How to Restore the Power of Unions?

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6594/how_to_restore_the_power_of_unions/

Thursday 28 Oct 10 11:51 am

By Joe Burns

Julius Getman's latest book offers a compelling answer


On Oct. 16, hotel workers at the Chicago Hilton protested the chain's efforts to lock workers into the recession. They followed the examples of the world’s largest Hiltons in Honolulu and San Francisco, where workers led strikes earlier that week. (Photo from UniteHere.org)


In the early 1990s, trade unionists in the United States abandoned the strike as a central component of trade union strategy. In its place, unionists and academic supporters focused on organizing the unorganized, one-day strikes and community campaigns. Yet on the main concern of the traditional labor movement—how to extract concessions from employers through collective bargaining—there has been virtual silence.

University of Texas Law Professor Julius Getman stands out as a rare exception to this trend. For several decades, Getman has urged the labor movement to focus on the fundamentals of trade union power. Getman’s 1998 book, The Betrayal of Local 14, chronicled the heartbreaking International Paper strike of the early 1990s, making a strong plea for banning the permanent replacement of striking workers.

Fortunately for labor activists, Getman has written another about book about labor: Restoring the Power of Unions: It Takes a Movement (Yale University Press). The first half of Restoring the Power of Unions focuses on the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE). Getman believes HERE’s member-centered unionism can serve as an example for the entire labor movement. The second half of the book provides insightful analysis on all-too-often ignored topics of trade union strategy, the shortfalls of the organizing approach and the need for labor law reform.

But throughout the book, Getman constantly directs the labor movement back to its true source of power: a mobilized rank and file.

Getman chose to focus on HERE because he believes that this union, “more than any other union, has focused not only on organizing and bargaining but also on creating a spirit of movement.” With hotel workers currently engaged in a high-profile, strategic battle against national hotel chains, Getman’s analysis is certainly timely.


FULL story at link.

[Dinger]

1. KRB, Kicked, Rec'd, Bookmarked

and I'll share it too.:)

[xchrom]

2. 'a mobilized rank and file' -- recommend. nt

[alc]

3. question on strike fund

I remember an article a couple months ago claiming union leaders can take a percent of unused strike funds for their use. Is that true? That seems to me like an incentive to not strike even if it's in the members' best interest. That, along with moves like telling members to go back and vote again "until they get it right", looks like what some unions need is new leadership.

[Omaha Steve]

4. It would depend on the individual unions bylaws

In the unions I have been in or worked with, I never heard of strike funds being authorized for a slush fund.