[lbo-talk] those SEIU call centers

[Mark Rickling]

No -- I wanted to see him when he spoke recently in town, but I was
away unfortunately. But that there are left wing critics of the
actually existing labor movement isn't exactly news. Certainly
Fletcher's a smart guy and has spoken at our annual researcher
conferences before. What parts of his critique did you find
compelling?

On the call center issue, we got the idea from Australia -- and I
don't understand this well at all -- when unions in that country were
forced to related to their members after the loss of agency shop (dues
checkoff?) under labor law reform a few years ago. In SEIU it's seen
(by some -- not all of course) as a way to provide increased services
to members given the amount of resources -- 50% -- we devote to new
organizing. No other union comes close, btw. Implicitly or explicitly
many of the "SEIU dissidents" would have the union spend more money on
servicing members instead of organizing the unorganized.

On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 2:39 PM, MICHAEL YATES <mikedjyates at msn.com> wrote:
>
> In their new book, "Solidarity Divided," Bill Fletcher and Fernando Gapasin sharply
> criticize the SEIU approach to building a labor movement and they have caustic words
> for Andrew Stern.  Have the SEIU stalwarts on this list seen this book?  Fletcher and Gapasin
> are not outside academics.  They have been intimately involved in organized labor at all levels for
> more than 30 years.  The chapter in their book titled "Change to Win," is subtitled "A Return to
> Gompers?"
>
> Michael Yates
>
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>