Rebuilding Labor:
The
AFL-CIO's 23rd
Constitutional Convention
by Jeff Burman
Maybe it's just an election year.
The AFL-CIO swung into Los Angeles in mid-October, rallied the faithful, and in the passion of the moment, made a painfully cautious Al Gore sound like a reborn Hubert Humphrey. That wasn't all.
Labor's slow, torturous decline is finally turning around. Our numbers are growing. At last count 382,000 new members have joined up in 1999-although there is still a slight decline in the net percentage of unionized jobs. AFL-CIO president John Sweeney told nearly 1,000 delegates and alternates that "our breakthroughs in organizing, bargaining and political action have been breathtaking." He pointed to twice defeating Fast Track for NAFTA, and changing a 25-seat loss to a five-seat pickup in the U.S. House of Representatives in off-year elections in 1998. He pointed to proof positive that power is shifting away from Washington and out to the grass roots: a "New Alliance" movement that embraces decentralization, the addition of 157 Union Cities (which foster links between unions, communities of faith, retirees and others) and doubling the number of organizing trainees. Almost three dozen municipalities have followed the lead of organized labor, and have enacted living-wage laws. Once-ossified central labor councils and state federations are now out rousing the troops. The ranks are swelling. The word is getting out, and the word is "changing to organize, organizing to change."
The AFL-CIO also announced the launch of its own Internet service provider, or ISP. Starting December 1, workingfamilies.com will allow members and would-be members to mobilize for legislative and organizing campaigns, for $14.95 a month. Ever notice how union coverage on TV is usually how annoying strikes are? The AFL-CIO has formed a working alliance with Free Speech TV and the Union Producers and Programmers Network to set up a programming vehicle for broadcast and syndication. News you can use. It's still in development.
Do you still think organized labor is unresponsive and bureaucratic? Here's a yardstick for you. A century of organized labor's refusal to organize the unskilled and the immigrant is now, officially, a thing of the past.
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In an animated speech, the VP reminded delegates that while there was a recession during the Reagan-Bush and Bush-Quayle administrations, there was no Clinton-Gore recession. He went on to say, "I was raised on this bedrock principle of support for labor rights: the right to organize is a basic American right that should never be stopped, blocked or taken away... This I believe with all my heart. Workers must have the right to better their lives by joining unions if they choose to. Unions benefit all families, organized or not. That's why I've always been pro-union." He went on for nearly 30 minutes with a fair amount of hoopla from the attendees.
All right, maybe it's tepid and lacking in specifics. But, for Gore, it's a sonata.
The Teamsters, Government Employees (AFGE) and Auto Workers (UAW) unions wanted to delay the endorsement, hoping to hear more about Gore and Bradley's labor positions. Teamsters President James P. Hoffa told reporters that he was "not against Gore. It's just too early." Other dissenters fear that too much might be spent on Gore and not enough on retaking the House in the general election.
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On a more militant note, Richard L. Trumka, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, spoke directly to the perfidy of the global economy: "When working people [abroad] attempt to join together to gain living wages and safe and decent working conditions, what happens? More than a thousand trade union organizers were killed last year. Thousands were arrested and imprisoned. Tens of thousands were fired, losing their livelihoods and devastating families and communities... When American workers attempt to join together in unions to save their jobs and their standards of living-what happens to them? Just as in other countries around the world, they are persecuted. They are spied on, harassed, intimidated, subjected to sweat sessions with the boss, even fired... It doesn't have to be this way... WTO rules permit and even encourage the exploitation of labor and do nothing to limit the growing power of multinational corporations," said Trumka.
Maybe there was some screw-up and Trumka got Gore's speech, and Gore got... Just a thought.
This November 30th-when the World Trade Organization Ministerial meets in Seattle, tens of thousands of fired-up working families will assemble to demand the recognition of labor rights (how prescient! -Ed.). Including freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain, the end of forced labor, the end of child labor, and the inclusion of rules that national regulations protecting public health, the environment and social programs are not undermined. Currently there are no WTO rules protecting labor rights. WTO guidelines are generally approved by sovereign states, abrogating local law.
Ever wonder what an established, popular American Labor Party might sound like? This federation of 68 member-unions drafted a list of resolutions that address broad labor concerns and applied them to national policy issues.
The list of 35 deliberated resolutions hip-hop from Resolution 5, "The American Economy in a New Century," which examines Federal Reserve policy as it relates to unemployment, and deregulation as it relates to worker safety and job security, to Resolution 6, "New Rules for the Global Economy," which looks at disparities in the distribution of wealth. Resolution 12, "Building a New Labor Movement in Our States and Communities: The New Alliance," calls for the re-empowering of state and local union groups, and to better inform the larger federation. Resolution 16 calls for a new trial for journalist and labor activist (and death row inmate) Mumia Abu-Jamal. Resolution 17 calls for the end of sanctions against immigrant workers. Resolutions 30 and 31 call for the development of a Labor Cable Television Channel. Resolution 32 supports the staff and programmers at Pacifica Radio station KPFA in Berkeley; it has a 50-year history of progressive programming.
What this all points to is a revitalized labor movement. Gore, trying out his Spanish, used the word respecto. He stood with Julia Lopez, a janitor at USC, who helped organize her co-workers into the SEIU after her job was contracted out. She is now shop steward. "She told me that what this is all about is respecto," said Gore, "and that's what this comes down to."
For more information visit the AFL-CIO's web site.
Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter
Vol. 20, No. 6 - November/December 1999
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