Calling the labor movement in crisis, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says he will push far-reaching changes at the federation's convention next month, including forging closer partnerships and even accepting as members such outside groups as the Sierra Club and the NAACP.
The changes, some of which will require amending the AFL-CIO's bylaws, are part of a strategy aimed at reviving the labor movement's falling clout and recasting it as a champion for American workers generally, not just for the declining ranks of dues-paying union members.
In an interview Wednesday with USA TODAY, Trumka acknowledged resistance within his organization and the possibility of conflicts ahead.
"I think any time you do new things and you have change, people are concerned about what it means," he said on the weekly video newsmaker series, Capital Download. "Will it dilute us? Look, here's the way I look at it: What we've been doing the last 30 years hasn't worked real well. We need to do things differently."
Last year, just 11.3% of American wage and salary workers were unionized, the lowest percentage in nearly a century. Thirty years ago, 20.1% were, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "We are in crisis," Trumka said.
He wants to reach out to Americans who traditionally haven't been represented by unions — including graduate students, fast-food workers, child-care providers and young people who now may hold two or three part-time jobs. And while the AFL-CIO has worked with outside organizations before on particular issues, he envisions a closer and more continuous relationship with liberal-leaning religious, environmental and civil-rights groups.
"We're in conversations with the AFL-CIO about a more formalized partnership," Cathy Duvall of the Sierra Club confirms. Details about how the new arrangements will work still are being negotiated. Some of the groups may pay dues and others may not, Trumka says. In some places, the new groups could become part of the structure of the local labor movement.
But there are sure to be conflicts on specific issues. For instance, the Building Trades, which represents construction workers, supports the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline as a project that will generate jobs; the Sierra Club opposes it as a threat to the environment.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/08/07/richard-trumka-labor-movement/2629155/
You know they are desperate for members when they want to accept those people from the NAACP.
The changes, some of which will require amending the AFL-CIO's bylaws, are part of a strategy aimed at reviving the labor movement's falling clout and recasting it as a champion for American workers generally, not just for the declining ranks of dues-paying union members.
In an interview Wednesday with USA TODAY, Trumka acknowledged resistance within his organization and the possibility of conflicts ahead.
"I think any time you do new things and you have change, people are concerned about what it means," he said on the weekly video newsmaker series, Capital Download. "Will it dilute us? Look, here's the way I look at it: What we've been doing the last 30 years hasn't worked real well. We need to do things differently."
Last year, just 11.3% of American wage and salary workers were unionized, the lowest percentage in nearly a century. Thirty years ago, 20.1% were, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "We are in crisis," Trumka said.
He wants to reach out to Americans who traditionally haven't been represented by unions — including graduate students, fast-food workers, child-care providers and young people who now may hold two or three part-time jobs. And while the AFL-CIO has worked with outside organizations before on particular issues, he envisions a closer and more continuous relationship with liberal-leaning religious, environmental and civil-rights groups.
"We're in conversations with the AFL-CIO about a more formalized partnership," Cathy Duvall of the Sierra Club confirms. Details about how the new arrangements will work still are being negotiated. Some of the groups may pay dues and others may not, Trumka says. In some places, the new groups could become part of the structure of the local labor movement.
But there are sure to be conflicts on specific issues. For instance, the Building Trades, which represents construction workers, supports the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline as a project that will generate jobs; the Sierra Club opposes it as a threat to the environment.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/08/07/richard-trumka-labor-movement/2629155/
You know they are desperate for members when they want to accept those people from the NAACP.
