As top union leaders started sifting through AFL-CIO reorganization proposals, two more top unions--AFSCME and the Machinists--unveiled their own plans: AFSCME, which pushed political action, and IAM, which says 'go slow."
Reflecting that AFSCME President Gerald McEntee co-chairs the AFL-CIO political committee--and that the federation and its member unions spent an estimated $200 million in the last campaign--AFSCME?s paper deals solely with politics. But McEntee said there was more to come.
Service Employees President Andrew Stern touched off the reorganization debate when he told his convention last June the AFL-CIO must drastically change or be replaced as outmoded.
Stern later proposed a 10-point plan that includes forced mergers--cutting the number of unions from 60 to around 20--assigning specific economic sectors to specific unions, $2 billion spent labor-wide on organizing and a $25 million campaign to both publicize Wal-Mart's abuses and unionize it.
If there wasn?t a drastic revamp, Stern later said, his union--the federation?s largest with an estimated 1.6 million members--is considering pulling out. The debate led AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney to call for other ideas, labor-wide.
McEntee shot back that the 13.3-million member federation should push politics to advance its goals. He gave short shrift to mergers, saying they would divide labor at a time when the Right wants to make the U.S. "union-free." Sweeney, McEntee, Stern and other AFL-CIO executive committee leaders met starting Jan. 10 in D.C. to review submissions.
"Winning or losing in politics is what will make the difference in whether our members and all working families have health insurance, good jobs and a secure retirement," McEntee said. "Just as important, winning in politics has everything to do with whether the labor movement grows, and that must be our greatest priority."
AFSCME proposed:
* Investing "resources to build a permanent volunteer army of activists, starting with the hundreds of thousands of members who volunteered in the 2004 election, to regularly mobilize on issues that impact working families and create a larger and more effective volunteer force for the 2006 elections." Labor mobilized 225,000 volunteers in the 2004 campaign.
* Mobilizing unionists at home, not just at work, "so labor can reach out to like-minded and swing voters in suburbs, exurbs and rural areas where there is broad support for labor?s issues, such as protecting Social Security and stopping outsourcing."
* "Setting up a visible AFL-CIO operation in exurban and other areas where we currently do not have one."
* Permanent dedication of part of unions? per capita payments to the federation to a national political mobilization fund, rather than creating it ad hoc before elections.
Other plans, such as one from the Teamsters, call for returning half of unions? AFL-CIO per capita payments to unions that create and implement strategic organizing plans and that dedicate $2 million or 10 percent of their budgets, whichever is greater, to organizing.
McEntee said mergers, the AFL-CIO structure and other issues should be discussed "on their own merits and without dramatic claims the movement?s life or death depends on them."
And he advocated pushing those issues aside in the face of "powerful reactionary forces" that "contemplate a union-free America." Though McEntee did not say so, that includes GOPer George W. Bush, who defeated labor-backed Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry in the 2004 race.
"It is in the political arena that we can and must defeat them. Let us not make their task easier by dividing the movement when it needs unity, more than ever," McEntee warned.
The Machinists, an alleged candidate for breakup according to "blog" commentaries on Stern's plan, said labor should use its people and financial power to achieve its goals.
"The American labor movement may be a lot of things, but it is not politically impotent, financially bankrupt or lacking in allies," said the IAM, citing labor?s $6.7 billion in assets and 13.3 million members.
"We believe the current fight for control of the AFL-CIO is a waste of time, energy and resources," IAM's report said. "The IAM is opposed to proposed 'reforms' that would force smaller unions to merge with the larger AFL-CIO affiliates," it added.
The Machinists? Grand Lodge (convention) voted in September to authorize its Executive Council to withdraw IAM from the AFL-CIO if the council believes IAM?s autonomy is threatened.
"The Machinists' view is that how we use our power is the acid test of the labor movement," IAM?s report said.
It recommended investing $200 million "to create a labor-owned cable network that projects a positive image of union members and the American labor movement" and establishing a health care database to leverage the purchasing power of over 50 million union members and retirees. It also wants to "expand the number of votes cast by focusing political efforts on states with heavy concentration of union households."
And IAM wants more federation support for the civil rights and womens' rights movements, to reevaluate how the fed resolves intra-union disputes and to give unions "far more information and input over the development of AFL-CIO programs and budgets."
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As top union leaders started sifting through AFL-CIO reorganization proposals, two more top unions–AFSCME and the Machinists–unveiled their own plans: AFSCME, which pushed political action, and IAM, which says ‘go slow.”
Reflecting that AFSCME President Gerald McEntee co-chairs the AFL-CIO political committee–and that the federation and its member unions spent an estimated $200 million in the last campaign–AFSCME?s paper deals solely with politics. But McEntee said there was more to come.
Service Employees President Andrew Stern touched off the reorganization debate when he told his convention last June the AFL-CIO must drastically change or be replaced as outmoded.
Stern later proposed a 10-point plan that includes forced mergers–cutting the number of unions from 60 to around 20–assigning specific economic sectors to specific unions, $2 billion spent labor-wide on organizing and a $25 million campaign to both publicize Wal-Mart’s abuses and unionize it.
If there wasn?t a drastic revamp, Stern later said, his union–the federation?s largest with an estimated 1.6 million members–is considering pulling out. The debate led AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney to call for other ideas, labor-wide.
McEntee shot back that the 13.3-million member federation should push politics to advance its goals. He gave short shrift to mergers, saying they would divide labor at a time when the Right wants to make the U.S. “union-free.” Sweeney, McEntee, Stern and other AFL-CIO executive committee leaders met starting Jan. 10 in D.C. to review submissions.
“Winning or losing in politics is what will make the difference in whether our members and all working families have health insurance, good jobs and a secure retirement,” McEntee said. “Just as important, winning in politics has everything to do with whether the labor movement grows, and that must be our greatest priority.”
AFSCME proposed:
* Investing “resources to build a permanent volunteer army of activists, starting with the hundreds of thousands of members who volunteered in the 2004 election, to regularly mobilize on issues that impact working families and create a larger and more effective volunteer force for the 2006 elections.” Labor mobilized 225,000 volunteers in the 2004 campaign.
* Mobilizing unionists at home, not just at work, “so labor can reach out to like-minded and swing voters in suburbs, exurbs and rural areas where there is broad support for labor?s issues, such as protecting Social Security and stopping outsourcing.”
* “Setting up a visible AFL-CIO operation in exurban and other areas where we currently do not have one.”
* Permanent dedication of part of unions? per capita payments to the federation to a national political mobilization fund, rather than creating it ad hoc before elections.
Other plans, such as one from the Teamsters, call for returning half of unions? AFL-CIO per capita payments to unions that create and implement strategic organizing plans and that dedicate $2 million or 10 percent of their budgets, whichever is greater, to organizing.
McEntee said mergers, the AFL-CIO structure and other issues should be discussed “on their own merits and without dramatic claims the movement?s life or death depends on them.”
And he advocated pushing those issues aside in the face of “powerful reactionary forces” that “contemplate a union-free America.” Though McEntee did not say so, that includes GOPer George W. Bush, who defeated labor-backed Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry in the 2004 race.
“It is in the political arena that we can and must defeat them. Let us not make their task easier by dividing the movement when it needs unity, more than ever,” McEntee warned.
The Machinists, an alleged candidate for breakup according to “blog” commentaries on Stern’s plan, said labor should use its people and financial power to achieve its goals.
“The American labor movement may be a lot of things, but it is not politically impotent, financially bankrupt or lacking in allies,” said the IAM, citing labor?s $6.7 billion in assets and 13.3 million members.
“We believe the current fight for control of the AFL-CIO is a waste of time, energy and resources,” IAM’s report said. “The IAM is opposed to proposed ‘reforms’ that would force smaller unions to merge with the larger AFL-CIO affiliates,” it added.
The Machinists? Grand Lodge (convention) voted in September to authorize its Executive Council to withdraw IAM from the AFL-CIO if the council believes IAM?s autonomy is threatened.
“The Machinists’ view is that how we use our power is the acid test of the labor movement,” IAM?s report said.
It recommended investing $200 million “to create a labor-owned cable network that projects a positive image of union members and the American labor movement” and establishing a health care database to leverage the purchasing power of over 50 million union members and retirees. It also wants to “expand the number of votes cast by focusing political efforts on states with heavy concentration of union households.”
And IAM wants more federation support for the civil rights and womens’ rights movements, to reevaluate how the fed resolves intra-union disputes and to give unions “far more information and input over the development of AFL-CIO programs and budgets.”