly taught in the program. I wondered why the UAW hadn't done so. Why didn't the UAW educate like the CAW does?). They could open radio stations and give support to what labor radio there is (like WIN-Workers Independent News.) They could open up workers' centers in every city in the country. They coud sponsor nationwide conferences on race, war, immigration. They could aid independent worker organization without demanding control. They could fund and support openly and aggressively national health care, etc.
I have written a review of Manny Ness's fine book, Immigrants, Unions, and the New U.S. Labor Movement, about the organization of NYC greengrocery workers, food deliverers, and black car drivers. Read it and see what an abominable role organized labor played in the first two cases. Choices were made, but different ones could have been made. Read the recent and depressing series of articles in the Los Angeles Times about the UFW. (or go back a year and read the same stuff in the Bakersfield newspaper) The union and spinoff entities control lots of money, but they don't choose to use it to organize farm workers or anything else very progressive. Instead Cesar Chavez's son, Paul, makes $125,000 a year running a UFW housing development agency. No houses for farm workers though. They're too poor. Choices were made so that Chavez family members can live high on the hog while farm workers still don't live past fifty and still don't earn above a poverty wage. Choices were made, but different ones could have been made. All that money to that asshole Kerry and not one demand made upon him. They'll give Hilary lots of dough and she'll give them another war. Choices were made and will be made but other ones could have been and could be made.
Michael Yates