Linda Canny, a nurse with Group Health, a health maintenance organization in Seattle, applauded her union when it dug in against her employer's proposal to take away a much-coveted benefit: she does not have to pay any health insurance premiums.þþBut Ms. Canny, a member of S.E.I.U. District 1199 Northwest, was flabbergasted when another union representing Group Health employees ignored her union's pleas and agreed to have many of its workers pay $520 a year in premiums.þþÿWe really felt the rug was pulled out from under us when that union agreed to health care premiums,'' Ms. Canny said, referring to a local of the United Food and Commercial Workers. ÿWe felt that was a major step backward. Unfortunately, Group Health has really used that against us.ÿþþAngered by such cases, the president of Ms. Canny's union, Andrew L. Stern, has ignited a debate throughout the labor movement by arguing that labor needs a sweeping overhaul, including the merger of many unions and a vast increase in organizing, to reverse its long decline.þþLast week, Mr. Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, called on the A.F.L.-C.I.O. to adopt a 10-point plan, and the debate he began could lead to the most far-reaching changes in the labor movement in a half-centuryþþMr. Stern complained that unions were doing far too little to help American workers because they were organizing too few workers and were often undercutting one another in negotiations. He also complained that many unions were too small to contend with giant companies, noting that 40 of the 60 unions in the A.F.L.-C.I.O. had fewer than 100,000 members. þþMr. Stern, who heads the largest and fastest-growing union in the A.F.L.-C.I.O., called for merging the 60 unions into fewer than 20, so that each would be large enough to square off against big corporations. þþAlarmed that labor's ranks are shrinking, he also proposed that the A.F.L.-C.I.O., whose unions represent 13 million workers, be authorized to set ambitious goals on how much money each union should spend on organizing. þþÿI'm totally focused on winning the fight on how to build a labor movement that works for workers,ÿ said Mr. Stern, who has a reputation as a maverick and strategic thinker. ÿIt's hard to get the job done the way things are organized right now.ÿþþHe made his call for change a week after President Bush won re-election, notwithstanding labor's all-out efforts to defeat him. Many union leaders agree that labor badly needs to take steps to reverse its decline, but they favor far less sweeping and painful change than Mr. Stern advocates. þþHe has warned that unless the A.F.L.-C.I.O. embraces bold changes, his union, with more than 1.6 million members, may leave the federation.þþThe director of the U.C.L.A. Labor Center, Kent Wong, said labor's weakened state has had important repercussions. þþÿUnions put together a very impressive campaign to unseat George Bush,'' Professor Wong said. ÿBut the reality is when they represent just 13 percent of the work force, even with their huge effort, they were unable to prevail.ÿ þþHe suggested that if unions represented more of the work force, like the 22 percent level it did three decades ago, the Democrats might have won the election.þþMr. Stern's proposals have set off a fierce debate. Some labor leaders have accused him of arrogantly seeking to dictate to others. Many accuse him of favoring a top-down approach in which the A.F.L.-C.I.O. would tell long-autonomous unions what to do. þþMr. Stern's plan would, for example, force unions to recruit members only in their core industries, barring them from raiding those where other unions dominate. þþSome labor leaders say Mr. Stern wants service unions to dominate the A.F.L-C.I.O. at the expense of fast-shrinking manufacturing unions. The president of the machinists' union, R. Thomas Buffenbarger, has even threatened to quit the federation if Mr. Stern gets his way. þþSome labor leaders complain that Mr. Stern's proposals to merge unions would allow the big fish to swallow the little fish. His defenders say the heads of some small unions, despite their puny bargaining power, oppose mergers because they desperately want to cling to their positions, power and salaries. þþÿStern is absolutely right that the status quo isn't acceptable, that it's a recipe for oblivion,ÿ Paul F. Clark, a professor of labor relations at Penn State University, said. ÿBut I don't see how the consolidations he's calling for will get done. You'll find resistance because a lot of union leaders don't want to give any of their power to the A.F.L.-C.I.O.ÿþþJohn W. Wilhelm, the longtime president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, which merged last summer with Unite, the textile workers' union, urged leaders of other small unions to follow his example. þþÿThe fundamental problem is that too many unions don't have the resources to meet the challenges,ÿ Mr. Wilhelm said. ÿWe're dealing with global corporations in virtually every industry. I was very proud of our union. We had 265,000 members. We were doing great stuff. But we didn't have the size, strength and resources that we needed.ÿþþHow far Mr. Stern goes with his push for change will depend on his one-time mentor, John J. Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.þþIf Mr. Sweeney, Mr. Stern's predecessor as head of the service employees, pushes hard to sell the proposals to other unions, the federation's executive council might adopt many of the them at its meeting in February. þþLast week, Mr. Sweeney said a new committee he heads would take a hard look at proposals by Mr. Stern and others and would make far-reaching recommendations.þþÿIt will be a very serious effort,ÿ he said. ÿThe labor movement has through the years tried to change with changing times.ÿ þþHe said there might be resistance. þþÿWe have to recognize and acknowledge the fact that individual unions are autonomous,ÿ Mr. Sweeney said. ÿThere may be some differences of opinion about the degree of change.ÿþþLarry Cohen, executive vice president of the Communications Workers of America, who is widely expected to win its presidency next year, has his own proposals, which focus on expanding the right to bargain collectively. He complained that many companies break the law in fighting unionizing and that public employees in many states do not have the right to form unions. ÿWhat we should focus on is strengthening bargaining power,ÿ he said.þþIn Mr. Stern's view, one factor undercutting bargaining power is that in some industries 10 or more unions are active and often trip over, and undercut, one another. He has proposed giving the A.F.L.-C.I.O. the power to designate two or three unions in each industry to take the lead in bargaining and organizing.þþTo show how well this strategy can work, S.E.I.U. officials point to a contract approved recently by many workers at the Valley Medical Center in Renton, Wash. Four unions represent workers at the hospital, and they agreed that the service employees, which represents the registered nurses and some other employees and is the largest union at the hospital, should lead the talks. þþThe service employees obtained an agreement that its members would not have to pay health insurance premiums, paving the way for similar provisions in contracts for the other unions, many of whose members had previously paid about $1,000 a year for family coverage.þþÿThis shows that if you have a dominant union that's willing to fight and sets a standard, management usually has to bring everybody up,ÿ said Diane Sosne, president of District 1199 Northwest. þþShannon Halme, an official with a union for Valley Medical office and clerical workers, said: ÿI don't think we could have gotten this by ourselves. We flew on the coattails of what the nurses got.ÿþþ
Source: NY Times
