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Starry Messenger

(32,342 posts)
Tue Jun 4, 2013, 07:26 AM Jun 2013

Big picture trade unionism

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/big-picture-trade-unionism/



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A defining feature of labor today is a commitment to coalition building. The uprisings in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Indiana, were vast coalitions, led by labor, uniting union and non-union workers in defense of labor rights. The Chicago teachers' strike victory resulted from a powerful labor-community coalition that united parents, teachers and communities into a powerful force. The teachers struck not only for their work place demands, but also for the students, for the schools and for the communities.

Increasingly, in rebuilding the labor movement, the unions fight for the common good, for the whole of the working class, every bit as hard as they fight for their own interests. This is illustrated in the priorities set by the national AFL-CIO for this year's work. Two of their top legislative goals include immigration reform with a path to citizenship rights and protection and expansion of voting rights.

Further the AFL-CIO is making tremendous efforts to build broad united coalitions with all kinds of working class organizations. They are hosting numerous meetings and conferences with all kinds of allied working class organizations, like those fighting for immigrant rights, civil rights, economic and social justice and more. They are very serious about not just consulting but also giving allies, including non-union workers, a voice in developing the future of the labor movement. They fully expect to have more delegates to their coming national convention from allied organizations, than from AFL-CIO affiliates.

Class-consciousness is on the rise. Five years ago, how many union members were talking about the Koch brothers? How many knew about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and its role? Realizing that it is the banks, the big corporations, and big money that sponsor the right-wing attacks on labor is a giant step in class-consciousness for American workers.

<snip>




I've seen Scott moderate discussions of his piece here and it is very compelling, on how we can work to shore up new shifts in labor, and also on the need to move to a new phase of unionism.

He makes the case that we are ripe for a jump to a more effective form of labor struggle, in the same way that labor moved from craft to trade unionism, and from trade unionism to industrial unionism. He calls the next iteration "big picture unionism" and lays out some points that show a way forward and is open to discussion.
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Big picture trade unionism (Original Post) Starry Messenger Jun 2013 OP
Everyone on DU needs to read this stuff. OrwellwasRight Jun 2013 #1

OrwellwasRight

(5,170 posts)
1. Everyone on DU needs to read this stuff.
Sat Jun 8, 2013, 07:04 PM
Jun 2013

Sometimes it makes me sad that "labor issues" are seen as specialty issues. We won't get our of our economic mess until we realize we are ALL working class! Power to the people, baby!

K&R

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