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An Open Letter From Unionized Staff About Why Workers United Is Good For Our Movement
We would like to set the record straight about why we support workers’ decision to leave UNITE HERE and form Workers United.
Quisiéramos aclarar algunas cosas sobre por qué apoyamos la decisión de los trabajadores de irse de UNITE HERE y formar el sindicato de Trabajadores Unidos.
Quisiéramos aclarar algunas cosas sobre por qué apoyamos la decisión de los trabajadores de irse de UNITE HERE y formar el sindicato de Trabajadores Unidos.
AN OPEN LETTER FROM UNIONIZED STAFF ABOUT WHY WORKERS UNITED IS GOOD FOR OUR MOVEMENT
Brothers and Sisters,
We would like to set the record straight about why we support workers’ decision to leave UNITE HERE and form Workers United. This fight is not about getting more power for Andy Stern or showing our idolatry for Bruce Raynor. This struggle is about creating a worker-driven labor movement and helping workers build a union that works for them.
We are asking for your support because that’s what we are doing with Workers United. More than 80,000 workers democratically voted—mostly by signing a petition or in secret ballot elections—to disaffiliate from UNITE HERE and form this new union. Since that time, Newark Public School District Cafeteria Workers have had their first union election in more than 25 years. Hartmarx employees in Illinois have gained national support to keep their jobs. Airport workers in Phoenix are winning grievances and rebuilding their local after years of atrophy. Thousands of members in California laundries are fighting for a living wage and adequate healthcare. It is condescending to call these worker-led victories “raids.” Workers are the union and can make decisions for themselves.
After years of working at UNITE HERE, it is exciting to see this new level of worker participation and leadership. In too many locals, UNITE HERE denies members’ right to meaningfully participate in their union. Shop stewards and officers are appointed by staff, not elected by workers. Members don’t vote for their bargaining committees or even get a chance to approve bargaining proposals. Union staffers masquerade as rank-and-filers at conventions. Staff—not workers—decides when “the time is right” for workers to organize.
Just as there was little democracy in many locals, there was little cooperation between UNITE and HERE. For example, workers at Cintas have been fighting for six years to form a union, but tens-of-thousands of union hotel workers continue to wear Cintas uniforms every day. A program ran by the Cintas campaign to get Cintas out of the union hotels got little buy-in and no follow up from hotel locals. In contrast, unions like the National Association of Letter Carriers have been insistent that their uniforms be union made.
Some people are misinformed on UNITE HERE’s position for EFCA, saying “Workers United should spend more time fighting for EFCA”, when the truth is that John Wilhelm and his staff do not support EFCA. They believe in spending great amounts of time and resources building a strong committee to overcome the one-side NLRB elections. We say workers need a strong committee and the right to organize at the same time – what they don’t need is a company-sided election. It has been part of the reasons we say there are different philosophies in these two organizations.
You can read about Willhelm’s lack of support for EFCA in his own words here: http://www.politico.com/pdf/PPM106_wilhelm_memo_2_3.pdf
Finally, it has been frustrating to see our brothers and sisters in the labor movement attack Workers United at the request of and using misinformation provided by UNITE HERE.Their calculating strategy should be particularly insulting to SEIU, because while UNITE HERE targeted SEIU staff to sow dissent over the Workers United affiliation, they simultaneously planned how to best disrupt SEIU’s organizing campaigns, causing real harm to workers and the union’s livelihood.
You can find the details of UNITE HERE’s strategy to manipulate SEIU and plant stories in the media against Workers United outlined in their own memos here: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM116_plan.html
In solidarity,
María Escobar
Yadhira Alvarez-Vazquez
Aimee Jennings
Sandra Mendoza
Hugo Camacho
Juan Flores
Analilia Mejia
Iris Packman
Laura Moran
Marc Climaco
Malu Rivellese
Matthew Painter
Brian Callaci
Nell Geiser
Zachary Lutz
Brian Morse
Patrick Cranston
Joan Moriarty
Catherine Adams
Federico Neira
Paula Clark
CARTA ABIERTA DEL PERSONAL DE EMPLEADOS SINDICALIZADOS SOBRE POR QUÉ TRABAJADORES UNIDOS / WORKERS UNITED ES BENÉFICO PARA NUESTRO MOVIMIENTO LABORAL
Compañeros y compañeras:
Quisiéramos aclarar algunas cosas sobre por qué apoyamos la decisión de los trabajadores de irse de UNITE HERE y formar el sindicato de Trabajadores Unidos. No es una lucha para acumular más poder para Andy Stern, ni para mostrar nuestra fidelidad a Bruce Raynor. Es una lucha para crear un movimiento laboral conducido por la clase trabajadora y ayudar a los asalariados a construir una organización sindical que trabaje para ellos.
Eso es lo que estamos haciendo en Trabajadores Unidos y les pedimos su apoyo. Compañeros: más de 80 mil trabajadores votaron democráticamente —principalmente firmando peticiones o mediante votación secreta— por desafiliarse de UNITE HERE y formar esta nueva organización sindical. A partir de entonces, los trabajadores de cafeterías del Distrito de Escuelas Públicas de Newark, por primera vez en más de 25 años, ganaron su primera elección por tener organización sindical. Los empleados de Hartmarx en Illinois han ganado proyección y apoyo nacional para conservar sus trabajos. Los trabajadores aeroportuarios=2 0de Phoenix están ganando procesos de quejas y están reconstruyendo su sindicato local, luego de años y años de tenerlo atrofiado. Miles de afiliados sindicales en lavanderías de California están luchando por un sueldo digno y un seguro médico adecuado. Llamar “redadas” a todas estas victorias que los trabajadores han coordinado, es un acto paternalista. Los trabajadores son la unión sindical y pueden tomar decisiones por sí solos.
Luego de años de trabajar para UNITE HERE, es emocionante ver un nuevo nivel de participación obrera y liderazgo de base. Son demasiados los sindicatos locales en los que UNITE HERE les niega a sus bases sindicales el derecho de tener una participación significativa con su organización. Los delegados sindicales y los funcionarios son seleccionados por el personal, no por los trabajadores afiliados. Los afiliados no votan por quiénes van a representarlos en los comités de negociación, y ni siquiera tiene la oportunidad de aprobar las propuestas de contrato. Los empleados se disfrazan de afiliados sindicales en las convenciones. El personal de burócratas, no los trabajadores sin sindicato, deciden cuándo es “el momento correcto” para que tengan un sindicato.
Así como había muy poca democracia en muchos sindicatos locales, había muy poca cooperación entre UNITE y HERE. Por ejemplo: los trabajadores de Cintas han estado luchando durante 6 años para formar una organización sindical, pero decenas de miles de trabajadores hoteleros con unión sindical siguen usando los uniformes de Cintas diario. El programa conducido por nuestra campaña de Cintas para sacar a Cintas de los hoteles sindicalizados obtuvo muy poca voluntad de ser incorporado por los sindicatos locales que representan hoteles, y no le dieron ningún seguimiento. En cambio, sindicatos como la Asociación Nacional de Carteros han estado insistentemente pidiendo que sus uniformes sean hechos en sindicato.
Hay gente que está desinformada respecto a la postura de UNITE HERE sobre la ley EFCA, y que dice que “Trabajadores Unidos /Workers United debería usar su tiempo en luchar por EFCA”, cuando la verdad es que John Wilhelm y su personal de empleados no apoyan la ley EFCA. Ellos consideran que hay que gastar muchísimo tiempo y recursos para crear un comité fuerte que resista y gane las elecciones manipuladas proempresariales de la NLRB. Nosotros consideramos que los trabajadores necesitan un comité fuerte además del derecho a organizarse sindicalmente, todo al mismo tiempo: lo único que no necesitan son unas elecciones manejadas de tal manera para que gane el patrón.
Pueden leer la falta de apoyo de Wilhelm a EFCA en sus propias palabras si visitan este enlace: http://www.politico.com/pdf/PPM106_wilhelm_memo_2_3.pdf
Por último, ha sido frustrante para nosotros ver cómo nuestros compañeros y compañeras del movimiento laboral estadounidense atacan a Trabajadores Unidos a petición de UNITE HERE y utilizando sus materiales de desinformación estratégica. Sus tácticas para infiltrar calumnias deberían ser especialmente insultantes para el SEIU, pues además de que UNITE HERE se propuso hacer campaña de manipulación con los empleados de SEIU para que mostraran su desacuerdo a la afiliación de Trabajadores Unidos, planeó cómo perturbar las campañas de sindicalización de SEIU, causando un verdadero daño a los trabajadores y a la vida sindical. Ustedes pueden encontrar esa información sobre la estrategia de UNITE HERE para manipular al SEIU y sembrar calumnias infiltradas en los medios de comunicación contra Trabajadores Unidos en sus propias cartas: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM116_plan.html
Fraternalmente:
María Escobar
Yadhira Alvarez-Vazquez
Aimee Jennings
Sandra Mendoza
Hugo Camacho
Juan Flores
Analilia Mejia
Iris Packman
Laura Moran
Marc Climaco
Malu Rivellese
Matthew Painter
Brian Callaci
Nell Geiser
Zachary Lutz
Brian Morse
Patrick Cranston
Joan Moriarty
Catherine Adams
Federico Neira
Paula Clark
Brothers and Sisters,
We would like to set the record straight about why we support workers’ decision to leave UNITE HERE and form Workers United. This fight is not about getting more power for Andy Stern or showing our idolatry for Bruce Raynor. This struggle is about creating a worker-driven labor movement and helping workers build a union that works for them.
We are asking for your support because that’s what we are doing with Workers United. More than 80,000 workers democratically voted—mostly by signing a petition or in secret ballot elections—to disaffiliate from UNITE HERE and form this new union. Since that time, Newark Public School District Cafeteria Workers have had their first union election in more than 25 years. Hartmarx employees in Illinois have gained national support to keep their jobs. Airport workers in Phoenix are winning grievances and rebuilding their local after years of atrophy. Thousands of members in California laundries are fighting for a living wage and adequate healthcare. It is condescending to call these worker-led victories “raids.” Workers are the union and can make decisions for themselves.
After years of working at UNITE HERE, it is exciting to see this new level of worker participation and leadership. In too many locals, UNITE HERE denies members’ right to meaningfully participate in their union. Shop stewards and officers are appointed by staff, not elected by workers. Members don’t vote for their bargaining committees or even get a chance to approve bargaining proposals. Union staffers masquerade as rank-and-filers at conventions. Staff—not workers—decides when “the time is right” for workers to organize.
Just as there was little democracy in many locals, there was little cooperation between UNITE and HERE. For example, workers at Cintas have been fighting for six years to form a union, but tens-of-thousands of union hotel workers continue to wear Cintas uniforms every day. A program ran by the Cintas campaign to get Cintas out of the union hotels got little buy-in and no follow up from hotel locals. In contrast, unions like the National Association of Letter Carriers have been insistent that their uniforms be union made.
Some people are misinformed on UNITE HERE’s position for EFCA, saying “Workers United should spend more time fighting for EFCA”, when the truth is that John Wilhelm and his staff do not support EFCA. They believe in spending great amounts of time and resources building a strong committee to overcome the one-side NLRB elections. We say workers need a strong committee and the right to organize at the same time – what they don’t need is a company-sided election. It has been part of the reasons we say there are different philosophies in these two organizations.
You can read about Willhelm’s lack of support for EFCA in his own words here: http://www.politico.com/pdf/PPM106_wilhelm_memo_2_3.pdf
Finally, it has been frustrating to see our brothers and sisters in the labor movement attack Workers United at the request of and using misinformation provided by UNITE HERE.Their calculating strategy should be particularly insulting to SEIU, because while UNITE HERE targeted SEIU staff to sow dissent over the Workers United affiliation, they simultaneously planned how to best disrupt SEIU’s organizing campaigns, causing real harm to workers and the union’s livelihood.
You can find the details of UNITE HERE’s strategy to manipulate SEIU and plant stories in the media against Workers United outlined in their own memos here: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM116_plan.html
In solidarity,
María Escobar
Yadhira Alvarez-Vazquez
Aimee Jennings
Sandra Mendoza
Hugo Camacho
Juan Flores
Analilia Mejia
Iris Packman
Laura Moran
Marc Climaco
Malu Rivellese
Matthew Painter
Brian Callaci
Nell Geiser
Zachary Lutz
Brian Morse
Patrick Cranston
Joan Moriarty
Catherine Adams
Federico Neira
Paula Clark
CARTA ABIERTA DEL PERSONAL DE EMPLEADOS SINDICALIZADOS SOBRE POR QUÉ TRABAJADORES UNIDOS / WORKERS UNITED ES BENÉFICO PARA NUESTRO MOVIMIENTO LABORAL
Compañeros y compañeras:
Quisiéramos aclarar algunas cosas sobre por qué apoyamos la decisión de los trabajadores de irse de UNITE HERE y formar el sindicato de Trabajadores Unidos. No es una lucha para acumular más poder para Andy Stern, ni para mostrar nuestra fidelidad a Bruce Raynor. Es una lucha para crear un movimiento laboral conducido por la clase trabajadora y ayudar a los asalariados a construir una organización sindical que trabaje para ellos.
Eso es lo que estamos haciendo en Trabajadores Unidos y les pedimos su apoyo. Compañeros: más de 80 mil trabajadores votaron democráticamente —principalmente firmando peticiones o mediante votación secreta— por desafiliarse de UNITE HERE y formar esta nueva organización sindical. A partir de entonces, los trabajadores de cafeterías del Distrito de Escuelas Públicas de Newark, por primera vez en más de 25 años, ganaron su primera elección por tener organización sindical. Los empleados de Hartmarx en Illinois han ganado proyección y apoyo nacional para conservar sus trabajos. Los trabajadores aeroportuarios=2 0de Phoenix están ganando procesos de quejas y están reconstruyendo su sindicato local, luego de años y años de tenerlo atrofiado. Miles de afiliados sindicales en lavanderías de California están luchando por un sueldo digno y un seguro médico adecuado. Llamar “redadas” a todas estas victorias que los trabajadores han coordinado, es un acto paternalista. Los trabajadores son la unión sindical y pueden tomar decisiones por sí solos.
Luego de años de trabajar para UNITE HERE, es emocionante ver un nuevo nivel de participación obrera y liderazgo de base. Son demasiados los sindicatos locales en los que UNITE HERE les niega a sus bases sindicales el derecho de tener una participación significativa con su organización. Los delegados sindicales y los funcionarios son seleccionados por el personal, no por los trabajadores afiliados. Los afiliados no votan por quiénes van a representarlos en los comités de negociación, y ni siquiera tiene la oportunidad de aprobar las propuestas de contrato. Los empleados se disfrazan de afiliados sindicales en las convenciones. El personal de burócratas, no los trabajadores sin sindicato, deciden cuándo es “el momento correcto” para que tengan un sindicato.
Así como había muy poca democracia en muchos sindicatos locales, había muy poca cooperación entre UNITE y HERE. Por ejemplo: los trabajadores de Cintas han estado luchando durante 6 años para formar una organización sindical, pero decenas de miles de trabajadores hoteleros con unión sindical siguen usando los uniformes de Cintas diario. El programa conducido por nuestra campaña de Cintas para sacar a Cintas de los hoteles sindicalizados obtuvo muy poca voluntad de ser incorporado por los sindicatos locales que representan hoteles, y no le dieron ningún seguimiento. En cambio, sindicatos como la Asociación Nacional de Carteros han estado insistentemente pidiendo que sus uniformes sean hechos en sindicato.
Hay gente que está desinformada respecto a la postura de UNITE HERE sobre la ley EFCA, y que dice que “Trabajadores Unidos /Workers United debería usar su tiempo en luchar por EFCA”, cuando la verdad es que John Wilhelm y su personal de empleados no apoyan la ley EFCA. Ellos consideran que hay que gastar muchísimo tiempo y recursos para crear un comité fuerte que resista y gane las elecciones manipuladas proempresariales de la NLRB. Nosotros consideramos que los trabajadores necesitan un comité fuerte además del derecho a organizarse sindicalmente, todo al mismo tiempo: lo único que no necesitan son unas elecciones manejadas de tal manera para que gane el patrón.
Pueden leer la falta de apoyo de Wilhelm a EFCA en sus propias palabras si visitan este enlace: http://www.politico.com/pdf/PPM106_wilhelm_memo_2_3.pdf
Por último, ha sido frustrante para nosotros ver cómo nuestros compañeros y compañeras del movimiento laboral estadounidense atacan a Trabajadores Unidos a petición de UNITE HERE y utilizando sus materiales de desinformación estratégica. Sus tácticas para infiltrar calumnias deberían ser especialmente insultantes para el SEIU, pues además de que UNITE HERE se propuso hacer campaña de manipulación con los empleados de SEIU para que mostraran su desacuerdo a la afiliación de Trabajadores Unidos, planeó cómo perturbar las campañas de sindicalización de SEIU, causando un verdadero daño a los trabajadores y a la vida sindical. Ustedes pueden encontrar esa información sobre la estrategia de UNITE HERE para manipular al SEIU y sembrar calumnias infiltradas en los medios de comunicación contra Trabajadores Unidos en sus propias cartas: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM116_plan.html
Fraternalmente:
María Escobar
Yadhira Alvarez-Vazquez
Aimee Jennings
Sandra Mendoza
Hugo Camacho
Juan Flores
Analilia Mejia
Iris Packman
Laura Moran
Marc Climaco
Malu Rivellese
Matthew Painter
Brian Callaci
Nell Geiser
Zachary Lutz
Brian Morse
Patrick Cranston
Joan Moriarty
Catherine Adams
Federico Neira
Paula Clark
Add Your Comments
Comments
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It's easy the record is that you sold your souls to Andy Stern and the purple people eaters. That's it, people don't really need to understand any more of your twisted attempts to justify such a sick move.
Workers United, yeah right...maybe you should rename the "union"...
WORKERS BOUGHT OUT...WORKERS SOLD OUT...
or WORKERS UN-ORGANIZING...
Workers United, yeah right...maybe you should rename the "union"...
WORKERS BOUGHT OUT...WORKERS SOLD OUT...
or WORKERS UN-ORGANIZING...
I know that there are problems with both unions in my experience and many other people's experiences, but SEIU was a hell of a lot worse that Unite Here(or HERE if you want to call it that).
You are unionized staff and not workers, and you could have done things to change the direction of the labor movement from within Unite Here. Instead you choose to try to manipulate workers further in order to hold on to the Amalgamated Bank, and hand it over to Andy Stern so that he can maintain even more control over the future of the labor movement. You are allowing one of the worst so called labor leaders of our generation to consolidate power in a way that doesn't benefit workers, but it does benefit all of you and Andy Stern and Co.
You claim that you are for EFCA so that workers can organize more effectively, but I know that I don't trust SEIU or Workers United and your intentions towards organized and unorganized workers. I am also pretty sure that many people in the labor movement and beyond share my fear of what you would do if you had card check. This is really unfortunate because I of all people would love to whole heartedly support EFCA, as I have been fired for organizing a union before and been involved in an election that lost because of the boss' campaign.
However, it is because of people like you and all the other little Andy Sterns running around that we are gonna lose EFCA, and our labor movement will be further divided because of a bunch of old school thugs that don't really have the best interest of workers at heart. Check out all the SEIU scabs in Fresno and the things that they have been saying to homecare workers or look in the mirror...
YOU MAY BE GREAT BOSSES, BUT YOU ARE HORRIBLE ORGANIZERS...
You are unionized staff and not workers, and you could have done things to change the direction of the labor movement from within Unite Here. Instead you choose to try to manipulate workers further in order to hold on to the Amalgamated Bank, and hand it over to Andy Stern so that he can maintain even more control over the future of the labor movement. You are allowing one of the worst so called labor leaders of our generation to consolidate power in a way that doesn't benefit workers, but it does benefit all of you and Andy Stern and Co.
You claim that you are for EFCA so that workers can organize more effectively, but I know that I don't trust SEIU or Workers United and your intentions towards organized and unorganized workers. I am also pretty sure that many people in the labor movement and beyond share my fear of what you would do if you had card check. This is really unfortunate because I of all people would love to whole heartedly support EFCA, as I have been fired for organizing a union before and been involved in an election that lost because of the boss' campaign.
However, it is because of people like you and all the other little Andy Sterns running around that we are gonna lose EFCA, and our labor movement will be further divided because of a bunch of old school thugs that don't really have the best interest of workers at heart. Check out all the SEIU scabs in Fresno and the things that they have been saying to homecare workers or look in the mirror...
YOU MAY BE GREAT BOSSES, BUT YOU ARE HORRIBLE ORGANIZERS...
I look at the whole unite here situation and think wtf? This statement gives me pause because it isn't from the bureaucrats or spokespeople, but from actual organizers. Unlike a lot of the stuff floating out there - they sound reasonable and thoughtful. I didn't know what to think before, but I'm beginning to realize that maybe the John Wilhelm cadre is everything that folks have been accusing them of being.
Dear Irlandeso:
We tried to make clear in the letter that this is not about Andy Stern. Our members—whom we serve—voted to leave UNITE HERE. They and we tried for years to work together with Wilhelm’s side, but that ended in December when the Wilhelm group voted to trustee several joint boards with leaderships perceived as disloyal to Wilhelm, and seize their assets, the accumulated savings of generations of garment workers.
This is not about Andy Stern , but about deep and fundamental differences in philosophy. I worked for two years in the same office with the Phoenix local controlled by Wilhelm’s Yale University loyalists. I watched organizers spend an entire year building a secretive “underground” committee at a hotel where the union already had a card check neutrality agreement. Those were workers who could have had a union contract, health insurance, and better wages, but were held back by organizers who insisted that the time was not yet “right” to organize. Even worse, in a bizarre practice that disturbed me and many others, those organizers wasted large amounts of time prying into the personal lives of workers instead of fighting for a good contract.
This is why I have chosen to join our members at Workers United.
Solidarity,
Brian Callaci
We tried to make clear in the letter that this is not about Andy Stern. Our members—whom we serve—voted to leave UNITE HERE. They and we tried for years to work together with Wilhelm’s side, but that ended in December when the Wilhelm group voted to trustee several joint boards with leaderships perceived as disloyal to Wilhelm, and seize their assets, the accumulated savings of generations of garment workers.
This is not about Andy Stern , but about deep and fundamental differences in philosophy. I worked for two years in the same office with the Phoenix local controlled by Wilhelm’s Yale University loyalists. I watched organizers spend an entire year building a secretive “underground” committee at a hotel where the union already had a card check neutrality agreement. Those were workers who could have had a union contract, health insurance, and better wages, but were held back by organizers who insisted that the time was not yet “right” to organize. Even worse, in a bizarre practice that disturbed me and many others, those organizers wasted large amounts of time prying into the personal lives of workers instead of fighting for a good contract.
This is why I have chosen to join our members at Workers United.
Solidarity,
Brian Callaci
Chuck,
It's clear that you are a NUHW partizan and probably do good work for Perez Stern when you can and do it based on your core beleifs. But let's stop the silliness here. UHW and UNITE HERE are not the same thing.
So you worked as a SALT at Berkeley Bowl and got shitcanned. Ok. If you look in your heart and your own experiences you will have to admit that not one HERE local had a meaningful staff union before the merger with UNITE (there are a couple of associations). When the merger happened, many former HERE locals responded by firing all their staff or other hardcore employer tactics. The kind of issues that UUR or CWA are bringing up at SEIU staff units are legitimate and important, but they should be under no illusion that UNITE HERE (and perhaps NUHW) would work to weaken or even eliminate a staff union if given the chance. Fight for what you believe but understand that others disagree and do so from a desire to build worker power, but with a different analysis than yours.
It's clear that you are a NUHW partizan and probably do good work for Perez Stern when you can and do it based on your core beleifs. But let's stop the silliness here. UHW and UNITE HERE are not the same thing.
So you worked as a SALT at Berkeley Bowl and got shitcanned. Ok. If you look in your heart and your own experiences you will have to admit that not one HERE local had a meaningful staff union before the merger with UNITE (there are a couple of associations). When the merger happened, many former HERE locals responded by firing all their staff or other hardcore employer tactics. The kind of issues that UUR or CWA are bringing up at SEIU staff units are legitimate and important, but they should be under no illusion that UNITE HERE (and perhaps NUHW) would work to weaken or even eliminate a staff union if given the chance. Fight for what you believe but understand that others disagree and do so from a desire to build worker power, but with a different analysis than yours.
as a staff union member, its important to point out that HERE is very strongly anti-staff union. i believe there was no staff union at any HERE locals or the IU pre-merger. during the merger, the HERE-side has viciously fought the union (not to say that the UNITE-side was nec. the staff union's friend but at least UNITE believed it should exist). i'm glad to hear what staff has to say, but in the end, this bitter fight isn't about staff but making sure that workers have strong unions. i hope both sides stop beating each other up and help workers soon.
Though I may favor NUHW that is not so much the issue.
The issue is that unions, staff included, are manipulating workers for their own benefit and trying to hide behind some sort of weird philosophy or school of thought bs. Ultimately I don't really think that SEIU, UNITE HERE, Workers United, or NUHW are the way for workers to really do what we need to do. I have seen all unions manipulate workers in similar ways and treat staff like they treat members. Which is to say that unions and their so called "leaders" often treat people as if they are objects only to be used to fit in to their various philosophies or schools of organizing(thought).
Yes I got a job at Berkeley Bowl because I wanted to help workers organize. You can call it salting if you want, but it was not done in a way that most people in the labor movement refer to salting in recent years. I wasn't paid by a union to work at Berkeley Bowl and organize their, as most people are who salt now a days. I don't regret much of what I was involved in at Berkeley Bowl. I wish that we would have organized with the IWW, but things might not be the same today for Berkeley Bowl workers if we had. Ultimately UFCW provided much needed legal support, the workers and organizing/bargaining committee was responsible for the contract their and the continued success at Berkeley Bowl. It wouldn't have been possible though without strong community support. UFCW local 120 allowed our organizing/bargaining committee to have a strong say in our struggle, but their comes a point where workers just need to organize independently with the help of the community because we can't always look to others for help. Mostly because things aren't done right by outsiders, they don't come from the same community and typically leave when immediate goals are accomplished, and unions should be built and controlled by the workers.
Yes, I understand that organizers are important in many ways, but our movement cannot be so reliant upon them. Our movement needs to be independent of so called leaders in the labor movement such as Wilhelm, Stern, Rosseli, Hanson, etc. We need true democracy on the local level, not some centralized control from staff or bureaucrats, however well meaning they may be. Now more than ever we need a labor movement where we are all leaders and all allowed to be involved in the decision making process. Not a system where leaders and staff control what workers vote on and who they get to elect or not elect based on their vote or lack thereof.
Nobody is perfect and I apologize for using such strong language, but I am sick and tired of seeing the same stuff done by both sides of this argument. I know I have made lots of mistakes over the years in my involvement with the labor movement, but I try to learn from those mistakes and grow. Paid organizers, staff, and bureaucrats should all know better than to recreate the mistakes of our history in the labor movement in this country. We all need to be honest with each other, and all the higher ups involved in all this bullshit need to grow up or step aside.
Workers in this country can not afford to be continually manipulated against each other, whether by the companies or the so called unions, and if the only way out is for them to throw both the old unions and the bosses off their back than so be it. If people think that worker power is built in any other way than from the ground up, in a truly democratic way. Than you are not only deceiving yourselves, but you are ultimately also weakening the labor movement and workers rights as a whole.
I struggle all the time with my involvement with various unions in the labor movement, and I know that we can't just stop struggling from within. However, people have been trying that since the 60s and 70s and those same people are only recreating the same mess that they were originally dedicated to getting us out of. I don't know the answer, but as someone very dear to my heart once said when speaking about well meaning bureaucrats...
"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!" - Mario Savio
and as one of the Haymarket Martyrs once said...
"The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today." - August Spies, Haymarket Martyr
------------
ps - I do not work on Perez Stern...its amusing and informative...but I think that it is also dehumanizing and I don't agree fully with the angle that they take...it is more for the amusement in some weird way of insiders than a tool for workers and union members...
The issue is that unions, staff included, are manipulating workers for their own benefit and trying to hide behind some sort of weird philosophy or school of thought bs. Ultimately I don't really think that SEIU, UNITE HERE, Workers United, or NUHW are the way for workers to really do what we need to do. I have seen all unions manipulate workers in similar ways and treat staff like they treat members. Which is to say that unions and their so called "leaders" often treat people as if they are objects only to be used to fit in to their various philosophies or schools of organizing(thought).
Yes I got a job at Berkeley Bowl because I wanted to help workers organize. You can call it salting if you want, but it was not done in a way that most people in the labor movement refer to salting in recent years. I wasn't paid by a union to work at Berkeley Bowl and organize their, as most people are who salt now a days. I don't regret much of what I was involved in at Berkeley Bowl. I wish that we would have organized with the IWW, but things might not be the same today for Berkeley Bowl workers if we had. Ultimately UFCW provided much needed legal support, the workers and organizing/bargaining committee was responsible for the contract their and the continued success at Berkeley Bowl. It wouldn't have been possible though without strong community support. UFCW local 120 allowed our organizing/bargaining committee to have a strong say in our struggle, but their comes a point where workers just need to organize independently with the help of the community because we can't always look to others for help. Mostly because things aren't done right by outsiders, they don't come from the same community and typically leave when immediate goals are accomplished, and unions should be built and controlled by the workers.
Yes, I understand that organizers are important in many ways, but our movement cannot be so reliant upon them. Our movement needs to be independent of so called leaders in the labor movement such as Wilhelm, Stern, Rosseli, Hanson, etc. We need true democracy on the local level, not some centralized control from staff or bureaucrats, however well meaning they may be. Now more than ever we need a labor movement where we are all leaders and all allowed to be involved in the decision making process. Not a system where leaders and staff control what workers vote on and who they get to elect or not elect based on their vote or lack thereof.
Nobody is perfect and I apologize for using such strong language, but I am sick and tired of seeing the same stuff done by both sides of this argument. I know I have made lots of mistakes over the years in my involvement with the labor movement, but I try to learn from those mistakes and grow. Paid organizers, staff, and bureaucrats should all know better than to recreate the mistakes of our history in the labor movement in this country. We all need to be honest with each other, and all the higher ups involved in all this bullshit need to grow up or step aside.
Workers in this country can not afford to be continually manipulated against each other, whether by the companies or the so called unions, and if the only way out is for them to throw both the old unions and the bosses off their back than so be it. If people think that worker power is built in any other way than from the ground up, in a truly democratic way. Than you are not only deceiving yourselves, but you are ultimately also weakening the labor movement and workers rights as a whole.
I struggle all the time with my involvement with various unions in the labor movement, and I know that we can't just stop struggling from within. However, people have been trying that since the 60s and 70s and those same people are only recreating the same mess that they were originally dedicated to getting us out of. I don't know the answer, but as someone very dear to my heart once said when speaking about well meaning bureaucrats...
"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!" - Mario Savio
and as one of the Haymarket Martyrs once said...
"The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today." - August Spies, Haymarket Martyr
------------
ps - I do not work on Perez Stern...its amusing and informative...but I think that it is also dehumanizing and I don't agree fully with the angle that they take...it is more for the amusement in some weird way of insiders than a tool for workers and union members...
HERE staff union negotiating posture from their director of organizing
http://hendrixchafe.typepad.com/unitehere_the_anti_staff_/files/kl04.pdf
http://hendrixchafe.typepad.com/unitehere_the_anti_staff_/files/kl04.pdf
Wait only 80,000 workers voted to go with Workers United. I thought that this "grassroots" uprising was comprised by 150,000 workers. So is Workers United saying that they failed to give 70,000 members the right to vote or are they saying that 70,000 members voted against Workers United and they still claimed to represent them?
Now what about the 80,000 that these staff claimed actually did vote? Did they all get to vote before the "delegates" actually made the decision to leave Unite Here? Its not really a meaningful choice, if in effect, the choice had already been made. Did these 80,000 members get to engage in sustained deliberation? Did they get to hear Unite Here's side of the story from Unite Here members and staff? Did the also all get to vote on the decision to join SEIU or at least get to directly elect the delegates for this purpose? Have a portion of these members also voted or signed a petition to remain with Unite Here after more deliberation?
Did Bruce Raynor violate Unite Here's constitution by sending $12 million to underwrite this succession?
What about the heads of the Joint Boards are they now directly elected by the rank and file membership or are they still elected by a group many of whom are paid staff? Workers United democratic virtues are not exactly shining.
Now what about the 80,000 that these staff claimed actually did vote? Did they all get to vote before the "delegates" actually made the decision to leave Unite Here? Its not really a meaningful choice, if in effect, the choice had already been made. Did these 80,000 members get to engage in sustained deliberation? Did they get to hear Unite Here's side of the story from Unite Here members and staff? Did the also all get to vote on the decision to join SEIU or at least get to directly elect the delegates for this purpose? Have a portion of these members also voted or signed a petition to remain with Unite Here after more deliberation?
Did Bruce Raynor violate Unite Here's constitution by sending $12 million to underwrite this succession?
What about the heads of the Joint Boards are they now directly elected by the rank and file membership or are they still elected by a group many of whom are paid staff? Workers United democratic virtues are not exactly shining.
I am a staff person for UNITE HERE, and member of the same staff union as the other staff persons that have signed this letter.
It appears to me that FOUR (the staff union for both Workers United and UNITE HERE) has chosen sides in this fight between SEIU and UH. The entire elected leadership of FOUR is from Workers United. The entire bargaining committee during negotiations was from Workers United. FOUR never treated UNITE HERE staff as full members or participants in the union.
In documents obtained during a search of Bruce Raynors office, it was uncovered that FOUR was going to be a "major communications tool" for SEIU/WU. That FOUR was an "important ally" for Bruce Raynor and Andy Stern.
I am not really interested nor find any value in a statement put out by a company union. FOUR is a tool of Stern and Raynor, used to attack UNITE HERE.
It appears to me that FOUR (the staff union for both Workers United and UNITE HERE) has chosen sides in this fight between SEIU and UH. The entire elected leadership of FOUR is from Workers United. The entire bargaining committee during negotiations was from Workers United. FOUR never treated UNITE HERE staff as full members or participants in the union.
In documents obtained during a search of Bruce Raynors office, it was uncovered that FOUR was going to be a "major communications tool" for SEIU/WU. That FOUR was an "important ally" for Bruce Raynor and Andy Stern.
I am not really interested nor find any value in a statement put out by a company union. FOUR is a tool of Stern and Raynor, used to attack UNITE HERE.
You know what's really going to help workers? For paid union organizers to say things like "UNITE HERE denies members’ right to meaningfully participate in their union" on a publicly searchable forum. I can't think of a single downside to that. I generally think that every single problem within the labor movement should be made really public because seeing all the many flaws of something is a great way to inspire people to trust each other and risk their jobs. I'm sure you already knew that, though, as experienced organizers and all. That's why you always tell every worker in every house visit all your worries and concerns about the campaign strategy, right?
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