Organizing for the Future

by Seth Michaels, Sep 14, 2009

Today’s theme at the 2009 AFL-CIO Convention is “Organizing for Our Future,” and the effort to build worker power and improve workers’ lives through organizing is at the heart of everything that unions do.

This morning, top union leaders presented a report on the state of organizing in America, and workers who are fighting the difficult battle for a voice on the job testified about their struggles. And at noon today, the convention passed a strong resolution in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said that over the past decade and a half, unions have made great strides in the capacity to organize, against vicious opposition from corporate interests and the politicians they fund. We’ve introduced the Employee Free Choice Act and elected new members of Congress who support it and a president who will sign it into law. Said Sweeney:

Brothers and sisters, everything we do—electing leaders, passing legislation, fighting in every field for economic and social justice—rests on our ability to organize.

Sweeney said we’re closer than ever to passing the Employee Free Choice Act, which six years ago seemed impossible—but that labor law reform isn’t going to be the end of the effort to organize: It’s the beginning. Sweeney noted that through training organizers, strategic research and engaging community allies, the AFL-CIO is laying the groundwork to help millions of workers get a voice on the job.

Five workers spoke about why organizing would make a real difference in their lives and why the Employee Free Choice Act is critical. They included Shawn Williams, a Pittsburgh transportation security officer who joined AFGE after a struggle for  bargaining rights on the job, and Xiaohong Colluci, an Atlantic City casino dealer who joined the UAW two years ago but still hasn’t gotten a first contract. Angel Rangel, an air-conditioning installer, described how he was assaulted by developers for joining the Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) and picketing for safe working conditions. Debbie Kaliff, a Rite Aid warehouse worker, discussed the vicious anti-union campaign she endured while trying to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), and Billie Jean Huggins, a Missouri home health care worker, talked about joining AFSCME to bargain for fair pay and better working conditions.

All of these workers came with a message and a challenge for the union movement: We are not going to stop fighting—but we can’t win without your help. As Kaliff said:

Your solidarity and support are making a huge impact. The company is feeling the heat. My co-workers and I are determined to keep fighting until we win a fair and just contract.

And when that day comes, it will be a victory not just for us, and not just for the ILWU, but for the entire labor movement.

Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen noted that we’ve gathered more than 1.5 million signatures in support of the Employee Free Choice Act and asked convention attendees to call and write their senators to demand swift passage of this critical bill to restore workers’ freedom to form a union and bargain. Cohen said union members and allies are mobilized and ready to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and give workers across the country the power to organize and build a better life. Delegates and union officers took five minutes during the convention to call and write their lawmakers.

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