Global Unions: A Solution to Labor’s Worldwide Decline

At no time in history has there been a greater urgency or opportunity to form real global unions whose goal is to organize tens of millions of workers to win economic and social justice by counterbalancing global corporations on the world stage even as the power of the state declines.

Over the last twenty years we have debated, organized, experimented, and struggled to rebuild our movement. In looking back at some of what I and others have argued, we’ve developed pieces of an analysis and strategy, but it has often been too narrow and too isolated from the extraordinary realignment of power in the world economy.i Through reexamining what we’ve learned about organizing, and by developing a more coherent analysis of today’s global economy, we can develop a strategy and plan to organize global unions with the strength and vision that would give workers real power in the twenty-first century.

Global labor solidarity, as currently practiced, is failing and will continue to fail in the face of the growing power of global corporations and the declining power of the state. Instead, global unions need to be formed whose purpose is to unite workers to negotiate global agreements with global corporations. The property services sector, which includes janitors and security officers, has many of the critical characteristics and immediate conditions needed to organize a true global union, and provides an important, but not unique, model of how a global union is possible.

Globalization is creating change at an even faster pace than during industrialization. We need to understand how it is reshaping workers’ lives and power around the globe, so that instead of being swept away by globalization, we can harness it to transform ourselves and the world. To win real power, workers and their unions need to build a movement defined not by what we are against, but by what we are for: a movement inspired by hope for a better world and a plan to achieve it. Anything else puts unions at risk of becoming as irrelevant as those who opposed industrialization in the hope of defending artisans and small craftsman. Understanding Globalization: The World Is Tilting The world is tilting away from workers and unions and the traditional ways they’ve fought for and won justice—away from the power of national governments, national unions, national solutions, and government institutions developed to facilitate and regulate globalization. It is tilting toward global trade, giant global corporations, global solutions, and towards Asia—especially China and India. We can no longer depend on influencing bureaucratic global institutions, like the ILO, or fighting the entities that ultimately are accountable to or controlled by global corporations, like the WTO. Workers and their unions need to use their still-formidable power to counter he power of global corporations, before the world tilts so far that unions are washed away, impoverishing workers who currently have unions and trapping workers who don’t in ever-deeper poverty. The power equation needs to be balanced before democratic rule and institutions are destroyed. i See previous articles by the author on new strategies for the labor movement: “Let’s Get Moving!” Labor Research Review 18 1991; “Reviving Unions,” Boston Review, April/May 1996; “An Immodest Proposal: A New Architecture for the House of Labor,” New Labor Forum 12, no. 2, Summer 2003; “A Winning Strategy to Do Justice,” Tikkun, May/June 2005. http://www.newlaborforum.org/newlaborforum/html/2007/january/abstracts.html#Global_Unions:_A_Solution_to_Labor%E2%80%99s_Worldwide_Decline_

STEPHEN LERNER, ARCHITECT OF THE SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION'S MUCH heralded Justice for Janitors organizing campaign, and principal theoretician behind the proposal that led to the formation in 2005 of the rival Change to Win federation, has now published a major statement on global unionism, “Global Unions: A Solution to Labor's Worldwide Decline,” in the Winter 2007 issue of New Labor Forum. In this piece, Lerner develops an analysis of the world economy and a strategy for building global unions that, he argues, “would give workers real power in the twenty-first century.” Given the importance of Stephen Lerner s many contributions to the theory and practice of the U.S. labor movement over the past twenty years, and the importance of the topic of global unionism in this era of globalization and labor's decline, this article deserves to be taken very seriously. Unfortunately, we find Lerner s analysis and his proposed strategy to be fundamentally flawed. In what follows, we will attempt to clarify our disagreements with Lerner s approach, and to propose a different strategic approach.

http://www.newlaborforum.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1084

SEIU: Debating Labor’s Strategy
by Michael D. Yates, David Bacon, Warren Mar, Stephen Lerner, and John Borsos

Introduction
by Michael D. Yates

Over the past several years, a vigorous debate has taken place within organized labor and among its allies over how best to rebuild a dying labor movement. Much of the is debate has centered around the actions and arguments of the leaders of the nation’s largest union, The Service Employees International Union or SEIU. MRZine has encouraged debate and dialogue over this matter, publishing many articles by union officials, dissidents within unions, and other interested persons. We are pleased now to publish the three essays below. The first is by David Bacon and Warren Mar. David is, in my opinion, the country’s foremost labor journalist. Warren is a longtime union activist and organizer, a founder of the Asian Student Union at San Francisco State University in 1974., and currently Coordinator of Workforce Training at City College of San Francisco. We asked two prominent union leaders to respond to the Bacon/Mar essay. Stephen Lerner is an SEIU officer, architect of the famous Justice for Janitors Campaign in Los Angeles, and author of the seminal essay “Three Steps to Reorganizing and Rebuilding the Labor Movement.” John Borsos is an administrative vice-president of United Healthcare Workers-West, a lead negotiator, and an ally of SEIU dissident and United Healthcare Workers-West president Sal Rosselli.

More at link...
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2008/seiu140708.html

Three Steps To Reorganizing And Rebuilding The Labor Movement: Building new strength and unity for all working families
by Stephen Lerner | Sun, 12/01/2002 - 1:53pm

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Author(s):
Stephen Lerner
Excerpt:

Unions and the United States Labor movement have continued their historic decline in terms of membership and density, under a Democratic president and in a booming economy. Unions have emerged from a period of economic growth and prosperity not larger and stronger but weaker and smaller. Having missed an incredible opportunity to grow in a time of prosperity, labor must now figure out how to build numbers and strength in face of economic uncertainty, a Republican President, war, budget deficits, public service cuts and the continued exporting of union manufacturing jobs.

December 2002 - Draft - Do Not Distribute

Three step plan...
http://labornotes.org/node/575

Rotsa ruck to him.

He want to know some of the reasons he's gonna fail?

People know that the more an employer is forced to pay a union, the less the employer has to pay them.

People know that "Social Justice" isn't what they want their union dues going to pay for.

People know that unions once served a valid purpose, but that was almost a century ago and there are no more child labor horrors, open machinery taking off peoples arms and the like. They know that unions have outlived their usefulness, but are still forcing society to accept them.

People know that many unions are nothing but fronts for both the mob and the Democratic Party and they don't think unions should be involved in either.

People know that the entire premise of a union is to extort money and benefits from business entities and governments. It's like the spoiled rich kids we all grew up with. If you don't let me play I'll take my ball home and make sure NOBODY plays, and people hate that.

People don't like unions. What more can be said?

[...]Democracy Matters

In the long run, a sustained vision of building workers’ powers requires a union to be more democratic, not less so.

For reasons hard to understand, Stern and his allies don’t appear to have faith in workers to make informed decisions about their future and the future of the labor movement.[...]

But perhaps the most unfortunate development in this struggle has been the inability of leaders within SEIU to create forums to truly debate alternative visions for rebuilding our movement.

As Bacon and Mar point out, debate within the American labor movement is difficult, and what we’re experiencing in SEIU is no exception. But it is ironic, given Stern’s efforts to publicize the differences between Change to Win and the AFL-CIO in every forum imaginable, that he and other SEIU leaders are so threatened by our public challenge to their direction.

Democracy is not just a process of formalized voting. It’s also creating the space to contest ideas in an atmosphere that encourages the free exchange of opinion. Bacon and Mar’s point about ground rules in which “Local unions should be able to discuss questions without fearing retaliation or trusteeship” is right on point.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2008/seiu140708.html

Democracy for Stern et al but not for the rank and file.

How do we get them from influencing the youth and those who think they’re going to get something for nothing. They want global civil rights battles. We have interfered with a civil rights conflict in Libya. We’ll live to regret it when we have one here. The UN is now the authority and can order NATO to enter any country they want for civil unrest or human rights violations. All Lerner, Stern et al have to do is get their people riled up enough to get into the streets all over the country. A few people dead (God forbid) and voila - UN orders NATO to bomb a city here. Obama is helping with the high fuel, food, etc. These guys want money and power and will stop at nothing to get it.

SEIU Cleans House: Top Staffer Gets Thrown Overboard, More to Come?

November 14, 2010
By Editor

The SEIU-critical blog Stern Burger with Fries is reporting on an apparent firing within halls of purple palace. Apparently, the SEIU’s new queen, Mary Kay Henry has lopped the head off of long-time SEIU staffer Stephen Lerner:

The high-level firing appears to confirm that the 1199 Ohio group including Tom Woodruff and Scott Courtney is consolidating power at SEIU, and Tasty is told that the issue came to a head over a dispute about the national unions organizing budget: Would SEIU spend millions of dollars on a multi-city campaign to organize low-paid workers and attack the banks as Lerner wanted, or would the money be spent on more traditional organizing targets and on propping up the UHW trusteeship in California, where SEIU has already sunk tens of millions of dollars? Other sources tell Tasty that several key SEIU staffers feared Lerners campaign would be more of the same smoke-and-mirror, media-driven gambits that have soaked up tens of millions of dollars without resulting in new members OR additional credibility for SEIU in the area of financial reform.

The pink-slipping of Stephen Lerner highlights the serious turmoil inside Mary Kays purple palace as staff leaders jockey for power and control over millions of dollars of budget money that is… your dues dollars. Tasty hears that Stephen Lerner is not the only staffer whos likely to get the axe, and that other staffers are likely to quit their jobs and follow Lerner out the door. Meanwhile, Lerners firing creates another vacancy on SEIUs International Executive Board Lerner was one of the International staffers who also sat on the board, which Mary Kay will have to fill. Stay tuned for more!
http://www.laborunionreport.com/portal/2010/11/seiu-cleans-house/

- Slow Lerner.....UHW's unelected trustee-for-life Dave Regan was visibly gloating as news worked its way among key senior staff that top SEIU staffer (and IEB member) Stephen Lerner has been FIRED! - ...several key SEIU staffers feared Lerner's campaign would be more of the same smoke-and-mirror, media-driven gambits that have SOAKED UP TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WITHOUT RESULTING IN NEW MEMBERS OR additional credibility for SEIU in the area of financial reform. - The pink-slipping of Stephen Lerner highlights the serious turmoil inside Mary Kay's purple palace as staff leaders jockey for POWER AND CONTROL over millions of dollars of budget money (that is... your dues dollars). - ... Lerner's firing creates another vacancy on SEIU's International Executive Board (Lerner was one of the International staffers who also sat on the board), which Mary Kay will have to fill. Stay tuned for more! - http://sternburgerwithfries.blogspot.com/2010/11/slow-lerner.html

- February 2, 2011 - another member of SEIU's International Executive Board has gotten the axe. This time it's John Tanner, the Executive Director of SEIU Local 721 in California. - Tanner replaced ANNELLE GRAJEDA atop Local 721 after she bit the dust in multiple CORRUPTION SCANDALS, including the one where she was named a "co-schemer" in the EMBEZZLEMENT scandal that landed ALEJANDRO STEPHENS in JAIL - MORE INSTANCES of EMBEZZLEMENT/STEALING AT SITE - Well, according to the memo below, Local 721's Executive Board recently voted to terminate Tanner's contract and placed him on "administrative leave"... kinda like when Scott Courtney placed Stephen Lerner on administrative leave for "insubordination." (Wonder how much Stephen and John get paid while sitting at home or going to the movies??). Check out the "all staff" memo below...http://sternburgerwithfries.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=20

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Members Charge Regan with Violations in Officer Elections aka I DON’T THINK SO.

While it seems like being SEIU-UHW President isn’t really that fun of a job, SEIU’s trustees have launched their campaign for the upcoming officer elections at SEIU-UHW, and charges are already flying about election violations committed by Dave Regan and the other trustees.

And get this… the charges of illegal electioneering are coming from inside SEIU’s own team. In mid-December, UHW member Sophia Sims filed a formal complaint with SEIU President Mary Kay Henry claiming that Regan is using the union’s own resources to fund his election campaign.

For those who don’t know Sophia, SEIU recruited her to be part of its pre-trusteeship implosion campaign. Fast forward a couple of years, and it sounds like Sims’s opinion about SEIU’s DC officials has changed a bit…

Sims’s take on Regan: “We don’t need this lying and cheating and we don’t need or want him.” .....

....Sims concludes her email to Mary Kay Henry this way:

“The remedy is to have [Regan] withdraw now, if you don’t then we get the Office of Labor-Management Standards to come do an investigation. Can SEIU really afford another scandal, I DON’T THINK SO.”

And just as a bit of insurance, Sims cc’d an official from the U.S. Department of Labor on her complaint.

Here’s the response from SEIU’s Michael H. Holland:
http://sternburgerwithfries.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=20

An amazing information at this site. It looks like they’re falling apart. :)

- March 16, 2011 - revealing video featuring SEIU Trustee Dave Regan's running mate, STAN LYLES, who is a candidate for the No. 2 position in the UHW officer election. - Who is this Stan Lyles? He is a member of SEIU's pre-trusteeship e-board who was, to put it mildly, NOT known for his integrity. - See, before the Trusteeship, Lyles was one of the most vocal critics of SEIU International. - Check out this speech to the member-led Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) in 2008. Lyles attacks SEIU for cutting secret back-room deals with employers--including a SECRET DEAL THAT MARY KAY HENRY MADE WITH TENET HEALTHCARE that allowed the employer to OUTSOURCE MORE THAN 10% of UHW's MEMBERS. - That's not all, Lyles was also a member of the Board of Directors of the "Patient Education Fund" aka the "PEF." At the time of the Trusteeship, SEIU claimed that Stan and others used the PEF to STEAL $3 million, thereby justifying SEIU's trusteeship. SEIU even sued Stan and 9 other board members, in a suit that a judge tossed out. - So, if the PEF was so horrible, how can SEIU now nominate Stan to run on Regan's ticket??? On the other hand, if the Stan-ster did nothing wrong, what was the reason for the Trusteeship??? Uh oh, SEIU. Tasty boxed you in! - As for Stan Lyles, SEIU better watch their back. Because, Stan can change his tune and betray his past so easily, he can do the same to SEIU...if the price is right. - Ballots in the UHW leadership election will be counted later today. http://sternburgerwithfries.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=20 VIDEO - http://video.aol.com/video-detail/stan-lyles/1771213927

- This is the bio of the site...Legal Statement: Sternburgerwithfries.blogspot.com is a labor union related gossip site which publishes rumors, speculation, assumptions, opinions and conjecture in addition to accurately reported facts. Information on this site may or may not be true and sternburgerwithfries.blogspot.com makes no warranty as to the validity of any claims. If you think there is false info on this site, email me and we can see what we can do, otherwise, just enjoy! http://sternburgerwithfries.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=20 He's been tracking these gangsters for a while....if you feel like you can trust him have a look...it's packed with stuff on these scam artists.

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