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:: Monday, March 08, 2004 ::

The Labor Movement: State of Emergency, Signs of Renewal By Lee Sustar, Socialist Worker, CounterPunch
In 2002, a top official of the SEIU, Stephen Lerner, published a document on a strategy to reverse labor's decline. 'The labor movement as it is currently constructed is incapable of increasing the size and power of unions in the United States,' he wrote, adding later, 'We cannot wait for consensus. A group of organizing unions needs to start acting like a labor movement and demonstrate how labor should operate.' 58

A year later, that group had taken shape as the New Unity Partnership (NUP). It's core is the three Ivy League-educated union presidents, Andrew Stern of the SEIU, John Wilhelm of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE), and Bruce Raynor of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). Also taking part are the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), and, from outside the AFL-CIO, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters which withdrew from the federation in 2001. The NUP's plans were leaked to the media on the eve of the August 2003 meeting of the AFL-CIO executive council in a bid to upstage Sweeney and seize control of labor's agenda. While a formal split may or may not be in the offing, there's no doubt that Sweeney will face a strong challenge when he seeks re-election at the 2005 AFL-CIO convention.

posted 5:24 AM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

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