SEIU Labor Story
Posted on | January 13, 2009 |
I had the pleasure of doing a follow-up story on the SEIU. Because of the nature of the day, I was able to spend time conversing with experts about the larger picture of unions, and not just focus narrowly on one news item. Steve Early, a labor journalist whom I read and interviewed, began my interview by defining where we intended to take the conversation for fear we could end up in a desert of obscure information, esoteric to those not intimate with the labor beat.
Last Thursday, the SEIU said it would make a decision on local United Health Care West. Based in Oakland, some media have called this union feisty–it is one of the most successful unions in the United States. Why? Mostly because it’s militant. They elected a militant leader Sal Rosselli and they are engaged and active. SEIU president praise Andy Stern has gotten, mostly from the establishment (New York Times, Business, whatever). The fact is he is building a giant union. Historically and presently, big unions tend or maybe by definition are less progressive. They cozy up to business leaders, become passive in their demands and sometimes even grow regressive.
For example, Stern’s SEIU recently intervened in the State of California to prevent UHW-West from making its own set of demands. In Illinois, it was in bed with Rod Blagejovich. A recent bargain in Washington garanteed the vested interests that SEIU could protest but not demand certain things (I don’t remember just what they were, but they were elemental union demands and important to workers) in return for the ability to negociate. In other words, they made concessions, just to negociate.
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