The New Unity Partnership and Corporate Unionism Corporate Unionism (3) by Harry Kelber
The five NUPers appear to have a twofold plan. They will try to get one of their members, probably John Wilhelm, elected as president of the AFL-CIO at its July 2005 convention. If they are successful, they will be able to jump-start their restructuring program. If they fail, they can pull out of the AFL-CIO, as McCarron did, and set up their own labor federation. SEIU’s Stern says bluntly, “We need to transform the AFL-CIO or build something new.”
Some labor writers try to compare the NUP with the CIO of the 1930s that broke away from the AFL to organize millions of workers into new industrial unions. The comparison is absurd. The CIO came into existence at a time when there was a militant grassroots movement and tens of thousands of workers were involved in job actions and strikes. The new crop of CIO leaders felt close to the rank-and-file, identified with their problems, and had not yet settled into the bureaucratic model of leadership.
Today, no such conditions exist for the successful formation of a dual labor movement. In fact, the opposite is true: far too many union members are apathetic or cynical, and the NUP has given no indication that it is interested in their views and suggestions. Furthermore, Andy Stern is no John L. Lewis.