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The President is at Johnson Controls in Holland, Michigan today, touring a high-tech battery production plant. It’s the kind of project that has engendered a revitalization in Michigan in manufacturing, where jobs with a living wage are popping up, jobs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as promote economic expansion.
One of the other bright spots for the economy in recent weeks has been a spate of labor victories, in blue-collar and white-collar professions. From organizing writers in cable television at the WGA East to warehouse workers at an Ikea plant in Virginia, to sales clerks at H&M stores in New York, to the solidarity in walkouts at Hyatt in Chicago and Verizon wireline workers throughout the Northeast, there is a small labor revival going on. And with new NLRB rules on union elections, which will hopefully reduce intimidation and speed the election process, we could see more victories in the future.
This is positive not only from a political context, but it has clear economic benefits. Inequality clearly spikes when union density is lower, and wages suffer as well. So while I’m not sure you’ll ever see union density in America at the levels of the 1950s and 1960s, any improvement on this front is positive. Especially during a time when workers have suffered attacks on their right to organize.
Perhaps the best example of this is the odyssey at Honeywell, which ended after a 13-month lockout.
After being locked out of their jobs for the last thirteen months, United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7-699, which represents 228 workers at Honeywell’s uranium enrichment facility in Metropolis, Illinois, agreed to a three-year contract that would return them to work. The contract was ratified by a vote of 113-75 last week.
The new agreement resists all the major issues that Honeywell sought to include such as increasing health care cost for current workers and eliminating health care for retirees. Workers will receive a one percent wage increase in the first year of the contract and a two percent increase in the second year.
However the contract does switch new hires to a different type of pension system, known as a shared equity pension, which will likely over the long run earn new hires significantly less than the defined pension currently enjoyed by union workers. Also, the new contract changes seniority for workers bidding for jobs in other departments, but does not change the way the seniority system functions during layoffs [...]
After a day-long debate and vote at the union hall on August 2, USW Local 7-669 President Darrell Lillie said the membership approved the agreement, including a separate back-to-work provision. He declared: “We fought one day longer on all the core issues and won them to our satisfaction. All of us who were locked out by Honeywell in June of last year who want to go back to work are doing so with union pride, a union contract and union solidarity.”
Honeywell wanted to bust this union. They didn’t want it to exist anymore. Through perseverance and persistence, these labor activists didn’t get everything they wanted, but they stuck together and kept the union alive. They should be commended for doing their part to ensure the American dream for all citizens.
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From labor activist Amy Dean, a discussion on the coalition that forged the uphill victories in the recall election. Yesterday Jane cited an article (can’t remember the author’s name) that talked about how up until the 70s organized labor was a crucial force behind progressive change. The author doubted labor could return to this role, but maybe it could in a somewhat different way.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/08/11-5
Under the umbrella of an impressive political action committee called We Are Wisconsin (WAW), a coalition of unions, community groups, and outraged citizens in the state have joined together to undertake voter education, grassroots lobbying, and media advocacy activities. While Progressives are often fractured, this organization has demonstrated an admirable degree of coordination among varied groups.
We Are Wisconsinis also innovative because of its independence from the Democratic Party. Labor and its allies have built a field operation functioning outside of party structures. They have raised money independently, tying funds first and foremost to progressive values, not to individual candidates. They have done so with a mission not solely of supporting any candidates who put a “D” next to their names, but rather of promoting an agenda that stands up for civil rights, essential public services, and the ability for people to have a voice in their workplaces. Short of nominating candidates on their own ballot line, they have operated very much like a separate party in their campaign around the state senate recalls.
The question for We Are Wisconsin now that the recall elections are over is where to go from here. Thus far, the coalition has primarily—and necessarily—waged defensive fights, battles around the state budget and around ousting conservative senators who aided Governor Scott Walker’s power grab. But now they have an opportunity to build in a more proactive way.
Their challenge is taking the impressive work they’ve done so far in building community-labor alliances and making sure it does not fall apart now that the polls are closed. Their challenge is to become more than just a conventional electioneering operation and instead, looking to the future, create a real organizing program on the ground.
Over the past several months, the focus of We Are Wisconsin has understandably been the recall election. But already they have planted seeds of what should be a strong, ongoing organization. They have gone door to door and talked with countless Wisconsinites. They have asked neighbors to vote but also to get engaged in opposing the assault on workers’ rights and defending the middle class. If done right, the energies of Election Day can be channeled into an organizing program that will continue to advocate for working people in the state. There will be a loud voice helping to ensure that politicians “do the right thing” once in office.
During the 50′s and 60′s, when people got paid a fair wage it was not necessary for both parents to work full time and more. Think about the effect on society that lack of parental supervision has, and consider if fair wages are worth more than obscene rich management, with the rest of society steady going downhill. People without jobs do not support the economy very well. The difference in wealth between classes has never been higher than now and look at our economy–something is not right.
Thanks for the shout-out Dave! We’re glad to be part of this story. Good news for progressives for a change.
I also think these wins speak to the increased investment in organizing and communications that unions have been doing for the past several years. It makes a difference.