The Teamsters union heated up the debate over reshaping the labor movement yesterday by proposing to slash the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s budget and finance a four-year campaign of political and union organizing in swing states to help elect a pro-labor president.þþWorried about the steady decline of organized labor, the Teamsters, one of the nation's largest unions, recommended withholding half of the $90 million that individual unions give the labor federation each year and using it to recruit more members. The Teamsters proposal, echoing a 10-point plan issued last month by the Service Employees International Union, would reduce the federation's role and responsibilities as many labor leaders conclude that unions urgently need to focus on recruiting more members.þþThe International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents 1.4 million workers, issued its proposal as some union leaders are voicing fears of a schism. þþThe service employees union, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s largest affiliate, with almost 1.7 million members, has threatened to quit the federation unless its 60 member unions agree to sweeping reforms, among them requiring most groups to spend 20 percent of their budgets on organizing. At the same time, the leaders of many smaller unions strongly oppose the service employees' proposal to force some of them to merge. þþSeeking to create a middle ground, the Teamsters union, in a proposal approved by its board, said mergers should be encouraged because bigger unions could better stand up to giant corporations, but it opposed the idea of forced mergers.þþÿEverybody believes there needs to be change,ÿ said Greg Tarpinian, an adviser to the Teamsters' president, James P. Hoffa. ÿThe question is what kind of changes will help us grow the labor movement and at the same time preserve unity in the A.F.L.-C.I.O.ÿþþThe Teamsters also proposed having the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and its member unions devote more money and manpower ÿas part of a concrete plan for growth and political power in the swing states.ÿþþÿJohn Kerry's inability to win key battleground states and the closeness of the election in others is a direct reflection of the decline of our movement,ÿ the Teamsters said in a statement, referring to onetime labor strongholds like Ohio and Missouri that President Bush carried. ÿGrowing our movement in those states is the best contribution we can make to achieving a pro-labor majority in Congress and a pro-labor White House in 2008.ÿþþThe Teamsters union made its recommendations as other unions put forward proposals as part of a fierce debate over how to remake organized labor to prevent it from fading into irrelevance. Officials from several unions are scheduled to meet in Washington today to try to develop a joint proposal for change.þþAt a conference in New York City last Thursday, Larry Cohen, executive vice president of the Communications Workers of America, said the union movement needed to worry about many things other than restructuring. þþMr. Cohen said unions should focus on expanding the right to organize, noting that many states do not allow government workers to unionize and that many private-sector workers often fail in their efforts to unionize because of strong employer resistance. He said that if unions were to succeed, they would need to develop a far larger treasury for strike benefits so that all workers would be guaranteed at least $200 a week during a walkout.þþHe said unions should do more to support and inspire workplace shop stewards because they played an unheralded but critical role in collective bargaining, organizing, political action and mobilizing rank and file workers.þþÿWe do far too little of that, and we do far too much talk about restructuring,ÿ Mr. Cohen said.þþþþ
Source: NY Times
