{"id":1502577,"date":"2024-02-16T06:55:38","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T06:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/?p=313634"},"modified":"2024-02-16T06:55:38","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T06:55:38","slug":"the-afl-cio-can-be-reformed-locally-and-from-the-bottom-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/02\/16\/the-afl-cio-can-be-reformed-locally-and-from-the-bottom-up\/","title":{"rendered":"The AFL-CIO can be Reformed, Locally and from the Bottom-Up!"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>\n
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AFL-CIO-seal – Fair Use<\/p><\/div>\n

Changing the leadership, structure, or functioning of any U.S. labor\u00a0\u00a0organization is no easy task. Activists and experts have long argued about whether dysfunctional unions are best reformed from the top-down, bottom up, or some mix of the two approaches.<\/p>\n

For the past 65 years, the main locus of union democracy and reform struggles in the U.S. has been local unions, which hold leadership elections every three years and are closest to the membership. Thousands of rank-and-file workers have campaigned for more militant unionism by running for and winning local office.<\/p>\n

Some have had the backing of national networks of like-minded dissidents, including Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) and Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), a TDU-inspired reform caucus within the United Auto Workers. And, in recent years, TDU and UAWD supporters even ousted national headquarters officials in Washington and Detroit, with the result being more effective contract campaigning and\/or strike activity at major employers in the trucking and auto industries.<\/p>\n

Very few modern-day reformers have mounted similar challenges to the status quo in city or state labor federations chartered by the national AFL-CIO. Representing workers from different AFL-CIO affiliates, these central labor councils (CLCs) may be just as bureaucratic or dysfunctional as the individual unions that belong to them.\u00a0\u00a0But, structurally, most are too far removed from workplace struggles to generate many electoral challenges to incumbent AFL-CIO officials, at the local, regional, or state level.<\/p>\n

As a result, there have been few contested elections, like in the Teamsters and UAW,\u00a0with opposing slates offering alternative programs for union revival. In AFL-CIO leadership votes, officers and executive board members are chosen by convention or council delegates,\u00a0the same method used by most national unions.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0The rank-and-file has little or no say about who runs AFL-CIO bodies.<\/p>\n

A Rare Labor Insurgency<\/strong><\/p>\n

One notable exception is the Vermont Labor Council, which represents 20,000 public and private sector workers. In the Green Mountain State, due its small scale, most state AFL-CIO convention delegates are working members or retirees, not full-time officials. Since 2019, they have cast ballots in several hotly contested elections which resulted in a mandate for change.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Most recently, last September, they elected an all-female leadership team to three top officer positions and made\u00a0Katie Maurice<\/a>\u00a0the youngest state AFL-CIO president in the country and the only one who belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).<\/p>\n

Maurice took over last fall from\u00a0David Van Deusen, a fellow member of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).\u00a0\u00a0In a new book from PM Press called\u00a0Insurgent Labor<\/a>, Van Deusen describes how\u00a0a group of local union officers and staff members\u00a0created a reform faction called \u201cVermont AFL-CIO United!\u201d five years ago.\u00a0These rank-and-file activists were frustrated by their labor council\u2019s lack of militancy and creativity, plus its inability to aid new organizing, contract campaigns, or strikes.<\/p>\n

Fourteen United candidates got elected in 2019\u2014taking all the top officer jobs, forming a majority on the executive board, and winning a national AF-CIO-ordered re-run of the original election. Their goal was to revitalize a moribund organization through membership education, mobilization, and direct action. They favored greater\u00a0internal democracy and transparency, independent political action and more labor support for social and environmental justice.<\/p>\n

But, inside and outside Vermont, that progressive agenda proved to be surprisingly controversial. Rather than welcoming and applauding the election results, the national AFL-CIO \u2014then headed by the late Richard Trumka\u2014threatened to remove the reformers from office and put their council under the control of appointed staff members from Washington.<\/p>\n

As Van Deusen recounts in his book, this\u00a0trusteeship<\/a>\u00a0was averted and union activists in Vermont have continued to make their state labor council a model for the rest of the nation. Last Fall,\u00a0a second United! slate again won a majority of the seats on the labor council executive board. Van Deusen\u2019s successor, 31-year old Katie Maurice hailed the results as an \u201caffirmation of our desire to continue to focus on rank-and-file organizing within the state of Vermont over political lobbying.\u201d<\/p>\n

New organizing, plus a major affiliation with the long independent Vermont State Employees Association, has nearly doubled the state fed\u2019s dues-paying membership since 2019 (although the VSEA did not support the United! candidates last fall and instead backed the building trades slate that lost).<\/p>\n

A Record of Accomplishment<\/strong><\/p>\n

What else have Vermonters accomplished in the last four years– in addition to fending off a hostile take-over from Inside-the-Beltway? As Van Deusen reports in\u00a0Insurgent Labor<\/em>, state labor council meetings\u00a0were opened up to all union members, not just elected delegates, and began to attract their largest turnouts ever.<\/p>\n

The reformers worked with building trades unions to pass so-called \u201cresponsible contractor ordinances\u201d that require prevailing wages on major public construction projects in multiple Vermont cities and towns.<\/p>\n

Vermont became the first state labor federation in the region involved in the \u201cRenew New England Alliance.\u201d This six-state \u201cGreen New Deal\u201d coalition is campaigning for the creation of thousands of good union jobs\u2014for workers building affordable housing, installing rooftop solar panels, cleaning up pollution, and slashing the carbon emissions responsible for climate change.<\/p>\n

The new leadership\u2019s savvy use of social media, radio shows, and local TV appearances enabled organized labor to reach a bigger non-labor audience\u2014and build stronger relationships with community allies. Within the broader Vermont labor movement, Van Deusen aided rank-and-filers in non-AFL-CIO unions during their fight against a public employee pension cut favored by Republican governor Phil Scott and leaders of the Democrat-controlled state legislature. Labor council organizers used Vermont\u2019s annual May Day rally in Montpelier to build support for the state\u2019s immigrant workers, who are mainly Latinos employed on dairy farms.<\/p>\n

The new and improved state AFL-CIO has given Vermont Democrats a much-needed dope slap by endorsing more third-party candidates for state and local office. As Maurice explains,\u00a0\u201csince 2019, we have strengthened our ties with\u00a0the Vermont Progressive Party<\/a>, which has not only focused on workers\u2019 rights but also championed broader social justice causes, in a political landscape often dominated by powerful corporate interests. \u201c<\/p>\n

According to Maurice, \u201cThe VPP\u2019s role as a party for the working class is not just about rhetoric; it’s about tangible actions. It’s about supporting legislation like the VT PRO Act that would protect the right to organize, about standing up against union-busting tactics, and ensuring that union members have a seat at the policy-making table in Montpelier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Misconduct or Model Behavior?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before his death in August, 2021, Rich Trumka had an opportunity to support an exemplary CLC initiative, calling attention to the still looming threat of fascism in the U.S. In anticipation of then-President Trump\u2019s likely rejection of the 2020 election results, Vermont labor council delegates issued a bold call for \u201ca general strike of all working people in our state\u201d if there was a right-wing coup aimed at keeping Trump in office.<\/p>\n

AFL-CIO headquarters tried to block any discussion of such a contingency plan in response to a possible constitutional crisis (of the sort which did occur, shortly thereafter, on January 6, 2021). After Vermont labor leaders debated the subject anyway, Trumka ordered an official probe of their alleged non-compliance with national AFL-CIO rules applying to local affiliates.<\/p>\n

In response, then state fed president Van Deusen urged AFL-CIO headquarters to investigate \u201chow the example we are setting in the Green Mountain State could serve as a model for what a more engaged, more member-driven, more democratic, more anti-racist, more pro-immigrant and more organizing centered labor movement\u2026could actually look like in other parts of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

As readers of\u00a0Insurgent Labor<\/em>\u00a0will discover, this tug-of-war had a happy ending, temporarily. Vermont labor reformers got a \u201cfinal warning\u201d from Trumka shortly before his death, but none were removed and replaced by appointees from Washington, D.C. Under Trumka\u2019s successor, Liz Shuler, an organizing subsidy was resumed and relations with the national AFL-CIO took a welcome turn for the better–until late January.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In a Jan. 22 letter, President Schuler informed the council\u2019s new officers and e-board that she was investigating last Fall\u2019s \u201celection process\u201d based on a \u201cprotest appeal\u201d filed by an affiliated union. She also directed them to \u201crefrain from any discussion of the investigation\u2026with the general public or entities and individuals not affiliated with the Labor Council.\u201d<\/p>\n

This attempted gag order is directed at United! supporters who have, in past internal disputes, tried to enlist allies on the AFL-CIO national executive board or keep\u00a0labor media outlets<\/a>\u00a0informed about interference from Washington. Their impressive record of internal democracy and worker engagement should be a source of inspiration for trade unionists elsewhere, not further headquarters harassment and meddling.<\/p>\n

Yet this new controversy does help amplify\u00a0Insurgent Labor\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0bottom line message: the ability to make real change rests in the hands of grassroots activists. To meet the challenges facing Vermont workers, Van Deusen and his reform caucus built on the best of organized labor, at the local and state level. They didn\u2019t wait for top-down solutions or instructions from the national AFL-CIO, which has, consistently, been no friend of bottom up change in Vermont.<\/p>\n

The post The AFL-CIO can be Reformed, Locally and from the Bottom-Up!<\/a> appeared first on CounterPunch.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on CounterPunch.org<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Changing the leadership, structure, or functioning of any U.S. labor\u00a0\u00a0organization is no easy task. Activists and experts have long argued about whether dysfunctional unions are best reformed from the top-down, bottom up, or some mix of the two approaches. For the past 65 years, the main locus of union democracy and reform struggles in the More<\/a><\/p>\n

The post The AFL-CIO can be Reformed, Locally and from the Bottom-Up!<\/a> appeared first on CounterPunch.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2555,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1502577"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2555"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1502577"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1502577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1505206,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1502577\/revisions\/1505206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1502577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1502577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1502577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}