(The International Brotherhood of Teamsters issued the following news release on May 16.)
WASHINGTON — Calling the recent proposals of the current AFL-CIO leadership, “too little too late,” a coalition of reformist unions issued its own plan today to revitalize the labor movement by focusing on growth to empower workers in America. The proposal is being sent to all 27,000 union locals throughout the country.
“Restoring the American Dream: Building a 21st Century Labor Movement that Can Win” was released by a coalition that includes the Teamsters Union, the Service Employees International Union, the Laborers’ International Union and UNITE HERE. A fifth union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, is taking the reform proposals to its executive board for action. President Joseph Hansen issued a separate statement of support for reform. Together, the five unions represent more than 5 million workers.
The reform plan calls for the AFL-CIO to spend half of its total annual budget on organizing and growth initiatives and incentives. The coalition also is urging AFL-CIO President John Sweeney to ensure that no federation funds or resources are used to support or oppose any candidate for AFL-CIO office in the upcoming election. The concern was prompted by the recent proposals by the AFL-CIO leadership, of which a third of the document was campaign rhetoric supporting the Sweeney administration.
According to Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa: “Working people are facing the worst crisis in generations and radical changes are required in the way we as a labor movement operate.”
Terence M. O’Sullivan, General President of the Laborers’ Union, said: “Our unions believe that there are no easy fixes, but we will not be content with failure. The only solution to the crisis facing working people is to bring millions more workers into our movement, and that requires a single-minded focus on organizing.”
According to John Wilhelm, President of the Hospitality Division of UNITE HERE: “We have shown in our unions that we can win and grow in this climate – and even win big. Now is the time, maybe our last opportunity, to move the entire labor movement into a determined growth program. The current leadership of the AFL-CIO is calling for more of the same, and that won’t cut it. We need a complete change of course.”
Andrew Stern, President of SEIU, the largest union in the AFL-CIO, said “We are in a fight to have work valued and rewarded in this country. Workers in America are in crisis, as is the American labor movement. The time is now to either make substantive changes at the AFL-CIO convention in July or we will move to build something stronger.”
In a separate statement, UFCW president Hansen said: “The AFL-CIO Officers’ Proposal continues the status quo and does not provide for genuine reform that will build worker power. The UFCW joins today with the Laborers, SEIU, the Teamsters, and UNITE HERE in rejecting their proposal and calling for genuine reform that will build worker power.”
“Restoring the American Dream” calls for the following changes in the AFL-CIO:
· Direct half of the AFL-CIO’s total budget — approximately $60 million — to growth.
The plan would create incentives for direct worker organizing in core industries through a rebate of half the amount affiliates pay to the AFL-CIO to unions that are committed to an aggressive organizing program — roughly $35 million — and by devoting $25 million per year to campaigns directed at large low-road employers such as Wal-Mart that are undermining worker standards throughout the economy.
· Actively support mergers that unite workers by industry.
The AFL-CIO should play an active and direct role in working with affiliated unions to facilitate mergers – subject to approval by the affected members — that lead to increased power for workers in the same or complimentary industries. A proactive, industry-based merger policy – whose goal is to build worker bargaining power — will give workers the chance to unite their strength before overwhelming economic and political forces have weakened their unions to the point that it may be too late for mergers to make much difference.
· Strategically leverage labor’s existing bases of industry strength.
The AFL-CIO must assume the role of the overall coordinator of labor’s efforts to unite workers to build bargaining strength. Rules must be updated and revised to reflect the pressing need for organized labor to halt the “race to the bottom” caused by employers seeking to use one affiliate as a means of protection from another. Affiliates undercutting bargaining standards should suffer penalties.
· Make the AFL-CIO the center for a permanent campaign to take on powerful anti-worker employers and help workers unite their strength in new growth sectors.
` The assault on the American dream is being led by huge nonunion global corporations like Wal-Mart. Such low-road employers are generally too large for the members of any one or two affiliates to deal with on their own. Well-funded, movement-wide campaigns are required to make low-road employers respect their workers’ freedom to form unions. The current AFL-CIO proposal to devote $7.5 million to this task is not enough. We support the creation of a dedicated fund of $25 million out of the current AFL-CIO to finance large, multi-union movement-wide campaigns directed at reversing the Wal-Marting of our jobs and our communities by large low-road employers.
· Make growth and worker power our political focus.
Worker political power comes from our membership. Our unions’ members are as active as any in America in grassroots political action. Based on recent experience, however, we do not believe working people can win consistently on political issues until many more workers are in unions. To empower workers politically we must have a growth agenda to build larger, stronger and more effective workplace organizations. Increased political spending without a program for growth will not lead to either increased power for workers in the workplace or in politics. In this regard, we note that an increase in union density in the State of Ohio, for example, from 16% to 26% would have put John Kerry in the White House.
· Create a new governance model.
Democratic change requires the creation of a streamlined Executive Committee comprised of the largest unions that represent most AFL-CIO members and are responsible for uniting workers in the major sectors of the economy, with several additional rotating seats to ensure diversity. The Executive Committee would oversee strategic planning and exercise such responsibilities as approval of budgets, resource allocations, and staffing. This Executive Committee should meet four times a year; the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council should meet two times a year.
· Enhance accountability.
Financial and organizational accountability and openness must be the operating principal of a new AFL-CIO. Ongoing senior level staff meetings between unions on issues of AFL-CIO policy must take place between meetings of principals. Only in this way can we develop an AFL-CIO that is more than the sum of its parts, generate real involvement of the affiliates in setting the direction of the labor movement as a whole, and generate multi-union coordination around key initiatives.
· Leadership committed to building a movement that can win.
The AFL-CIO needs leadership that is committed to the kind of fundamental restructuring of the federation that we are proposing. Our unions will support leaders who aggressively support fundamental change.
· Make diversity at all levels a central strategic objective.
With standards and timetables, including ensuring that the diversity of the membership is reflected in membership participation, elected leadership, staff, training opportunities, event speakers, and conventions and other decision-making bodies. The ultimate goal should be to ensure diversity in all of the mainstream functions of the movement, rather than to treat diversity as a separate and isolated program. The AFL-CIO must also play the leading role in the movement to defend the rights of immigrant workers to join a union and be protected on the job.
· Make workers’ money work for working families.
Union members have a huge amount of financial resources between consumer purchases, pension funds, insurance programs, and other funds. The AFL-CIO must take the lead in pursuing the consolidation of union financial strength in order to generate increased resources for building workers’ strength in dealing with big corporations. We also support an even more aggressive capital strategies program at the AFL-CIO to ensure that union members’ health and pension fund resources are invested to benefit working people.
· Unite workers’ strength across borders.
The central thrust of AFL-CIO work in international affairs must be developing united strategies and actions by AFL-CIO affiliates and unions around the world to ensure that global corporations respect workers’ freedom to form unions and negotiate agreements that raise living standards toward their highest level. Wal-Martization is a global phenomenon, and a global approach is required.
· Lead a campaign for health care and retirement security.
Labor must take the lead in a campaign to unify the broadest number of working people, capture the imagination of the nation, and build a broad coalition to win affordable, quality health care and retirement security for all. National health care is the central jobs and economic security issue of our era. Social Security and defined benefit pension plans are under assault. The ideas of health and retirement security are at the heart of the American Dream. The labor movement needs to build a mass campaign to win affordable health care and retirement security for all.