[lbo-talk] Lies about Union Corruption

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Tue Feb 14 08:11:26 PST 2006


Nathan:

<<<Well, a new corporate outfit has launched an anti-union site called unionfacts.org -- and quotes by Robert Fitch are featured prominently on the front page. Go Fitch.>>>

Nathan, I do not really understand your strategy. Why are you trying to kill the messenger instead of facing the unpleasant contents of his message? If you read his book carefully (and I am about half way through) you would no doubt notice that his intent is NOT to smear the unions, but to expose the structural problem of American unionism that makes it prone to this kind of aberration. In other words, he wants to reform the US unionism to make it stronger, instead of maintaining the status quo that weakens it (as the BLS data clearly show.) In fact, he makes it quite clear that "preoccupation with corrupt acts of individuals often seems to be the product of a small and censorious mind" (p. 71) and then he goes on with an analogy to the Reformation critique of the Catholic Church which was not about individual abuses but about systemic problems of the entire institution that made these abuses possible.

His argument is that the structure of the US unionism that developed in the 19th century and failed to modernize (as European unions did) is the source of the corruption, but more importantly, of the weakness of US unionism and its failure to protect the interest of the entire US working class (as opposed to the select few.) This is a valid argument and dismissing it by smearing the person who makes seems rather counterproductive, no?

As you know, I am not an 'ultra-leftist' but a wussy bread-and-butter social democrat: big welfare state, strong government regulations, strong unions, labor-controlled government and all that jazz. Only once in my life I voted for a third party - and this was only in the Nader-trader scheme actually designed to help Gore in "swing" state (MD was pretty safe). But at the same time, I can recognize problem when someone points it out to me, especially if that problem ( Localism, compartmentmenatalization) affects not just the unions, but other US institutions, such as education or local governance - which makes the Fitch's argument even more plausible. So why denying the obvious and fooling oneself with pretty pictures painted by apologists?

Wojtek



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