On Apr 15, 2008, at 8:15 PM, Joseph Catron wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 6:10 PM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
> wrote:
>
>> When has any union done that? Aside from SEIU, of course
>
> Doug, I hope you realize you're making my points for me, and more
> vehemently than I would.
Howzzat? You split the sentence in the middle:
>> and the
>> fruitfulness of the density at all costs strategy remains unproved.
>
> As opposed to what? The density doesn't matter strategy? The shrink
> to nothing strategy?
I love it when people set up false binaries. It's either density at all costs or shrink to nothing. How about some thought about quality as well as quantity. The density at all costs strategy brought us Rivera's slick move in Puerto Rico. It's really beginning to look like a pattern: cut sleazy deals with employers just to add numbers. Jim Straub can spend 18 hours a day talking to workers, but it's looking like what really matters is the few hours that Stern and Rivera spend talking to bosses.
>> And what union organizing strategy has Labor Notes actually
>> controlled?
>
> You're asking the wrong question. When have they ever focused energy
> on new organizing?
LN has been talking about new strategies for the labor movement for 20 years, but union leaderships just aren't interested. The idea of empowering the membership makes their skin crawl.
>> TDU was the closest they came, and that wasn't without
>> its virtues, was it?
>
> You're talking "virtues;" I'm talking numbers. We might as well be
> speaking Finnish and Urdū.
Maybe so, but democratizing and de-mobbing the Teamsters was a pretty good idea, wasn't it?
Doug