Labor Reform from a Local Union Perspective
By Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild
We at TNG-CWA Local 32035, the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper
Guild, are encouraged by the national discussion on
re-organizing organized labor. Clearly, what the labor movement
has been doing has not produced the results we’d all want.
Something has to change.
Most of the discussion has been at the international level. We’d
like to respond as a local. Our primary concern is the future of
the labor movement, but we do have another important concern –
you might say “a special interest” – that we should identify.
Our local represents the professional staff at the AFL-CIO and
at several of its trade and industrial departments, allied
organizations and sponsored programs, as well as the staff at
three international unions.
It’s not our goal to respond in detail to any one of the
restructuring proposals, but, rather, to add our voices and our
viewpoint to the dialogue. Here are our reactions:
1. We need to start the discussion by looking at functions, not
by allocating per-caps. We’re not averse to shifting resources
among the federation, internationals, state feds, CLCs and
locals, but we think the first question has to be: What
functions can best be performed at each level? Allocations of
resources should follow from the answer to that question.
2. The movement needs to deliver its message better, and this is
a primary function of the federation. It’s clear to us in the
movement that unions are in workers’ interest. The membership
numbers prove it isn’t clear enough to the unorganized. This
isn’t to minimize the importance of organizers on the ground or
of labor law reform, but an effective message makes all other
components of organizing (and representation and political
action) work better. We need not only to communicate an overall
message in a more powerful way, but we need to develop better
methods of informing the public (consumers) which employers
treat their workers honorably and which don’t.
3. The message has to be broader than specific “labor issues.”
The labor movement should return to its roots as a movement for
social justice. Only putting the “movement” back in the labor
movement will restore it, regardless of restructuring.
4. Re-organization at the international level is not enough, so
the revitalization process shouldn’t end with this summer’s
AFL-CIO convention. Restructuring a school board doesn’t, by
itself, change classroom instruction; reorganizing a hospital
board doesn’t change patient care. As the discussion continues,
we need to look not just at how we’re structured at the top, but
at how we work at the bottom. In particular, there hasn’t been
enough dialogue so far on locals (size, staffing models,
rank-and-file involvement) and about how we function in the
workplace (steward and mobilizing structures). This is where the
real power is gained or lost during organizing drives, contract
campaigns, and grievance handling. And the discussion not only
needs to consider the local and shop level, it needs to involve
the local and shop level.
5. Merging isn’t an action, but a process. We know. The
Newspaper Guild and CWA were willing, even eager, partners, with
compatible cultures and history but nearly a decade after merger
activity began, we’re still integrating. Mergers are good – at
least, ours has been -- but they shouldn’t be viewed as a quick
fix.
6. The movement needs better strategic planning at all levels.
Ideally, as locals consider their tactics and their needs, this
would help guide the affiliates and, ultimately, the federation.
That’s union democracy. And the process must be an ongoing one
of adapting to changes in our environment, not occasional bursts
of reform.
7. The labor movement needs to harness its economic power. We
are intrigued by the proposal by the Laborers’ International
Union to create a consolidated union financial services
organization, with potential to manage hundreds of billions of
dollars in pension and other assets. Beyond that, there’s more
economic power we haven’t fully tapped. We own stock – in our
own employers and other companies – through 401(k), employee
stock purchase and other plans. And we haven’t wielded the full
consumer power of unions and of working families.
8. Locals need better access – some sort of “one-stop shopping”
– to the resources of different units of organized labor. As a
local, we deal with an international (CWA) and a sort of
subsidiary international called a sector (The Newspaper Guild).
CWA has districts; TNG has district councils. We’re members of
three CLCs and three state feds. We interact from time to time
with a variety of constituency groups and other organizations
friendly to the labor movement. All of these units were created
for good reasons, but accessing them isn’t simple. We need to
consider how the tangle of structures can best be coordinated.
9. We need more focus on the global as well as the local. In a
globalized economy, we need to strengthen our ties to the
international labor movement, and find ways to work together
more effectively to organize and bargain with cross-national
businesses.
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For additional information, contact:
Bill Salganik, WBNG President--
Salganik@comcast.net
Lori Calderone, Administrative Officer--
Lcalderone@wbng.org