This is the full 3-18-13 episode of the Labor Express Radio program.
“The basic system of worker representation is failing to meet the needs of America’s working men and women by every critical measure”, these are the words, not of some outside critic of the U.S. labor movement. That was a quote from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Trumka is speaking about a stark reality. Organized labor is under attack in this country and despite winning a battle here and there over the past few years, the war as a whole is not going well. In late January the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its union membership numbers for 2012. After a slight increase in membership in 2011, 2012 saw the resumption of an historic downward spiral that started decades ago. In 2012, unionized workers declined by over 400,000, leaving the percentage of workers in unions at an historic low of 11.3%, a level not seen since the early days of the Great Depression. This is troubling news, but sadly not unexpected given the current savaging of the public sector. Public-sector workers have a union membership rate of 35.9%, more than five times higher than that of private-sector workers at 6.6%, so the massive loss of public sector jobs in the last several years, combined with continued off shoring of jobs in the private sector is devastating organized labor. And even for those lucky enough to still be members of unions, the situation is far from rosy. One only need look at the auto industry and the devastating concession forced upon the UAW in the last few years to recognize that even being a union member is no guarantee of protection.
So what is to be done? One course of action that is continuing to receive more and more attention is non-traditional forms of organizing, including minority unions, where workers act like they have a union, even if their employer has not recognized one and even if those acting collectively are not a majority of the workforce. Labor law in the U.S. is stacked solidly against workers who try to organize unions, but it does provide a measure of protection for concerted, collective action by workers, even if they are not in a union.
On March 7th, the Labor Education Program at the University of Illinois Chicago held a one day conference to discuss this as a strategy for organized labor, entitled New Models of Worker Representation. The keynote speaker was none other than Rich Trumka himself. The conference was described as follows...
“This one-day conference is motivated by a provocative question: What happens when workers begin to act like unions without petitioning for an election?...this conference will examine how workers are organizing “minority unions,” gaining experience, developing leadership, and adopting new non-traditional union forms of representation.”
Included in the conference where representatives of...
• Warehouse Workers for Justice
• The Restaurant Opportunity Center (ROC)
• Making Change at Walmart and Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart)
• ARISE Chicago
• FIGHT FOR 15 – Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago
All of these examples of non-traditional forms of workers organizing along the workers center model.
This is Part 2 of our two part coverage of the conference. Part 1 aired on last week’s program. You can listen to it here...
This part will include the presentations by Warehouse Workers for Justice and President of the AFL-CIO Rich Trumka.
Labor Express Radio is Chicago's only English language labor news and current affairs radio program. News for working people, by working people. Labor Express Radio airs every Monday morning at 10:00 AM on Chicago's Sound Alliance, WLUW, 88.7 FM. For more information, see our website at: www.laborexpress.org or our Facebook page... facebook.laborexpress.org and our homepage on Archive.org at: http://www.archive.org/details/LaborExpressRadio
