Community Organizing

Cyber notes

Week of Speakers

11/16/99

Speaker #1

Domick Chen: Recruiter for the AFL-CIO

Distributes interest sheet

AFL-CIO is an umbrella organization of all major Unions

He is a union organizer: worked on Lohman’s Retail stores employees but failed to get union in place.

The types of questions he asked workers were: what they disliked about their job? How does it relate against other employees? What do they think they can accomplish if they work together?

Problems in the workplace: Racism—90% women; and 75% of those women are black and Latina

Next question is what would be done after individual complaints?

Action took by management was retaliation; the firing of key workers, captive audience meetings, movies about the evils of unions, and one-on-one meetings with employees.

This created tension in the workplace and all the employees wanted was justice and dignity at work.

The job of the union organizer is to help the workers stick together and build an organization. They bring the workers together that usually do not interact.

The amount of time the organizer has with the workers is very limited; only about 5 minutes after work or at their homes if possible.

Brief history: over the last 50 years the labor unions are relatively weak, but has had an up swing in the last 4 or 5 years.

Networks that union organizers use are churches, politicians and existing leaders in community and also the media. "Cutting" or creating an issue that the workers want to address is the organizer main concern to help build a lasting organization. Change only happens when all workers want to change current working conditions. The organizer needs to change to attitude internally.

Pitch: His need to recruit young people and a program they offer is called Union summer which is an internship to help change current working conditions nationally.

Speaker #2

Peter Kwong: Professor at Hunter, Immigrant Organizing

History of organizing labor in the 1930’s; the US largest industrial country, the owners needs lots of workers. Due to the current labor conditions and that workers were not represented extremely large unions grew out of need to confront big business.

Labor movement started with the New Deal legislation that gave workers the right to organize.

What labor confronts today.

Rank and file is less and less effective to gain leverage for the union. Modern union has changed their organizing method from bottom-up to top-bottom organizing. This is a critical divergence. The union doesn’t want to take up the issue of the individual. Major companies are moving to other countries where there are no unions. A new ploy by large manufactures is the art of sub-contracting e.g. Kmart, GAP, and many others. Large unions have internal conflicts, which is to keep membership and enforce labor contract or mobilizing for one person. Companies can just move plants to other countries or the area. Currently the labor unions are only about 20% of the workforce and their membership and dues are decreasing. The unions want government help to gain policy more favorable toward unions. Unions have to vote democratic which has also eroded the union’s political power since they have little choice in candidates. Many victims are the people in the low end of each industry.

Multinational companies want cheap labor where the workers have no rights. Even in the US employers’ want and bring illegal immigrants to work below current standards. The economics of this procedure allows the whole working population not to fully organize where they could have real power. From 1974-1997 unemployment was at a high of 8%, which was also the largest increase of immigrants.

Simple economics of supply and demand, more workers that have no rights will be exploited while everybody else struggles to find jobs to support current living conditions. When you exclude some workers from having rights the ones’ that have rights will be totally undermined in the process of organizing. Labor unions practice this statement; they exclude some groups from joining their unions. What needs to be done is to organize without prejudice and a systematic way to look at labor issues. The question is not that immigrants or cheap labor but how do we include them to gain more rights for all workers and not just some. Problems are the globalization and multinational companies and countries where there are no unions that undermine the workers and unions here in the US.

Speaker #3

Joe Colleta: member of the UFT

Distribution of agenda

Organizing for better schools

Description of the UFT- 150,00 members and largest in country

Roles- most powerful lobbying in Albany

Affiliated with state and nation organization

They have a large amount of funds and votes to gain political power. They were able to bring collective bargaining and brought together many organizations. In 1960 they had a strike to gain those rights. Current working in the organization is the end to seniority and continuing need of educational qualifications. Major concern is the humanity and dignity for its members.

Suggested reading is the "Power Broker" which is about Robert Moses and his ability to push agendas in government, state and local.

The UFT works with other organizations such as ACORN that try to start schools and parent groups to help they growing number of students and their needs.