In These Times

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• • 17 Nov 09
  • 12:24 am

  So, we should market unions to college educated hipsters? Last time I checked, most of them are trust fund babies from rich families, who hate unions because their parents are corporate executives. How about rebuilding unions the old fashioned way - by organizing poor Blacks and immigrants? Those communities were the backbone of labor in the past, and, if American labor is to have a future, it is them. So, let's unionize Latino carpenters and Black warehouse workers - Polish janitors and Chinese restaurant cooks - and leave the hipsters to their own devises (they can live quite well on mommy …

  Posted to Unions Must Attract the Young and Hip—or Become Obsolete

• • 17 Nov 09
  • 3:22 pm

  Rich, One of the biggest problems with the labor movement - both in the '30's and today - is the large number of folks from non working class backgrounds in leadership. Other than labor leadership positions that specifically require a law school or accounting background (staff attorneys, actuaries for welfare funds ect) ALL union officials should be folks who came up from the ranks, and actually worked in the jurisdiction for a considerable period of time. We've had quite enough of condescending saviours who come to rule us from a judgment hall - and they've done quite a bit of damage …

  Posted to Unions Must Attract the Young and Hip—or Become Obsolete

• • 17 Nov 09
  • 6:00 pm

  Chris, Actually, a LOT of union leaders never worked a day in their lives in their union's jurisdiction. Jim Hoffa of the Teamsters is a good example - he's an attorney, who never worked one day in his life in any Teamsters Union-represented craft. Bruce Raynor - formerly of UNITE HERE, now of "Workers United" - never worked one day in his life in the garment industry in any capacity. That's an old garment union tradition, by the way - not one ILGWU president in the entire history of that union ever worked in the garment district, nor did any of …

  Posted to Unions Must Attract the Young and Hip—or Become Obsolete

• • 17 Nov 09
  • 6:09 pm

  The last two AFL-CIO presidents before the current incumbent are also good examples of this phenomenon of non workers running labor unions. John Sweeney was catapulted into a business agent position in SEIU local 32bj right out of college, despite that he never worked even one day as a janitor - he then advanced to local president, and then international president, and then AFL-CIO president, without ever having actually been a janitor even one day. His predecessor, Lane Kirkland, became an officer of the Masters, Mates and Pilots (the union that represents the captains and officers on US flag ocean liners …

  Posted to Unions Must Attract the Young and Hip—or Become Obsolete

• • 17 Nov 09
  • 6:26 pm

  New York City also has a long tradition of gangsters who never worked an honest day in their lives becoming union officers - Bernard Adelstein, William "Wild Bill" Cutolo, Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianello, John "Johnny Dio" Dioguardi ect ect ect. This was common in other areas as well - Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston and Cleveland for example. The latter city produced Jackie Presser, the Teamsters general president from 1984 to 1988. Presser, the highest paid union official in world history (at one point, he was paid $ 784,000 a year from 8 different Teamsters Union offices that he held simultaneously) was …

  Posted to Unions Must Attract the Young and Hip—or Become Obsolete