Hurdles for Former AFL-CIO Unions

progressive

(Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:35:34 -0500 (CDT)) --- Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Wall St Journal via Kansas City labor - Apr 11, 2007

www.kclabor.org

A 'Fair Use' Reprint From the Wall Street Journal

Former AFL-CIO Unions Hit Hurdles

New Membership Fails To Reach Group's Goals As Internal Rifts Emerge

By KRIS MAHER

Nearly two years after leaving the AFL-CIO with big plans to organize
more workers and re-energize the labor movement, a group of unions has
accomplished much less than it hoped and is grappling with internal
divisions.

The disagreements within the new labor group could ultimately hurt
Democrats as the presidential primary season approaches if those
disputes cause the unions to split their support among several candidates.

o The Situation: Unions that left the AFL-CIO haven't met high hopes
for organizing workers.

o The Background: The unions have disagreed on matters like
immigration and how to handle Wal-Mart.

o What It Means: Leaders say organizing campaigns are on track, but
internal tensions could lead to more division over issues like politics.

The Change to Win federation was formed in September 2005 by seven
unions that felt the AFL-CIO spent too much money on politics and not
enough on organizing workers. The group pledged "to jointly carry out
the largest organizing program in more than 50 years," with the aim of
reversing the labor movement's decline.

No such turnaround has materialized. Union membership in the U.S.
continued to fall last year, to 7.4% of private-sector workers, from
about 17% in the early 1980s.

The federation, which represents 5.4 million workers in health care,
trucking, hotels and construction, among other industries, has failed
to significantly increase its membership. Moreover, membership growth
within Change to Win unions has been mixed. Recent government filings
show that unions that had strong organizing departments continued to
perform better than the rest, while others continued to trail.

The fast-growing Service Employees International Union added 70,000
members, expanding to 1.6 million members. Unite Here and the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters each had net gains of several
thousand members. But the 1.3-million-member United Food and Commercial
Workers lost roughly 7,500 members, and the Laborers International
Union of North America lost about 12,500 to fall to 657,000 members.

Bruce Raynor, president of Unite Here, said the group had made some
strides in organizing but that it would take more time to show broader
results. "I knew from the beginning we weren't going to build an
organizing program overnight," he said. "I think by and large Change to
Win has been a success."

Greg Denier, communications director for Change to Win, said union
leaders haven't disagreed on core issues, such as the need for
health-care overhaul, but on tactics. "Where people can't agree they
will pursue an issue that they believe is in the best interests for
workers in their industry," he said.

Mr. Denier said unions have beefed up organizing staffs and created a
Strategic Organizing Center to run big organizing campaigns. The center
helped Unite Here organize 5,000 hotel workers last year, and is
helping the Teamsters organize school-bus drivers and port drivers. "We
are committed to doing more, but Change to Win is certainly
implementing a new vision in terms of how we organize."

But there are signs the group is unhappy with its performance. In a
March letter to the federation's leadership, Anna Burger, chairwoman of
Change to Win, cited areas in which the group has failed to reach
consensus, including its own internal finances, immigration policy,
health-care policy, retirement-security policy, presidential politics
and on how to confront Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The group has made decisions on most of these topics "but when there is
any resistance from staff of the affiliates we don't implement them,"
Ms. Burger wrote. "As a result affiliates are frustrated and
opportunities missed."

In the case of immigration, for instance, the service workers union
favors a guest-worker program, while other unions in the federation
oppose such a program.

Change to Win unions, which represent many immigrant workers, failed to
follow through on plans to develop a "structured relationship" with the
National Day Laborer Organizing Network and allocate $250,000 "for
outreach to immigrant and Latino community," according to Ms. Burger's
letter.

The unions also had agreed to identify five employers to bring to a
summit on health care early this year, but failed to identify employers
or schedule the summit. "We have no strategy for the implementation of
our policies for [health-care] reform, so each union continues to move
forward on their own strategy," Ms. Burger wrote. Her letter was
earlier reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Tensions within the new organization stem partly from a news conference
in February in which Andy Stern, president of SEIU, announced that he
was teaming up with Lee Scott, chief executive of Wal-Mart, as well as
other business and labor leaders to lobby Congress for health-care
overhaul.

Joseph Hansen of the UFCW quickly denounced the event as a "publicity
stunt." The UFCW has been trying for years to organize workers at
Wal-Mart and is currently waging a campaign to tarnish the retailer's
image. The meeting undermined labor's criticism of the company, by
giving the appearance of accepting its health-care policies, Mr. Hansen
argues. He declined to comment for this article.

Steve Trossman, communications director for SEIU, played down tensions
between Mr. Stern and Mr. Hansen. "Mr. Hansen obviously has strong
opinions about this. There are going to be some areas where they agree
to disagree, but life will go on." Mr. Stern declined to comment.

On the issue of the group's accomplishments, Mr. Trossman said, "I
think people would like to see things move faster than they have." He
added, "But there is also a lot of exciting stuff on the board that
could result in some major campaigns."

Jim Papian, a spokesman for the UFCW, declined to discuss the
relationship between Mr. Hansen and Mr. Stern. "Of course people have
convictions and positions. They argue their position with conviction
and a sense of urgency and passion but then they hash it out and move
forward," he said.

The issue of how to deal with Wal-Mart, and the potential for
disagreement, could easily become a factor in the upcoming Democratic
primaries.

Last month, Mr. Hansen sent a letter to all of the Democratic
presidential candidates, asking them for their views on Wal-Mart in
order to be considered for an endorsement. He asked candidates if they
would publicly support the UFCW's campaign against Wal-Mart. Finally,
he asked, if they would agree "not to take part in any publicity stunt"
that helps Wal-Mart.

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