[lbo-talk] United Front

John Thornton jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net
Thu Apr 24 17:26:13 PDT 2008


dredmond at efn.org wrote:
> On Thu, April 24, 2008 2:07 pm, John Thornton wrote:
>
>
>> Nor am
>> more enamored with CNA over SEIU but SEIU just shit in the pool of labor
>> organizers by their violent actions in this matter. SEIU has many of their
>> members outraged over SEIU's actions in this matter. The same cannot be
>> said of CNA's members.
>>
>
> Hold on a second. A few people tussling at a demonstration (and I've seen
> my share) doesn't qualify as violence, or a license to write off SEIU,
> which is a huge and complex organization with 1.9 million members.
> Personally, I don't think Labor Notes was the appropriate venue for a
> picket, but that's not the point. The fact is that CNA *did* expend
> resources to try to hamstring SEIU's organizing campaign, which is
> completely unacceptable. This isn't Europe or Canada, where there are
> decent labor laws. In the US, the bosses have the powers of medieval-era
> potentates, and corporate campaigns aren't an option, they're a necessity.
>
> We can't afford this infighting. We need CNA's RN-focused campaigns, and
> we need SEIU's broad-based campaigns to work in tandem, not at
> cross-purposes.
>
> -- DRR

Hold on a second why? Who wrote they were writing off SEIU? Not me. I simply said I disagree with the tactic of violently attempting to disrupt the Labor Notes meeting, Nothing more. I also said nothing about whether CNA's actions were acceptable or not. I frankly admitted I didn't know enough about the particulars to take one side or the other in that conflict. What you label as a tussle I label as violence. Not head bashing, shooting, stabbing violence but low-level violence nonetheless. There is nothing democratic or helpful about one pro-labor group attempting to disrupt another pro-labor groups meeting over an issue that is peripheral to that meeting. Labeling CNA's actions as unionbusting is also BS. Maybe it's raiding, maybe not, but it isn't unionbusting and claiming it is suggests SEIU is on weak ground if their position isn't defensible mislabeling CNA's real actions.

I agree we cannot afford infighting. CNA's attempt to insert itself into Ohio may be a problem but certainly less so than trying to violently disrupt a pro-labor meeting by Labor Notes just because someone from CNA was scheduled to speak. You don't have to take SEIU's or CNA's side to recognize that an attempt to disrupt the meeting of Labor Notes, an ally in labors struggle, is not only not productive but is counterproductive to the labor movement overall.

John Thornton



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