Next Step After the Election: Organize, Organize, Organize

by James Parks, Nov 13, 2006

Last week’s historic vote showed the clear connections between a strong union movement and political strength. Union households accounted for about one of every four voters and made a key difference in almost every state. Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of union voters supported union-endorsed candidates in the House and 76 percent supported Democratic candidates in Senate races.

Now, union organizers are getting ready to come together next month for an Organizing Summit that will examine the best ways to build a stronger union movement that can hold elected leaders accountable and ensure legislative attention to the key concerns of working families, such as affordable health care, workers’ freedom to form unions and good jobs.

The Dec. 8–9 Organizing Summit in Washington, D.C., takes on even more significance after the election wins. Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen, who heads the AFL-CIO Committee on Organizing, says:

…we’re celebrating a major turning point and we can be proud of what we have accomplished. Now, we have the opportunity to move forward, for all working families. As we move forward on a real agenda for change for working families, we will hold our newly elected officials accountable for the decisions they make—or don’t make. We’ll keep organizing until the goals of working families are a reality.

Participants will rally Dec. 8 on Capitol Hill to call for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which will be re-introduced when the new Congress convenes in January. During the campaign, workers hit the stump to let congressional candidates know how important the freedom to form unions is to working families. Some 215 U.S. House members co-sponsored the bill—two short of a majority—and 43 members of the Senate signed on.

The Employee Free Choice Act would:

• Allow employees to freely choose whether to form unions by signing cards authorizing representation;
• Provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes; and
•  Establish stronger penalties for violations of employee rights when workers seek to form unions and during first-contract negotiations.

The summit comes after a summer in which AFL-CIO national unions finalized plans to put at least an additional $150 million a year into staffing, research and support for workers’ efforts to organize.

Summit participants will focus on successful grassroots organizing techniques and innovative campaign strategies that have enabled workers to join unions despite the anti-union decisions of the Republican-dominated National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

They will share best practices from such successful organizing campaigns as CWA’s efforts at Cingular Wireless and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee’s (FLOC) outreach among migrant farm workers in North Carolina. Both efforts mobilize resources from the community and other unions to urge employers to respect workers’ choice to form a union.

In the most important private-sector campaign in five years, nearly 18,000 former AT&T Wireless workers have joined CWA through the majority verification process, in which the employer agrees to recognize the union after a majority of workers indicate their desire for a union by signing union authorization cards. More than 75 percent of the former AT&T employees have signed up for CWA representation since the workers began organizing in 2005. Overall, nearly 90 percent of Cingular’s employees, or nearly 40,000 workers, have gained union representation.

In fact, the process has worked so well at Cingular Wireless, the company has filed a brief with the NLRB supporting majority verification.

FLOC signed an agreement with growers giving union rights to nearly 10,000 migrant workers. The 2004 pact came after a six-year campaign that centered on a national boycott of Mt. Olive Pickle Co., the nation’s second-largest pickle company. As part of the agreement, FLOC ended the boycott, which had attracted national support from religious groups, unions and community groups. The groups persuaded several supermarket chains and stores to drop Mt. Olive pickles until workers received better treatment.

Union leaders also will underscore the power of global solidarity. For example, Australian coal miners have joined the campaign by workers to form a union with the Mine Workers (UMWA) at Peabody Energy, the nation’s largest coal operator. The company only operates in three countries—the United States, China and Australia. Peabody workers also are using their political power to support their efforts.

Organizers interested in signing up for the summit should contact their union’s organizing department.
 
 

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