Your Thinking Is Needed!

Your input is needed to strengthen our progressive labor movement. We analyze present trends and try to anticipate future situations. What things are we doing right? What are we doing wrong? What should we do more of? What should we do less of? What new ideas should we try?

Some ideas from Dylan Camerena, Rosie Curts, Kenneth Stretcher, and Gene Lantz.

Dylan submitted his first draft of suggestions and data spreadsheets:

Google Document:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TalirxDUPyCw0r93bKeoBqQC4JfNBodZs3oaufJTdmQ/edit?usp=sharing

Google Sheets/Excel: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q4-t9c6NdA7UFIU6djjfO-ldYkEzKHbXTCinUFc34-A/edit?usp=sharing

THE PAST

The Dallas CLC is said to be the oldest AFL-CIO central labor council in America. It is the only one in Texas still operating under the original concept. When Dallas CLC was chartered in 1956, approximately 35% of American workers were in unions. Affiliated unions lavished lost-time payments on numerous election workers.

Dallas CLC generally independently sponsored only one broadly-attended event per year. In a couple of years, we even skipped the Labor Day Breakfast. A column in a monthly union newspaper was almost our only outreach vehicle.

THE PRESENT

Most active union members are between 45 and 54 years old (Bureau of Labor Statistics). There is good reason to believe that there are more retirees than active union members. Nationwide, only 10.1% of American workers are in unions. The membership percentages are a sign of weakness, but our public approval rating, at 71%, is a sign of great strength.

Dallas AFL-CIO independently sponsors a growing number of public events annually. We participate in even more. We still have a column in the last existing union newspaper, but we also do a lot of public outreach on-line.

Locally, the best of the union movement is affiliated with the Dallas CLC, but not all of them. We are generally advancing in other measures of strength such as raising money, political success and influence among community allies.

A very tight labor market is currently making labor’s organizing and contract negotiating more successful.

Dallas is in the top tier of Texas CLC’s. A quick look at web sites shows that Dallas and Tarrant CLC’s have a high rate of successful activities. But, when we compare our present with our potential and with the challenges ahead, we would like to move toward doing more.

THE FUTURE

The main reason for the shrinkage of our national union movement is hostile government action extending from the Taft-Hartley “right to work” law of 1947 and including recent increases in child labor and the recent Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Supreme Court decision which undermines our right to strike.

Other big challenges include outsourcing and automation. Automation is a special current and future threat for more than one reason. Artificial intelligence is coming, like it or not, and may cut 18% of all jobs worldwide. (Goldman-Sachs estimate in the Washington Post). American labor currently has no defense against automation.

Tight labor markets cannot last forever. Some economists predict a recession before 2024.

Some Ways We Might Measure Our Strength

Numbers of members and union density (union members divided by workforce members)
Participation at events, especially public events and even more especially at protests and pickets
Allies, non-union-members who help with our events
People who belong to or support our constituency groups
Money on hand and income, including recurring donations
Political leaders who acknowledge and respond to labor
People who accept our communications

What Would Increase Our Strength?

Get unaffiliated unions to join our effort

I just googled to see how many locals of a certain union are in Dallas County. There were 18, but only 2-3 are affiliated with the AFL-CIO! That's an obvious area of concern.

Organize more unions

One analysis holds that problems within a union organization generally stem from failure to organize. However, the AFL-CIO was never set up to organize union locals. There is nothing to keep us from helping, though!

Practice Solidarity

Every time union members win, the entire movement is strengthened. Both Dallas and Tarrant Central Labor Councils have increased our solidarity efforts. Two great opportunities are coming up: The Teamsters' UPS contract expires on July 31, and the Auto Workers face off against their biggest employers around September 14. Every time we help, we also learn!

Learn from the old hands

One veteran organizer wrote in that he knows a way to find out who is working inside a certain workplace before any organizing drive starts!