International Labor Communications Association

ILCA - Swapping Stories

• ‘Back to basics’ unionism
  
  Michael Goodwin

  ‘Back to basics’ unionism
  
  BY MICHAEL GOODWIN
  
  The labor movement is at a crossroads. How can unions rebuild
  from the current low-water-mark of about 15% of the entire work force?
  Unions are best-known for bargaining contracts, lobbying for
  legislation and participating in political campaigns. But when they were
  founded more than a century ago, they served other functions that
  continue to the present day. From the construction crafts to the maritime
  industry to the performing arts, unions set standards for skilled work,

  
  
  
• Honeywell Locks Out USW Local Over Health Care; Sister Local in Canada Wins Contract
  
  Kay Tillow

  Honeywell Locks Out USW Local Over Health Care
  Sister Local in Canada Wins Contract

  By Kay Tillow
  Posted 8-29-10: http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/68146

  
  
  
• Why Can’t American Labor Build Its Own Cooperative "Mondragon?"
  
  Harry Kelber

  
  Why Can’t American Labor Build
  Its Own Cooperative ‘Mondragon’?
  By Harry Kelber

  If you are looking for a model where workers in a company are also the owners of what they produce, the finest example is the Mondragon Corporation, a federation of worker cooperatives based in the Basque region of northern Spain.

  
  
  
• POSTAL WORKERS CONVENTION PREPARES FOR STRUGGLE AS NEGOTIATIONS LOOM
  
  PAI/Mark Gruenberg

  POSTAL WORKERS CONVENTION PREPARES
  FOR STRUGGLE AS NEGOTIATIONS LOOM

  DETROIT (PAI)--Delegates to the Postal Workers convention prepared for tough struggles with the U.S. Postal Service in contract negotiations that will start Sept. 1.

  Meeting in Detroit from Aug. 24-27, the union’s 2,356 delegates spoke out strongly against USPS plans to eliminate Saturday pickup and delivery -- thus cutting jobs -- and the agency’s “excessing” of workers: Involuntarily shifting them around from craft to craft and site to site, sometimes hundreds of miles from their homes.

  
  
  
• SEIU’S WOODRUFF: OBAMA CAN USE FEDERAL BUYING POWER TO RAISE WORKERS’ WAGES
  
  PAI/Mark Gruenberg

  SEIU’S WOODRUFF: OBAMA CAN USE FEDERAL
  BUYING POWER TO RAISE WORKERS’ WAGES
  By Mark Gruenberg
  PAI Staff Writer

  WASHINGTON (PAI)--With legislation to aid workers hamstrung by Senate GOP filibusters, a top union organizing director says Democratic President Barack Obama has another avenue open to him to help workers improve their wages by improving their chances to unionize: Using the federal government’s immense buying power.