The American WorkerToday & Tomorrow

I. Economic TransformationA. GlobalizationB. FlexibilityC. ServiceD. Shareholder ValueE. Impact

II. The “New” AFL-CIOA. Changing leadershipB. Policies

III. Mixed ResultsA. OrganizingB. ReformC. Politics

IV. Where do we go?

Globalization

• Free trade– NAFTA– WTO

• Outsourcing– Escape unions– Escape regulation

Shanghai Buick plant, 2003

Chinese Coca Cola ad

Flexibility

• Temping

• Downsizing

San Jose temp, 1996

Service

• From 1994-1996, 38 percent of new jobs were in service

• WalMart becomes the nation’s largest private employer– 720,000 employees– ½ qualify for food

stamps

Las Vegas, 2005

Shareholder Value• Hostile takeovers of the

1980s lead to new emphasis on shareholders 

• Led by Wall Street bankers

• Demands that CEOs cut wages

– Tie their salary to stock prices

• Gives them incentive to bust unions

Impact

• Risk– Income insecurity– No benefits, insurance– Debt, bankruptcy

• Wealth gap– 400 richest U.S. taxpayers earn $69 billion in

2000

Changing leadership• Kirkland

– Middle-class Southerner

– AFL research department

– Cold warrior

• Sweeney– New Yorker

– Ties to TWU, ILGWU

– Becomes leader of the Service Employees Intl. Union (SEIU)• Formerly corrupt

– Union gains 500,000 in 15 years

Fr. AFL-CIO pres. Lane Kirkland

AFL-CIO pres. John Sweeney

Policies• Organizing

• Inclusivity

• Politics

• Coalition-building

Former UMW president, Rich Trumka speaks at rally for

Sacramento janitors

Difficulties• Union

membership increased 265,000

• But percentage stays even at 14 percent

• But labor loses some key showdowns– California

Supermarket lockout, 2004-5California supermarket protest,

2004

Reforming the

Reformers

• Carey– Employs guilt by association– Convicted of union election

violations

• Hoffa– NostalgiaFr. IBT president, Ron

Carey

IBT president, James Hoffa, Jr.

Political Struggles

• Democrats refuse to adopt labor’s position on trade• Republicans appeal to workers through other

issues– Nationalism, guns, abortion

Where do we go?

• Don’t panic

• Resist nostalgia

• Work together

Protestors, Seattle, 1999