AFL-CIO’s New Internet Forum Welcomes Views of Members About Labor’s Future LaborTalk By Harry Kelber
In a dynamic departure from its usual practices, the AFL-CIO unveiled a new, open-ended forum on Jan. 4 on its web site “to solicit recommendations, ideas and priorities from union members, activists and allies that will help strengthen and grow our union movement as a voice for working families.”
Called “Strengthening Our Union Movement for the Future,” the forum is intended to stimulate “open and vigorous debate” about the strengths and weaknesses of the labor movement, and consider proposals for specific reforms. This effort to involve the entire union membership in shaping an agenda for the future is unprecedented. It has been customary to leave policy discussions and decision-making exclusively in the hands of the leadership.
In just a few days, the forum has posted detailed, substantive proposals for change from the presidents of 10 major national unions that can be read online and downloaded (
www.aflcio.org/ourfuture). Ordinarily, these frank reports and important proposals would be presented at Executive Council meetings behind closed doors, with union members kept in the dark about what was going on.