I know. I read that and went what? But it looks like it is true. Mike Elk
had the exclusive for In
These Times. I know what you’re
thinking, wait they are separate to begin with? Just kidding, I make my own
fun.
The UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) broke off from the AFL-CIO
(American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) back in
2005, but UFCW frequently cooperates with the AFL-CIO because that’s kind of
how things have to be done to get anywhere. However, Elk’s sources within the
AFL-CIO say the UFCW are in talks to rejoin the AFL-CIO bringing its 1.3 million
members with it. The UFCW are expected to vote at the annual convention in
Chicago this August, and it is expected to pass because of the support from
leadership.
So back in 2005, several large unions split from the AFL-CIO including
the UFCW, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Service Employees International
Union (SEIU), the Brotherhood of Carpenters, the Laborers’ Union, Unite Here,
and the United Farm Workers of America to form Change to Win, a rival
federation. There is some controversy over the split including allegations an
underlying motivation was to cut down on dues; Change to Win charges about half
the dues per member as the AFL-CIO does.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has pushed for the reunification of the
labor movement (and its 14 million members) since his election in 2009 so this would
be a pretty big victory for him. Change to Win has lost some of its membership
including Unite Here, who voted to rejoin the AFL-CIO. However, the UFCW would
be the largest to come back. Elk rightly points out this begs the question:
will any of the other members, the SEUI, the Teamsters, or the United
Farmworkers, enter talks to rejoin the AFL-CIO? Elk’s requests for comment
went unanswered.
Trumka has courted the UFCWs for a while; memorably back in March when he
joined the UFCW in criticizing the Obama administration public relations event
emphasizing jobs for returning veterans with Wal-Mart. UFCW launched Our
Wal-Mart.
The details of the potential union aren’t known yet. Elk expects the
AFL-CIO to offer some kind of deal like discounted dues, as motivation. Other
discussions to be had are about leadership, where UFCW officers will fit in and
if the AFL-CIO will take on issues the UFCW cares about.
The Wal-Mart question is where this all gets the most interesting. The
AFL-CIO have vast resources, which could be used to really take on Wal-Mart,
but at this point we don’t know how much of their resources will be devoted to
that. All that said, Wal-Mart isn’t going down without a fight, and it will
probably be bad. As we've seen with before and most recently with their threats to the DC Council.
I go back on forth on labor unification. Part of me thinks labor (like everyone)
is more powerful when acting as one. Of course, this can happen through
coalition building. There is also a history of a power struggle within organized
labor with special populations not getting much attention, recognition, or power. Of course,
at this point everyone recognizes that low-wage women and people of
color are the future of organized labor. But that means, old labor is going to have to be more inclusive, and while they are running to embrace the low-wage retail and service industry, I haven't seen them do quite as much in other highly gendered and raced fields such as home health aids and domestic care work. The later of which has been scoring some pretty huge victories in recent years with the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights (New York, Hawaii, and Oregon have passed it with California still trying, I think). I’m looking forward to what is going
to happen.
