U.S. Labor News Roundup

Week of June 10, 2013

Reform Rekindled

A little-discussed trend in organized labor is the rise of local union reform movements, which aim to challenge unresponsive leaders, resist concessions, build ties with the community, and promote internal democracy and member control.

In the past five years reformers have taken office in locals representing upwards of a half million members—from UPS Teamsters in New York City to University of California graduate employees.

Large public sector locals include the 35,000-member Chicago Teachers, the 37,000-member Transport Workers (New York subways and buses), and the 50,000-member Service Employees 1021 in the Bay Area.

Private sector examples include the 7,000-member Communications Workers 1101 at Verizon in New York, 4,000-member Pipefitters 290 in Portland, Oregon, and the 22,000-member New York Carpenters Council.

Beyond the local level, the 37,000-member New York State Nurses Association, the 54,000-member Public Employees Federation of New York, and the 120,000-member California Federation of Teachers now have reformers in charge.

While some reform efforts are spearheaded by longtime activists, leaders in their 40s and even younger are common.

What explains this resurgence?

A main factor is the management push for givebacks, as reform candidates promise to stand up where incumbents are giving in.

One example is the slate that swept elections in New York’s largest telecom local, at Verizon, in 2011. Ten of the previous administration’s 13 top officers were retired and had lost touch with what the rank and file were facing, particularly speedup.

A second factor is member disgust at authoritarian or corrupt leaders.

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For example, a slate in Chicago’s Teamsters Local 743 made rooting out corruption and organized crime a pillar of its successful 2008 campaign.

A move to consolidate power over locals was at the center of turmoil inside the Service Employees (SEIU), who placed their third-largest local, in California, in trusteeship in 2009.

Local leaders split and formed the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which rejects SEIU’s “partnership” with management. NUHW has attempted, unsuccessfully thus far, to replace SEIU at the 45,000-worker Kaiser Permanente hospital chain.

The desire for member control also fueled a slate of bedside nurses in the New York State Nurses Association. Reformers organized a 2,000-person meeting to overhaul the bylaws, which had allowed supervisors to serve as board members and put power in the hands of staffers.

But reformers also face a host of challenges.

First is the members’ mindset. Most rank-and-filers are more familiar—and comfortable—with the union-as-lawyer model than with unions as vehicles for collective action.

Without active and organized members, reformers may fail to deliver improvements, creating rank-and-file cynicism and backlash.

A second serious challenge is that of running the union. New officers are often not prepared for the avalanche of responsibilities. They find little time to develop more leaders or invest in long-term planning. Promised changes can fall by the wayside.

Third, new leaders may meet suspicion from higher-up officials in their unions.

And of course, the greatest challenge facing reformers is employers’ offensive to weaken or destroy any union, but especially a defiant one.

Despite these challenges, more unionists are taking on the job of reform, pushed by the desire to save their unions and keep employers from implementing their agenda.