For the first time in memory — perhaps the first time ever — American unions are discussing their future. And that discussion is taking place, in large part, on the web.
The 1.8 million member Service Employees International Union (SEIU) triggered the discussion with its proposal last year, entitled “Proposals for New Strength”. They set up a website to encourage discussion across all unions of the ways in which the embattled labour movement in the US could revitalize itself. The website can be found at http://www.unitetowin.org/ and amazingly, it gives rank and file trade unionists a chance to publish their own views. For example, a recent article by SEIU President Andy Stern is followed by no fewer than 138 comments. And they are not all compliments.
The launch of “Unite to Win” certainly influenced the AFL-CIO, the national trade union centre in the US, which created its own space on the net for this discussion, at http://www.aflcio.org/aboutaflcio/ourfuture/index.cfm
The AFL-CIO has asked union members to give their views on 11 topic areas and 4 specific questions, such as “What steps do you think the national union movement must take to address today
I hope that the experience of Unite to Win is studied at some point — it is a unique and very interesting moment in the development of labor and the internet.
I wrote a “website review” at the end of last year about Unite to Win, pointing out a number of limits to the website/blog. I think Eric’s post is too generous and optimistic though I share his feeling that this development is a big deal.
One bit of info from the article:
“By the end of 2004, over 700 comments had been posted by visitors to the site, the vast majority of comments – over 80% — posted by a group of about forty steady commenters.”
The article is at http://www.uniondemocracy.org/UDR/83-SEIU%27s%20Unite%20to%20Win.htm
Matt: How did you estimate the number of steady commentators? I find that the vast majority of the posts on the U2W site are under the heading “anonymous.”
Were you able to get that information from SEIU based on IP addresses, or did you have to “guess” based on similarities in message or writing style?
The AFL-CIO’s site where members and activists can share their ideas on strengthening the union movement has had more than 7,000 individual postings since the beginning of this year.
As Eric mentions, the responses are displayed at:
http://www.aflcio.org/aboutaflcio/ourfuture/voices.cfm
You can post a comment at:
http://www.aflcio.org/aboutaflcio/ourfuture/giveusideas4.cfm
It would be fascinating to get an “independent’ analysis of who is commenting and participating at thest two sites.
I know I showed the Unite to Win site to a couple of comrades. Immediately they were cynical about the monitoring/censoring of the commentary on these sites.
I had no come back to respond accurately.
‘Independent’ analysis of who is commenting and participating in these two websites??? Why would you want that? Do you not think that the Anti-Union firms as well as the places we work at do not access these sites?
We surely can not blame people for being VERY cynical in the stressful and nasty workplace situations most of us are coping with right at this present time, can we? In my area, my Union plant is the only one which does not have Manditory Overtime, one plant is 10 hour days, two weeks in a row, one is 12 hour manditory overtime 6 days per week.
People are scared witless about losing their jobs—everywhere.
I was in the Farm Crisis movement in the 80’s Depression in farm Country…..we had NO membership list, ever, and there was a reason for that…..someday I must use the Freedom of Information Act to access my FBI File. Those who are dumb enough to not pay attention to History, will get to repeat it.
The markers of the run-up to that Crisis are all here, now, large companies buying out other companies, the Stock Market tanked (several times) the price of farm land is out of sight, the price of housing is the same, we have a Republican controlled Administration which is rabidlly Anti-worker and Anti-Union and we have younger people in the workforce who have no idea what those times were about.
My review of Unite to Win was written in December of 2004, so all of this may have changed.
Here’s how I arrived at the approximate number of steady posters. I took the total number of comments, the numbers of named, anonymous, and nicknamed participants, and the number of comments from each participant and category of participant.
Of the nineteen people who gave names, five accounted for approximately 80% of the comments posted (by people giving names). The ratio was similar for those using an obvious pseudonym or nickname, so assuming it applied as well to the anonymous posters, I calculated the number of frequent anonymous posters, then totaled my frequent posters.
It is inexact, of course. It would be great to have the hard numbers, but only Krissi Jimroglou knows for sure (she’s the website manager).
I couldn’t figure out a reliable way to estimate the ratio of staffers to union members posting. My guess, based on contents and references to staff issues/news, is that staff account for 50% to 75% or so of the postings. What conclusions to draw from that is a separate issue. One way or another it would be useful info to have.
Would the AFL-CIO web people/person be willing to issue a report on stats — visitors, posters, frequency of posts, staff/members/officers, unions, etc? That would be useful info.
As for the politics — for the reasons I mention in the article, I think it is easy to exagerrate the quantity and quality of democratic participation that Unite to Win makes possible/represents. It’s more like the manager’s “suggestions” box than a townhall meeting.
On the other hand, having all those proposals and the blog entries available — especially the critical pieces and articles that get posted/linked — has made it easier to follow and figure out the AFL-CIO internal struggle. I respect SEIU’s apparent commitment to post the good, the bad and the ugly. It gives the discussion credibility, whatever your take on the issues.
Dear Conrades
As a Union Organiser in Australia I congratulate you on your use of technology. Australian workers are facing the biggest battles of our lives and it seems that workers around the world are in a similar situation. As we fight to protect our rights we must educate workers who are becoming more apathetic. We need to ge the message across using the tools that our young people use and understand. The computer has become our modern day soapbox and we must get on it and get our message across load and proud.
We must set aside time to read and understand what is happening around the world and my understanding is much more defined thanks to Eric Lee and Labor Start…
Keep up the good work Comrades the world needs you
I’m currently writing a piece on the logistics industry,an overview of the global set up.As this industry becomes more coordinated and as labour shortages in the industry continue it seems to me that workers are in a stronger position than they may think.This is something that could be discussed on this site perhaps.JIT and low inventory warehousing put capital in a weak position if there are stoppages.
In solidarity,Thomas.
as a member of the IBEW and a passionate trade unionist I am convinced that unions will not see a reversal of fortunes until we start to practice the same values that we preach (fairness, equality, and true BROTHERHOOD the fact of the matter is that in many trade unions just as in America the rich continue to get richer and the poor are getting poorer. Where is the Brotherhood? where is the pulling together when times get tough? By contrast our unions legislate and negotiote changes which effectively force members to choose between screwing their union brothers and sisters or short changing their families. It’s to the point that a man can’t afford to be a “good” union brother any more at least not if he wants to maintain a decent standard of living and benefits. 60% of the local hasn’t missed a paycheck in years + works overtime while the remaining 40% fight for the scraps that fall off the table, not even able to maintain their unemployment benefits and healthcare. It starts at the local level, it’s a different world now and member demand honesty and respect or they simply won’t give of themselves to the organization.