Special Update: The Split in the Labor Movement
Resolving Differences, Moving Forward
As reported in the September/October Public Employee, organized labor underwent a split this past summer. Four unions pulled out of the AFL-CIO to form the so-called Change to Win (CtW) coalition. Since then, the coalition held a founding convention and formed a separate federation. It is composed of seven unions: Carpenters, Laborers, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Teamsters, UNITE HERE, United Farm Workers, and the United Food and Commercial Workers.
AFSCME was, and remains, disappointed by the divisive action of the "breakaway" unions. America's workers are stronger when their unions work together in solidarity. This split has been a major distraction from the vital business of protecting working families, especially now, when public services are on the chopping block.
While the breakaway organizations were parting company with the AFL-CIO, SEIU was conducting raids on dozens of bargaining units of the United Domestic Workers of America (UDW)-NUHHCE, one of our California affiliates. Our members stood firm, rebuffed those raids and forced SEIU to back down.
Our goal was and still is a unified labor movement. In the absence of unity, however, we have pushed for cooperation with the split unions.
TWO-PARTY COOPERATION. In the past few months, three avenues of cooperation have emerged, with AFSCME taking the lead in creating two of them:
First, at our instigation, we and SEIU have reached an important agreement prohibiting raids by either union on the other's members. That puts an end to SEIU's attempts to raid our UDW members and prevents such actions in the future. The accord, which runs for two years and is national in scope, has three other significant components: the establishment of a committee that will look at jurisdictional issues; and the formation of two organizing partnerships — one for home care in California, and one for child care there and in Pennsylvania.
"This agreement is a victory for the millions of workers who want a union but don't have one," said President McEntee after concluding the pact. "Now we can focus on the real task of organizing workers."
Second, AFSCME has enlisted SEIU's support in combating the Bush administration's disastrous federal-budget policies. We have formed a new coalition — the Emergency Campaign for America's Priorities — to spearhead this effort. ECAP is working to prevent the President and his congressional allies from gutting — under the guise of funding hurricane relief and rebuilding efforts — Medicaid, Food Stamps, and other federal programs vital to working families and the poor.
"The right wing in Congress has turned a category 4 hurricane into a category 5 assault on America's families and the services they depend on most," declares McEntee.
CHARTER RIGHTS. Third, to preserve day-to-day coordination between the CtW and AFL-CIO unions, at the local level, the AFL-CIO has created Solidarity Charters. They maintain a practical working link between that organization and the unions that left the federation. These charters allow locals of the breakaway unions to join AFL-CIO State Federations and Central Labor Councils with full voting and participation rights.
The group of unions that split from the AFL-CIO has agreed with the principle of sharing — at the national level — the costs of supporting the valuable work done by the federations and councils. (At press time, a mutually acceptable method of payment remains to be negotiated.)
All is still not calm within labor's ranks: As problems with SEIU were being resolved, a new threat to AFSCME arose — in the form of raids by the Teamsters in Illinois and elsewhere. We will be working to get no-raid agreements with the Teamsters, UFCW and UNITE HERE. Overall, however, the developments since the AFL-CIO Convention and the split that followed have been positive. They buttress organized labor's drive to blunt the efforts of anti-worker, anti-union, anti-government forces. That is the continuing mission for everyone and every organization that's willing to fight for economic and social justice in American life.
