I really agree with this. The fact is, that while SEIU and UNITE HERE have been lonely successes at large-scale private sector new organizing, they (SEIU at least) have actually really not been that good at developing the 'quality' in all those cases--- the internal structure, the education and mobilization, and so on. Different locals have different strengths, weaknesses, successes and failures in this of course, but I think its absolutely true that SEIU needs to do better at that stuff. Honestly, the CNA--- altho its smaller and has an easier time of it, given their context--- has been quite -good- at a lot of that stuff. The tragedy of the feud is that both unions bring an indispensable contribution to the table. The labor movement probably needs the best of both these worlds to grow. But when the two go to war and CNA is literally doing union-busting in order to expand nationally, and justifying it by claiming SEIU is a company union, and getting otherwise sharp cookies like Doug to believe it, then you wind up with an intractable conflict that in my opinion may paralyze the organizing labor movement for a decade.
Make no mistake about my personal opinions: there is much to Sal Rosselli's critique (there's also plenty of self-interested positing too--- we are still in the real world after all, alas). I think Andy Stern, many successes his team has had, is not the best leader for the union. I think the corporate campaigns to win organizing rights model has proven its worth, not only in how it has worked for us and our friends UNITE HERE, but in how it has worked for our critics in CWA and CNA (who do the -exact- same thing!). But I also think that far more improvement is needed in the education, mobilization, the internal structure-building, etc. Growing pains in a newly organized union shop are common, and sudden drastic growth under difficult conditions using new strategic tools is likely to cause some -extreme- growing pains. Boy have I seen that firsthand in my old local in Las Vegas, currently wracked by a civil war between two leadership factions which when I was there worked together quite well and had amazing successes. That's not even the extent of seiu's genuine problems. Let's face it: some of the organizing rights arrangements that have been struck were pretty poor. I'd bet its in the long-term health of the union to make a correction with regards to its bare minimums when negotiating these things. Also, all the complaints that are made by the unions critics about zealotry, overworking staff, empty milquetoast political goals, willingness to accept bare minimum compromises on issues like healthcare and immigration, need for more member involvement in elaboration of strategy, etc: these criticisms all have some truth to them, in my opinion. We must do better and we shall. I hope.
But labor notes specializes in throwing the babies out with the
bathwater, and then setting the bathtub itself on fire, then writing
an article titled 'Democratic Fightback Defeats Misleaders' Bathtub!'
for each other to read. SEIU and UNITE HERE's successes at
organizing are massive, important, and central to rebuilding the labor
movement until another entity can do better on a large scale. But
Doug more or less admits that these other entities have never been in
a position to take a whack at it, and they probably never will, and
I'd argue that on planet earth that means that their own strategy is
far more deeply flawed than SEIU's. On planet Trotsky, or planet
Berkeley, it doesn't matter who wins or loses, but on how perfectly
left-wing your critique is. But the vast bulk of the US working class
is on planet earth.
>
>
> So this means that all the work SEIU allegedly did in Ohio - all
> those 12-hour days spent talking to workers - still left virtually no
> trace on the ground, no base at all of rank and file support? The
> foundation was so weak that a few CNA carpetbaggers could spoil
> everything? You don't hear that such an argument sounds risibly thin?
>
This is an excellent question, and I'm cheered to see some engagement with the actual facts and problems of the actual situation. 1199 has a substantial activist base in some of the hospitals and some of the units. It varies, as these things will. If I had to guess I'd say that if they went forward with a straight-up board election, and CHP fought like they fight, maybe the workers would win in the Springfield hospitals, maybe one or two of the Cinci ones. Thats NLRB organizing--- the boss fights hard against an already relatively divided workforce, and in places where there's substantial heat and leadership and luck, workers win; and in most of the places, they lose. But that brings the union right back to where in was with the Lorain CHP RNs--- lonely beachheads in an otherwise non-union massive chain, which will then fight like crazy to expunge the cancer before it spreads, and if theyre strong as hell they'll be able to settle some good contracts, but the truly breakthrough gains that change peoples lives will be impossible without company-wide density.
Marvin: I have to disagree with your fatalism. In fact, the global economic changes do not rule out rebuilding the labor movement in the US. Why, people still have jobs, don't they? But it will look different and we don't know how to do it very well yet. Clearly the key task will be transforming non-offshoreable service industry jobs into what manufacturing jobs once were--- organized, high-wage occupations that constitute the pillars of working-class economic and political power, and a potential mass base for the left. The only reason this has proven impossible so far is that working people in the US are already quite divided in a hundred ways, and corporate union- busting has advanced in sophistication by light years in order to take advantage of a labor law and public culture that allows them to get away with murder during an organizing drive. Altho unions can't impact the nature of the divisions that exist between workers in the US (yet), they can find ways to beat on corporations till they knuckle under and give in to organizing rights of one kind or another. Unions that do that ruthlessly tend to win, and are more or less the only folks winning in the private sector. While a handful at least have been winning that way, only two--- SEIU and UNITE HERE--- have done so at a size and breadth it will take to rebuild the labor movement. That said, both have had serious challenges and problems, and the problems in SEIU have been increasingly exacerbated by a president figure with his own kooky ideas and rhetoric, and an addiction to exponential numerical growth that has perhaps taken some energy away from other needed tasks the union still must take on--- like welding those million new workers into a meaningful fighting union with its own culture, political vision, coherence and power.
Doug: I have a pretty serious problem with you calling 1199 OH a company union. I've already furnished some details about the actually quite bitter conflicts between CHP and the union, which you summarily ignored. I'd really like to speak with you before you go making such baseless, and deadly serious allegations (or else I'll start sending people anonymous emails that you're an undercover cop!).
Oh yeah- did anyone else see that email forward where this guy says he has no interest in the facts of the situation in Ohio, and then proposes lynching andy stern, because... seiu is in a conspiracy... with fox business news or something? God I hope this listserve doesn't descend that far into wingnuttery. Dude made Carrol Cox sound more reasonable than David Harvey!
> Brother Catron, you are certainly a bit of a wise ass aren't you?
That's why we love him so. : ) But Michael has an exemplary record of work as a labor educator behind what he's saying. If I had my way, every one of seiu's 1.9 million members would get to go through a popular education program with him, instead of just the couple hundred that have. But such union education is only possible when you have some unions and some members to do it in! That's why we need organizing rights and large-scale growth! It's not an either-or, people. Sadly, I suspect this feud is gonna get so bad we'll wind up with neither-nor. : (