As I read Andy Stern's rather verbose diatribe entitled "Just Us" or "Justice for All" I couldn't help think of how eerily reminiscent Stern's thought process was to the assertion put forward by President George Bush to the world leaders at large that "You're either with us or you're against us".
Mr. Stern would like us to believe that there are only two distinct questions before us with respect to the direction the SEIU and the Labor Movement can move. The first is to "pursue" what he has characterized as the "Just Us" unionism that seeks only to protect and strengthen current organized workers at the expense of those workers who also would benefit from union membership. Or, as he purports to champion, do we pursue the "Justice for All" approach that "focuses on building a broader movement that improves the living standards and working conditions for all those who have no union...?"
This argument is as flawed and devoid of a broader thought process as President Bush's argument for unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation was. Like President Bush, Mr. Stern streamlines the issues before us into an overly simplistic choice of good versus evil.
He states that, "This is not an intellectual exercise." On that I can and do agree. I believe very little intellectual exercise on the part of Mr. Stern was performed before presenting his arguments; otherwise a more detailed and varied list of options might have been presented.
The truth is we do not, as Mr. Stern suggests, have two separate choices before us. In reality, Mr. Stern is excising current members from a fair and democratic process in self-determination while championing a position that allows for an employer friendly way of organizing workers. He as much as says so in the following excerpts from his position paper:
"true worker democracy cannot exist until the 90 percent of workers in America who have no voice gain a union."
This statement clearly establishes Mr. Stern's view that we do not currently have a legitimate form of democracy within SEIU and therefore his actions attempting to crush the current reform movement are somehow justified.
What Mr. Stern is attempting to accomplish would be the equivalent of taking away every citizens right to vote until everyone over the age of 18 has registered to vote. The 90 percent worker threshold he defines as the benchmark for a "true worker democracy" gives him and other like-minded leaders an indefinite time period in which to further degrade member governance and oversight. Stern goes on to argue that:
"Was America a true democracy when women or African Americans had no vote
and more than half the population was excluded from the process?"
While it is irrefutable that the history of our democracy was morally repugnant in that it excluded African Americans and women, our country did not evolve to a more fair democracy (true or otherwise) by encroaching on the rights of those who already possessed the freedom to vote. Quite the contrary, our democracy evolved and continues to evolve today by becoming more inclusive in nature. Democracy by its very nature must expand and evolve to survive. Furthermore, African Americans and Women didn't wake up one morning with the right to vote. There was a long and bloody struggle that lead America to reform its position on voting rights.
And the struggle for social equality continues today. We have a female and African American running for the highest office in the land and yet nobody would fool them selves into believing that if either one is elected to the Presidency that we could declare that we have leveled the socio-economic playing field for women and African Americans or any other group of Americans. But what we can claim is that by including more and more people into the process we come that much closer to a "true democracy".
Unfortunately under the leadership of Mr. Stern SEIU is moving further and further away from this model of inclusiveness and more towards an Oligarchy in which he directs. Many will say we are already there as more and more union locals are consolidated into larger ones and power is wrested from members by the appointed few.
In reality, Stern's arguments are, at best, a thinly veiled disguise to tie the SEIU-UHW West member driven reform movement and its platform for change within the SEIU to a long ago abandoned union practice of protecting current union members at the expense of non-union workers, when in fact the members who seek reform are doing the exact opposite.
One needs only to compare the SEIU's "Justice for All" proposals, which lack any substantive details, to the SEIU-UHW West's member driven "Platform For Change" which outlines in detail its vision for member rights and democracy, but also has a clear and ambitious vision for bringing more workers into the ranks of the organized.
Conversely the SEIU's "Justice for All", in reality, is an oxymoron. Its narrow focus of emphasizing organizing the unorganized at the expense of current members and member democracy is two dimensional, lacks vision, creativity, and underestimates the will and commitment of SEIU's current members.
It presupposes that there can only be one focused approach to growing our union strength; and that put simply is that we can't do both organizing and strengthening current member contracts.
That is a position of weakness and the end result, no matter how many members are brought into SEIU, will create a national employer union that addresses very little of the workers concerns and pacifies employer fears over any employee voice in the workplace.
The greatest proponents of having a union in the workplace are the current members who have set the high standards they enjoy and, unfortunately, have become the focus of criticism by the SEIU under the leadership of Mr. Stern for wanting to enjoy the fruits of their labor and their successes. Mr. Stern has stated that current members of SEIU-UHW West are only concerned with "polishing their apple". This defies logic as SEIU-UHW West members have actively participated, often on their free time, in organizing efforts at the national level that have helped to secure union representation for workers in Florida, Texas, Nevada and other states including active campaigns in Colorado. Additionally, millions of dollars from dues goes directly to SEIU for national organizing campaigns.
On top of that, even with SEIU's relentless attacks against UHW West, UHW West continues to organize workers in California with close to 2,000 healthcare workers in 4 different elections from Southern California to Northern California voting overwhelmingly to join UHW West in the last 2 ½ weeks alone.
UHW West may in fact be polishing apples. They may even be sinking their teeth deep into them and savoring the sweet juice of success, but they are also telling other workers about those apples and helping them to sow their own seeds that they too may enjoy the fruits of their labor and that is truly "Justice for All". The vision that Mr. Stern has, that continues to shrink the power and decision making into the hands of a very few, is not "Justice for All". Under close scrutiny it is really "Justice for All of us here in D.C."
Michael Rivera, R.C.P.
Perinatal-Pediatric Specialist
Executive Board Vice-President SEIU-UHW West
I know I've come off as kind of shrill at times, so I want to step back and explain a little bit about the context of the CNA/SEIU conflict and why the implications should matter to everyone.
These intra-Labor fights are not taking place in a vacuum -- first off the economy is bad and getting worse, for everyone. That means workers are more stressed than they have been in many years. Secondly, its no secret that the labor movement is facing a long-term downturn of its own. Today 12.1% of the US workforce is represented by a union, compared to about 35% in the 1950s.
Broadly speaking, labor leaders have taken two approaches to dealing with the assault on organizing of the Reagan/Bush/Bush years - some have opted to fight for turf within the ever-shrinking pool of organized workers and others have tried to get back on the offensive by growing the labor movement overall.
SEIU has been at the forefront of the latter group since 1996. And the results speak for themselves. Since 1996, we have grown by more than 1 million new members. Today we bargain on behalf of 1.9 million workers.
But our success has ironically made us something of a target for some who are more interested in expanding their own relative strength without concern for growing the over all movement. That's what's happening with CNA.
SEIU works for years go to in and organize places like Ohio. SEIU waged a hard-fought multi-year campaign there. We sent letters, met with hospital CEOs and board members, united with community groups, knocked on doors, etc. It was neither easy nor secret. SEIU leaders, staff and members worked for three+ years with the nurses, respiratory
therapists, janitors and other hospital workers, as well as in the community, to get to the point where we could hammer out fair election guidelines that would give the hospital workers the chance to form their union.
Six days before the election, CNA flew organizers in for the first time and did everything they could to poison the well.
It's all detailed in a timeline here: http://www.shameoncna.com/incl... and there are a lot of articles and editorials from Ohio that spell out what happened as well.
So at the end of the day, at a time when only 12.1% of workers in this country have union representation and there are 100,000 nurses in California who have no union, the California Nurses Association flew into Ohio to stop 8,000+ Ohio nurses and other healthcare workers from winning the right to form their union. I've met some of these workers. I am happy to put anyone who wants to listen in touch with them. What the CNA did in Ohio was wrong.
And it's happening again. It's happening in LA, it's happening in Nevada, and it's happening in Texas.
This isn't a CNA v. SEIU thing - it's more like CNA against every other union that would help nurses organize, including AFSCME, their fellow member in the AFL-CIO:
http://www.chron.com/disp/stor...
CNA dropped a leaflet on hospitals in LA Wednesday that said:
"Unhappy with the Service Employees Union?
Want to switch to the California Nurses Association?
CNA has been contacted by many county RNs unhappy with SEIU
representation, asking if they can switch to representation by CNA.
The answer is YES!"
(I am trying to get this online, but email me at media [at] seiu.org if you want the PDF).
More than 100,000 California nurses don't have a union at all, but instead of helping those nurses to form a union, CNA is spending a fortune in its members' dues money on efforts both inside and outside of CA to try to poach nurses who are already represented by unions.
Why they're doing this is clear -- it's easier and less expensive to poach members from other unions than it is to organize non-union workers.
We think CNA's approach reflects a cynicism rooted in a lack of faith in the future of the labor movement.
Here at SEIU, we've seen what happens when you take the union message to unorganized workers -- the labor movement grows and with it so does the power of workers. At a time when the whole economy is reeling from years of Bush-era greed and manipulation for the benefit of the very wealthy few, Americans need the strength in community that comes from being organized at work like we haven't in a long long time.
And that's why this fight matters. It's not just some pissing match between labor bosses about who has more dues-paying members; we are involved in a bigger debate about whether or not the American workers can come together and form a community that sticks together and fights for better circumstances for all.
DISCLOSURE: I work at SEIU. With 1.9 million members, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in North America. SEIU is the nation's largest health care union, including hospitals, nursing homes, and home care. SEIU members are winning better wages, health care, and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers, not just corporations and CEOs, benefit from today's global economy.
4,000 brave women and men, RNs from the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, are spending this week on the picket lines outside of Sutter Health Hospitals throughout Northern California, on a 10-day strike over patient care issues. Let me tell you about it, and introduce you to some of the RNs, because this is an important strike for a re-energized American labor movement and a key moment for the nation's battle for quality healthcare.
(This has been an interesting discussion (when people are not flaming each other), so let's keep it civil. - promoted by Julia Rosen)
Thanks to Brian for his post on the blogger discussion with SEIU's Andy Stern and for opening this discussion. I'm new to the Calitics community and the new UHW Online Communications Specialist.
As a first contribution to this discussion, I thought it would be helpful to share the broad background of our dispute with SEIU, and the outlines of a few of the lessons we've learned in the course of many campaigns to build our union. Through focused efforts to improve the lives of healthcare workers and the people we serve, UHW has developed a model of growth through strength that at the same time achieves the goal of growth for strength.
For the first two terms of Andy Stern's presidency, from 1996 to 2004 and beyond through the initial days of Change to Win, UHW and SEIU shared vision of increasing union membership and improving workers' lives based on building the capacity of strong local unions, maximizing member partcipation in organizing and politics, coordinating our strength across entire industries through democratic structures of accountability to rank and file union members.
However, in recent years, SEIU's priority of growth has lost its qualitative dimension. It is now an act of blasphemy to question what kind of growth makes sense or what purpose growth should serve or what role the informed consent and active participation of workers should have in growth. It is expected that local leaders accept the gospel of growth for growth's sake and accept the quickest short cuts possible to achieve it, even when that means putting employers agendas ahead of workers' aspirations, taking decisions out of workers' hands, and limiting workers' rights to advocate for themselves and for the public interest, both now and in the future.
(Tragically, the girl in question, Nataline Sarkisyan, died yesterday evening after this diary was posted. nyceve at Daily Kos has more about the netroots' role in forcing CIGNA to capitulate. - promoted by Robert in Monterey)
I am pasting a release below about the Dec. 20 "Patient's Revolt" that forced heartless CIGNA corporation to approve the liver transplant that could save the life of 17-year-old Nataline Sarkysian.
It's been an emotional day involving hundreds of people, but there are a couple of lessons I want to take away.
First--we have power. We shouldn't be afraid to use it. A unique coalition of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, a union, together with netroots and the Armenian Community shamed a global insurance corporation into doing the right thing.
Second--we shouldn't have to do this...and every candidate pushing to mandate individuals purchase insurance products from the likes of CIGNA, who would still be in the business of profiting through the denial of care, should think long and hard. Are the CIGNA's of the world really the people who should control our healthcare dollars?
(All workers deserve respect and decent working conditions. For more info, see the UFW site for this action. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
Working Under The Gun
It's Not Just an Expression
Workers of Starrh and Starrh Cotton Growers--a large cotton, hay, and almond producer in California--need your help. They need you to e-mail Cal OSHA immediately and tell them to investigate the violations at the ranch right away and prosecute the company to the fullest extent of the law. When you hear what the workers lives are like, you will be horrified...and furious. Please take a moment to help these workers by sending your e-mail today! Go to: http://www.ufwaction...
"I have been working for Starrh and Starrh for five years", Alejandro Gil told us. "The working conditions are awful. We are exposed to a lot of dust and we do not have any protection. In the last two or three days, I have been feeling a pain in my chest and my back when I breathe...The owner's brother-in-law always puts pressure on workers. He wants more production. The brother-in-law always carries a gun on his waist to scare workers."
(Great personal story. Health care is such a pervasive issue in this country because the system is so broken. - promoted by David Dayen)
The Senate is expected to vote on a bill in the next few days that could give family child care providers a stronger voice for affordable, quality child care.
I became a family child care provider more than seven years ago because I saw how hard it was for parents to get child care, and I wanted to make a difference in my community. I wanted parents to be able to work their way out of poverty and support their families, and I wanted their children to get a better start on life. But for every child I have cared for, there are many more who aren't getting the care they need. It's getting harder and harder for parents to find and afford quality child care, while good providers are closing their doors because they can't afford to stay in the profession.
Solis' legislation gives the Interior Department three years to study sites "significant to the life of César E. Chávez and the farm labor movement in the western United States." Officials will examine ways to preserve the sites and interpret them to the public.
...... "This goes beyond just honoring him because it helps in so many ways," Perez said. "He was always very family-oriented and an advocate for leadership development, youth development. The fact that we can dedicate these spaces in our communities for families and youth is such a positive thing." Perez, who recalls working on the farms as a child, said his parents were migrant farmworkers who settled in Coachella. Now Perez is a school board member for the Coachella Valley Unified School District and a candidate for state assembly, which he said reminds him to "appreciate the sacrifices of people like Chávez who did it in order to build up our communities."
Just an hour from now, UNITE HERE, which represents some Indian Casino workers, will hold a rally on the North Capitol Steps. The Assembly is currently renegotiating reviewing the compacts for additional and expanded casinos in the state. Furthermore, these compacts could be at the leading edge of the fight for "card check" (PDF) in the nation as well. At this point it is not clear whether the labor issues will be dealt with. CPR has more:
