tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2188519997803417772.post5071284838550111290..comments2013-06-15T22:07:43.678-07:00Comments on It's About Power Stupid!: The South: Labor's Elephant in the Room #1ufutureUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2188519997803417772.post-15903780719257746482013-05-17T12:00:20.685-07:002013-05-17T12:00:20.685-07:00Absolutely itsaboutpowerstupid@gmail.comAbsolutely itsaboutpowerstupid@gmail.comstreetheathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08034959397491534141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2188519997803417772.post-67015479304321962092013-05-17T11:07:40.361-07:002013-05-17T11:07:40.361-07:00Hey there! I'm a Southern public sector worker...Hey there! I'm a Southern public sector worker doing rank-and-file organizing in a non-majority campaign. Could I grab your email? I'd like to shoot a coupla questions your way off the comments board! <br /><br />I'm pinkflags@gmail.com. It'd be great to hear from you!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16503899786690319983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2188519997803417772.post-73287744676733079772013-05-09T09:37:56.302-07:002013-05-09T09:37:56.302-07:00Please feel free to share. Several blogs have cros...Please feel free to share. Several blogs have cross posted. All ask is for credit and a link back.streetheathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08034959397491534141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2188519997803417772.post-32715374250054362212013-05-09T09:12:37.877-07:002013-05-09T09:12:37.877-07:00Hey there streetheat, I really like this article. ...Hey there streetheat, I really like this article. Focusing on a 50 state campaign to increase union density is something I've long held dear. As it stands, the attacks of ALEC in all 50 states against unions must be rooted out and defended against. It is time for labor to work on a cohesive 50 state strategy to win back the states one at a time, and work on laws that encourage union growth. Once a state goes right to work, we should work hard on overturning the legislation, and in other states we should work on legislation that would actually strengthen our position and help stave off the easy attacks that ALEC currently employs. <br /><br />I would like to share this op-ed on my website. I run a union news website in Colorado, and I want to put this on my front page to bring attention to this very important issue. How would you feel about that?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03649003105275823413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2188519997803417772.post-22154855094877932222013-05-07T14:07:44.510-07:002013-05-07T14:07:44.510-07:00Thanks for the thoughts. I actually had originally...Thanks for the thoughts. I actually had originally considered talking about labor community coalitions (using a recent success in Georgia as an example) and talking about accountability and oversight. Both fell to the editing knife. I figured if we can get more resources heading south we can worry more about oversight then. Thanks again.streetheathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08034959397491534141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2188519997803417772.post-37628529481836232652013-05-07T11:03:31.200-07:002013-05-07T11:03:31.200-07:00Excellent article... now my mind is spinning with ...Excellent article... now my mind is spinning with thoughts and ideas. <br /><br />First, you have a great point regarding "affiliate capacity" and the localization of organizational structure. However, there are issues with autonomy that must be dealt with before any major initiatives can be implemented--especially involving allocation of financial resources. Affiliates must have oversight and, most important of all, accountability. I have seen savvy affiliates take Int'l resources and organize new workers, but I have also witnessed many more affiliates take resources and simply stagnate. Without enforceable accountability the tendency for an affiliate to perpetuate a "service model" maximizes. To be sure, it is much easier and less costly for an affiliate to service existing members than to organize new ones.<br /><br />As someone who was a union staffer in the "right to work" states of Iowa and Kansas, I was engaged in the constant uphill battle to organize and maintain in restrictive locations. Moreover, I was working with a "subsidized" public sector affiliate in Kansas when Scott Walker blew up collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin. I saw national priorities shift from affiliate capacity to self preservation. Like a whipsaw resources were ripped from long-term organizing projects in restrictive locations to political defense. National priorities have not reverted. <br /><br />The current organizing model of most Int'l Unions is the "Operation Dixie" model of allocating resources and paid organizers for a sprint campaign "invasion of outsiders"--as you have so thoughtfully critiqued. Just like the 1940s, as today, the sprint campaigns don't encourage long-term membership participation and growth. Instead, they get cards signed and usually lose momentum after the first contract is signed--if it gets that far. As a result, the membership is most likely uniformed, uninspired, and probably uninterested. Under those circumstances it is nearly impossible to grow an affiliate or Int'l Union. <br /><br />I don't know a whole lot about the South other than its' anti-union, racially prejudiced past remains a significant barrier to modern labor organization. IMHO, the best model for large scale organization is the Teamsters' model of national and multi-employer contracts. As with the organizing that created the regional "Conferences" and later the "National Master Freight Agreement", concentrated areas of a company or market can be disrupted and then organized in say the East or West Coast, and like a string of dominoes can encompass workers, sectors and offshoots nationally. <br /><br />Easier said than done... <br /><br />There are certainly problems with the national and multi-employer models; legal restrictions (read Joe Burns' Reviving the Strike), lack of motivation, lack of national and international coordination, fear of employer reprisal and injunctions, cost, cost, and did I say cost? Also, as you have alluded to in your article, several large corporations have concentrated their operations in restrictive locations, such as the South, where it's more difficult organize and disrupt.<br /><br />In sum, I certainly agree with your assessment and it applies not just to the South but to rural areas as well. The U.S. Senators from South and North Carolina have the same weight in Congress as the Senators from New York and California. We cannot continue to write-off economic sectors or entire geographic locations if we hope to simply survive. <br /> Gus Froemkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05065348618381498334noreply@blogger.com