[lbo-talk] SEIU allows employers to exclude workers from unions

Mark Rickling mrickling at gmail.com
Fri Aug 22 12:52:26 PDT 2008


On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 2:34 PM, Miles Jackson <cqmv at pdx.edu> wrote:


> As far as I can tell, the primary goal of the SEIU is to increase union
> density at pretty much any cost, regardless of the number of concessions
> granted to employers and the number of constraints placed on workers. Sure,
> you can grow a toothless union by granting more power to the employers and
> less to the workers, as in the food service "Big 3" agreement--but what's
> the point? (For the working class, I mean; I see why the employers like
> it.)

You write as if employers are happy to have their employees unionize with SEIU, because it gives them (the bosses) more power, or forestalls some incipient organizing drive by some other union in the offing. Nothing could be further from the truth. Companies have to be *forced* into these agreements, which is not an easy thing to do. Suffice it to say bosses aren't beating down SEIU's door looking to sign a deal.

Thanks to the wave of negative publicity SEIU has enjoyed recently, you believe it is a "toothless" union, yet you have no idea whatsoever what workers have or have not gained via election agreements. Write back when you do.



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