Unions showcase, embrace new forms of organizing

An unprecedented number of nontraditional labor organizations, representing workers as disparate as dancers and taxi drivers, are participating in the AFL-CIO convention, where the federation took action to endorse new forms of organizing.

In his keynote address to the convention, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the federation is embracing these workers at the urging of thousands of people who participated in AFL-CIO-sponsored “listening sessions” in the past few months.

“We heard that all over America, workers are organizing in all kinds of ways and they call their unity by all kinds of names – workers’ unions, associations, centers, networks,” Trumka explained.

“We heard that people want to be part of our movement but it’s too hard to join – that we have to change so that our unions and our movement are open to everyone – to anyone who wants to join together for a better life.”

Workers who belong to worker centers and other nontraditional labor organizations stood with Trumka on the convention stage as he concluded his speech.

“Look around you – look at the workers gathered here,” Trumka said. “This is America’s soul. Our future. As a movement. As a nation.”

Several organizations that operate differently from traditional unions are being showcased at the convention. They include the Dancers Alliance, which is part of SAG-AFTRA, the union for media artists.

“Our movement is about youth. It’s about getting the next generation of dancers involved in the labor movement,” said Galen Hooks, chair of the Alliance.

The group uses social media – and events at venues like nightclubs – to attract and involve these workers, all under the age of 30. “We’re basically just figuring out what language dancers speak and we cater to that,” said Hooks.

Domestic workers, who are overwhelmingly female and immigrant, are excluded from most labor and employment laws, including the National Labor Relations Act. By organizing through the National Domestic Workers Alliance, they won passage of a domestic workers “bill of rights” in New York and Hawaii and are campaigning for similar measures in California and Massachusetts.

At the convention, the AFL-CIO recognized the efforts of domestic workers worldwide by awarding the 2013 George Meany–Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award to the International Domestic Workers’ Network.

Another organization, the Restaurant Opportunities Center, has taken on an industry filled with low-wage workers and won 15 campaigns against high-profile corporations. Rather than winning union contracts, they have pursued a strategy of turning restaurants into “high road employers” who follow ethical employment practices and improve conditions for workers.

The most recent celebrity chef to sign such an agreement is Mario Batali. The group also has opened worker-owned restaurants in Manhattan and Detroit and plans another soon in New Orleans.

“This is the fastest growing industry in America,” said Co-Director Saru Jayaraman. “If we don’t make these quality jobs, then we’re all in trouble.”

In addition to endorsing these and other examples of innovative organizing, the AFL-CIO voted to ramp up the activity of its community affiliate, Working America, which has 3 million members nationwide, including nearly 300,000 in Minnesota. Unions voted to authorize Working America to “experiment with new forms of worker advocacy,” said its executive director, Karen Nussbaum.

Working America will work more closely with local unions and labor councils “to reach out to those who have been laid off or privatized or those who are strong union supporters” involved in unsuccessful union organizing drives, she said.

Janiece Watts, a 24-year-old who has a non-union job stocking produce for $10.92 an hour, got involved in the Working America chapter in Minnesota because of the group’s campaign for a higher minimum wage. She also recruited a friend to join.

Watts, who is attending the AFL-CIO convention, said, “I’ve come to appreciate how important it is to have a voice on the job.”

The AFL-CIO’s commitment means Working America can expand its organizing and its use of new tools like FixMyJob.com, a website of resources for people facing problems in the workplace.