https://socialistaction.org/2017/10/31/labor-briefing-nov-2017/
Labor Briefing, Nov. 2017
/ 3 days ago
Nov. 2017 AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO top elected officers (from left): Liz Shuler,
secretary-treasurer, Richard Trumka, president: and Tefre Gebre,
executive vice president, at the St. Louis convention.
By BILL ONASCH
No VIPs in St Louis—The AFL-CIO quadrennial convention to elect officers
and pass policy resolutions was held in St. Louis, Oct. 22-25. While
many of the biggest unions—the National Education Association, Service
Employees International Union, Teamsters, and Carpenters—are not
affiliated, the federation still represents 12.5 million workers.
In response to police killings of African Americans, racial profiling,
and voter suppression, St. Louis became the launching pad for the Black
Lives Matter movement. A pre-convention conference on Diversity and
Inclusion attracted hundreds of arriving delegates along with many in
the local communities.
When speakers from Black Lives Matter didn’t show, it was discovered
that entry of a BLM contingent had been blocked by Convention Center
management. Hundreds of delegates then took the conference outside to
join them in solidarity. After only a few minutes, management relented
and all marched in to the scheduled venue.
The three top officers—Richard Trumka, president; Liz Shuler,
secretary-treasurer; Tefre Gebre, executive vice president—were
reelected without opposition. In their acceptance speeches all three
spoke to the convention theme—Join Together; Fight Together; Win
Together. But underlying this surface of unity were currents of major
differences that often were responsible for glaring omissions and
compromises in the 56 adopted resolutions.
There was a resolution “War Is Not the Answer,” but unions in the war
industries insisted on another, “Support 100 Percent Buy American In
Defense.” The Labor Campaign for Single-Payer did a good job in putting
the federation on record supporting the “Medicare For All” campaign. But
the same resolution said they would for now also keep on championing the
Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare, written by and for the insurance
Robber Barons.
Perhaps the most contentious issue of all is climate change. The
building trades, rail, and mine worker unions, eager to get
fossil-fuel-related jobs, take a position similar to Trump’s. Other
affiliates like National Nurses United and the Amalgamated Transit Union
are part of the Labor Network for Sustainability, which advocates a Just
Transition approach to protecting workers whose jobs will be lost in the
switch to clean, renewable energy. The two sides faced off and nearly
came to blows during the Tribes’ occupation at Standing Rock, which
attempted to block construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.
Resolution 55, “Climate Change, Energy and Union Jobs,” was in most
respects a big advance. It unequivocally endorsed the consensus of
climate scientists about the devastating impact of global warming
resulting from carbon emissions and urged the U.S. government to
implement commitments in the Paris Climate Accords. And it advocates
Just Transition for displaced workers and their communities affected by
energy restructuring.
But while promoting clean, renewable energy alternatives that are
crucial to ending carbon emissions, it also throws a dangerous sop to
coal miners and the building trades by including gimmicks like the coal
industry pipe dream of “carbon capture and storage”—and nuclear power.
There is never going to be “clean coal.” Nuclear reactors don’t emit
greenhouse gases but they do leave behind radioactive waste that remains
dangerous to humans for centuries. There is no known protocol for
securing this threat over such a time span. And, of course, there is the
danger of catastrophic accidents like Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Three
Mile Island. Nukes have no place in our energy future.
There were other good resolutions on immigration, public education,
fighting fascism, $15 minimum wage, and the humanitarian crisis in
Puerto Rico. But all 56 share a common attribute—their objectives cannot
be achieved through collective bargaining. They are all essentially
political questions. And unions in the United States are the only labor
movement in the English-speaking world not to have a labor party of
their own.
Past AFL-CIO conventions typically featured speeches by big-name
Democrat “friends of labor.” Usually, that was about all that interested
the corporate media. But such Establishment VIPs were not invited this
year. This was a belated recognition of what polls have shown over the
past several years—the working-class majority is fed up with both major
parties and think there should be a new alternative.
Resolution 2, “An Independent Political Voice,” begins: “For decades,
the political system has failed working people. Acting on behalf of
corporations and the rich and powerful, the political system has been
taking away, one after another, the pillars that support working
people’s right to good jobs and secure benefits.”
That’s true enough—though socialists would begin the time line around
the Industrial Revolution. Resolution 2 continues: “Against this, we
have one choice. We must give working people greater political power by
speaking with an unquestionably independent political voice, backed by a
unified labor movement.” But “voice” is not a party, and power cannot be
shared between hostile classes.
There appeared to be three distinct camps with incompatible visions
among the delegates:
•The bureaucracy that still follows the advice of Samuel Gompers, the
first president of the American Federation of Labor, to reward your
friends and punish your enemies among the candidates of the two boss
parties.
•Leaders of several major activist unions that support the effort of the
“socialist” Bernie Sanders to transform the Democrats into “labor’s voice.”
•A smaller but significant group that wants to revive the once
promising, now defunct Labor Party.
The first two strategies have a long, well-documented track record of
failure. It’s high time that American workers, like our British class
siblings, choose option 3.
UE Beats Koch Brothers—The Trumpite Iowa state legislature hoped to wipe
out public-sector unions by requiring them to be recertified every year
in which they negotiate a contract. That means winning an election with
a majority of the bargaining unit, not just of those voting. The
independent United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers has six contracts
coming up. The UE won all six, with 87 percent opting to stay union.
Glad Grads—Finally overcoming objections and delays by the University of
Chicago administration, U of C graduate student workers got their chance
to vote in an NLRB representation election in late October. It wasn’t
close—1,103 to 479 in favor of Grad Students United, affiliated with the
Illinois Federation of Teachers. This necessary first step now leads to
the challenge of negotiating a first contract.
If you have a story for the Labor Briefing please contact
billonasch@xxxxxxxxxxx
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October 31, 2017 in Labor.
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