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From the March 2006 issue of The $100 Plus Club News #99
Poor Workers' Unions: Building labor from below, by Vanessa Tait.
South End Press, 258pp. 2005. $20 paper.
reviewed by Herman Benson
When I last saw the directory of social action groups, there must have been a thousand, maybe many more, of these local organizations, all over the country. With all these groups campaigning in their communities for some measure of social justice and with the labor movement still enrolling some 16,000,000 members, the nagging question arises: how come this nation's politics keeps drifting to the rich and the right?
Author Tait, a PhD in sociology and a writer for CWA Local 9119, doesn't address this question, but she does force us to recognize that these groups are out there fighting and that the cumulative effect of their activity, especially their militant activity, has powerfully affected the labor movement (or what she would call the "trade union" movement.) The groups that engage her interest are those that have been led by former civil rights workers, New Leftists, and social radicals of all kinds. She demonstrates persuasively --- and in dramatic, even inspiring, detail--- that they have induced the labor movement to pay attention to the needs of low-wage workers, minorities, immigrants, and working women.
In this respect, she does for insurgents outside the unions, what Union Democracy in Action and the Association for Union Democracy have done for insurgents inside the unions battling for union democracy: made them visible and recognized their achievements. It is good to be reminded that there are thousands of good people, inspired by a vision of social justice, ready to lead campaigns for the neglected poor and victims of discrimination. For those seriously involved in politics and labor, this book can supply what they are probably missing for a fuller view of what's going on in the world of social action.
But a word of caution. Out of all her impressive research and her extensive interviews with the leaders of these groups (and her contact has been with the leaders not the mass of participants) the author constructs a confused theory, or philosophy, or mood of a "poor workers' unionism" sharply distinguished from "trade unionism." Poor workers' unionism, in her view, is for the disinherited, for all who suffer. Trade unionism is for ... but it is not clear for whom, except that it seems to be for those who don't suffer at all, or not as intensely. Poor workers' unions, in her view, are part of the community, engage in demonstrations, and seek "social change," while trade unions are "business unions" which accommodate to the exploitive status quo. Sometimes she sees poor worker unionism as parallel to trade unionism, sometimes as hostile to it, and sometimes even as part of it.
Poor worker unionism, as she imagines it, has a universal quality, vague and shifting boundaries, and no limits. It does include super-exploited workers employed under dehumanizing conditions. As a concept, however, it also includes students demonstrating for summer jobs, women who seek payment of wages for running their household, welfare workers with grievances, community improvement campaigns, masses on a national march for immigrant rights, the 1963 March on Washington, civil rights battles, calls for black power, etc, etc. She even makes relevant, somehow, the Workers Party of Brazil. The author faults business-minded "trade unions" for not playing a leading role in most of these movements for justice. "Poor worker unionism" is an idea that welcomes every movement against every injustice, everywhere. As such, the concept is a cry from the heart, not a serious proposal. Tait takes these movements for the poor out of the closet and shows how widespread they are. That, in itself, is achievement enough. But we need not idealize them, as the author does, in order to appreciate their significance.
Take one square mile of working people's homes, poor or not, at the core of any metropolitan center. Here you can find more injustice, more exploitation, and more misery than can be overcome by any private organizations in a lifetime of devotion. Into this thicket of inequity come small bands of dedicated idealists inspired by visions of a more just society. They undertake the responsibility of fighting for the rights of those at the bottom, those who are ignored by other organizations which are unable or unwilling to undertake the burden, or even ignorant of the needs of those below.
These pioneers enter boldly where others will not tread; they lead a virtual guerrilla war against injustice, battling here, battling there, wherever opportunities open. They sometimes win; they often lose; even the victories often prove ephemeral. But even in defeat they can win a moral victory as society slowly is sensitized to the need. They help keep the nation's democracy alive.
Sometimes, they make a major breakthrough. They demonstrate what no one realized before, that on this or that field of battle a long-term success is possible. The author tells the encouraging story of some of these victories. By now, organized labor (what Tait differentiates from "poor worker unionism") is learning that collaboration with experienced community organizers can be a powerful alliance in organizing low-paid workers, especially minorities and immigrants.
In New York, the American Federation of Teachers has joined with ACORN in a drive to organize the state's 52,000 family childcare providers. ACORN is one of the oldest and largest community organizing groups, with chapters around the nation. The New York Teacher reports that, with the help of ACORN organizers, they "knocked on 21,656 doors in the city alone." The union paper adds, "In mounting this organizing drive, the [union] has ...moved far beyond the bounds of traditional organizing." The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees have joined the campaign.
In an ambitious project, even more non-traditional than the childcare organizing drive, ACORN has joined with the United Food and Commercial Workers and the Service Employees in sponsoring the formation of the Wal-Mart Workers Association. The association's chief organizer, according to the account in the New York Times, is Wade Rathke, a top ACORN official.
Wal-Mart, with 1.6 million employees worldwide, is determined to resist unionization anywhere. Despite union efforts, not one of its stores in the United States is organized. When workers in one store in Canada voted for a union, the company simply closed the shop. The new Wal-Mart Workers Association will sign up company employees, but it will not seek recognition as a union. It will campaign in the public arena around issues of heath care, unemployment insurance and public assistance for part time workers, and low wages.
Like many of the community organizing projects discussed by author Tait, foundations are coming up with money. The Nathan Cummings Foundation is supporting the association. The Marguerite Casey Foundation has made a grant of $250,000 to ACORN for its Wal-Mart work.
When four of our major unions --- the Teachers, AFSCME, SEIU, and the Food Workers-- call upon ACORN for assistance they confirm much of what Tait writes about. The community organizers have made their mark on the labor movement.
If we discount the author's heavy insistence upon erecting her facts into a kind of theory of a new "poor worker unionism" we can read her book for what it's worth: an account of how dedicated social action pioneers organize poor people in battles for justice, and how their efforts are helping to shape our labor movement. From that angle it is not only worth reading; it can even be inspiring.
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