> I really don't get your point. If this account is true, three
> busloads of, um representatives, of the SEIU arrived and busted up a
> Labor Notes dinner. How the fuck is that an "academic exercise"?
It isn't, but the suggestion from CNA and LN that SEIU should have instead redressed union-busting - not a raid or a turf war, mind you, but an outright attempt to deny workers representation - through a reasoned debate, was academic to the point of comedy.
When you claim to act in the interests of working people, but make choices that deny workers real improvements they would otherwise have had, I can't say a less-than-cordial response seems entirely inappropriate.
> You
> don't like LN because it was a bunch of pussies from Berkeley who
> moved to Detroit to organize the working class?
I like the LN'ers I know (and they do have quite a presence here in the city). I've also never hesitated to tell them that they're too academic. And while you description has a grain of truth (okay, it's overwhelmingly true), it probably applies equally well to SEIU organizers if you switch out Detroit for something else.
But SEIU has the advantage of never, to my knowledge, having sought to prevent workers from gaining union recognition. Do you know otherwise? Or will you somehow seek to excuse CNA for having done so?