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Dueling Federations: U.S FOKUS AMERIKA B ü r o W a s h i n g t o n Dr. Almut Wieland-Karimi th 1023 15 S treet NW, # 801 Washington, DC 20005 USA Tel.: +1 202 408 5444 Fax: +1 20 2 408 5537 fesdc@fes dc.org www.fesdc.org Nr. 6 / 2006 Dueling Federations: U.S. Labor in 2006 Richard W. Hurd1 . Seven unions with six million members formed the Change to Win federation in 2005, leaving the AFL-CIO with nine million members. Neither dire predictions of open warfare nor optimistic scenarios of immediate growth have proved accurate; union density is relatively stable, and the two federations are learning how to coexist peacefully. There has been a marked increase in strategic cooperation among national unions, most notably within the CTW, but also through AFL-CIO Industrial Coordinating Committees. The CTW is sponsoring a number of large-scale organizing campaigns, and several AFL-CIO unions have increased organizing expenditures substantially; to date the results have been modest. The two federations are cooperating for the 2006 Congressional elections with the AFL-CIO taking the lead. The best hope for the future is that the labor movement will ultimately benefit from competing models for growth. Background Labor unity in the U.S. lasted exactly half a celebration. On the eve of the August 2005 century. At the convention to celebrate the event in Chicago, seven major unions fiftieth anniversary of the 1955 merger of the announced that they would break away from American Federation of Labor with the the AFL-CIO. Six weeks later they formally Congress of Industrial Organizations, bitter- established the Change to Win federation, ness and rebellion swept away plans of spawning both proclamations of labor’s FOKUS AMERIKA 6 / 2006 rebirth and simultaneous warnings of the industrial jurisdiction. The proposal also set movement’s destruction. mandatory targets for the organizing expenditures of the AFL-CIO affiliates. At Ten years before the rupture John Sweeney this juncture the NUP unions were joined by had headed a challenge to the entrenched three others, most notably the Teamsters; leadership of the AFL-CIO. He was elected shortly thereafter they adopted a new name, President of the federation in 1995 on a the Change to Win coalition (CTW). platform that emphasized structural change Throughout the first half of 2005 the CTW and identified organizing as the top priority. unions not only pushed their restructuring His victory generated an extraordinary level agenda, but also called for ousting of John of enthusiasm among progressive unionists Sweeney as AFL-CIO President. and their allies in academic and political circles. With Sweeney at the helm and his The reform proposals were dismissed as union the SEIU (service employees) leading insulting by labor leaders who embraced the the way, it seemed that organized labor was tradition of national union autonomy on poised for a remarkable reversal of fortunes. strategic issues related to bargaining, orga- nizing, and internal governance. It was not But Sweeney’s efforts to reorient the AFL- just traditionalists who were angry; several CIO’s seventy national unions were national leaders widely respected for their unsuccessful, and the election of the arch progressive views and support for innovation conservative George W. Bush as President also attacked the plan. These union officials of the U.S. in 2000 deepened labor’s woes. endorsed the importance of allocating sub- With union density continuing to decline at stantial resources to organizing but rejected the same rate as before 1995, opposition to the overall reform agenda, arguing for the Sweeney emerged, ironically led by Andy necessity to devote equal attention to poli- Stern who succeeded him as President of tical initiatives. They also attacked the re- SEIU. In the summer of 2003 Stern joined structuring idea as top-down engineering that with four other union presidents to form the would undermine union democracy. It be- New Unity Partnership (NUP), which origi- came clear weeks in advance of the 2005 nally pushed for change within the AFL-CIO. AFL-CIO convention that John Sweeney This loose-knit group embraced a framework retained enough support to win on any key for reform that echoed Sweeney’s earlier cry votes and to be reelected. When the CTW for increased resources devoted to orga- realized that its reform proposals would be nizing. The NUP also proposed restruc- defeated, its key members announced that turing through mergers designed to promote they would withdraw from the AFL-CIO. On consolidation based on industry in order to September 27, 2005, the new Change to Win enhance bargaining power. federation held its founding convention in St. Louis. The proposals stimulated debate, but serious consideration of reform was postponed so Contrasting Expectations that all of labor could join forces in an effort to replace George Bush as President. When In the aftermath of the formal split, there was the political effort fell short and Bush was great distress among the unions that reelected in November, 2004, the NUP retained allegiance to the AFL-CIO. The lea- unions immediately went on the offensive. ders of the CTW unions were described as Most notably, the SEIU released a refined arrogant and self-serving and were denoun- restructuring plan that would give the AFL- ced for undermining union solidarity. There CIO authority to force mergers, reducing the were dire warnings of raids by CTW unions number of unions from seventy to no more to steal members from AFL-CIO affiliates, than twenty, each with a clearly defined and deep concern that the movement would 2 FOKUS AMERIKA 6 / 2006 be divided at the state and local level under- organizing arena. Organizing is still a priori- mining mutual support and cooperation on ty, but national unions control all funding and political campaigns. More practically, the de- strategic decisions. In his Labor Day press parture of unions accounting for approxi- conference John Sweeney announced that mately one-third of the AFL-CIO’s member- four key affiliates have increased their ship forced budget cuts that affected all organizing budget by a total of $100 million. aspects of the federation’s operation. Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO itself has reasona- bly decided to concentrate primarily on politi- While the AFL-CIO scrambled to reorganize cal action. A centerpiece of the political ef- and refocus, the CTW unions began to fort is its Voice@Work campaign for labor develop a coordinated strategy to pursue a law reform, which promotes the long-term growth agenda. At its founding convention, objectives embodied in proposed federal the new federation selected Anna Burger of legislation. The Employee Free Choice Act SEIU as Chair and Edgar Romney of UNITE- would establish union certification based on HERE (needletrades and hotels) as Vice signed authorization cards, provide for arbi- Chair. Burger became the first woman to tration in bargaining for first contracts, and lead a U.S. labor federation, and Romney increase penalties for employer unfair labor became the first African American to serve at practices violations. As of October 1, 2006, such a high level of federation leadership. the bill has been endorsed by 260 members of Congress — a majority of those in the The CTW unions projected a determined House of Representatives and close to half optimism. They argued that by shifting sub- of those in the Senate. stantial resources to organizing, conducting joint campaigns where appropriate, and The federation also has initiated an asso- promoting strategic support among members ciate membership program, Working Ameri- of the coalition, CTW would pave the way for ca, to establish a communication link to wor- growth. The CTW unions pronounced their kers who support labor’s political philosophy intent to target for organizing only those but who are not currently union members. industries that cannot export jobs, primarily Working America was created in the leadup in the service sector, transportation, and to the 2004 election and currently claims construction. They declared that they had no nearly 1.5 million subscribers. Like desire to fight with the AFL-CIO and would Voice@Work, this project is directly integral be content to build power in those industries to the federation’s political program. The already within their core jurisdictions. Also, most impressive aspect of the AFL-CIO’s the key leaders of CTW publicly voiced leadership role in the political arena is its opposition to raiding. remarkable effort to influence the 2006 election. In spite of the defection of the CTW After a relatively brief period of acrimony, the unions, the AFL-CIO has managed to two federations negotiated an agreement allocate $40 million to mobilization for the that allows locals of CTW unions to apply for 2006 campaign, up approximately one-third “solidarity charters.” The charters assure from its expenditures in the most recent mid- that the locals will have full rights of term election four years ago. By all indi- participation in municipal labor councils and cations, the effort in the field has not been state labor federations affiliated with the adversely affected. In fact, the CTW has AFL-CIO. agreed to cooperate with the AFL-CIO, and the more established federation retains its AFL-CIO Strategy 2006 role as leader of labor’s political action program. A year after the split, it is clear that the AFL- CIO has deemphasized its role in the 3 FOKUS AMERIKA 6 / 2006 In addition to politics, another key initiative of commercial) and UNITE-HERE will jointly co- the AFL-CIO is the formation of Industry ordinate certain retail organizing campaigns, Coordinating Committees (ICC). The ICCs and LIUNA (laborers) and UBC (carpenters) are designed to coordinate bargaining and will work together on major construction organizing activities among unions with sub- industry organizing.
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